Adhd and dyslexia undiagnosed

[OneCoolMintMember]

If a Child has undiagnosed adhd and dyslexia do the school put things into place even though not officially diagnosed or do they only have to do this after a diagnosis. Son year 9 just thinking along the lines of sensory breaks, extra time in exams etc .

Have a look at your local authority Ordinarily Available Provision. It should outline everything they do without an EHCP.

Schools would not just make provision by saying a student has undiagnosed anything. What they can do is address the specific needs that a student may present with.
Regarding access arrangements for external exams, they most likely would need a diagnosis. Why have you not pushed for an actual diagnosis?

Yes, they do put things in place if they think they're needed. My Yr10 son's school have identified he has learning difficulties though he has no diagnosis of anything specific. The school also assessed whether he'd be able to have extra time in exams. He won't get extra time but, as they've found he can write faster/more with a laptop, they've given him one to use in lessons. He will be able to use it in exams because it's now his normal way of working.

It really depends on the school. Our DD was finally diagnosed last year with ADHD, but had a report outlining other diagnosises and possible ADHD but unfortunately it was not taken on board so for all her time in secondary she has struggled to get support. New Senco has finally taken action and things are improving. My advise is to at least start the process to get him assessed so school have to take things seriously

Is he on the special needs register? My son Y9 just got an ADHD diagnosis and paediatrician said he had to be added to SEN register and that made a huge difference - he now has a keyworker and a written plan detailing his adjustments that is circulated to all his teachers, which had input from us, DS and the SENCO. We’ve had meetings for years with tutor/HOY without anything changing. You need to get school to acknowledge his difficulties whether through an official diagnosis or their internal assessments. Waiting time from school referral to NHS assessment in our area is 2 years - we went private as we could see if he carried on into GCSE years without support it would go badly.
You shouldn’t need an EHCP - the first portion of special needs support comes out of school SEN budget. EHCP only needed if a child needs a high level of support (a 1-2-1 member of staff, for example)

There are different levels of SEND in schools, and it encompasses children with/without formal diagnosis. For example, we have students who are identified for SEND support because staff/parents have reported concerns over slow writing, difficulty reading, mental wellbeing etc. These students have an action plan and staff must be aware of their needs and how they will meet them. You can speak to your SENCO and ask about it, hopefully they will be helpful.

School do not need a diagnosis to provide support. This would advantage children with parents who can afford a quick private diagnosis. They will support needs where these have been identified at school. Difficulties do arise when parents and school disagree on the child's needs and the level of support they are able to offer.

They should give support, but don't always. It's been a huge fight for us and other parents at the school, due to a catalogue of utter cockups, including teachers not believing that DD has her diagnoses, constant detentions for being distracted, being told she's writing too slowly (this happened to others too), dyslexic children being told off for struggling with spelling etc. And that's kids WITH at least one diagnosis.

I belong to a group for parents of ND children locally and it's a universal issue. Very frustrating

Oh and being told she can't have ADHD because she's a girl FFS. She's the poster child for ADHD

I haven't pushed as this information about him struggling etc only came to light last Thursday and his school closed on the Friday for half term. On the Friday I rang to speak to sendco and sent her an email and I also had a Dr's appointment for him on the Friday. Believe me now that his teacher has mentioned it I will 100% be pushing for a diagnosis. I have mentioned things over the years to other teachers but they have always said no he is fine just his personality etc not struggling.

It sounds as if it is very new information then. In our area, a diagnosis for adhd takes about two years unless you are willing to pay privately, and a dyslexia diagnosis is only available privately. Hopefully the sendco will be able to advise you once school reopens after half term.

@OneCoolMintMember what finally got us somewhere was the SENCO sending a Round Robin questionnaire to all his subject teachers asking about ADHD traits. When they ALL said he was inattentive then they started the ball rolling for assessment. He’s never caused enough trouble to come to their attention really, just muddled along not doing very well and constantly in low level (forgot my pen, dog ate my homework, late to lesson, not completing work) trouble chipping away at his self esteem. We’ve been aware of an issue since he was 8 but it’s been a struggle particularly at secondary where he is one of 300 kids in his year - HOY tends to never have met him, tutor has been a revolving door of temporary teachers. SEN register has made a big difference in terms of having someone responsible for making sure the adjustments happen and medication has been transformative for his concentration. We just had a whole term without a single behaviour point.
So I would ask SENCO to speak to all staff who teach him re difficulties to get a full picture, add him to SEN register, get ball rolling on assessments, do a dyslexia screen in school.