My son requiring extra support

[Misspiper89]

Hi there,
I went to parents evening for my son last night, year 7.
the general consensus was that he’s super well behaved, focused, engaged in lessons. But struggles to do larger amounts of writing. Some subjects put it down to a lack of effort but when we spoke to his English teacher she said she was worried about it as there’s such a disconnect between how he engages verbally in class/group work and his written work, he does struggle with his handwriting too. She wants to investigate if it’s just the physical act of writing or if he has trouble processing/articulating the thoughts.
They did an assessment that had a text and they had to do 3 long answer questions about the text and he wrote 4 lines in an hour
She was super lovely and obviously wants to help so said she will speak to the SenCo to get her involved in seeing what support he might need etc.
i just wondered if any other parents have experience in this and what the senco might look at, what we can do to help or what we could ask of the school. Obviously it’s early days and the school have picked up on it straight away so I’m happy with how it’s been sorted so far
TIA! X

Don’t always trust a senco (some are rubbish)

Ideally want you would want is an OT assessment private and then they could put in typing / laptop instead of writing (or maybe your school will help and you don’t need professionals)

Also, EP should able to pick up on things too but both are £££

Sorry what’s EP?
thank you, they did say there’s potential for laptop usage, obviously it just depends if it’s the physical part of writing or working out what to write

EP is an Educational Psychologist. The LA has them, but in very short supply and there are plenty of private ones who will do assessments of various kinds to .try to determine where the deficits are. If your child is able verbally, but struggles to get his thoughts on paper, it may be that he has a specific difficulty to do with writing.

The SENCo can do some basic work and can speak to DS’s teachers, so they are aware of the difficulties. A laptop may help and if that becomes his normal way of working, he’ll be entitled to that support in assessments and tests. Some pupils can have extra time in tests, or a scribe, or the use of a laptop.

Private EPs are expensive, but that’s a route you may wish to take later. I’d be pleased the teacher is going to refer to the SENCo and things can start to be put in place to support DS.

Sounds like possibly concerns over something like processing or dyslexia. I’d ask to be copied into the email to the sendco and then ask what they plan to do. We do various reading/processing tests and can put measures in place like laptop, extra time etc - these need clearing for exams later but also have to be a normal way of working.

do you have concerns? Have you noticed anything or was anything suggested at primary?

We had this, turned out to be dyspraxia / executive functioning.

DD knew stuff, but couldn't easily retrieve or organise her thoughts. She also never expands an answer if she can get away with it.

We did lots of work explaining that a 6 mark question required 6 pieces of information not just 1. She needed massive of input to grasp what was needed for English (and only passed because of coursework).

Can he dictate an answer for you to write down, or is he equally poor verbally?

Thank you for your replies.
He struggled with things like creative writing and comprehension activities in primary school, but is great at spelling and a huge reader.
We are in Kent, he took the Kent test, passed with good grades so is in Grammar school.
It’s things like analysing or picking out finer details that he struggles with.

An example the teacher gave was If the question was explain the plot of Romeo and Juliet he would struggle to put much depth into it and would likely get around half the marks maybe, but in group work if they are bouncing ideas back and forth he can be actively involved.

I don’t know if that helps any more?
Thank you

Have a look into dysgraphia. Not widely known about but the same family as dyslexia etc. an OP can asses for it with a DASH assessment and others. A senco is likely to be clueless about it and will have no offers of how to support it. An EP can be helpful but for us the OP nailed it. Extra time, talk to type technology or even a scribe can be helpful. Typing rather than writing can also help in some ways but not with the idea formulation or from ideas to paper. We use sentence prompts and starters, key words and similar. My DS can’t work from a board/power point but has it printed on his desk. Note taking is a nightmare so needs to be given bullet points of the learning objectives. Sometimes an EHCP is needed for best help but offer one plan ing can cover it with a good senco/head of year etc

Daughter has a diagnosis of Dysgraphia, which falls under the broad category of dyslexia.

She struggles to write in order and with planning and jumps from subject to subject. But the information is there, just not in a readable form.

Her biggest issues were approaching a task and being overwhelmed with where to start. This affected how she approached tidying her room, washing up and tasks that had a natural order. She would always do the easiest task first which often meant when she got to the bigger part of the task, the smaller parts were a waste of time and needed redoing. We wrote lots of lists ordering simple tasks
so she did not become overwhelmed.

She was an early reader and a great speller. But could not ride a bike or tie shoelaces until about 11 or 12. She uses a computer as much of her letter formation was unreadable and being left handed didn't help.
The diagnosis paperwork went with her to Uni and was kept on file. She forwarded a copy to her work when she was first employed.

I would go with the flow and ask your son about what he struggles with.

Embrace all the help you can get.

Also try out the laptop.

DD (very dyslexic, avoids books, cannot spell if her life depended on it, but exceptionally good at creative writing and some how in top set English) never wrote more than a couple of sentences. Then we taught her to touch type and she handed in 3,000 words for the next homework!

I would get an Ed Psych assessment and ask them to look at hypermobility as well.

If he's reading and can spell, then dyslexia less likely, but there are a myriad of other issues that can cause an SpLd.

DS is 16 and in Y11, and is pretty much like this. We wonder if he has a disorder of written expression and are currently looking for a private educational psychologist to help him.

From a young age he has always:

• Had very low written output compared with his peers, and versus his speaking in class and at home
• Made excuses and avoided written assignments or left homework (e.g., in English, Drama, Geography, Spanish [for example to write 150 words in Spanish describing his favourite activities]) until very late
• Sat for a long time (hours) at his desk or in front of his laptop without writing, saying he is unable to think of what to write or doesn't know where to start, even with me giving starter ideas or example statements.

According to this paper (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7082241/):

”Beyond the early school years, writing projects require the additional ability to organize, plan, and implement a complete written product. Such tasks require the recruitment of executive functioning and higher-order language processing. For example, writing a sentence requires several steps: (I) internally creating the desired statement; (II) segmenting the desired statements into sections for transcription; (III) retaining the sections in verbal working memory while executing the task of writing; and (IV) checking that the completed written product matches the original thought. Writing more complex products such as paragraphs or essays requires additional planning, organization, and revision to stitch together multiple statements and thoughts into a coherent whole.”

So what may come naturally or with a little effort for most of us may be almost impossible for some children. DS has dropped English Literature as a GCSE subject and will likely fail English Language as he’s failed two mocks spectacularly despite having a weekly English tutor from the start of Y11 (and Y4 - Y5). He has a natural talent for the sciences/maths so will be pursuing those for A levels, but we wish we had known and found support for him earlier on. We (and his teachers) fooled ourselves in believing he would ‘grow into it’ with writing, because he is bright and engaged/articulate in class. I would just say that it will be worth pursuing as much support for your DS at this stage.

My son who has ADHD is very like this, capable of good academic work but struggles with explaining/expanding his ideas and takes a lot longer than average to write the same amount of lines as others for these things. I’ve always put it down to the ADHD and so have the school and the psychiatrist who assessed him.

I feel that a year 7 with nothing previously diagnosed, only managing 4 lines in an hour, the reason is a least partly laziness

Highly unlikely if he is generally well behaved and at a grammar.

OP, definitely check for ADD (DD has ADHD primarily inattentive alongside dyslexia - it's highly comorbid) and that might well explain the issues with getting started.

Thank you, this is helpful x

Thank you, appreciate your response, will deffo take whatever help we can get

This is really helpful, thank you so much

It’s definitely food for thought, I’m meeting with the school next week so will see what the plan is

Thank you for your response, that’s productive unlike the other poster.
His English teacher doesn’t believe it’s laziness atall, he’s such a hard worker bless him, he’s obviously got a bit overwhelmed