Dyscalculia & Formal Complaint to School Governors

[Series]

Hi

I'm new here and desperate for some help I will try and keep it brief!

My dd is 10 (going into year 6 in sept) she is 4 years behind in maths, her math grade has not improved in 2 years she is a level 2c

The svhool have never come to me an mentioned it but 2 years ago (when starting year 4) I brought it up with her class teacher, it took a whole year to get her 3 extra 15min sessions a week in a small group)

At her parents eve in feb I was so unhappy with her class teacher that I left the meeting and went straight to head, spoke for hour and came home feeling like something was going to be done! In April he told me he has referred her and mentioned possible dyscalculia!

I have chased him every 2 weeks since and was constantly told he had heard nothing bavk and would look into it! So imagine my surprise on Monday when I went to ask him again and he told me HE HAD NOT referred her!!!!!

Anyway from that I have made a official complaint to the school governors! I'm so angry that two years have been wasted and nothing has been done, all year I have been asking to see the results of assessments and they have still not shown me!

I really don't know where to go from here but I strongly suspect my dd is dyscalulia, does anyone hsve any experiance of this?

Thanks x

I am a specialist Maths teacher and SENCO in a primary school. I know a little about dyscalculia and recently attended a national conference. If your dd is in a state primary school, she will not get a dyscalculia diagnosis through school. Your best bet would be to investigate a diagnosis privately and they are very hard to come by. There is far less research into dyscalculia then dyslexia. Even if you did get a diagnosis, there is very little research on how best to treat it. If her English is at a similar level, you may be able to pursue a statement if she's already at school action plus, but this is a post code lottery. We have a Y5 child working at L1 in English and we can't get a statement for him. However there are plenty of things her school could and should be doing for her...I personally love numicon and would highly recommend their intervention programme. I also promote a multi sensory approach to maths - anything that gives a child a concrete understanding before moving to the visual and finally abstract.

Like dyslexia, current policy on dyscalculia is that, if it exists, it is part of a spectrum of difficulties that should all be supported by the same teaching methods. Getting a label will not help with anything if school already know that she is struggling. What would you hope to get out of having a label? If she isn't making progress, your best bet would be to ask school to get some outside advice (EP or specialist teacher) to make some reccomendations.

DD (12) is dyslexic and dyscalculic. She had help in primary and extra help in secondary. We got an educational psychologist report which persuaded school to take action. Most useful thing we did was getting a tutor for her. There are also some books that are helpful. We also bought a book called Power of 2 which has day by day exercises. Am away on holiday now but can recommend when we get back. Dyscalculia is incredibly frustrating.

I would advise that you privately obtain an EP report if the school are not willing to call in the EP. DC below level 3 are not entered into SATs. Is your dd on Action or Action +? Does she have an IEP? Readers are at the discretion of the school but they need to apply to the LA and need to use stats in the EP report to get extra time in SATs. imo you should apply for a statement.

Check out the IPSEA site www.ipsea.org.uk/ for info.

Google or phone your local parent partnership to get a copy of the LA SEN Policy.

Read the SENCOP <a class="break-all" href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DfES%200581%20200mig2228.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DfES%200581%20200mig2228.pdf.

The Rose Review might also be useful although on dyslexia dera.ioe.ac.uk/14790/1/00659-2009DOM-EN.pdf. There are Wave 3 maths interventions and so there will be an expectation of a particular rate of progress before an intervention can be considered effective.

wrt to attainment and progress see www.stokehilljunior.devon.sch.uk/downloads/National_Curriculum_Point_Scales.pdf

The expectation of progress between KS1 and KS2 is 2 full levels, or 6 sub-levels or 12 National Curriculum Points. What was her level at KS1?

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