How to best support son with improving English

[Bug28]

Hi everyone. My son is in year 8, just turned 13. When he was in primary school, we were told he had dyslexic tendencies, although he does not have a diagnosis. He struggles with his reading, he can't write more than a few sentences at a time and his handwriting is often illegible.

In a couple of weeks he has to choose his GCSE options. At a recent parents evening he got great reports from all teachers saying he tries hard, contributes a lot, but might struggle with some longer, essay type questions on GCSE papers. His Englush teacher also said he exclusively works on his chromebook in the class rather than on paper.

Yesterday, reports came home and they included end of year 11 target grades. Everything had a grade 4, except English which had grade 3. I really want to try and get him through English with a 4, and am trying to think of how I can best support with this.

I was thinking about a tutor, but wondered how frequently he would need to see them for there to be a real impact. I also thought about finding some reading for him to do from lots of different sources and of different styles to practice.

Does anyone have any experience of anything similar or have any ideas of how to support him with this?

It sounds like it would be worth getting him formally assessed - can you afford to pay for this to be done privately? Even if he doesn’t meet the threshold for dyslexia or another “official” condition, there may be other adjustments that could be suggested to help.

Get a proper assessment for dyslexia is the first thing, and reasonable adjustments (extra time, use a laptop, overlays ) if he needs them. If you can afford a 1-2-1 tutor that would be ideal, if not then I recommend MyEdSpace online group lessons.

He needs to learn to touch-type if he’s only using his Chromebook.

Hi, I have a few thoughts here that I hope might help.

From my experience, I have found that many Year 8s with dyslexic tendencies struggle with longer written tasks, so he’s definitely not alone and it's' something that can be worked on and improved. There is plenty of time to play with.

Firstly, I would suggest getting your son properly assessed to then be in a strong position to be able to adapt his learning accordingly.

So many students find writing both difficult and overwhelming, but this hasn’t stopped them getting impressive grades in the GCSE English Language paper.

Having worked with GCSE and A level students for over 20 years, it’s all about technique and applying a structure that works for them so exploring whether they are a visual or auditory learnern will really help.

Other thoughts are:

Building reading confidence with short, high‑interest texts - Students often make more progress with short stories or articles they can finish in one sitting. It helps with vocabulary, sentence structure, and stamina without feeling like a chore. Getting them engaged with something that interests them in the first place is key.

Breaking writing into small, repeatable structures - Longer answers become much more manageable when they are taught as simple formulas (e.g., a 5‑sentence paragraph structure, or a story “recipe”). This is especially helpful for students who struggle to get started.

Using a laptop is absolutely fine - Lots of students much like your son type better than they write. If he finds handwriting hard, it’s worth asking the school about access arrangements when needed later on down the line.

Tutoring frequency - I usually see the best progress with weekly sessions. Fortnightly can still help but weekly gives enough continuity to build skills and confidence. It really can depend though on a number of factors.

Early support really helps Year 8 is the perfect time to start gently building the foundations so don't panic!

With the right support and some confidence‑building reading/writing practice, a Grade 4 and higher is absolutely achievable.

I would be more than happy to share some short reading recommendations if that would be useful or have a more general chat.

Feel free to DM me and good luck!

Thank you everyone for your replies. I have looked into getting an assessment this afternoon and think that seems a good place to start.

@LouiseMcCarron thank you so much for your advice. It is really useful hear some great ideas from some one with experience.

It's a pleasure to be able to help 😊

in England a dyslexia diagnosis doesn’t get you extra time in exams. Can you ask the school’s SENCo to start the process to assess DS at school for extra time and other adjustments he might need. Computer reader and typed exams might be helpful for him as well as extra time.

Also he will learn how to approach the exam and how to structure his answers over the next couple of years hopefully with good teaching or tutoring.

No it doesn't, but it gives you evidence to complain to the school when they don't offer any support. A diagnostic assessment will highlight areas of strength and weakness, they will suggest types of support or strategies they might find helpful and for a child that has constantly been told they just need to 'try harder' it can be life changing.

@Bug28 I recently discovered this, which I found very interesting: https://sites.google.com/view/oat-english/implementation/c25k-writing

If you click on the two links at the top of that page ("the deconstructed essay" and "slow writing"), several youtube videos come up where you can check the approach out. (The guy has also written a book but it is probably a book written for teachers and not a workbook for self-study. I haven't read it.)

I have no personal experience of it, but I can see how it might work. It seems very systematic and I would have loved to be taught that way though I think natural English-lovers probably would not like it!

On the other hand, for you personally it may be easier to get a really good tutor and then go with their approach, since they will know what they are doing.

Just to add to what others have said, it sounds like he is already using a laptop as his normal way of working, so that will go a long way to securing this as an access arrangement for exams. The sendco needs to start gathering evidence. I teach a child who sounds v similar to your son and is in y8 - I have been emailing the sendco with evidence of his struggles with completing tasks on time, reading tasks etc (eg photographs of his work, his data from the online reading homework we do), as I’m aware of the level of evidence that is now required. It’s great that you are looking into this in y8. Plenty of time to get him the support he needs 😊

This is a really thoughtful approach and the fact that you're thinking about this in Y8 gives him genuinely good runway to build these skills before GCSEs matter

On tutoring frequency, for the kind of support he needs ( which by the way is building writing stamina and structure rather than content knowledge )consistency matters more than hours. One session a week with a good tutor who understands dyslexic tendencies would likely make a real difference over time, more so than intensive bursts. The key is finding someone who specialises in literacy support rather than just general English tutoring.

Short writing bursts with a clear structure tend to work better than open-ended tasks so things like practising just the opening paragraph of an essay repeatedly, or writing one PEEL paragraph on a specific point. Building up gradually rather than expecting full essays from the start

Rather than volume of reading, variety and format matters — audiobooks alongside text can really help dyslexic readers engage with more complex material without the decoding barrier. graphic novel adaptations of classics are also genuinely useful for building comprehension without the handwriting/reading load

regarding the Chromebook, it's worth asking school whether he'll be able to use it in GCSE exams if he has a diagnosis or even documented evidence of need, he may qualify for a word processor accommodation which would be a significant advantage for him

When he does get to GCSE revision, Kingsbridge Education is worth bookmarking they produce really good practice materials with genuine teacher insight baked in, useful for understanding exactly what examiners are looking for in English responses rather than just practising blindly