Can't cope in Y7

Feelingsad, I can see you're really desperate. I can only say I do know several people with very severe dyslexia, certainly people who would never, ever, read a book cover to cover, and they have jobs varying from academic through to farming. They've managed to become literate enough to get by, and mostly use technology a lot to help them through the areas they can't access in the way the rest of us would.

I have to say, though, that in yr 7 a lot of them struggle with the researching aspect. With the h/w you've described dd would most likely turn in a page with about 3 sentences printed out on the computer in a large font, and some c&p pictures.

Sorry to derail, but your experience is really interesting, TeenandTween. Did school pick up the problem & suggest the laptop, or was it with your intervention? (DD consistently works 2 full levels higher in reading / speaking&listening than in her written work, atm we've been leaving things be as she is - unlike in primary - thankfully coping, but it isn't a great situation.)

That should say "much better just by age" and doesn't even make sense then! I meant it will be 6 years better even if he doesn't catch up, and that makes a big difference.

Balloon slayer - and will he get a reader / scribe when he gets a job?

• well no but a) he will have matured by then and his reading/writing will be much just by age and b) if reading/writing are not his strong points he will most likely choose a job where they are minimal.

Unless the homework is actually a reading or writing assessment, he absolutely should have help with reading and writing. How can you assess someone's mathematical ability, for instance, if they can't read the question?

He needs help with reading and writing of course. But WHILE that is being addressed he needs practical help so that he can access the rest of the curriculum. In lessons a general (ie not 1-1 to him) LSA will almost certainly be keeping an eye on him, prompting him to keep up, helping read the questions, checking he has understood what to do etc, checking that when he is trying to research, (to use your example Christenings) he has typed the correct spelling and is not collecting pages of research on Christ rather than Christenings, finishing off his notes if he can't keep up and the class is moving on to the next part of the lesson, and so on. For homework that role falls to you.

I don't know then. My DD has always been (over) willing to ask for help.

If he's not willing to ask for help / take help then maybe he needs to learn the consequences of doing it wrong?

OK, something's going on here, because a 4b reading and writing he should be easily able to access the secondary curriculum.

So either something dodgy went on to get him a 4b, or it is other things coming in to play.

DD1 is now in y11. In y7 she had quite a lot of 'research' style homeworks and she struggled with all of them as she was unable to identify the 'important' information, and then unable to 'order' sensibly. I just had to help her with them.
Over time we also found that she was performing much better verbally that writing - it's as if physical writing takes up so much brain processing that there is nothing left over to actually think what to say. Since y10 she has used a laptop and will do so for her GCSEs and is much improved in some areas now.
Now in y11 we are awaiting a ?dyspraxia assessment.

Interestingly, DD1 got on OK in primary (finished on a high l3 for writing and a l5 for reading). Many of her difficulties were 'masked' at primary level. e.g. she struggles to sequentially follow instructions, but at primary that didn't matter as she could just look to see what her neighbour was doing. You can't do that with homework.

I know that his writing needs to improve, but we came to the conclusion in secondary (having battled throughout juniors) that writing should be treated as a separate skill, and not allowed to get in the way of showing her ability in responding to questions in History, RE or whatever.

What if he typed things? There is/was a good free program on the BBC website that DD1 used to learn with.

It doesn't matter if he won't get a reader/scribe in employment... He needs help now, and you need to give it to him, and force the school to do the same.

I'm sorry to hear your son is struggling, that can't be easy for anyone involved.

What would you like for him? You say he's struggling to read and understand certain words, doesn't need an LSA but struggles to write more than a sentence. Something isn't adding up.

It sounds like the issue isn't the clarity of handwriting, is it about knowing the words to write?

As a secondary teacher, he definitely needs an LSA from the sound of it.

If he struggles as you say, he will be entitled to a reader/scribe in exams.

You need to be his reader/scribe for his homework. You need to help him with his homework just like every parent does when it's too hard.

You read the homework to him. You help him research Christenings. You write down his ideas. He copies your ideas into his book. He doesn't get a detention.

In Year 7 parents are supposed to supervise homework, make sure it is done properly, help and contact the school if it is too hard.

I don't want to sound harsh but from what you say you don't seem to be giving him any practical help with the homework, just letting him fail at it - "he wrote one sentence. Very badly. And he doesn't understand why he got a detn for not doing it." - and getting detentions, then wringing your hands. Help him with it! Or put a note in with it saying "DS tried but his literacy is not very good and this hwk was too hard for him - this is all he could manage."

What were his year 6 SATS levels?

I do have a great deal of sympathy - been there and got the t-shirt - and fought against a quite unhelpful system.

My sons is lucky in that he is very bright which helped offset his issues just a little he managed to just cope.

Has he been tested for coloured lenses? My son had all sorts of issues and the common strategies (including toe to toe) didn't work. We found out in year 9 that coloured lenses helped control slightly the text movement he was seeing. He flew from that moment on.....

I think you need to push, push and push again - there are all sorts of options out there, including technology, assistance in class, (perhaps with you assisting at home). Obviously that should include interventions to improve his reading and writing, but he shouldn't be missing out on other lesson content because of his disability.

To use an analogy, if he was partially sighted, but could see some text, saying 'but he can read it a bit' wouldn't cut it.

Thankfully dd's writing has more or less caught up now, but in the past at primary while they were working on that at school they were very happy for her to dictate her homework to one of us & then we either typed or wrote it out. From my experience, if you type it make sure it is clearly labelled that it's typed from dictation by you, so they don't get all enthusiastic about keyboard skills solving all his problems.

Similarly dd's friend has a mini-laptop that she takes into school to use in lessons, they have kindles for reading to allow dyslexic pupils to read with text in the best font for them / increase text size etc etc.

Can he do the homework verbally?
ie If you (or someone) read the homework to him, could he then dictate an answer for you to write down?

I know this isn't a 'solution' to his writing skills, but it may be a way for him to show his willingness to try and to show what he can do.
In parallel to requesting appropriate intervention/support of course.

(I used sometimes this in upper primary with both my DDs).

Is he school action plus? Does he have an LSA assisting him in lessons?

What is it about the HW he can't do? Could it be differentiated, e.g use these words (with definitions) to describe xxx.

Just because something didn't work when he was younger (like toe to toe) doesn't mean he shouldn't try again.

And money will solve this, he needs lots of interventions (that all cost money) to raise his reading and writing skills.

don't think she did anything cause she wanted to see how he settled.

Well now she has her answer. Ask for HoY to set up a meeting with you, the SENCO and his form tutor, bring his work and a list of his detentions, and then ask them how they can support him. That's for them to tell you.