Dyslexia in grammar schools

[Indecisivelurcher]

I know it's a bit of a sweeping question, as expect they are all different. But, can dyslexic children get into grammar school or are they at too much of a disadvantage? Any that did get in, how has the support been?

We have students with dyslexia. And students we suspect have it but one authority we cover don't recognise it as a SLD (seriously!).
we do however have an excellent SENCO.
as with any school I'd visit and speak to them. We have students who sit the exam itself with a range of access arrangements.

My Ds has dyslexia and has been at grammar since Y7, currently in Y13.

I think obviously it depends on the school and the Senco so worth trying to meet them at some point.

In our case, the Senco was v promising to start with, school-wide support was slow in getting going, but since then has been good and helpful.

It took until Y8 and me saying I’d be sending him in with a laptop for them to get on board with that but ever since there’s been no problems with accessing laptops (DS says they are old and crap but think he’s being a bit fussy!).

There were still the old dinosaurs who said he was being naughty as his presentation was bad…and said dyslexia was no excuse 🤔

His English teacher got him dyslexia friendly texts though to counter balance the dinosaur.

And he gets extra support now in 6th form, some extra tuition after school. Plus extra time in exams.

It has definitely worked for him, so good luck for your DC.

I think it varies by school to be honest, they are getting better at recognising that even children who pass the eleven plus can have spld. Interventions tend to be for just the individual in terms of exam concession/ laptops in class etc rather than group work to help with reading.

Of course they can! I'm dyslexic but was in top sets, had excellent a-level results and got a good degree from a Russell group uni.
I had problems with maths where I just needed more time but I got the correct results in the end. Spotting patterns was also an issue for me. I had terrible spelling (still do) but love reading and have made a career from writing. I probably rely on editors a lot more than other writers. Dyslexia doesn't mean kids aren't intelligent.
Speak to the grammar school and find out what provisions they have in place to support their current dyslexic kids (which they will certainly already have).

I can’t comment on getting in, as I joined a grammar school for 6th form and didn’t sit the 11+ but I found the support for dyslexia 1000 times better than at the comprehensive I was at before.

At my comp they were only interested in supporting students who were C/D borderline.

There were however plenty of people who had dyslexia there who got in at 11+ stage. For my own children it would make me prioritise a formal dyslexia diagnosis well in advance of the 11+ so that accommodations can be put in place for the test and practice can be focused to my child’s way of learning.

Thanks all.

LEA here doesn't recognise dyslexia @GrammarTeacher!@GrammarTeacherIt calls it reading delay?!

@orangeginaa thanks for sharing, my Dd currently wants to be an author!

Ds just sat 11+ this year. Lots of his friends didn't pass but one with dyslexia did!