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Parents evening! knee jerk reaction or sound reasoning

13 replies

thedomesticgoddess · 02/11/2011 13:44

Whilst my daughter who has just started year 5 is just scraping in at National Expectations for Maths and Comprehension, her literacy is well below and indeed is at the level of a year 2 student. Whilst we are happy with her being "average" (and nothing wrong with that might I add) in the other subjects we are concerned at the lack of progress in Lit. We have worked with the school on supporting at home with additional reading/spellings/word games etc but now feel that the school needs to take a realistic view to support my daughter more fully in the time that she is at school (6 hours). Does anyone out there know of any strageties that schools have put in place for their own children? I know that there is a large cohort of children underachieving generally in the school and resources/time are stretched anyway.

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IndigoBell · 02/11/2011 14:44

Loads of 'strategies' have been put in place by my school.

None of them work.

If your child has bad dyslexia, there's nothing school can do about it.

(Besides get your child a readier and a scribe for SATs :( )

Is she not on the SEN register? Does she not have an IEP?

RosemaryandThyme · 02/11/2011 15:05

Oh Indigo is there nothing that works ?
Or maybe there are things that work outside school - I rcall a documentary recently about a famous actrss (young girl, was in something like eastenders I think) who had some coaching to help manage her dyslexia - would be interesting for you to watch OP - good luck

IndigoBell · 02/11/2011 16:59

Yes. There are loads of things you can do outside school. And we're working our way through them. With some success.

But there is nothing that school can do.

Feenie · 02/11/2011 17:44

If she was a 2b writer in Y5 at my school, she would have an IEP and would be involved in a writing intervention - the usual intervention in Y5 is FLS (although she might be a bit below the entry level for this). I use [[http://ks2phonics.org.uk/SwSInformation.htm Success with Sentences in Y5, which I've found very effective.

For children with dyslexia, we give one to one daily phonics practice.

What are the problems - is it dyslexia, or is she not writing enough, or is what she writes immature?

Feenie · 02/11/2011 17:45

Tsk - link again

RedHelenB · 02/11/2011 18:28

Disagree with Indigo, your child should be on an IEP & should be getting appropriate support. You need to push for this if it isn't being done your child deserves to progress as much as any child.

mumofboy · 03/11/2011 05:41

If she's dyslexic she needs some intensive phonics support. A programme like sounds-write would help.

nooka · 03/11/2011 06:02

If she is effectively three years behind on her literacy then the school should be doing a great deal more than giving you a few things to help you support her at home. She needs to be assessed to understand where she is struggling, and proper structured support (with an IEP) to match her deficits. There could be a variety of reasons she is struggling, including not being taught very well if there are lots of children under performing to this degree and bugger all help given.

My ds's school didn't help him with his dyslexia, but he was at that point performing averagely. They said unless he was two years plus behind he wouldn't get anything (despite the fact he was quite disruptive by then, and had behavioural support in place). But three years behind is a major issue and he shoudl be getting help.

Do you have any ideas from her as to what she finds difficult? Is she a good talker? Is her writing very bad as well as her reading? Any attention issues or memory problems? Does she understand instructions (do you have to ask her to do things repeatedly, that sort of thing) does she say that the words swim around when she tries to read, or is it the code (decoding, blending etc) she's struggling with? Has she had her sight and hearing tested?

We sent ds for some synthetic phonics tutoring (Sound Reading System as recommended by maverick here) when he was about eight and it really turned things around for him. However if phonics is not what your dd is struggling with it wouldn't be the right approach for her, which is why you really need to find out where her weaknesses lie.

IndigoBell · 03/11/2011 08:28

It's a myth that you get extra help if you're two years behind. It's what some schools say to parents if their child is one year behind.

But you can't get a statement for being two years behind. And support at school action kicks in as soon as school notice a problem.

cory · 03/11/2011 08:44

You can have an IEP and get extra help without a statement: my ds has. Not a myth at all.

Wellthen · 03/11/2011 09:12

School action varies hugely. If there are a multitude of kids on level 2 (does happen, not always the fault of the school) then 1 specific child won't be a priority. But yes in most average classrooms (where most of your children would be 3as, some lower some higher) she would stand out and should be recieving support.

There is no real formula like 2 years behind = action. You cannot generalise your experiences with your children's school across the whole of education. The statement process is more regulated but again is individual. A child could only be a little behind but have a statement for physical, social, emotional and so on.

It confuses me that so many people assume she is dyslexic. I have taught many children who are behind but few who are dyslexic (yes accepting the fact that some may simply have not be diagnosed yet). Dyslexia is a spectrum of specific difficulties with reading and writing, very different to just a general slower understanding.

OP: what the teacher say? I can;t imagine she said 'X is a level 2 for writing' and then just moved on? She probably didn't go into details about the support she gets in class because she might think parents would be bored or confused by all that - this doesn't mean she isn't gettting support in class.

If you aren't satisfied with what she said I would certainly go in. Simply say that you think more should be done and you're supporting the class teacher in that. Often the teacher is crying out for resources and the SENCO or Head won't give them the time of day.

Go see the SENCO but keep the teacher informed at all times so she doesn't think you're "telling" on her.

IndigoBell · 03/11/2011 12:13

Cory - the myth is that you need to be 2 years behind to receive support.

You receive support and an IEP at school action much quicker than that. I'm sure they didn't wait till your DS was 2 years behind to give him an IEP. You can be not behind at all and be on an IEP and receiving extra support.

But there is a myth on this board that being 2 years behind means you qualify for a statement. Which you don't.

thedomesticgoddess · 04/11/2011 10:33

Many thanks for all your reasonings on my issue. My Dd is not dyslexic though I did pose this a couple of years ago when in year 1 I noticed she was not making the progress that I had expected, we had her ears tested and she was suffering with her hearing and had grommits inserted. She only had them in a year and then had perfect hearing. Flagged this up with school so they were aware and the need to go back a few steps with her for phonics refreshing and word sounding. This I believe is where the problem lies and school are aware of this - though due to lack of available support (as mentioned large co-hort of underachievers in this class for varying reasons) I don't think the support has been intense enough.

I will look into the Sound Reasonsing System suggested by Nooka as this seems to be the right area and will discuss further options for school.

Many thanks to all on this discussion, I can move forward now with some definate strategies.

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