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Dyslexia? Dd (6th form) really struggling with written essays

66 replies

Plifner · 05/01/2017 17:00

Her sentences are garbled, she puts in random words. Her history teacher has told her that she definitely has some sort of issue Sad She's in the 6th form. Could she be dyslexic? It's heartbreaking, she works really hard.

OP posts:
Bitofacow · 07/01/2017 10:59

OP long revision sessions are not good for anyone.

Get some flip chart paper and coloured pens. She draws a nice big mind map and then it goes on the wall, her bedroom, the kitchen, the hall. When you meet in the hall do 5 min fun revision sessions with her standing with her back to the flip chart/ mind map. This is a 'fun' thing to do because you want to understand more about history.

aaahhhBump · 07/01/2017 11:05

Hi Plifner I am back in education after 10 years and halfway through course. You've said your daughter already has a lap top but it might be worth accepting one from the school due to the support software. I has made the last six month so much easier for me. Can't remember the name but it masks the screen or line I am reading in an easier to focus on colour. It also reads out documents I have written on need to read. It spell checks based on sound and context not just what letters are used and there is an option to here the words. Also any hand outside are printed on coloured paper not just white. I have permission from lecturer to record classes. Also find you tube videos very helpful as therequested are can be a few different ways of explaining a subject.

You don't need to pretend to be dyslexic to get a laptop. Most further education services have a loan out service based in the library.

Bitofacow · 07/01/2017 11:12

aaahhhBump good point about the colour.

OP does your DC have a background colour on her laptop? She should play around with different colours. A visual stress assessment only takes 15 mins and the school should be able to do it. I bet if you search online you could find something. All my computers have a lovely pale blue background.

Bitofacow · 07/01/2017 11:12

Dd not DC - auto correct gah!

whathaveiforgottentoday · 07/01/2017 11:16

I've sent 2 students to be tested for dyslexia in year 12 and both were diagnosed. They had done well at GCSE and were very bright but they struggled at A level. I think it most most notable that they could answer verbally but their written work didn't reflect their verbal work.
One student received an E grade in his first exam in year 12 and after diagnosis went on to get a B and saw him a few years later and he was working towards a 1st a uni in biochemistry so clearly very successful. He was very grateful for the diagnosis and it clearly made a very significant positive impact on him.
Also, I have a number of students using laptops in school and exams mainly due to poor handwriting.

Bitofacow · 07/01/2017 11:19

whathavei I could weep with relief that there are teachers like you.Smile

sashh · 07/01/2017 11:33

Many many people are wrongly diagnosed as dyslexic at university to access a free laptop

And how do they pass the tests that examine the superior skills dyslexics have?

How do they know which tests to do better on and which to do worse in?

TeenAndTween · 07/01/2017 17:09

OP. I'm wondering whether if your DD did more formal essay planning she might get on better. From my experience when DD1 attempted history GCSE, the answers didn't need to be all that long. So maybe your DD was able to 'hold' the whole answer in her head for GCSE, but perhaps now she is doing A level she is needing more complex answers and getting lost?

So mind-mapping / bullet planning essays before she writes them, ticking off the points as she covers and develops them, may help? Also that may stop her bunging in any old info, and instead ensure all info is relevant?

Everytimeref · 07/01/2017 17:23

My daughter is dyslexic and her tutor is concerned she wont achieve the grade she has worked so hard to get because of her inability to spell key words whilst completing her 10 hour assessment.
It seems so unfair.

Bitofacow · 07/01/2017 17:31

Everytime she needs to realise what words she consistently fails to spell correctly, then choose 10. No point trying to learn everything, she can't and won't. Then with her chosen 10 use a variety of techniques to focus on those words, post it's, read-look-cover, saying them out loud, words in words whatever. Never in big chunks of time, lots of 5 mins.

Don't make the mistake of her getting them correct and assuming she now knows them, they will slip away.

She needs to remember what she spells well and use those words. My vocabulary is significantly more limited when I have no spell check.

If you can make her mistakes 'some' rather than 'frequent' she might move up a band.

semideponent · 07/01/2017 17:38

What does her RS teacher think, Plifner? She must be doing a lot of written work for that subject as well.

The reason I ask is because History A level uses quite a lot of specialist vocabulary and concepts. Some teachers build up to it slowly, others go straight in. When you're thrown in at the deep end, it can be difficult to get your head round at first. Is it possible that accounts for some of the random vocab and the garbled sentences?

That said, I would definitely get the SE possibilities checked out.

happygardening · 07/01/2017 17:45

Plifner Ive PMd you.
Bitofacow my DS has been continuously and repeatedly been let down by education. My head aches from having spent his entire school career banging it against a wall stuffed with basically couldn't care less teachers. Over the years Ive been stunned by how negative they have been about him.

Bitofacow · 07/01/2017 18:10

happy been there lived that.

But, but, but being dyslexic can really be great you see the whole of the flower and make links poor non dyslexics struggle with.

Now we have the wonder of modern technology - God bless you spell check- once you are at work you do have an edge.

My son is dyslexic I consider my role is to support him and make him want to learn because learning is fun despite rather than because of some teachers.

The dyslexic advantage is you look at things differently so embrace that. DON'T try to learn like your friends with 4 hour study sessions, be positive about 20 min power sessions. You just have to get your head in their right place. It only took me 40 yearsGrin

Plifner · 07/01/2017 18:50

Thank you happygardening I am pleased as that was somewhere we were considering for dd - it's quite near us!

Dd has also been let down despite paying for years of private education thinking a smaller more personal environment would be good, her last school was utterly dismissive of her and didn't even bother to ask why we were moving her to the local state!! State 6th form have been great but it is very academic and I think she is trying to be too clever too quickly.

OP posts:
overseasteacher · 10/01/2017 11:22

Hi
Sixth form is late to be diagnosing dyslexia, so your daughter must have managed very well up to now! My daughter was also diagnosed in sixth form, but only because her younger sister was(is!) severely dyslexic, so we ran the tests "just in case".

The only real advantages of a formal diagnosis would be extra time in examinations and, possibly, additional funding at university: -my younger daughter received an hour's tuition per week, plus voice recognition software which enabled her to dictate her essays then edit them on screen. My older daughter was provided with a Dictaphone for her lectures because she found listening and taking notes at the same time particularly challenging.

Needmoresleep · 12/01/2017 10:00

OP, our experience is very different to the facts asserted by mrz.

DD was diagnosed at 7. She was a good reader, but suddenly put in the remedial spelling set. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders when the psychologist told her she must have been working very hard to be doing as well at school as she had been. From the outside it simply looked as if she were simply more academically average than her friends and sibling. Tests every three years with different psychologists, have produced very consistent results. Her processing speeds are even lower than HG's son (MN stealth boast?!) but this has not prevented her from getting a good crop of A*s at GCSE and a place at medical school.

She wound up at quite a selective/academic school for sixth form, where it was not unknown for Yr 12 pupils to be diagnosed. The extra demands, particularly in humanities, were enough to challenge existing coping skills. I understand the same can happen at University.

Get your daughter tested. Find a Psychologist who will sit down and go through the results with her. The dyslexia probably means that skills in other areas have improved. My daughter has a fantastic aural memory and retains a lot from class, and her visual/facial memory is extraordinary. She is lucky to also be a competent mathematician/scientist.

Then you need to work out how to fill the gaps. So we sent DD on revision courses for her English GCSEs so she could be drilled in exam technique. She knew her stuff but had to be practiced in getting it down on paper. We gave her lots of exposure to French and German (dyslexics can be good at understanding and speaking foreign languages, reading and writing is the problem - so she needed the headroom). She took more than three A levels, as she can normally be guaranteed to misread at least one question, and in the event needed the wiggle room. She revises differently. Succinct revision guides are good, not least because, to GCSE at least, they allow for oral testing.

It was important that her problems were flagged up to teachers. Some had been quite confused by the disparity between her class performance and exam performance. In class tests she was often marked on what she got down and allowed to finish the rest of the test after class. She was often given hand outs at the start of class, or a neat note taker would be encouraged to be a study buddy, so she could photocopy the notes. With slow processing speeds copying from the board is near impossible. She used a lap top up to GCSE, but less so with science A levels. Her A level grades correlate to the amount of reading/writing involved, and probably not to her mastery of each subject. She did try various softwares, but for science, writing was less important. She tends to perform poorly on aptitude tests, which can be as much about speed as aptitude, but makes up for it in interview.

She is taking a gap year, in part because she knows she will have to work very hard at University. She expects new challenges, but at least both she and the University will be able to respond early to any problems.

At 11+ she had a prep school head who did not "believe" in dyslexia, and took her poor CAT results as a sign that she would not be able to cope at an academic London day school, and should head for "country boarding". Our instinct was that she should have the same aspirations as her friendship group, all nice purposeful and fairly academic girls. And individual subject teachers said similar. Luckily her secondary school was very supportive of dyslexia. Thinking differently is a strength as well as a weakness, and there is no reason why she should not make a useful contribution to her University and profession. Not least because she is where she is because she has resilience, flexibility and determination.

Good luck!

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