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Parents of bright dyslexic children...

34 replies

swedishmum · 16/07/2007 21:01

.. please let me know how your child is doing at school. I have some big concerns about the move to secondary. Would also love to know how private schools approach teaching dyslexic children. Obviously not looking to start a fight...

OP posts:
Christywhisty · 28/03/2008 15:15

I have been very fortunate. Ds has is in Year 7 and thriving. His CAT scores put him in G&T but his writing he just scraped a 4 by 1 mark whereas everything else was a high 5.
He is top set, top class for everything except maths and english, in which he is 2nd class.
His english teacher says although he does have problems he is in the correct class, because his comprehension and vocabulary is very good. They are keeping an eye on him and he is on the SN register.
We don't have any grammer schools round here and he is in a ordinary comp, but he did get in on an aptitude for technology.

swedishmum · 29/03/2008 12:59

Ds was 4B writing and reading in practice sats they did a month or so ago - apparently working at that level pretty consistently though gets 4As in reading tests pretty often. Vocabulary and comprehension are excellent (on Ed Psych test was 98th centile for VR) but doesn't look great down on paper. I'm using some Ros Wilson ideas to get him to produce a writing portfolio showing how he can refine his work (HT's idea for appeal) - can't hurt him anyway even if it means extra work for him.

OP posts:
JudgeNutmeg · 29/03/2008 13:29

I just wanted to ask you if you had heard of the Inspiration 8 software that many schools use with dyslexic pupils? It is a program that helps children and adult learners plan their work visually with mind-maps, image linked word docs and various other tools. It is really easy to use and you can get a 30 day free download by googling Inspiration 8.

I am a mature student, my boys go to a private school with an attached specialist dyslexia dept and we all enjoy using this software. I use it to plan my essays, I make a mindmap and then add to the branches to develop my ideas and 'see' where I am. My boys use it for their homework, they plan out their work and can see very clearly a begining, middle and end to their work.

Hope you don't mind me butting in.

fizzbuzz · 29/03/2008 13:33

And they would put him in bottom set for English? That is outrageous. In fact I think it is almost criminal.........

At my school English is taught as mixed ability, and they get outstnding results......

swedishmum · 29/03/2008 14:51

Makes me so mad! Thanks JudgeNutmeg - off to google it now.

OP posts:
Copper · 09/04/2008 03:48

My son fits this bill exactly. He is nearly 16 and has never had any help at secondary school ('good' London comp).
After his primary school denying that anything was the matter for years, and him getting increasingly unhappy we took him to the Dyslexia Institute at Staines at the end of Year 5 - to find out that he was not stupid as he thought but in the top 2% of the population in IQ terms.
He got level 5s for science and English, high level 4 for maths. Secondary school said no help needed as he was coping, although they did put him the G&T group.

He did pretty well at school by working hard until he got to about Year 9. Not very well socially as he tended to have one friend at long intervals and they all left, one after the other. In Year 9 he made friends with a group of bright boys but I think by turning himself into the clown - and his work suffered, but I was pleased to see him getting more socially able.

Year 10 and 11 he started out with predictions of all As in 11 GCSEs. I hadn't wanted him to do so many - his sister did and it was a nightmare of stress. BUT the school were completely unhelpful. He wanted to do triple science - loves science and is really good at it. The damn school said that the only way he could do all 3 was to be in the stream that did 11, and that he had to do a language - if he didn't do the language then he wasn't bright enough to do 3 sciences.

Here we are just before GCSEs in Year 11 and he has voted with his feet - failed to complete coursework in 3 subjects and is supposedly focussing on the 8 that he needs to go to 6th form college. But only today we had a massive row about revision ... and his likely results are down from A*s and As to Bs and Cs.

Looking back, what would I do? Fought harder for him not to do so many - I still underestimate the amount of stress being dyslexic causes him. Been much more aware of the perils of coursework, and more in touch with the individual teachers about what he had to do and when - basically he lied to us and got about 6 months behind in certain subjects. One teacher called him lazy - but for me it was all bound up with the dyslexia and the kind of self hate we had way back in Year 5.

Can a gifted dyslexic child succeed in an ordinary secondary school? If they have huge reserves of determination, and if you help them better than I was able to. Try to get the school to focus on their actual needs - 8 good GCSEs - rather than just fitting them on a one-size-fits-all track. If they have an idea of what they want to work towards it may help.

If we survive GCSEs I'll let you know ... He still has very low self esteem, and thinks himself a failure. The trouble with knoiwing that you are very able is that it sets the bar very high - but the dyslexia is still always pulling you back. I still try to push him to do too much. Huge rows about it all. Wish I were a better mum .....

ScienceTeacher · 09/04/2008 08:10

Answering the OP, at my independent school, we have teachers come in from the Dyslexia Institute. They do 30-minute private sessions with the girls, once or twice a week. Most of the girls who do these classes are usually able to give up in Year 9.

frogmellow · 19/02/2015 09:48

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Flybynight18 · 02/04/2016 20:39

Ok my son, studying medicine at Uni, has just been diagnosed with dyslexia. Just think he could have had extra time for his GCSEs, A levels and UKCAT. Apparently not unusual at Med school. Masked by high IQ. He was reading from a v young age but never really excelled in English and languages.

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