Possible dyslexia and reaction of SenCo, confused and annoyed. WWYD?

[VinoEsmeralda]

I'm not the best in converting thoughts/conversations to paper but will try to give a neutral picture of current situation.

DD is in Yr2 and last year her teacher (NQT who is v young and IMO lacks empathy and is rather cocky, am not alone in thinking this but has made improvements this year) referred her to the SenCo but couldnt tell me why just that he thought she was not making much progress. She started of as a confident happy girl but very quickly lost confidence.

Possible thoughts of dyslexia but no intervention or extra 1-1 support was offered, other then the usual strategies with low ability groups, as DD was so young ( July baby) and it might level itself out which we were happy with as both are DC are immature or slow starters academically.

Fast forward to October last year, Senco felt she was making sufficient progress and no need for further meetings. Both me and DH disagreed and it was agreed we would meet again in March.

She has made more progress and her confidence has grown a lot. I have pushed hard to get her in a teddy talk time group and we have been doing lots of (fun) work at home. We read every day, use Nessy and generally try to link this to subjects taught at school. SenCo said she was pleased and I again disagreed, teacher agreed with me this time and said he spent a fair bit of time with her and the amount of input she had she should be at a higher level and SenCo said there was likely to be a mild form of dyslexia and now comes the part that really annoyes me.

She will not get any extra support as the level is not severe enough, said dont bother to get her tested as school is aware of the situation and ensure good handover to make transition between classes easier for her. Possibly get her tested so when she goes to secondary she has 'the label' and teachers will have an understanding. She would try and ensure she wouldnt slip through the net but couldnt say what these were.

I just dont get it! So dissapointed, have we shot ourselves in the feet but doing so much to get her to this level? She still struggles with number bonds up to 10, is on New Way reading scheme on the green band.

What are your thought? Would really appreciate feedback if I am overreacting or (as I am currently planning) to take this further.

Apolgies for long post!

"I think it's the 'dyslexia' tutors who are the charlatans."

Ouch Indigo - that seems a bit sweeping. I tutor quite a few children with dyslexia (as well as other difficulties). They've all ( so far) made really good progress. I don't think I'm a charlatan! Nor do the parents of the children I teach.

Sarah - you're not a charlatan. You teach children to read. And that's all you claim to do. I havent heard you call yourself a dyslexia tutor.

But you don't help with their dyslexia at all. They leave you with most of the difficulties (slow processing, working memory problems, auditory and vision problems) that they came to you with.

All you do is help with reading. That is not helping them with their dyslexia.

For example, after 3 years of tutoring at dyslexia action kensingtonias DD can read, and is doing well at school - but she still has dyslexia and struggles far more than she should.

A dyslexia tutor ought to improve processing speed and working memory and things like that which are causing the child huge problems. But they don't.

If a child leaves you still hindered by their dyslexia - then you haven't helped them with it.

But I'm sure you're excellent at getting children to learn to read.

Well, I think processing speed and such can sometimes improve as a child practises using something like Toe by Toe, but you are right, it isn't what I claim to do and I don't clam to "cure" the dyslexia. I do teach them to read, write and spell.

claim even!

Mrz - I don't find those counter studies more convincing than the original study they are trying to disprove.

They certainly haven't been done as a response to the original study. Ie they haven't tried to reproduce the original results and failed, or pointed out flaws in the original study. All they've done are different tests (which dont seem very valid) which they claim as counter proof.

I think there is any consensus, at the moment, amongst the academic community about what the cause or causes of dyslexia are. Which is fine.

But that means noone on this board can know that the Cerebellum deficit theory is rubbish and that therefore neurodevelopment therapies are rubbish.

And being rude about therapies that are helping children is, well it's just plain rude.

But it's worse than that. Being rude about alternative therapies makes it just that much harder for people to access these therapies that work. And that is why I get so agitated about these negative comments which aren't substantiated or backed up.

Indigo I'm not convinced either but that's where the bead threading comes from

Mrz - did you read (or skim read - it is a bit long) the original article I linked to.

It really is very interesting and fairly convincing. ( as a theory about what the real cause of dyslexia is)

As you know I have tried an awful lot with my DD, and there is absolutely no question that the work we have been doing on improving her cerebellum (ie Tinsley House) has been far and away the most effective.

School are also very impressed by the changes in DD and DS. So much so that we are now trying similar stuff (to improve the cerebellum) with other children in school next term.

We're doing a brand new experiment that no one else has done before.

So by July I'll know a lot more about whether or not improving the cerebellum helps children with dyslexia.

.Or rather I'll know whether the limited stuff school can do is enough to help children. I already know that Tinsley house works - but obviously school can't give kids multivitamins or change their diet. So what we're doing at school is a very limited subset - but what we are doing is definately going to improve their cerebellum.

Wish me luck. Imagine the implications if it does work.

I'm in a Durham school so you know we conducted the much maligned fish oil trial and other alternative therapies.

I only know about the fish oils and the free meals for every child.

What other alternative therapies did you try?

(when I said we can't give the kids multivitamins I meant that would cost a lot of money, which would make the intervention not so attractive)

mrz the trial you mention used eyeq didnt it?

That is not recommended by TH because it contains DHA instead of just EPA. EPA is what struggling cerebellums need, not DHA which the body can produce itself anyway.

Also, the study you refer to was - IMO - started far too late in these kids school life to have any impact on their GCSE results (which was the point iirc?)

To make the sort of differences indigo and I are seeing you need to be doing;
intervention before Y6 if possible - in Y1 ideally!
good diet/more protein
good supplements - high EPA, zinc and mag
neuro exercises to stimulate the cerebellum
vision therapy if needed

www.durhamtrial.org/index.htm

the tablets we had in school weren't branded Becaroooo so I can't comment on whether they were the same as eyeq or not. The trial took place in Pre school and Primaries

www.durhamtrial.org/pre-school%20main.htm

www.durhamtrial.org/primary%20results%20new.htm

Indigo

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16971411

We also fund Sensory Integration therapy, Therapeutic Listening programs etc as a matter of course

Interesting thread, very good input!

I have 2 dyslexic sons, and they are dylexic in a very different way.

DS 1 was 2 years behind with literacy in y2 when we had him tested. He is 9 now and has caught up for reading ( years of practice), but really struggles with spelling. He has a very very poor short term working memory. So he cannot even copy a word of the board, IYSWIM. It is quite hard to really understand how this is possible in an otherwise intelligent enough child. The senco is quite good though and we spend more time at improving his short term memory (mainly through games and activities) rather than just trying to learn spellings. I still feel progress is slow, but I guess this dyslexia will be with us for a some time and it is all about small steps. oddly he has great kinetic memory, so is great at karate and dance and playing and instrument, as he can remember moves really well, just not words. It is fascinating how the brain works, and what people' strengths and weaknesses are.

It always upsets me when boys like him are referred to as thickos or dim kids, on MN and ( less so) in real life...

I hope we will all find effective ways of helping our DC.

OP, you will have to keep fighting your corner, as the simple fact is that nobody cares as much as you do, and everyone has their own agendas and time constraints.

I do think it is particularly unfortunate for dyslexics to have English as a first language, as it is one of the least " logical" and phonetic languages out there ( am teacher of English and Spanish and German).

An important thing, imo, as well for dyslexics is to find things they are GOOD at, otherwise life caeb such an ordeal for them. So find their strengths, in oir case DS is good at chess and dance and karate, and that helps his overall self esteem. I think promoting a dyslexic's self esteem is important, as they have to cope with not doing well at English and finding school tricky at times.

Mrz - that's amazing that you do retained reflex therapy (primary movement), sensory integration therapy and therapeutic listening ( which is fairly similar to AIT) as a matter of course.

All stuff that Becs and I had to pay for.

All stuff that wasn't recommended to us.

All stuff that various MNers have been pretty horrible to us about.

And your kids get it. For free. without their parents even having to think about it.

Wow!

No wonder your school gets such amazing results.

It truly is a postcode lottery.

but of course it's bad science Indigo

Wish my kids went to your school mrz !!!

chandon you have hit the nail on the head...for me its all about repairing my sons self esteem which has been badly damaged by his dyslexia and the abuse and name calling you mention. Its not about him being the best in the school/class/year, its about him being the best he can be and fulfilling his potential.

I think thats what we all want for our kids, sen or not.

mrz Ah, its not the trial I meant, sorry!

Chandon - you are so right about self esteem. My dyslexic DD is very good at art and considered G & T, also good at music and singing - we have tried to encourage those and look for opportunities for her. Now she is nearly 13 she does realise that other children have academic skills that she hasn't, even though she tries hard and is in the top class. One brat constantly tells her she is stupid, but the other kids are generally interested and the teachers generally supportive. Even so I find I am constantly looking for ways to help her overcome her difficulties by use of software or adaptations. She is lucky that she has aptitude in the creative field and I think she is likely to eventually work in that area.

Indigo and Becarooo, I think there is an obvious link between diet and brain function. I often wonder if DD1's stammering was provoked by her refusal to eat as a young child; interestingly my Mum developed a stammer during the hunger winter in the Netherlands during WW2 when she was malnourished, maybe the genes are only activated or not activated under certain circumstances. I don't think the onus is on you to try and prove the underlying reasons why your kids are being helped by TH. Perhaps the exact reasons cannot be proven yet. I was reading a journal at the speech therapy centre which talked about a study which had identified a faulty gene in some stammerers which had nothing to do with speech or language function and it postulated possible reasons why this was. As mentioned previously, I had acupuncture for a nasty disease. I was cured, the acupuncturist explained his methods in terms of traditional Chinese medicine - I knew it worked - he knew it worked - even the professor at the hospital acknowledged it worked, it didn't really matter if it wasn't explainable in terms of western physiology or brain chemistry.

kensingtonia Thats the issue isnt it? Proving it in a scientific way or at least in a way that appeases the scientific community....sigh.
We know so little about the brain and its functions...laughably little really compared to other organs in the body!

I am glad your dd has found things she is good at/excels in. For ds1 - he is good at maths and history. We are off the northern france at half term to view battlefield sites of WW1. Like you we try to encourage his interests where we can and boost his self esteem at home.

DD wrote a whole birthday card without a single spelling mistake!

She wrote

"Dear Sam.

Now you are nine I hope you stay cool.

From DD"

Those of you who have been following my story will know what massive progress that is.

I'm really happy :)

Well done! bad science or not that's a huge leap forward!

Often children with dyslexia do not get the help they need till they see a educational psychology or get statemented (often children have to wait till year five until this happens). The best thing to do is to do as much as you can at home, have you tried the book "toe by toe", it's excellent (as part of my teacher training i helped some dyslexic children with their reading, and toe by toe helped them come on in leaps and bounds). Contact Dyslexia Action, they are an organisation they know everything there is to know about dyslexia, they will know what help you are entitled too and could refer you to an ed psych if needs be.

Here is the link:
www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk/

Until Y5?

Well that is the stage they wait to in the borough i was working in, haven't worked in any other borough, so can't be sure if this is common practice or not.

We put in support as soon as it is obvious there is a problem usually by the beginning of Y1 we don't wait for labels which is just as well as my LEA doesn't recognise "dyslexia" as it is such an umbrella label.