Can't decide whether to move DS to a different school

[StuntNun]

DS is coming to the end of year 2 and has got quite far behind the rest of his class due to recently diagnosed dyslexia. In September he will be going into a combined years 2 and 3 class of 18 pupils but his school will not be able to provide any one-to-one teaching to help him to catch up. His current school is small (

speaking from bitter experience and from making too many mistakes, too many moves, I would say leave him where he is and do reading at home with him
My daughter had a reading age of 8 at the beginning of secondary and is now doing her GCSEs and predicted A B and C.
IME the most important thing at primary is getting on and being part of a group.

I would leave hime where he is. if you move him to bigger school, he is unlikely to be the only one who needs extra help. the amount of 1:1 time he will get with this one special needs teacher is likely to be minimal. She may well be the senco so this makes her responsible for planning for children with sen but probably not for one to one. In a class of 30, the teacher will be dealing with behaviour issues and the otehr children with extra needs and you will probably find he has less attention. At least in a smaller class, the teacher will have more time for him and there is likely to be a TA attached to the class as well. If you think he is very far behind and needs 1:1, it might be worth considering applying for statutory assessment as a route to getting a statement and some additional 1.1 support for your ds.

I would leave him because, with a class of 18, he is likely to get more attention on a daily basis, rather than having to share a teacher with 29 other kids and only getting 1:1 for short slots.

If you know they can offer more support ie they have committed to how many hours 1:1 then I would move him.

Why would it be difficult to reverse the move if it didn't work? Or do you just mean you wouldn't want to move him again?

Um, aren't the school obliged to provide extra help...? Any teachers out there who would know?

Also contact your LEA as there should be info for local dyslexia provision.

His current school have said that he isn't a priority and they won't have funding for him to receive extra support until September 2015. He's year 2 and already two years behind. I don't know whether with his dyslexia he will be able to catch up and keep up or whether he will always need more help than most children.

I would move him! I am a fan of bigger schools. In a bigger school you are more likely to meet people "like you" which can be a huge positive for anyone even slightly "different". The extra trained support would be a real bonus.
Moving a child too often can create issues, but one move for a better school is fine.

You really need to find out if there is a child with similar needs in the new school and speak tot eh parents. Some schools are very good as saying they will do things to help but the reality can be very different.

Be careful. My school has a full time 'special needs teacher' and they haven't once ever worked with any of my SEN children. It's the Senco who is up to her eyes on paperwork and only ever leaves her room for meetings with the EP. I'd stick with the school with smaller class sizes.

Have you been assured that he'll receive help at the new school? Assuming he hasn't got a statement, children at my school get time with a SEN teacher but it may only be for 3x20 mins per week.

Be careful. It may not be as good as it seems.

If you move him and the support proves less than it seems, would you still be happy with the new school?

Would you be able to afford a specialist tutor to support him right now?

The new school seems so much better. The distance is the only thing that puts me off. It seems daft to drive five minutes rather than walk five minutes.

If the new school seems much better then go for it. tbh we choose a school with small classes and are now thinking of moving to one with larger classes because support isn't just about numbers. Have you also contacted your local dyslexia association? They might be able to offer an opinion on the different schools and/or offer additional support to help you outwith school.

we choose argh chose, we chose!

I teach year 2. I would stay put. I agree that the senco won't spend much time (if any) with individual children.

I would ask the teacher at his current school to provide overviews of what they will be studying at school and follow up at home.

A smaller class will be much better and your ds will be supported generally in a group.

Have you been given any levels? How do you know he is two years behind?

I wouldn't look at whether there is a SENCo but what the support is exactly. My son has dyspraxia and dyslexia and was two years behind at the end if year 2. The support from the school involves OT, a language program, Springboard reading with dyslexia trained tutor, small group tutorial for literacy, horse riding therapy, and extra 1:1 reading sessions. Other children I know at the school get 1:1 handwriting tutorials, music therapy, literacy tutorials. It depends on their needs and not all the children need all the help. He is in a four form entry school and that has made a huge difference in what the school can offer.

So that is what I would look at. If it doesn't match your expectations keep him at his school and get a specialised dyslexia tutor to help him outside of school.

Talk to the school and get the impression of whether they are genuine about being there to help or if their support is just a tick box exercise on paper. Use your gut feeling to guide you as to the better placement to suit him. From what you have said I would move him, assuming you get the right feeling at the time of talking in person to the school.

To make a decision I think you still need to know what support the other school can give him to help him catch up and whether this will make enough of a difference. The other thing is that occurs to me is that if his new school is 30 yr 3 children it is possible that in a split yr2/yr3 class there may be more children academically closer to where he is than in the all yr 3 class (iyswim)?

To catch up he needs to be progressing at a faster rate than the children learning around him. IMO the best way to accelerate progress in relation to peers is to do extra work out of school. It's a tough call because this can be a challenge to accept/fit in, but if he is wiling and you are able to support him this is likely to pay dividends.

I also speak from experience and have been amazed at how just half an hour of maths most days (but by no means all) has help DD move from the support group into the top set. Not to mention how supporting DD with her phonics has helped my own atrocious (i.e. mildly dyslexic) spelling.

My approach was to pick some workbooks that were at the level below where she was to build her confidence (which was very low) and it worked. Doing easy work helped boost her confidence so much and ensured it was easy and as fun as a workbook can be (& she called it fun maths as she preferred it to work at school which at that point she was struggling with). The regular practise of the basics helped secure some essential things & made the gradual progress forwards possible. Of course there are other ways to achieve the same goal, tutoring and on-line programmes for example, plus a ton of help right here on mumsnet!!!

If you really want him to make accelerated progress, which is what catching up is going to mean, then I recommend you consider which approach will work for your DS. Maybe the move to the new school will provide enough 1:1 support to enable this accelerated progress, but you need to be fairly sure, otherwise whilst he will progress, he is unlikely to catch up.

I think you need to get specifics of what support each school will give him and match that to what he needs. As part of his assessment did they make recommendations as to the type of support he needs e.g. one-to-one teaching and/or visual aids. If not can you pay for a private assessment to get this. Do you know anybody else with children with dyslexia at either school - opinions from these would be very useful.

Two years sounds a lot behind in Year Two to me so I don't think it is good enough for the school to offer no support. Has he made any progress since being at school? Is he on School Action at the very least, does he have IEP's. Has he had an EP assessment to see if there are any other issues and to make recommendations on how to help him. If they claim they have no resources then they should be applying for some or at least spending their allocated special need budget on children with special needs.

It sounds like the school he is in doesn't care about his dyslexia but you don't really know whether or not the next school would be any better. Therefore, I think you should push the existing school do take more action. If he is 2 years behind he should at least be on School Action Plus which means that the school will received some additional funding. Ask how the school is spending this money. First of all get some proper advice from Parent Partnership - There should be one at your local council. Give them a call and they should be able to provide you with practical help and advice, including attending meetings with you, at your child's school. Unfortunately, some schools just don't acknowledge dyslexia as being a specific learning difficulty and you just keep having to nag, nag, nag, to get any meaningful interventions put in place.
Good luck - it isn't easy.
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www.parentpartnership.org.uk

Sorry!

We have spoken to a classroom assistant at the new school and it looks like we're going to move him. Our lives will be turned upside down.

What did the classroom assistant say?

My DH mentioned that DS had been diagnosed with dyslexia and all the questions the classroom assistant was asking indicated that she fully expected that DS would have a statement, IEP in place, regular review, one-to-one help or withdrawal from class etc. It seems that at the new school these things are just done routinely whereas at his current school we have had to fight for everything. It is also telling that my other DS doesn't even have a statement even though he has been diagnosed with ADHD since age 4 and Aspergers since age 8.

It is very rare to get a statement for dyslexia. I'd treat what the classroom assistant said with caution and speak to the head teacher instead.