Lanyard round neck to help spelling - opinions please

[biddles111]

Could do with some opinions please... My dd is in Y2 she is just about to turn 7. She has been treated as having dyslexic tendencies since Y1 (always told no formal diagnosis would be given before 7).

Today she came home with a lanyard that she has to wear around her neck with key words on it and her surname (which she can't spell). This is to 'help' her and apparently she has to wear it all the time. I have never heard of this before and to be honest am somewhat uncomfortable about it. I am concerned that it will put a stigma on her to the rest of the school and my logic follows that if she can't read these words how will it help her spell them?

The school have not spoken to me about it and before I request a meeting I just wanted to get other peoples, views and reactions on whether this is a positive learning tool or a terrible confidence breaking thing to do that just singles her out to everyone else as struggling.

Has anyone else come across anything like this? Thanks

Apart from the reasons you've stated, lanyards are are real safety risk as they can get caught up and cause choking. I wouldn't have my child wearing one.

I would worry that the lanyard was a choking hazard.

Have a word with the teacher to find a safer way for your dd to transport her key words. eg a wrist purse or something.

Sounds cruel to me. Might has well give her a dunce hat.

I would have thought that a laminated "work mat" with key words on would be more useful, since not only will be she able to copy/check words from it but others in the class could have one too with reminders to use connectives/capital letters/stop sniggering etc. thus making it less of a stand out thing. Less chance of being strangled with it too.

My son has a laminated work mat at school as souperb says.

I have at home made him little wristbands with some words and phonic sound cards on, but he only wears them at home or sometimes in the car, he is a fiddler, so he likes them but I would not be happy with him wearing a lanyard at school, do the other children all have one?

Sounds like a terrible idea for reasons you and others have said. I also can't see how it can be terribly practical - unless she is a contortionist. A laminated mat on the table that she can refer to easily makes much more sense.

Absolutely dreadful, for all the reasons already given.

I know that learning to spell English is very difficult for most children, and exceptionally so for some. That's why teachers come up with all sorts of ideas for helping children cope.

This one is ridiculous.

Listen to your heart - I wouldn't allow the school to do that to my child in a million years.

I would be most unhappy with that. I love the idea of a laminated word mat - goes off to buy a laminater!

I would refuse this. A child at a nursery near us, aged 4, died after becoming tangled on a slide with something similar around her neck.

There are much more productive ways for the school to assist her with spelling than this!

Something like this on her desk or in her reading book
www.thedyslexiashop.co.uk/high-frequency-word-bookmarks-phase-2-3-4-5.html

The lanyard does sound dangerous.

Thanks for all your thoughts, they have really clarified that I don't think it is right. The work mat or bookmarks are excellent ideas and much more appropriate. Will now speak to the school about it - wish me luck!

Good luck!

She'll only be wearing it when the class is writing! Why on earth would she need to spell when she's playing outside? Misunderstanding here obviously.

The OP does say that she has been told that she has to wear it all the time, Fanny?

I agree that it is pointless. I've done keywords, sounds etc laminated and taped to the table where the child sits before which seems a bit more discreet.

When I said all the time I do think it is all the time they are in class and assembly etc I presume it will not be in the playground. However I am still concerned that someone could pull it or it could get caught in a drawer etc which could hurt - I hadn't thought about until the points were raised her.

My main concern is still around stigma and its usefulness - I am going to speak to the school on Monday so will let you know what they say.