Really worried about Dd's education.

[Vixxxen]

Dd is nearly 7 and is currently in Y2.

She was just flagged as dyslexic not long ago and the school (which is a state school in a deprived area and rated outstanding) is doing some individual work with her for spelling and general literacy but improvement is slow.

She is also struggling with maths to the point that she struggles with the 0 and 1 times table and counting beyond 10. She can do it, but I think (?) it should be instant knowledge by now, she should do it without even thinking really (?). Correct if I am wrong.

We do what we can to help her academically at home, but we are not teachers, not have experience in teaching. We do our best but we don't have the techniques iykwim.

I also can get a bit frustrate at times but I try hard not to show and I am working on it.

So I am wondering if I should consider a private tutor for Maths at least or invest in some form of online tutoring?

Also feeling guilty about not spending more time studying (pushing) dd at home.

She has swimming and ballet lessons two days a week and lots of play dates. She also plays a lot all by herself, comes up with her own games, write and compose songs and poems, and loves arts and crafts, is very good at drawings. I let her watch TV too but not too much.

We are in London and I make the most of the city, we are always out and about experiencing exciting activities etc.

Also should I start worrying about secondary school now?
And what can I do to prepare her into getting in a good secondary school (I don't see how we can afford private).
We are in the border SW18/SW19 area in London, should I start thinking about moving to a particular area?
I don't understand much about UK school system.

TIA.

If you can afford a tutor for Maths and English, especially one with dyslexia experience, DO IT. I speak as the mother of a DC with dyslexia that couldn't afford a tutor.

Her math sounds a bit behind. would dyslexia cause that?
tbh, I have a gut feeling this isn't down to poor teaching, there's a more general block going on. Getting a tutor would just be more of the same that isn't working. You need to understand better what her actual blockage is.

Your DD sounds delightful, creative and imaginative. Those are qualities that will become more important as she progresses through education.

Dyslexia is the term used to cover problems with literacy and a lot of people, including sadly teachers, do not appreciate that pupils can suffer from a range of difficulties and in fact it is rare for any two pupils to be the same. The term Specific Learning Difficulties is now more widely used and covers all the learning difficulties that are usually covered by Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, dyscalculia etc. you can only really appreciate the range of problems your DD has with proper testing preferably by an Educational Psychologist. This provides more information www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/schools-colleges-and-universities/what-are-specific-learning-difficulties.html The advantage of an assessment is that you not only gain an understanding of the problems your DD faces but also her underlying ability and her potential, as well as advice on support and the coping strategies she can use. Schools should be able to access a proper assessment but the resource isn't infinite and it often takes a lot of pushing. The level of awareness of SpLDs is sadly patchy in schools. A lot of parents resort to getting an assessment privately but that is expensive , around £450 here. You could also approach the various charities for advice. Beware there are a few sites that are disguised as charities but are actually marketing their particular approach. The BDA and Dyslexia Action will both provide objective advice.

However learning Times Tables is something a lot of Dyslexics struggle with. I had a very formal education, got good grades in Maths at school and university but I do not have instant recall of tables. I have a poor working memory and processing skills so remembering and retrieving information quickly is difficult for me. However your DDs problem could point to another underlying problem, with recognising numbers in the same way Dyslexics struggle with letters.

I am afraid that having two daughters who are Dyslexic means we have had to work hard at home to enable them to achieve at school and I have at times had to be pushy, but hopefully tactful, to get them the support they should have. One of my DDs had intensive intervention at 6 to help with letter formation reading and spelling and she and I spent a lot of time at home practising and reinforcing what she was learning at school under the guidance of the SEN teacher. They were using a particular programme. She says she uses what she was taught at that time, the phonic tools etc. every single day (and she now has offers to read English at good unis) Of course you should be our spending quality time as a family but I would say that it is worth putting in time now in collaboration with the school, or a specialist charity.

Sorry forgot that you specifically asked about tutors. There are tutors out there that specialise and are qualified to teach pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties but they are like gold dust and you will need a word of mouth recommendation or via a reputable charity. The problem is tutors don't even need to be qualified teachers let alone with specialist knowledge of teaching pupils with SpLDs and they can do more harm than good, trying to persevere with traditional teaching methods that just don't work for those with SpLDs.

There is also an SpLD called dyscalculia that is to do with maths. My son's girlfriend has it. He has dyspraxia. They both go to a performing arts school and a lot of the kids there have a SpLDs and are also extremely talented singers/dancers/actors and artists. I think it is important to let kids excel in areas that they are good in. My son will never be particularly academic but he is very talented. His grandmother (my MIL) is dyslexic and she is also a professor! So you can also be extremely academic with a SpLD. Just support her in areas that she needs and encourage her to develop her strengths.

was she identified as dyslexic by the school staff in a test so they are using the techniques to help her or has she been seen by an educational psychologist? If she hasn't seen an ed psych then I think you need to be asking the school about this. It may well be she is dyslexic but also has another problem be it discalculia (is that the correct name) or a processing problem of some sort but she would need to be seen by a specialist to identify this. If she has seen an ed psych then I would assume these things will have been ruled out (unless I completely misunderstand the role of an ed psych). I would make an appointment to speak to the school SENCO and see what they can tell you and suggest.

Dyslexia wouldn't cause problems with maths as such although it could make learning tables more difficult. Both of mine (6 and 10) are dyslexic and both "get" maths although they might struggle with reading the questions. Maths difficulties can be a separate problem Dyscalculia as PP said.

There are things you can do at home for dyslexia - a good structured phonics programme like Bear Necessities or Dancing Bears (depending on how your DD is progressing) will help - its just 10 mins a day but it can make a real difference
www.soundfoundationsbooks.co.uk/

This might give you some pointers for the maths
www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/schools-colleges-and-universities/dyscalculia.html

Yes, she was assessed by an Educational Psychologist and I met them before the assessment and voiced my concerns regards Maths.
But reading the report, it mentions dyslexia only and some recommendations for the school to work with Dd differently towards her spelling. She has now the normal spellings that the other children get for homework + 3 more on flash cards .
For what I can understand, the teacher are not expecting her to memorise the homework spelling but the flash cards. Once that is done she will get more spellings to learn.

I will have a look later at all the links and incorporate more formal learning into the day.

Thank you all.

So do you have a report that sets out for you her difficulties? You should have been given the results of tests which help you understand where her test scores are in relation to the rest of the population. If there is a gap between where her verbal and non reasoning scores put her in terms of ability and where her eg spelling reading and writing, working memory and processing scores are, you will know where she is struggling. They should only be giving her spellings to memorise if she has a good visual memory, one of my DDs learns that way but has a really terrible auditory memory and has to have lots of support at uni with getting technical notes down in lectures, but the other had to be given the phonic and decoding tools because she would never have learnt spelling through flash cards. She also struggled with learning colours and numbers and times tables but not the logic and although Maths isn't her strength she got an A* at GCSE. If your DDs problems with numbers are to do with memory there are lots of strategies you can give them to help, indeed DDs taught me a few!! Your teachers may be doing exactly the right thing but in my experience so many teachers do not understand SpLDs you do need to become a bit of an expert on your DCs problems and the teaching methods that work for them.

BASIII

Subtests Skill tested **Percentile score

Recall of digits forward Immediate auditory memory **69th (average)

Recognition of Pictures Visual Memory **34th (average)

Recall of digits backwards Working memory **73rd (average)

Matching letters like formsVisual discrimination skills**8th (low)

SpellingSingle word spelling**18th (below average)

Wording reading Single word reading **39th (average)

It was recommended individual and small group support and high level of differentiate work and specific strategies to help develop spelling skills.

Now ate Y2 she functioning at 1a/1b across the curriculum.

_Continue with her IEP/provision map on school action plus

_Continue with reading support 2x/week with a volunteer

_ Continue with literacy booster small group support 4x/week

_Reading ruler

_Flash card on tricky words

_Weekly handwriting practice at home and at school

_Maths support (100 number square/numicom/concrete material for counting/number lines/maths symbols on flash cards

_Continue with numeracy booster on small groups

_Deal with untruths by correcting Dd and swiftly moving on (I voiced my concerns about her lies fantasies and she did say things that aren't true to the Educational Psychologist.

_Specific spelling support:make an assessment of first 100 words then use cumulative spelling programme to teach targeting spellings.

_Continue praise to ensure self-esteem is maintained.

One question: Do dyslexic children go on the SEN list?

They should do, Vixxxen, if the school is on the ball. You need to remember that the SEN list is not some kind of black list that students have to take with them into life: it is simply a memo to the school that this particular student needs a particular kind of support.

We have similar lists at university (though then the information is provided by the student and only if they agree to it): it would never stop us from considering a certain student for e.g. postgraduate studies; it is simply a reminder to the relevant staff that you have to organise x type of support.

I'm not an Ed Psych but this report and the implications should have been explained to you. With weaknesses in visual memory it wouldn't hurt to ask why they think flash cards will help? my DD was taught letter formation by endlessly practising forming the letters herself with fingers or pen, and sounding out phonicly, then we built up to phonic combinations and breaking words down and up. These are the tools she is still using. She now has lots of strategies to help her memorise things, she uses mind maps that hang the information on conceptual skeletons her mind can use as keys, sometimes she will even park information in parts of the room and go visit it physically, or highlight in different colour codes. She long ago stopped attempting any sort of rote learning. Another thing that has helped has been being a drama queen, she plays big parts and plays are basically big mind maps that have helped her with her memory skills.

However as I say I am not an Ed Psych but if you cannot get good explanations from the school then perhaps consult one of the charities?

I think it is great if she is in any sort of list that might attract some extra attention to her learning. I don't mind her being on the SEN list at all. Believe me, I am not pushy, far from it, but she really needs help.

e.g.: Today Dh asked her to look at the clock and tell the time, he has been trying to teach her for a while. Dd couldn't do it (the clock just had the 12, 3, 6, 9 numbers) and we ended up having to remind her how to count and add...first she was convinced that number 6 was number 9, than she couldn't jump count in fives, she got as far as 10 and didn't know what came after, she couldn't answer what was 10+5...than I asked her to count on her fingers and she said she couldn't because she has only 10 fingers, so she can't do 10+5 with fingers...than I explain that she doesn't need to count 10 because she already has this figure, she has to start from 10 until she gets to 15. So I show her my fingers and ask her to start counting from 10 and she goes 12, 13...totally missing 11.
By the time I correct this mistake she is already unfocused, making jokes and trying to get distracted because she knows she isn't getting it right.

Honestly ladies, is is too hard for a Y2 child to figure out?

I suspect it is not only dyslexia but the ED.P didn't pick up on anything else.

However I am convinced that she is definitely more excitable, boisterous and energetic than the majority of children out there. This can be good sometimes as her friends always have a blast when playing with her since she is so funny but sometimes it is very difficult to make her come down. She gets over excited about the smallest things.

And yes shooting I asked the ED.P for a meeting once the report was done so we could discuss the results but I haven't heard from her yet. Maybe I need to go se SENCO again and ask them to translate the report to me.

Another problem is that DH isn't bothered so I worry alone. He is also dyslexic and had an awful time at school. He keeps repeating Dd is ok and she is clever. I tell him, yes she is but she needs help to learn some stuff as she is not self teaching at the moment and the traditional methods aren't working. He is burying his head in the sand and I feel quite frustrated.

I feel guilty I haven't done enough or I am not doing enough.

No specific knowledge of dyslexia, but some general comments regarding maths:

Neither of my DD's learned to tell the time until y3/y4. In y3 there were homeworks regarding this and clearly many could not yet tell the time at that point.

Does the school use number lines for maths? They are a good visual aid. Maybe stick to maths with visual aids before pushing too much on the purely mental. Maths is a lot about understanding the concepts and confidence. If you push too hard on mental stuff before she is ready it could be counter-productive. DD2 has really only 'got' mental maths now in y4.

DD1 has 'poor working memory' and tbh still struggles with mental maths now (y10) as she just can't hold the numbers in her head. But her written maths is coming along quite nicely. (For y6 SATs we viewed any marks on the mental maths paper as bonus marks as there was no way she could do most questions in the time limit).

Thanks, very reassuring teenandtween