Advice on Indi schools to support dyslexia travelling from Richmond

[caffeinejunki]

Son in Year 5 State primary, private Ed Pysc report diagnosed 'Dyslexic Tendandies with poor processing and working memory, slow writing speed of 6wpm'. Tested high general IQ and exceptional Maths IQ. Now looking for secondary school who can support mild dyslexia and help him achieve his potential given his high IQ.

Any ideas welcome and views on how to discuss this with potential schools and not jeopardise his chances of selection!

It Sounds like his difficulties are quite mild so hopefully with some specialist help he could overcome his difficulties, particularly if he is 'bright' otherwise. Has he got a tutor for his literacy difficulties. Indi schools are more interested with the child's abilities and many support dyslexia especially if it is mild. Why not speak to the SENCo in the school andf see if they can support children with his needs...There are various school options which aren't super selective but academic nevertheless from Richmond e.g. Kingston Grammar, Ibstock Place, Reeds, Halliford etc...There is also a new school Radnor House and Hampton Court School

Hi Thanks for your reply, he is now getting private dyslexic help outside of school twice a week, so hope it will support him!

Not sure about Radnor as it is brand new and hard to judge. We are keen on Halliford from their prospectus and a visit to them, but would be great to know if anyone had experience of Halliford school and how they actually handle learning differences whilst academically stretching where possible??

Will look into Reeds, thanks for the tip.

St. James' - now in Ashford, right by station so commute easy - has a good policy for kids with learning difficulties, I'm told. Everything I've been told would suggest you should steer clear of Ibstock - know of several dyslexic kids who started off in nursery who ended up being pulled out further up the school as there just was no support or understanding. Apparently head is uber keen on aiming for academic status, up there with the rest of the high achieving W London schools. At open day this year it was made clear that, while help can be offered at time of taking exam etc, there is no real provision for SEN. Not sure if that is really the case, or if she's just trying to put off prospective parents whose children might increase need for SEN provision. Either way, not v impressed. Another alternative for v bright kids with SEN is Latymer - was told this week that they have several pupils with Aspergers who are brilliant at maths - so they are obviously open to helping clever children who might have addititional needs. Could be total hearsay, but worth a call, maybe?
Hope that helps?

Can someone explain to me how with a diagnosis of poor processing and working memory a child can be exceptional at maths. Does it mean that your son is so good he can overcome these difficulties. This is a genuine question I am not questioning your sons ability btw I just don't understand the jargon.

Thanks for the info re touch typing, my son has a writing speed of 6WPM which is mainly down to slow processing and not necessarily a fine motor issue. The Ed Pysch recommended touch typing, but we have not yet arranged anything so far as we are a bit hesitant because we are concerned that maybe he should learn to write and not necessary take an easy option, also as he is in mainstream primary and hopefully will go to a mainstream secondary, we dont want him to feel different and also not sure if schools will allow a use of laptop etc in his lessons. He wont qualify for a statement as his learning difference is deemed as mildish (he is only 9 and in year 5)

Would really welcome your views on touch typing for your son and how he finds it in school and for homework.

Perhaps you could recommend a programme that we could try to see if it helps at home?

many thanks for your advice

Not sure how the processing and maths correlate! all I know is the results of his IQ test gave a 99.6% maths IQ, and that his working memory test was not great but his score on this was actually inflated as he performed well on the mental maths part of this test as he did not have to retain information but just did immediate calculations!
Re processing I think this is based around how much he can hold in his head and process at one time, so he struggles to listen to instructions, process them, then write down whats required including punctuation, spellings etc...so writing - comprehension is really hard for him, but when it comes to maths he just sort of gets on with it.

We only got the report a month ago so still struggling to really understand it all!
Any ideas welcome!!

Reeds is excellent for children with dyslexia and slow processing.

Check with any school where they get their dyslexia support, and choose one that uses Dyslexia Action. Two years on DA is amazing, and coupled with 25% extra time in exams, they will not be at a disadvantage.

My son has a high IQ and dyslexia, in year 7 and struggling with a school which is not "dyslexia friendly". He is in set 3 [of 5] for maths but wants harder work at a slower pace. [His IQ should put him at the top of Set 1]. He has processing and recording issues but no problems understanding concepts. He struggles with questions which have a lot of English or are complicated and needs them explained, but once that is done he can do the work. He gets bogged down in the endless examples they ask him to do to reinforce learning - as he is slow and has a poor short term memory. He can't do times tables etc.

I found a very good extract [of a book I think] on the web which explains why dyslexics can have problems with maths but can still excel at it, and what can be done to help them. It made things a lot clearer for me as I was struggling to understand exaclty what his problem with maths was.

We are about to go to an Education Psychology meeting to help with his issues, which basically stem from the school not teaching him in a way that he can learn! I think this is due to a lack of understanding on the part of the teachers, which is in turn due to a fundamental flaw in the State Education System. It is extremely frustrating for everyone!

Harrodian makes a big point of supporting children with dyslexia but the school also has a fairly specific style that may or may not suit so go and visit

my DD is at Latymer Upper and is dyslexic - according to a test done when she was 9.

Cant say the school seems to do much different with her but in her case I dont think she generally needs it now its more about what you think than how you present or spell it - she also had some private coaching in year 6 that gave her some good coping stategies for spelling

But I think the school would support her if she needed it - it's just in her case she seems to have found ways to generally get round it

choosing school is such a big thing anyway so do spend time talking to them - a visit and chat makes such a big difference compared with brochures and websites

Good luck!