School choice for dyslexic dc

[wobblychristmastree]

Would love to hear experiences regarding how your DC coped in secondary. We are lucky to have some options around here. State and private. at the moment we’re in state primary and have a ks2 tutor at does additional 1h/week on the weekend. Things are okay. Dc is happy enough but has low self esteem in English. They can read but are about 1 year behind (half of the class are also about the same level though)

so for high school options:
if your dc is in secondary -

1 what measures to they have to support the dyslexia?
2 do they actually receive the support?
3 do you get extra targets and interventions?
4 is your dc happy and progressing?
5 what does your dc plan to do afterwards?

if in private, do they smaller classes help them? Or would a bigger state provide more options?

tia

All schools must cater for children with additional needs. How well they do that will be different in each school and will depend on a number of things, including level of need, willingness of the school to make reasonable adjustments, progress and a host of other factors.

If your child has an EHCP, you can, in general, select a state school of your choosing, except for some caveats. If not, you will need to visit the schools you’re interested in, talk to the SENCo and see which you get a general feel will be supportive and nurturing.

Bear in mind that if your child does not have an EHCP, you will need to consider admission arrangements for each school and include at least one school that is a ‘banker’.

Independent schools will have their own admission arrangements.

Thanks @Buscobelwe understand that dc won’t be eligible for an EHCP. She has a formal diagnosis and is on the SEN register in primary. Her dyslexia is quite classic /obvious in my opinion

do you have experience of what can be offered/is offered in reality?

It depends on individual schools, numbers on roll, numbers with SEND and level of need. If she’s on the register, I would ask the schools you’re interested in, what provision they make for students with dyslexia. It’s more difficult to run intervention groups in secondary because it means that they miss a lesson. Some schools might have smaller sets for students who have some learning differences. Some might have TA support, though that’s less likely these days.

It’s a while since I was a SENCo, but I had a lot of TA support, targeted at groups who needed scaffolding, or other adjustments. It depends too, whether the schools have mixed ability groups, or are set. They may have effective pastoral support, or other adjustments as necessary. Support isn’t based on diagnosis, it’s based on level of need.

You can apply for an EHCP yourself and IPSEA has model letters you can use.

My DS (15) is very dyslexic and has a laptop in relevant lessons and extra time in exams. This is at a decent state secondary. He's bright and is good at the understanding side of English etc. but the dyslexia/processing issues are a problem with essay subjects. We've also used tutors and it helps, but I don't think he'll reach his full potential in the system i.e. may get 7s instead of 8s & 9s.

Hard to know but that's my sense of it. If we could have afforded it, the smaller classes at a private school may well have helped. We may go private at 6th form if he gets the grades, but couldn't have funded all of secondary. If you only have one DC and have a good option for private that's supportive of SEN, then it's probably worth it. No interventions will make that much difference when it's big classes and basically on the DC to sink or swim or try their best to keep up.

I think it is more a matter of the individual school than a straight state vs independent. I would look at and speak to the SECO at all possibilities.

How supportive state schools are and what they can and do offer varies. It also depends on the pupil’s individual needs. Some will receive very little support. Others will receive a lot if support such as the use of assistive technology, touch typing programme, looking at placement within the classroom, exam access arrangements, a key-worker, providing handouts to minimise copying from the board, and interventions like Lexia, WordShark, precision teaching, study skills support, pre-teaching vocab (this can become more important in e.g. science as DC move through secondary). Some schools have a dyslexia specialist tutor on staff or visiting, others don’t. Some schools withdraw DC needing literacy support from MFL.

Similarly some independent schools are supportive and provide some support within their base fees. Other schools are not supportive &/or charge extra for every little bit of support.

It is worth asking about what qualifications the school offers at KS4.

Some DC have EHCPs. If you think an EHCP is necessary, you can request an EHCNA yourself.

Dd didn’t get specific help but did get 25% extra time for exams including for sixth form, university and military exams since.

When your dc was diagnosed, did the assessor not provide specific recommendations? All schools much cater for literacy difficulties.

Agree all schools cater for them but resources are stretched and with some schools it can take a fair bit of work to get the support and to get it consistently. There are lots of kids for them to support and if a DC is doing okay (but not the best they could) rather than flying or failing then they can easily get overlooked. It's good to be investigating all this now, OP, so you can ask the questions and make an informed decision on next steps.

My experience - and that of my friends - is that even if your child is severely dyslexic, as long as they're likely to get a 4 at GCSE they are very much not a priority when there are limited budgets and resources.

We prioritised maths and English and DD's specialist subject. Massively reduced exam burden and took a BTEC instead of a GCSE option. Targets were 8/9 across the board - based on CATS - but that was not really on the cards. In the end she got what she needed and the maths and English and is very happy just focusing on music at 6th form.

I tore my hair out for years trying to help with the issues and I think for a lot of dyslexics you need to do the work back in primary. It's too late by secondary. And if you have ADHD or similar in the mix then the chances of them complying with the very dull and tedious remedial exercises are precisely zero.

In the end I focused on scaffolding, strategies and work arounds that at least mean they can do okay in the real world - editing skills, touch typing, AI use etc.

My 13 year old DS is dyslexic and in Y8 at a big comprehensive state school. He had a literacy intervention in Y7 with extra English classes in a smaller group. He is now in normal classes for everything, usually middle to lower sets. The lower sets have not been as bad as I thought they might be as I thunk the school's behaviour policy stops too much disruption. DS has also got used to ignoring whatever is happening. He uses a computer in all lessons and gets extra time for exams. In school he has 45min a week of handwriting or spelling intervention. We pay for a dyslexia specific tutor for 1 hour a week out of school.
He enjoys science, maths and design tech so I image he'll pick some BTECs or more practical subjects instead of all GCSEs next year. I am aiming for him to do some sort of apprenticeship after school.
I considered private school but there are no dyslexia specific schools locally so I decided it wasn't worth paying for. Wherever you DC ends up you will need to advocate for them and teach them to advocate for themselves.