Ds predicted to 'fail' all of his GCSE's :/ what can be done ??

[TheOriginalNutty]

Ds is 14 and has never liked school and has always struggled. At Primary school he always had a IEP or IBP because he would swing between being ok and struggling. Imo his primary school never did as much as they could have done.

When it came to secondary school, I chose not to send him to our local one (that his sisters went to) as although it is a good school imo it was way to focused the bright kids and not much else. Ds would have sunk quickly there. Instead I chose a school with similar results but a more family feel.

Ds took the whole of Yr 7 to settle. He hated it, had no friends and struggled to be organised. I had him assessed for Dyspraxia, and was told he wasn't Dyspraxic but needed help with organisation etc. His school were happy to help with that and have also always given him extra English and Maths tuition.

Fast forward to now. Ds is in Yr 9 and I have just had his Yr 9 Interim report sheet and it is awful. His projected English grade is 2/1 (E,F,G) and his projected Maths grade is 1w, I dont even know what the W means. All of his other grade predictions are similar.

I always knew that this was going to be a problem, but I don't think I expected it to be this big a problem. He still gets extra English and Maths help each week, but clearly it isn't working.
His teachers have said several times, that they know he knows the work and the answers and everything else, but that he just can't seem to get it from his head to paper, or he does but it has so little content in it that it drops his marks right down.

He has picked Psychology, R.E and Food tech as his options and I just can't see that he is going to cope with those, especially not the first 2.

I have emailed school to ask for a meeting, but I am not sure what I want or should expect them to do, or what else I should do. There is no way I can afford a tutor for him.

I feel like I have failed him now.

My DS2 was referred to an Ot for dyspraxia assessment when he was 8- couldn't tie his shoe laces, problems with PE to to poor co-ordination, terrible handwriting. We were told he was on the low side of normal- not dyspraxic. Was on the waiting list for a course called "speed up" I think which never materialised. In senior school was regarded as bright but disorganised/lazy - never did as well as they thought he should in exams. Turned out he was dyslexic with a bit of dyspraxia thrown in. His reading age was always at least 3 years about chronological age but his processing speed was not so good.
We had a private Ed Pysch assessment, out of desparation, but the school should be able to organise it. The Ed pysch can recommend extra time in exams, scribe or computer for exams.
He is 20 now and still not good with shoe laces.

Good attitude to learning is good. It suggests he will be open to help if it's offered. I would want to know what the school intend to do. And that he's in bottom sets? Irrelevant. Every child should be enabled to achieve the very best they can. And yes I used to teach.

I wondered for a number of years if DD1 was dyspraxic, but we only had a formal assessment in y11. Whereupon she was given 25% extra time in exams (slow processing). She had been assessed as being permitted to type at the end of y9.

My suggestions:

• drop one of the options. the time saved can be spent doing homework and/or intervention
• practice practice practice the core exam skills needed for English and Maths. it takes DD much longer than normal to get the hang of things, she needs more practice than school normally provide, but can get there in the end.
• try not to get too stressed
• we found 1-1 revision with me was far more effective than her trying to do it on her own. she couldn't stay focussed and couldn't work out what was important and what wasn't.

I think you should go to the meeting with a list of the things that he finds difficult - if you have any possible strategies that help him that would be great too. I'm a SENCO and try to support any child that needs help - when they have a diagnosis it is easier as the professionals often make suggestions but I'll do whatever I can for any child. It can be difficult though to work out the issues as so many children will try to hide them.

If he struggles to get his ideas down on paper they need to be finding ways to support him with doing this, for example the use of writing frames or sentence starters. As he gets better, these can become less structured. They may not be able to provide 1-1 but they should be able to come up with a range of differentiation strategies to help him.

He doesn't need a diagnosis to get access arrangements for exams, but if he does need them it is better if he can start practising as soon as possible as using a scribe is a skill that requires practice. He could also have use of a computer for exams.

I'm dyspraxic, theres a huge cross over with autism, with people with dyspraxia often having autistic traits without reaching the threshold for autism. Push for a propper assessment with educational psyc. I never got any support in school for it, but luckily I seemed to develop good coping strategies on my own.

Ds2 is dyslexic. He was assessed at the end of yr 9 for any considerations and adjustments during his exams. It's my understanding that these assessments are only valid for 2yrs and so if they do them sooner then they will have expired.

He needs a full educational psychologist assessment. I had one done for my son with Patsy kershaw in Wiltshire. It was superb.

This sounds like dyslexia to me....(and probably other things to confuse the picture)

Can you afford a private EdPsych? - it is by far the quickest way to get some answers - they cost about £550. I wouldn't be waiting for the school on this as the funding takes ages.

Only just read this page of replies. Not been on MN for years and forgot there was pages now lol.

All of these replies are so helpful and informative. I emailed Ds's head of year last night and he emailed back first thing asking what my concerns were. I have replied asking for a meeting.

Unfortunately I cannot afford to have him assessed privately. I am a single parent and only work part time atm.

I'm going to make some notes about Ds, and what I want to happen next, so when school contact me I am ready.

I'll update when I have spoken to them

That sounds positive nutty. Good idea to be prepared. Havent "seen" you in ages, hope all's going well for you.

Nutty
The speed up handwriting course I mentioned above is available on Amazon, but is aimed at 8-13 year old children, but it might be worth asking the school if there is anything else that could assist him. There are special triangular pens that can help improve handwriting and grips for pencils if they are a problem. (Our learning support teacher had a stock and gave him some). Also DS2 was referred to a specialist children's visual clinic to look at visual tracking which helped confirm his dyslexia. They gave him excercises which helped him focus better.

Some colleges do courses for 14 plus. It may be worth investigating as they tend to be more practical and lots of colleges are more flexible. But it depends on your local college provision and their reputation

Ask the school to assess properly for dysgraphia.
Whilst this sounds it's mainly focused on handwriting, it isn't.
The child would have very poor handwriting, write right up to the right hand side of a page possibly....even though they can't fit in a whole word and have a really hard time processing thoughts and getting them down onto paper.

It's not common and often not even thought about by school (many teachers won't even know what it is and out senco didn't) but from what you say, I think it's a real possibility.

A scribe can really help and your DS, could have extra time in exams.
Even without a diagnosis, the school should be offering the correct support (see the SEN descriptors on your LA website). The school is failing your DS if they don't put more effort into supporting him.

Try to post this thread in SN Chat as I know there are lots of knowledgeable people over there.
Even if your DS doesn't need have disgraohia, he could have auditory processing issues, again, which would be helped by better support.

What were his KS2 SATs results? It would be useful to know if his predicted GCSE grades show him going backwards or making any progress.

With projected grades that low he definitely needs a proper assessment because he is way behind the expectations for his age.

I also think an ed psych assessment would be invaluable here. You have to keep on at them like a dog with a bone. I think with the right support he could still make progress but you have to be firm with the school here. Noble giraffes points are good. The school should be accessing this assessment for him so they can access the correct support. My son is year 4 and has just had an ed psych assessment which said he was dyslexic and has working memory problems. This was organised by the school. Your son's difficulties in organising himself is a common feature of dyslexia.

I agree you need a proper assessment .You need to push the school for this.Senior schools should be able to access funding. Gcse subjects that involve essay writing sound difficult.Could he do more practical options like Art,DT,Pe? Or Sciences?

The problem is many junior schools don't want to diagnose issues due to inexperience, lack of funding and sheer lack of care.So the child becomes convinced they are useless or non-academic.Once stuck in that mind-set and in the bottom set at Secondary with many kids who really don't want to learn - it's very difficult to succeed.