Is this a Learning Difficulty?

[ampere]

Bear with me here, pls!

DS2 is almost 11 and in Y6.

Literacy has never been his strong point! He's not a keen reader and is by no means 'fluent'.

I have mooted the idea of dyslexia on several occasions but the schools, 'good' though they've both been, won't run with it. At the start of Y5 an in-school test gave him a SATS score of 3 which alerted them to an issue (he'd been in this school since Y4). He was given 10 1:1 one hour lessons to help him but I don't think they were well targetted, tbh. They omitted the 'score prior to testing' and 'score after testing' bit altogether, for instance.

Anyway he's been going to KipMcGrath for a year now which is possibly helping, but his big issues are a) comprehension and b) being able to put thoughts and ideas down onto paper in a coherent way.

Yesterday he had some school homework along the lines of 'imagine you've been asked to write a short piece about yourself for a school year book. It can be your best memory, your proudest moment, your most embarrassing moment!'

Anyway, what he produced- well... it was barely understandable! I got him to read it back to me and he kept stumbling (because what he'd written didn't make much sense) but he just blundered on through.

e.g. my mots embrassing moment was wen i was in last year and she said i had to go and do it i said no. I went over then i was abuot to do it. their was'nt time i did it. then wehn it was time to go back.

...and so on.

Now, this is the thing:
IF I set (or Kip does) DS2 targetted exercises, he performs pretty well, such as exercises to put the capitals in the right place; to use the correct there/their/they're; to punctuate (albeit basically!); to connect two sentences with an 'interesting' connective; to spell reasonably.

Then set him a short writing task such as the above and he forgets absolutely everything, like he's done none of it before. Every time.

IS there some sort of 'processing' problem there? Why the inability to connect the two, English exercises and then writing stuff down?

Incidentally, comprehension is a bit of a disaster, too:

'Susan sat on the scorching wall as the hot sun beat down on her, the earth beneath her feet was dry and baked.'

Q: What season do you think this story is set in? Why?
A: Um.... Could it be spring? (looks for affirmation in my face) no, winter!

What do you think?

difficult to say from your post but he's clearly not internalising his learning based on what you have posted
Have you spoken to the SENCO at school about your concerns?

Does this just happen with written material? If you asked him the questions just verbally would he be able to give you a coherent/correct response?

Rivercat- I think he'd struggle if I read out the 'Susan' piece and asked him the same question, yes.

TBH I am thinking about bypassing the primary SENCO and going straight to the secondary's. I am beginning to feel there is some sort of 'problem' but I don't know what the correct term for it is. I don't think it stacks up enough to be classic dyslexia.

Sorry have been out. I'm wondering if maybe he has some underlying difficulties with higher level more abstract language. If he struggles to understand these sort of questions and to construct a meaningful narrative orally, then that will impact on literacy too. the Susan question requires inferencing skill, and problems there are often a sign of difficulty with complex language

I think there is is definitely a possibility he is dyslexic, as he sounds quite similiar to myself and I'm dyslexic.

I'm currently studying for my second degree, so I'm not daft, however I still am unable to write and punctuate correctly at the same time. So I write my essays and then go back through it adding the puntucation: capitals, commas etc and adjusting the text.

You should definitely raise it with the priimary school so that this information can be passed through to his secondary, but I would think that he needs to be seen by an Eductional Psychologist as it may be something other than dyslexia and the earlier he is referred the better.

But i'm no expert

It sounds to me like it could be dyslexia if you think he's fairly bright and you think he is underachieving. Bad spelling would be another sign. I got this book out from the library and found it quite useful: www.amazon.co.uk/Dyslexia-dyslexia-dyspraxia-learning-difficulties/dp/0091923387/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335111255&sr=1-1

In my experience, junior schools don't tend to "do dyslexia", especially if the child is within normal ranges (not two years behind the average). You might find that your local dyslexia branch can help - mine do a computer screening test quite cheaply.

If he would struggle to answer the question when it was presented orally, I would be thinking about investigating his language skills, both understanding and ability to express himself.

I would also recommend a referral to an educational psychologist. (I used to be one.) It would probably be relatively simple for them to unpick all the issues.