Advice needed on what to say/ask HT when I meet her tomorrow to discuss DS age 7 problems with literacy?

[Raggydoll]

DS is 7 and in year 2 and he really struggles with reading and writing. He is very good at maths and loves science, art and dt etc - so no problems there and no SEN identified so far.

I have know for a while that he is finds literacy hard but now I think he might be falling behind even more and I am worried it will get more difficult for him to catch up.

I have a meeting with the HT to discuss tomorrow but I have no idea what to ask or what expectations I should have of the school. So far I don't believe they have done anything to give him any extra help in this area.

Thanks

The information on this page should help you with questions to put to the HT, Raggydoll
www.dyslexics.org.uk/should_I_have.htm

HTH

Many thanks for the link :-)

I've read a bit of the link maverick and its really really good. If anyone else is looking for advice on improving literacy I would highly recommend!!

ask if he is achieving at a level consistent with his age or not

if not:

explain specifically what your concerns are ie difficulty with blended phonics, reversing words etc

ask if school have noticed/agree with you

if they say yes - ask what you can both do to help the situation

if they say no - listen to why they disagree - if you agree with that, thank them for their reassurance but ask if you can meet again in say half a term for a review.

if you are of different opinions then explain again why you are concerned and explain why you do not agree with the school's opinion (politely and calmly). see what happens then...(sorry, if i could do a spider diagram of responses i would!!)

either way ask for a review meeting in the reasonable future to see if progress has/hasn't been made and take it from there.

stay calm, be polite, write down bullet points you want to make beforehand if you think you will forget/panic.

good luck :)

thanks mayornaze - your advice is very relevant... i have a tendancy to either percieve their judgement as being superior to mine and give in very quickly or assume their incompetence and come across as criticising... obviously neither of these approaches are at all constructive so I need to follow your advice to the letter :-)

good luck :)

He needs an assessment by an SEN professional so that you can begin to see where his difficulties are.