What should school be doing?

[deltacrook]

DD is 8. Just gone into primary 4 in Edinburgh.

Last November at parents night her teacher commented that she was worried about her reading and writing and that she was monitoring things. We got to parents might in March where I was told that her concerns had grown and things were now being made formal and DD was to be assessed.

We are over a month into the new year and I've heard nothing. Her writing is poor, spelling is terrible. Reading is ok. Not great but behind. Basics like spelling:

What is whot
Tall is toll etc
Castle is kasl

There are other examples but these are off the top of my head from today.

If I asked her to read a sentence and then write it down she can't spell what's she's just read.

Stories are unreadable.

I am calling school tomorrow to ask for a full meeting and what they are going to do but what should I expect them to do? First born so not been here before and nothing to compare to. Thanks.

Ask them for suggestions of how to help at home. You can't just say that stories are unreadable.

But they are. So I ask her to read them to me - I encourage her by saying that I like to hear her read to me - rather than saying I can't read this but she can't because she can't read what she's written either.

Hopefully they will have some help as its been since March tha things were made official so surely that's enough time to make any formal assessment.

DS is just 8 - oldest in (English) Y3. A lot of his spelling is similar, but both Y1 and Y2 teachers said that this is normal when learning to reAd using phonics.

Mine are Yr 1 in England so may not be the same but I would be asking what interventions they have in place/planned - how are they going to help bridge the gap between where she is and where she needs to be? Eg will she be getting additional one to one support from teacher or TA, do they run small group sessions (sometimes before/after school) to support children who need a bit of extra help etc?
I would also be asking how I could help at home, are there any apps/online tools or games for example which she could be doing to help with the specific problems she has with reading/writing/spelling?

Can you get her assessed privately either by a specialised teacher (PATOS) or educational psychologist. Sounds so similar to my daughter who was found to be dyslexic. Every child has different needs. I asked for my daughter to be excused from the class spelling tests because it was pointless and to use the time to practice writing the high frequency words she would always get wrong.
Only now in year 6 and because she has SATS ahead of her in May, has she been given a computer for her to do her work on. It's the first time in her school career that she has finished a piece of written work and hasn't had to stay in for break in order to write more. You have to keep asking for interventions and request things in writing from the SENCO and if you have a list of recommendations from a professional it will help. Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Thanks all. I will let you know what school say