Question for SENCOs re: dyslexia

[LoopyLucyLoo]

If you were presented with a profile of a yr 3 child with above average IQ (130) and most intelligence markers (verbal reasoning, auditory processing etc) above 90% yet working memory and processing speed both below 25% would this mean anything to you?

I'm asking as the SENCO at my son's school says this information means nothing to her and I'm trying to figure out if I'm being a bit unfair in thinking she really should understand this information. My son has been diagnosed as dyslexic, but the school don't agree with the diagnosis. Despite the Ed Psych's diagnosis to the contrary, according to the school SENCO, "he couldn't be further from a child with dyslexia".

Any views?

What are you going to do next, Loopy? School does sound a bit dire. Could you appeal to the Head Teacher? That worked for us.

Try doing a Google on "Stealth Dyslexia" or "twice exceptional" or "dual exceptional". Secondary school has been way better for my son - Junior school couldn't grasp it!

Ds has never been formally diagnosed but got extra time for gcses.
He is similar to those on here, reads well, high IQ, but has organisation problems and can't spell.

Have just read all the posts on here. It all rings true for my DS too. Top 1% verbal reasoning, bottom 6% phonological processing, terrible writing and spelling but reading age above average although still 5 years behind what it should be based on last tests at Dyslexia Research Trust. Junior school had him placed on the bottom table. He's now in Yr8 at Secondary and they have been much much better. I get the impression that Universities are even better at recognising and helping. There was a great recent thread on here about how these kind of kids had really taken off at Secondary as the emphasis shifts from the 3 R's and they are able to excel at other things. My DS is now in top group Science and Group 2 English, despite probably having the worst Writing Level in the Class. His Speaking and Listening Level is probably the highest. Secondary School "got him" from Day One whereas Junior School never ever "got him". I think that it has helped him to have the Dyslexic "label". He knows that there are lots of positives to being dyslexic and that there are lots of successful dyslexics out there. If anyone laughs at his spelling, he has a ready reply.

My experience is the opposite, secondary did absolutely nothing to support my son. In fact they put obstacle after obstacle in the way and refused to follow any of the EPs advice. As I said earlier he was moved from the top group in maths to the bottom when the EP report identified him as dyslexic (even though he had achieved a high level 6 in primary).

School have been the same Niceweather, they got ds from day one. Ds has been in top sets all the way through secondary. Now taking maths,further maths,physics and philosophy for a level. Plus extra engineering and Latin gcse. They have always been very supportive and he has an engineering scholarship for 6 th form.

That's terrible Mrz. I hope you are able to get him out of that bottom maths group.

It's so brilliant to hear stories like this Bruffin - it's heartwarming and fills me with optimism. What a clever chap!

Do you mind if I ask if you chose secondaries specifically because of their attitude to Dyslexia?? Very heartening to hear at least some of you say it improves at secondary. DS is only yr 4, but as we're inner city, we do have a bit of choice. I haven't even begun to look into it all yet, but maybe should.

We hadnt realised DS school was actually available to us until the last minute. It was miles away with lots of schools in between.
We found out it took 10% on aptitude for technology so decided to have a look.
DS walked in and said that this was the school he wanted to go to
The maths department was lively and fun.
I had a chat with a teacher in the english department and she was so helpful and went off and got me lots of work sheets for ds.
He was in second class for english and his teacher said to us dont worry he is in the right set as he has excellent comprehension skills.

All I can say is that he has thrived there. He could have probably got better gcse results if he hadnt been dyslexic ie a few A* instead of As. He doesnt do well in MFL and he got caught up in the AQA english gcse problems this year, but got a C but should really have got a B.

But I think the most important thing was the pastoral care and the wonderful Head who apparently is dylexic himself, but didnt know that until after ds started there.

Thanks bruffin. We'll just have to look around. Makes a massive difference if there's a dyslexic Head, I'm sure. Yours sounds like a great school.

Our Head is dyslexic too!

Can't be a coincidence, can it. DS's primary's good and that's all down to a teacher there being dyslexic. Maybe we should campaign for more dyslexic teachers.

I seem to recall a recent thread complaining because the teacher was dyslexic!

Junior school in particular seems to be almost exclusively about spelling and punctuation. As you progress, the emphasis shifts more to content.

Niceweather, thank you so much for pointing out the articles about 2e's (stealth dyslexia). Its a great way to get an understanding about these naturally talented children that still need support to reach their potential.

Thankfully ds's primary did sort of recognise him as 2e. They said to me that they gave him extra help because he was so obviously intelligent and his writing was a long way behind the rest of him. His writing was just below average. He just scraped his level 4 for writing by one mark in his sats, but his comprehension was a 5b. His comprehension score pulled his overall english up to 1 mark off a level 5.