Scottish or English system for a 9 year old dyslexic?

[firstchoice]

Hi.

Ds is 9 and clearly has SLD/dyslexia but our LEA are refusing support..
We are at a terrible primary in Scotland which offers no support (and wont either, have exhausted all avenues). School itself is poor too. The High School (in 4 years) is good but rep is only interested in very academic kids and SLD support better but still by no means great.

I have visited a number of small Middle schools in Northumberland.
They seem fantastic.
They are stuffed with books, ICT, musical instruments etc and
most importantly, they are keen to help with any (potentially diagnosed) SLD.

sorry, posted too soon...

does anyone have any experience of whether the Scottish or English system is better for Higher / Secondary level Dyslexics?

I am not sure this is really about the English vs Scottish system - I have seen a significant variation in approach and level of support in all of the state schools close to me that we considered for severely dyslexic DS. The important thing is to speak to the schools and find out who they support someone with dyslexia - esp if DC does not have a statement. Things we took into consideration were whether the support would be provided from Day 1; do they withdraw DC from lessons to give them extra help; do they make you do a foreign language; has the SENCO team had any specific dyslexia training. Good luck with your search.

We are in England by the way...

merlot - yes, I agree there will be a considerable variation in support.

But in Scotland there is far less legislation requiring schools to offer support for SEN / SN so if you end up in a duff school there is no legislative path to take to try to encourage them to behave 'properly' as it were.

That has been our experience in Primary anyway.

The Middle school I just looked at had a high number of ANA's all 'trained in dyslexia' (though that could be a half day course for all I know). Barrington Stokes books in all rooms, alphabet and diagraphs in all rooms, some rooms had visual timetables too, plus awareness of fonts / background colours etc. Children with issues are taken out each day, I understand, to do both small group and 1:1. Only thing that worried me was: Latin for 1 year, then French for two, then German for one.

I have no idea of the comparisons at Secondary level though?

That school sounds great - except for the languages. My DS is struggling with English, so a foreign language is a non starter. Maybe they would withdraw them from one of these classes for the extra support, it would make sense rather than missing another lesson.

I am not sure that you actually get much legislative support in England, for what its worth; my DS wasnt given a statement (the LEA Ed Psych actually said that if he started throwing chairs around so could 'add' behavioural issues to his dyslexia he would qualify!) but it didn't really matter as neither his primary or his catchment secondary had any meaniful provisions for dyslexics with statements, let alone without.

hi again.
Yy re the languages - he needs to manage English first!
They seem sensible enough to use that time for extra support though.
We have a dx of ASD from an English senior nhs Consultant from a London teaching hospital. But they 'wont accept' it in Scotland

My ds is NOT the chair chucker 'type' - he is the rock in the corner and sleepwalk type, which gets less help as he is not a 'problem' in class

I managed to get help for my DD in yr4 after knowing there was a problem since reception. I fought tooth and nail but everything i done they diagreed with. As soon as we got a new headteacher she pulled us all in who's kids saw the SEN teacher and listened to what we said. Help was arranged and over the year she has done amazingly well and bridged the gap with help from outside agencies. They identified what was wrong with her and put in place tools and lesson to help her with outside help coming in for 2 hrs per week. She no longer needs any help.

The school had well below the average no of kids registered with SEN and sounds exactlly what yours is like. People who had tried for a statment were given them with support from the school if they needed them after the overhaul. Im in the NE

I almost moved my daughter to a school with a far worse ofstead report but who had a higher no of SEN kids registered as i figured she might get the help she needs, i would have left the eldest in yr6 where she was. I spoke to the headmistress of the other school who actually rang the new headmistress who hadnt been there long and unbeknown to me had already identified there was a problem in the school. I don't know where i would be now if she hadn't took over, shes been fantastic

Corey - I have pm'ed you.

x.

I much prefer the Scottish system to the English one - experienced both. DD1 is moving up to (state) academy after the summer holidays, DD2 is being assessed for dyspraxia, and is moving to a private school (P4) because her primary school is doing nothing for her. She is supposed to get learning support for her handwriting, but in the last 2 years, she has had one term of learning support..... for numeracy. I don't know how she would fair in an English school, but I see where you are coming from in wondering if it might be better

ive replied Firstchoice, im much further south than where you want to be but i would definately try the local boards or special needs boards on here, i had 2 lovely posters who helped me apply for a statement and gave me advice which was solid and helped me understand a baffling system and informed me what i should say to the school

As a family, we're quite involved with dyslexia associations. Have you contacted them? There should be one that covers where you live now and one for where you're considering moving. Not only can they help you access support but they should be able to give a relatively balanced opinion on where better support is available.