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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Is this progress in maths or not?

18 replies

screamingeels · 31/01/2018 13:50

DD is Y5 and diagnosed with dyslexia, which effects her Maths abilities as well as her reading and spelling.

She did the 'every child counts' maths intervention in Y2 which was very helpful. However I don't think she has made any meaningful progress since then.

She is very well supported in school with numicon, bead strings, multiplication squares another manipuables. Given support and appropriate instruction she can answer maths questions: e.g. she can read answers off a number grid for multiplication; she can add two digit numbers by making them in numicon and counting the holes. However without this support she is lost, she doesn't understand mathematic symbols: +, x etc. she has a shaky knowledge of place value and doesn't know her number bonds to 10.

School think she is making progress as she can reach her targets with support, I think she isn't making progress as she isn't learning anything - she is just following instruction.

Who is right? Are we both right? NB: I am pushing for EHCP, school think it is unnecessary.

OP posts:

Norestformrz · 31/01/2018 17:51

How do the school justify their position given that she's working below National Curriculum expectation?

AnthonyJoshuasMrs · 31/01/2018 18:01

I don’t have any professional expertise in this field, but she sounds so far behind I think you’re right to want more intervention. Her dyslexia aside, is she otherwise able? I’m just thinking dyslexia impacts ability to process letters and/or number, but those who have it are generally average intelligence or above aren’t they? So the fact she’s not coming on must be frustrating for her too.

Original poster

screamingeels · 31/01/2018 19:33

Yes she's fine apart from dyslexia, she is ahead in other ways and is recognised as being very able. And school treats her as such.
School justify it as we have a different view on what being able to add up means!

OP posts:

trinity0097 · 31/01/2018 19:47

That is a very severe delay in maths for a year 5,I would be concerned if a year 2 was at that stage still. I am a maths teacher!

Can you afford to pay for a dyscalculia Assessment?

www.additudemag.com/screener-dyscalculia-symptoms-test-children/

Norestformrz · 31/01/2018 20:15

I'm sure she is making progress against targets but for an otherwise able child she is significantly behind. In Y5 she isn't meeting the expectations of a reception child.

Original poster

screamingeels · 31/01/2018 20:45

Yes it seems horrifically behind to me. I can't see why school are not concerned.
And yes we can pay for ed psych/ dyscalculia assessment - though i think its the dyslexia. The deficit seems the same in both linking symbols and concepts: letters to sounds, number to value.

OP posts:

trinity0097 · 01/02/2018 04:49

She might have both!

Anythingforacatslife · 01/02/2018 04:58

From the POV of the school she is making progress towards the targets that have been set. However she is still a long way behind. Both things are true.

Sounds like she needs further assessment though.

thecatfromjapan · 01/02/2018 05:16

Push for the EHCP. Has she been assessed by an EP?

thecatfromjapan · 01/02/2018 05:18

She's a long way behind. It really is worth seeing if there is something going on and whether there is something that can be put in place to help her - great though it is that the school seem to be trying.

If she's otherwise able ... that's a really odd imbalance.

Norestformrz · 01/02/2018 05:30

When you had the diagnosis was it a simple label or did they break it down to the actual areas of difficulty? It seems from what you're saying that the issue may be visual processing difficulties (hard to say without knowing the child )

Original poster

screamingeels · 01/02/2018 06:52

Dyslexia diagnosis was by literacy support services so is exclusively about reading difficulties: phonological awareness, slow processing, inconsistent on working memory. I do think it hasn't got to nub of problem which appears to be a really specific neurological deficit.

I don't think its visual stress - school give her coloured overlays which i think entirely misses the point (as does her dyslexia specialist tutor).

Mainly I'm just bewildered about why school dont see problem. I've had meetings with class teacher, head, maths teacher and senco, and they all say she is making progress, you won't get ehcp. But they still haven't given me targets and progress records I've asked for.

Senco changed 2 years ago and i think DD dropped off their radar, they have quite a high proportion of kids with LD.

OP posts:

Norestformrz · 01/02/2018 07:00

Visual processing is nothing to do with visual stress or eyesight and everything to do with how the brain perceives things including the symbols we call letters and numbers.

PickleFish · 01/02/2018 07:10

I'm not sure an assessment/diagnosis would really make much difference. If she is dyscalculic (which sounds likely), or merely suffering effects of dyslexia, the activities and support that she is being given are pretty much what would be recommended. But she needs a whole lot more of them, and a lot more intensive, targetted work on the basics - place value and number bonds to ten, for starters, and gradually taught to use the apparatus herself (and then eventually move away from it).

An assessment might help if it persuaded the school to take the problem more seriously, or to help get funding for the additional help, perhaps. But it wouldn't really change what you already know are the issues, nor how to help. Might be worth spending the money instead on some additional one-to-one tutoring by a SpLD specialist

Pythonesque · 01/02/2018 07:35

I agree she needs much more targetted help and a good quality assessment would include specific recommendations as to what needs to be done. You've got two years to get her ready for senior school and intervention now would pay off. If you end up having to get a private assessment make very sure of the quality / what you will receive in the report before you have it. And yes, if you can afford it and find a specialist teacher, one to one will be valuable. But you may need to ask more than one teacher to find the right one. (My mother did that sort of work for years, unfortunately now both retired and not in this country; she often had students who'd had intervention from whatever "programme" was fashionable, and it didn't work because they needed a different approach)

Good luck, hope you can find the right help and support.

Original poster

screamingeels · 01/02/2018 12:02

Thanks for the replies. Yes Norest that is the kind of thing i think it is (sorry I get a bit prickly about the behavioural optometrist reccomendations).

And picklefish - that is my dilemma. I think school are doing the right things but she isn't making progress which sounds like classic EHCP territory.

Pythonesque - we have specialist tutor and she is great. She's the first person ive dealt with who seems to fully get DD's difficulties she thinks she needs EHCP. Its once a week maybe I should up to twice. 20 tutor sessions costs samish as one private EP assesment!

OP posts:

Naty1 · 01/02/2018 12:33

For number bonds to 10 dd school did a song in yr R. Not convinced she understood it though.
A lot of the things you mention seem to be memory.

BubblesBuddy · 01/02/2018 18:28

So what is she doing well in? Reading, writing and Maths is a lot so I am wondering where she is doing well academically?

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