Dyslexia, private schools, sharp elbows... Is this true?

[ZeroSomeGameThingy]

Radio 4's Today programme has been talking about whether private school pupils with dyslexia are more likely to get extra time in exams.

This is entirely counter to everything I've read here - where its generally argued that only state schools do this properly.

I have never known a parent go for a private dyslexia screening test to be told that their child is not dyslexic.

Why would someone tell a school that their child had been assessed as "not dyslexic"?

Parents might go privately to an EP, to be told that their child is performing at the expected level for their intelligence. ie, that they are doing the best they can with the abilities they have. If this is the case, why would they have need to tell the school? Surely, the only reason for telling the school about a diagnosis would be because it is a positive diagnosis, and your child needs support with their specific learning difficulties.

EPs are professional people. I really don't think they are running some kind of racket!

Why should they use EP time merrymouse they already have the assessment?

Having two or more reports doesn't change anything

Because apparently private assessments are all a bit meh, they always come out positive and are a lucrative business.

If a child turns up with a private assessment that seems a bit dodgy, but still evidently has SEN, they deserve the same additional help as any other child. Plenty of parents stumble around paying loads of money looking for answers when their children have difficulties. This shouldn't mean they get less support in school.

It's only reasonable not to seek further evaluation if the private assessment seems valid.

www.dur.ac.uk/resources/education/research/DyslexiaDebateResearchBriefing.pdf You might be interested in
MYTH B: special tests are needed to identify which of these children are dyslexic and which are 'just poor readers'
MYTH D: a diagnosis of dyslexia will help teachers to select the most powerful ways to intervene:
MYTH E: a diagnosis of dyslexia should rightly result in the allocation of special accommodations (particularly in exams) and additional resources:

The Dyslexia Debate demonstrates, parents are being misled by claims that such assessments are scientifically rigorous

Additional help is very different to making an EP referral Merrymouse

coolas In the days of applying for statements our LA would demand an EP assessment so if we needed that then we would do so. If the child's needs were not that severe then there would be no point getting further assessment and as mz says, guidelines teachers are given are not hugely helpful. sorry if I misinterpreted that as you saying that if the problems were not severe enough then there was no need for an assessment or to put in appropriate support, because that is what it appears to say.

If a child is failing to achiever their potential and there are symptoms of an Specific Learning Difficulty do you not think that an EP report is useful so that pupils can be given training in coping strategies? I am not talking about every child, just that all teachers should be trained to the level of current best practise to spot the symptoms and for there to be processes in place for assessment and appropriate support. This already happens in some schools, state and private, just not in all schools. And as you highlight some teachers have very little training in Specific Learning Difficulties. Obviously resources are scarce but at the moment the processes in place for rationing them are inconsistent and too often based on ignorance / the schools needs eg to support the less able to facilitate the school achieving exam targets, leaving many very able pupils underachieving, and experiencing psychological difficulties with school.

Why is it a problem that teacher assessors have one years training? It is surely enough to train them to have a deeper understanding of Learning Difficulties, spot the signs, administer the tests and understand the different coping strategies / support that can be given. They do not produce a full Ed Psych assessment, they simply administer the tests developed by people who have had many years of training and experience in Educational Psychology and the administration of tests. My DD had two full Ed Psych reports at 8 and 16 which gave us a very full understanding of her problems and a teacher assessor administered the further standard test at 17 which the university will then use as a basis for their own support processes (which incidentally highlight just how inadequate the support given at schools is, as an example www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/disability/students/dyslexia.html)

"If a child is failing to achiever their potential and there are symptoms of an Specific Learning Difficulty do you not think that an EP report is useful" it depends what you mean by useful ... if the child's needs are such that a statement is required an EP report is needed to support the request for statutory assessment. So I would say necessary rather than useful. If the child's needs aren't severe enough to require that level of support then no an EP isn't particularly useful.

So who is deciding that a child needs a statement? Their teacher? The Senco? Some schools don't even have a Senco.

I am confused by this idea that on the one hand all these problems can really be handled in any state school and on the other that resources are very limited.

It should be a joint decision parents,teachers & child

I think there is a big difference between best practice and what is available at a particular school.

DS has a different SEN and the reality when we looked at one school was

"Well, unfortunately we are having building work so the space we would use for that group isn't there this year"

and

"Mrs X is leaving, but the headmaster's wife will be our part-time SENCO from next month - no she doesn't have any specific training yet …"

It's hardly surprising that parents take things into their own hands.

You seem to be confusing EP time with support in school

No, I'm not.

The suggestion seems to be that it isn't necessary to get an assessment for many children because support will be given in school.

Support is not always given in school.

An EP will visit the child for an hour write a report and unless the child subsequently is given a statement that is the end of their involvement. Support is what the school should provide for every child regardless of whether they have an assessment

I do know that the funding to our school for SEN is being halved.

Then I would assume that more parents will have to seek additional support for their children outside school, whether that is through spending money, badgering the LA or helping their children themselves.

Who has told you that Merrymouse?

coolas no I don't think that my experience is a particularly bad one, from the other people I know who have children with Specific Learning Difficulties in state and private schools and what I read on mumsnet (far from representative I know ) it is a fairly average experience.

It was a very positive one from the point of view that at my DDs primary she had a brilliant SEN who spotted the problem from the first difficulties with literacy and started intensive targeted intervention at 6 that got her up to average level in reading spelling and writing (albeit she is very slow, tenth percentile). She still thanks that teacher on a almost daily basis for all the tools she gave her then, but that was a rare experience amongst the children with SpLDs I know. Since then though it has been the usual mixture of teachers who really got her and those who tried to fit her into pigeon holes or were completely ignorant (one English teacher pronounced her "cured") I am sorry if I am overreacting to your pronouncement that no one comes back from a private Dyslexia assessment without a diagnosis but I have heard that one a few times usually followed by further unhelpful comments manifesting the stereotype that this is another pushy parent pushing for advantage, including once "she is just like an over exuberant puppy falling over herself all the time and putting her foot in it" ( she is also dyspraxic) the problem is that what this leaves me with is a DD who knows she is bright, and has the confidence to work hard for what she wants to achieve but has little confidence that the rest of the world will understand that.

I can only assume the EP reports you see are nothing like my DDs. They have been absolutely invaluable, both in helping my DD to understand her strengths and weaknesses and in giving signposts to how to support her. The teacher assessor report was not particularly but it was only an update. Those teachers who get her are the ones who have taken the bother to read her reports and then give guidance on her work that is actionable for her. Another bit of luck was having a sixth form tutor who is herself dyslexic and has spent hours with her helping with essay writing skills and mind mapping etc. Yes it has set in place her extra time in exams, but her problems are "moderately severe" and yet she was borderline under the new regs. However their real value has been in her personal and educational development.

I am dyslexic myself, I have achieved two Masters degrees and a long career as a senior manager and yet I can never shake off the belief I am just not that clever, my DDs at least know that is not the case.

Changes to SEN budgets shouldn't impact on children& schools with high FSM ( like mine) benefit from pupil premium to support needs