Teacher using the B - word.

[Cabanabar]

My sons Geography teacher has upset him by calling his handwriting ‘bad.’ Son is very dyslexic, has an EHCP and is in Year 7 of a mainstream boys school. Truth be told his handwriting is pretty illegible due to his difficulties with spelling and punctuation, but I feel he needs encouragement from teachers not this kind of negative language. The school has an intake of over 40% EHCP kids, if you’re wondering why I sent him there. I thought they would be more sensitive to issues surrounding dyslexia. I am thinking of making a complaint to the Head. AIBU?

As he has EHCP, has he been assessed by an OT?

DS has pretty awful handwriting. He was assessed by an OT in year 10, a couple of years before he went on to get an EHCP.

The OT tested his speed of handwriting and flagged that he had hypermobile fingers, so his writing slowed and he had a considerable amount of pain on long writing tasks.

Recommendations were that he had handouts for all lessons and that he used a laptop for all written work and exams.

I'm sorry, why have you switched to talking about your child when I was talking about the OP's, who might have put no effort in that day?

Given the amount of funding that schools would need to ba able to put exams on to either and online or computer format it isn't going to happen for a long time yet.

If you are going to get your child to use a laptop, for god’s sake please also get them a touch-typing course and AND MAKE THEM DO IT. They are often no better or quicker at typing on a traditional keyboard than they are at handwriting.

Honestly his hand wring is bad. You know it and he knows it. He is in year 7 not year 1 and it's absolutely time for teachers to be frank with him about his strengths and weaknesses. It's for his own good.
The head will not take that sort of complaint seriously nor should they and you're focus should be on helping him develop strategies around handwriting or laptop use not complaining because a teacher stated the obvious.

In a secondary school, as I understand it, work to improve handwriting/ provide assistive technology would not be the responsibility of each subject teacher, but of the SEN department or similar.

So the most productive way forward would be to contact the SENCo and say ‘subject teachers have mentioned poor handwriting, which may be / is a feature of DS’s condition.l (not all children with dyslexia have poor handwriting, so this could be dysgraphia or dyspraxia, which he may not (yet) have been diagnosed with) What can you do / what can be written into his EHCP provisions to either improve his handwriting or allow him to use a laptop or other technological solutions?’

I thought it was going to be 'bollox'. So disappointed.

In a secondary school, as I understand it, work to improve handwriting/ provide assistive technology would not be the responsibility of each subject teacher, but of the SEN department or similar

Or....

Teacher speaks to SENCO and says "I've noticed this pupil has poor handwriting, what can we do to help them improve?"

My child has bad handwriting due to problems with muscle tone .however she can also have worse handwriting due to not being arsed to put effort in sometimes!
So if her teacher told me her handwriting on Monday was bad it's because her teacher knows she can do better (if you get my drift 🤷‍♀️)
I wouldn't be going to the headteacher I'd be having words with my child.

I assumed your comment was based on the OP's problem, not your own.

You have zero idea of how hard the OP's son was trying on this particular day.

It's possible the teacher knows he can do better with more effort.

I thought dyslexia could be a reason for difficulty handwriting?

@Clyderog I totally agree.

I was thinking either "Bollocks" or even worse "Boris" !!

Are you sure his school has 40% EHCP students? The national average is closer to 3%...

bitchin' - adjective
ˈbi-chən

“Waddup junior? Hey! Yo writin’ be lookin’ bitchin’ today!” 🔥

If his writing is illegible then it is bad so how us the teacher supposed to mark it or your son to revise from his notes. Surely a work round should have been discussed by now such as you providing laptop etc.
My son is also severly dyslexic and has echp. He cant write fast or spell so he tries his best in class and his TA takes notes then will help him correct his notes.

What was the context and what did the teacher say exactly?

My grandson's handwriting is atrocious so he uses a tablet for exams etc.

If his writing is illegible then I would say that pretty much defines ‘bad’ handwriting. The answer to this is not to sulk and complain and bring the teacher down. It’s to expect your son to positively seek support and try his hardest.

That’s the difference between acting like a parent to help your son improve, or being a dick to a teacher who probably has already had enough.

I do agree with this. Why can’t it just be bad? That’s what someone in the real world would describe it as. He surely knows it’s bad? How can he improve it if someone doesn’t point it out to him?

The word was Bad?

Get a Grip of Yourself

Jesus H Christ

You're right. The teacher should have described it as "differently legible" and marked it as totally correct. Make sure they put a note for his GCSEs to make sure they do the same. I'm sure the examiner will understand.

Then in the real world, I'd look and see whether he's had a particularly bad day or if that's normal for him. If it's normal for him, then approach the SENCO and request that he's assessed for using a laptop for lessons and exams. Ask the teacher to support your request and use it to show that he needs the assessment.