Severe dyslexia in secondary school

[preggersneveragain]

Hi, does anyone have advice on choosing a school for severely dyslexic DD in Edinburgh? Are some schools better at supporting dyslexia than others? DD is going into P6 this year, I want to know if we should be looking at options other than her catchment school or is it just accepted that she go to her catchment and we hope the learning support is good? She has no other ASN needs, but cannot read and is unlikely to be reading at any level without 1:1 support by S1. What help is she entitled to and what should we be looking for in a secondary school? I don’t think independent is an option but would still be interested to hear if anyone has a particularly positive experience.

Do you know what level of the Staged Intervention process she is currently placed at? Hopefully you do through review meetings etc. If she is less than stage 3 a school will struggle to get anywhere like 1:1 even in text based subjects.

In most (skint state schools where support staff have been slashed) the few SLAs that remain are usually targeted at stage 3 and even then it is not 1:1 and not in all subjects.

What are her current arrangements?

Hi, still learning al the lingo but I’d say stage 2 because there are no ‘other’ Agencies involved? Only School and Council Ed. Psychologist. She has short 1:1 sessions for reading and maths with PSA, plus x3 a week 1:1 with Learning Support teacher. In class we’ve got lucky this term as there’s a student placement in the class who helps but that’s only till end of term. otherwise it’s just down to adaptations by class teachers (who are v. good) plus I homeschool on Fridays.... Her reading age is 5 and standardised attainment score is 69... As low as it gets. We’ve had a referral for ICT but not got anywhere yet and it wouldn’t be enough on its own. Seems crazy that you can have such significant challenges but because there are no ‘other’ health or social issues you basically don’t qualify for extra support?

My ds is p6. He has dyslexia, dysgraphia and asd. He has a laptop to use in class and teacher gives him some additional help when they can. No support teacher side p4. I am very worried about secondary school. I am going to visit a high school soon and hopefully will go to see a few more. I don't think they will all be the same.

Strawberrymelon I’ve been told there are 4 Secondary schools which offer Resource Places. I visited one last week and found the learning support very good. I’m told that there are very few Resource places available though and I’m not sure DD will qualify. The referral has to come from Ed Psych, I’ve asked and am waiting to hear. Good luck with your DS.

I don't think my ds would get a resource place so I am only looking at mainstream schools. I think I will have to see how he copes in first year and if it is not going well think about the alternatives.

I hope you are successful in getting a referral for a resource place. Is the referral done in p7 or can they do it this year while your DD is p6?

Hi, I’m fairly sure we won’t get one either, I think the bar is quite high. It is mainstream though, but with a bit extra funding I.e support (or that’s how it was described to me). I’m still not sure of the referral process. Do you have any idea what other options there are? I’m a bit stumped.

I am in Glasgow. I was speaking to someone recently who said their severely dyslexic ds had managed well with support at primary school but was not coping at secondary school. They moved their ds to a different type of school and he is doing very well. Even though the school is not very far from where I live I had never heard of it. I think it is an independent school for children who can't cope in a normal school. So it seems there are other options out there it is finding them and fighting for them that is the difficulty.

I didnt even know about resource places so I really know nothing. Ds is having a few transition to high school things this year arranged by the depute head. I will ask her if she thinks I should be trying to access more help for ds.

What is a resource place? Thanks

Hi there

i have found Edinburgh state schools to be really poor with dyslexia. No proper assessment for it, even though it was glaringly obvious, then no additional support, merely promising a scribe for when they get to exam stage. Google Yvonne Falconer Dyslexia Edinburgh for an excellent private dyslexia tutor though if you can afford it.

Thanks for the reply, it would seem a lot of schools have difficulties helping dyslexic children.

Does anyone have any success stories about their child’s school? My daughter has a IEP and a CSP but trying to get the school to implement what is written in these seems near impossible.

Does anyone what a resources place is?