are dual exception children entitled to support in school if still doing ok?

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

just that really, if a child has a learning difficulty (verbal related - probably dyslexia to some degree and slow processing speed compared to IQ) but an IQ over 130 so is managing at school to produce goodish work then what kind of level of help can we reasonably hope to get from the school?

My own experience (on whether a twice exceptional child gets the help they need) is that it very much depends on the school, particularly the attitude of the Senco.

If the SENCO is sympathetic then your child has a chance of support but if not then average range performance will be used as an excuse to avoid helping.

A formal diagnosis helps enormously though because the disability discrimination act comes into play.

Being your child's advocate is crucial though. I don't know what happens to children whose parents won't intervene.

Its interesting what you say about L6 potential though, EmmaGS because it made no difference to DSs primary school but if he'd been a borderline level 4, then there would have been intervention groups right, left and centre!

thank you - your experiences are hugely helpful

It's also worth keeping an eye on self esteem. Again, I am reminded of the contrast between Junior and Secondary. On one occassion at Junior, the class had to write about a trip. Their work was displayed in the hall. The lower ability kids had written the place name of where they had visited and then descriptive words coming off the word. The higher ability kids had descriptive writing on display and also got to read them out in assembly. My DS had a decorated word on display. I saw his written piece and beneath the spelling mistakes was a good piece of work that was easily as good as the others. This could have been typed up or transcribed (by me if necessary) and he could have read it out in assembly and have had it up on display with the others.

In Year 7 at secondary, he was the only one in the whole year group to be picked to do a reading at a concert and he was also asked to write an article for the school magazine.

A confidence destroyer and the other a confidence booster! I am still in shock over the contrast and it makes me quite emotional how things turned around so drastically the day he started secondary.

gosh that is a big difference. the confidence is something that does worry me. If they are asked to read out in class at the moment then she is fine because she has such a good memory she has learned all the words she is likely to come across because the work is easy to her (she is very old in the class) but I can see that at some point in the future she will be asked to read something out which includes words she doesn't know and her efforts at sounding the word out will embarrass her greatly, especially when she has always been seen as a good reader.

Oddly we have just established DD isn't dyslexic! the DST a couple of days ago apparently showed no areas of concern at all. very strange. anyway I had a careful chat with DD to find out what she actually thinks is going wrong and she has now told me that she reads it ok in her head but when she tries to sound it out the sounds she makes aren't the ones she wants to. so she will sound out a word but miss out a chunk of it or a letter and then she will be trying to correct herself by saying (now - she didn't know how to explain this until this week) but I can see a g and I can't get it to come out, or I want to say t but am getting th. So I have arranged a private SALT appointment this week. I spoke to the SALT and she said to her it sounded like it could be a specific word retrieval problem or some other language disorder that I can't remember the name of. hopefully we might now be on the right track.

It's brilliant that you are doing all these investigations. Hopefully all the jigsaw pieces will come together and everything will make sense. Finding out about DS was money well spent and when everything clicked into place it was a great relief. We thought he couldn't have dyslexia because his reading was too good and teachers suspected ASD for several years which proved to be wrong. Wish we'd found out the truth sooner as it would have saved a lot of worry.

You say DST which I am guessing means screening test. DS had a school screening test for dyslexia which he passed. I think a screening test is only a screening test as opposed to a proper full assessment. DS was assessed by a student dyslexia assessor and she said that he was the most difficult case on her course.

yes it was a dyslexia screening test abbreviated to DST. It was the only one we seemed to be able to get privately when I looked into it. Although I have just done the questionnaire for the SALT and that includes a section on dyslexia and dyspraxia as well as speech and language and other things so hopefully they will be able to investigate whatever it is.

I agree, the earlier problems can be picked up on the less it impacts on the child.

Hi, I know this is a slightly old thread, but wanted to say that the Dyslexia Screening Test is not good with high intelligence children. My son passed the DST three times over three years before finally being fully assessed and getting the diagnosis of high intelligence and specific learning difficulty (dyslexia), he also has AD(H)D, too. The AD(H)D is associated with an speech and language issue too, as since the ADHD has been dealt with, the speech and language issue has improved significantly.

Being duel-exceptional can be difficult, we are fortunately in a great school who are very supportive.

thanks willitbe. so she could still be dyslexic then which fits with what I personally feel.

I don't really know where to go from here. poor kid. Life must be pretty frustrating for her being told her writing is too messy and she has to redo things etc when she has a visual problem, hypermobility and what appears to me to be a compensating dyslexic and if it is possible to be a compensating dyspraxic too.

Try a google on "stealth dyslexia" if you haven't already.

thanks gardenfeature - yes that is what I genuinely feel she has but I assumed the screening test would still pick up on it, sounds like I might have been wrong.

Don't wish to hijack but just to add my pennyworth in..

I have followed this discussion with interest, and when i googled Stealth dyslexia it felt like the author was specifically writing about DS in parts.

Is it the same thing as DME/ dual or multiple exceptionality, which is what I know ds to be?

My own experience is if the school doesn't want to make provision, then they won't (e.g. Ds's primary school) and if they do want to, then they will (e.g. DS's secondary school). If there is a way of convincing a reluctant school to help, then I never found it.

I did my very best but they just kept batting me away with talk about how he was in the normal range, for somethings and top for others. If I pointed out the gulf between his verbal ability and knowledge and the quality of his written answers, the teacher would revert to the traditional, first line of defense i.e. apply the pushy parent rebuff.

Anyway, I tried everything but got nowhere with the primary school. On the other hand, secondary school were interested in the various specialist reports, did their own tests and enthusiastically took up the baton from there. Its a relief when finally you begin to realise that the school is on the same side...

hi dalziel - yes I feared as much. I will keep plugging away at the school though, perhaps we will be lucky? if not then I suppose I just have to be grateful that she is bright enough to manage anyway really.

agreed, zzzzz, but it gives rise to the question: how is an "adequate education" defined? Is it to a certain level of knowledge and skill or is it a certain amount of progress?

If it is progress (which I suspect it is), then does this mean that both young Einstein II and bottom-decile-IQ-child, should both expect to progress at the rate of exactly two national curriculum levels in their last four years at primary school??