Anyone got any advice on IEPs for dyslexic dc?

[Becaroooo]

Ds1 is on SA since April. Only had 1 IEP since then. Just been dx by EP as being dyslexic and we need to review this IEP next month...

Any advice?

EP Report not very helpful and a bit vague as to the help ds1 needs and advice for the school. Seeing Paed on Weds so hopefully may get more advice then, but wondered if any of you could give me advice, point me in the direction of websites etc that could help me?

TIA

[StarlightMcKenzie]

Becs, not kicking you out of here but I think there are quite a few experts in this on the main board, if your brave . if you post there and get any hassle, call us up and we'll come over.

[IndigoBell]

Becs - I thought you were going to copy my IEP :)

Well in summary, these are the different types of statements I've tried on DDs IEP over the years - none of which have particularly helped :)

Reading

• To know all her graphemes instantly.
  

• To be able to read 30 CVC words in one minute.
  

• To learn 2 new sight words a week.
  

• To learn 2 new graphemes a week.
  

Spelling

• To put a vowel in every syllable
  

• To spell at least half of the words she writes phonetically
  

Writing

• To use full stops and capital letters.
  

Organisation

• To remember to take everything she needs to and from home
  

Remember, it's not just the targets that are important, it's the 'how will school help bit'. You've seen my latest IEP thoughts........ So you know exactly what I've asked for.

[Becaroooo]

star dont send me "over there" !!

indigo Oh, indeed I am! but was just wondering if for example there was a minimum standard IEP for dyslexia IYSWIM??
Thank for the e mail btw x

Have told some family members.....
My mum - "but ds1 isnt slow!" sigh. No, mum, he isnt.
My MIL - "ds1 cant have asd!! has it and he isnt like ds1" sigh.
My dad - complete silence

I guess they dont know what to say.....

[dolfrog]

Becaroooo

The problem with a diagnosis of dyslexia, a bit like having a diagnosis of having a runny nose, you do not know whether it is causes by hay fever, flu or some other ailment, and so trying to identify what will help each person with a runny nose can be difficult, as there is no one size fits all solution to the problem. The same applies to dyslexia.
I am dyslexic, all of my family are dyslexic, we all have Auditory Processing Disorder(APD) as the underlying cognitive cause of our dyslexic symptoms. We all have different combinations of APD subtypes and different severities, and each of us has different alternative cognitive abilities to work around our APD and our dyslexic symptom.
Dyslexia is independent of IQ, and those dyslexics who have a high IQ are best able to develop their own coping strategies and can sometimes hide or conceal their dyslexia. These are the dyslexics who tend to be identified when they go to university, as their coping strategies are not able to cope so well with the demands a university course puts on them.
Dyslexia is only about having problems processing meaning from text, or the written word or the visual notation of speech. All different ways or defining the graphic symbols we use to represent speech.
There are three cognitive subtypes of dyslexia, visual, auditory, and attentional. Those who have an auditory processing problem have issues processing the sounds of speech, and will therefore have problems with any form of notation of speech. Those who have visual processing problems have problems processing meaning from what they see, and those who have attention problems are not able to focus long enough on the symbols long enough to process the information. And some can have various combinations of these issues.
Currently there is a lack of understanding of how we learn to read, the psycholinguistic models of how we learn to read have evolved from Alexia (acquired dyslexia) research, and more recently from neuroimaging as they can see how the brain acts when performing the task of reading. And it is the very same issues which can cause the dyslexic symptom, that are also in the more complex mix of issues which can cause ASD. As both are about having neurological communication or information processing problems.

So any IEP has to be based on the underlying cause of each dyslexic symptom.
If your DS has APD as an underlying cause of his dyslexic symptom then you could consider some of the issues listed on
Ideas to be Considered Prior to Creating an IEP for an APD

[Becaroooo]

Thanks dolfrog

[dolfrog]

Becaroooo

Family reactions can be very confusing for a variety of reasons.
Most of these issues have a genetic underlying cause, which means that somewhere in the family history someone else has had similar issues.
And this can be a problem in itself, the perceived social stigma, a well concealed personal issue or personal history, how to admit that they may share some of these issues, how would they explain this to their employer who does not know about their issues.
The other big problem is the concept of NORMAL. Which has really been taken out of context. The whole basis of normal is based on statistical analysis which defines various standard deviations from a population average or mean. So every time a population changes; new additions to, or subtractions from them then the mean and standard deviations or what is considered normal changes as well. And another one of the real problems has been the so called child development milestones, which are only based on when the average population achieves these targets, which will only apply to about 60 - 70% of any population.

[Becaroooo]

dolfrog Am v confused as the percentages quoted in the EPs report tbh....he scored in the 19th centile for reading (no way he is that good!) and 3rd centile for spelling.

If I have understood correctly, then it means that 81% of children his age are better at reading than ds1 is and 97% are better at spelling

He scored v badly on verbal reasoning (1) which astounds me...he is the most eloquent 8 year old I have ever come across! The EP said ds1 assumes a level of pre knowledge from teachers (?) and answers questions accordingly and with not enough detail. She also said his speech was "stylised" - I dont even know what she means by that!!

He wrote a sentance at her request:
"Lion ar gud"
Lions are good
He did not recognise it was wrong.

And the school SENco said she had "no concerns"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ds1 has completed a course of AIT and is so much less noise sensitive now - before he would literally jump out of his seat if a loud motorcycle went past!! Now he barely notices it

He is also doing RRT which is really helping with his dyspraxia - his moro reflex has gone!!!! and his anxiety has gone down accordingly, but he needs more help and I am floundering.

He needs a statement, he needs 1-1 help and he needs school to put in place way to help him.

I just dont know how I get all those things

[dolfrog]

Becaroooo

The problem with Educational Psychologists (EP) diagnosing dyslexia, is that they are not qualified to assess or diagnose the cognitive subtypes or underlying causes of the dyslexic symptom. All an EP can do is observe performance while carrying out test, as psychologists are only qualified to comment on behavior issues, not the underlying cognitive issues that are causing the problems. So they can only make statistical comparisons comparisons with the wider population.

SENCos have only had to be trained teachers from the start of this academic year, and many have no qualification as to an understanding of the issues which may require SEN support, although many do have good intentions, and wish to provide the best form of support.

Which is why a dyslexia assessment should be carried out by a multi - discipline team consisting of an audiologist, an optometrist, and a psychiatrist, who are able to assess and eventually diagnose the three main underlying cause of the dyslexic symptom, and any EP input should be part of the follow up assessment of how to live and cope with the auditory processing disorder, visual processing disorder, attention disorder, or any combination of these issues that are the cause of the dyslexic symptom. So the real problem is a lack of a realistic assessment and diagnostic process for the dyslexic symptom in the UK.

Unfortunately there is a complete lack of understanding of how we learn to read in the UK education system, which is due to poor teacher training, and a lack of willingness to understand the research in this area of the last decade or so. Reading: Acquiring and Developing the Skills and Abilities - library 212 articles and because teachers do not understand how we learn to read they have no real idea of how to help when a child has problems which can cause the dyslexic symptom Developmental Dyslexia - library 470 articles or my PubMed Dyslexia and Related Issues research paper collections

AIT does not help much if at all with regard to auditory processing, and RRT can only help with any Retained Reflexes. Auditory Processing Disorders, and there are quite a few, or subtypes of APD, are about issues which affect our ability to process sound base stimuli, or what we hear. This includes speech, and any form of notation of speech.
Those who have APD have problems processing the gaps between sounds, which includes the gaps between the sounds that can make up a word, or even the gaps between words in rapid speech, so the signal appears to us as one continuous sound, which is really meaningless. So for those who have APD phonics is purely abstract concept we can understand but will never be able to use.
So the problems is about having teachers who understand how we learn to read, and further to understand the cognitive issues which can cause problems when learning to read, and how to work around these problems. Which means having to educate the educators, which can be a problem as they tend to have Professional APD (PAPD) or they DO NOT want to listen.

A referral to Great Ormond Street Hospital may be useful as all DS issues can be assessed and and how they may interact and affect his progress.

[lacornsillk]

have pmed you becaroo

[Becaroooo]

dolfrog Thats interesting....I have always felt that ds1 just does not understand the basic concepts of Synthetic Phonics....eg: the mute e....I have been trying to teach him this since he was 6....he still does not understand it. He also still guesses at High Frequency words...eg: if he is reading a text and sees the word "the" he recognises it as a connecting word but guesses at it so will say "and"

Will read those links when I have time, thanks.

AIT has certainly helped ds1 with his noise sensitivity, can't comment on whether it can help APD.

lacronsilk Have Pm'd you too!

Am considering a specialist dyslexia tutor.....

[Becaroooo]

dolfrog I wouldnt be surprised if thats what we end up doing....god only knows how much that would cost

[lifesamerrygoround]

Thanks Dolfrog. I will have a good read at them too.
becarooo - It feels like you are talking about my DS!

[Becaroooo]

lifeisamerrygoround

I am sure he is as fab as my ds too!

I am starting on Dancing bears soon at home and am going to look into a tutor too. Really dont think that school are going to be much help

[Migsy1]

I have a specialist dyslexia tutor and it is very worth it. The extra help the kids get at school is not specialist and not as good. In my experience, schools do not understand, or even acknowledge, dyslexia.

[Becaroooo]

migsy May I ask how it worked for you? i.e. do you go to a centre or does the tutor come to you? how much is it per hour? How many sessions does your dc have per week?? How did you find your tutor??

I am starting Dancing Bears at home this week (well, when it gets delivered!) but would like some more specialist teaching for him too....I know the school wont do anything. He has been there nearly a year and the SENco told me in Jan she "had no concerns"
Yeah. Right.
They arent going to help....they havent got the experience or the funding so I have to do this myself.

I think if I just remember that ds1 is happy there (which is a big thing) and accept that we have to teach him to read and write I will be a lot less angry/stressed/upset.

[Migsy1]

Becarooo I know the feeling!  I have 2 dyslexic DSs.  The tutor comes to the house after school and 45 mins costs £25.  She is a teaching assistant who is qualified in teaching dyslexia. There is a special qualification but I can't remember what it is.  It is this lady who runs the lessons menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/1424814_michelle-gives-children-the-right-to-read.  Some tutors will go into school.  
Dyslexia Action also has tutors but they are much more expensive.

[Migsy1]

Becarooo I know the feeling!  I have 2 dyslexic DSs.  The tutor comes to the house after school and 45 mins costs £25.  She is a teaching assistant who is qualified in teaching dyslexia. There is a special qualification but I can't remember what it is.  It is this lady who runs the lessons menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/1424814_michelle-gives-children-the-right-to-read.  Some tutors will go into school.  Dyslexia Action also has tutors but they are much more expensive.

[Becaroooo]

Hi

Am getting some stuff in the post from dyslexia action re: tutoring - dreading getting the fee structure!