Which School Best in Supporting Moderate Dyslexia, State or Independant Primary?

[mummytippy]

My DC is 9 and has been diagnosed recently after 3 assessments over the last 18 months as having moderate Dyslexia. He also has short term memory and processing skill problems. He cannot hold auditory information and his concentration is poor.

The state school my child attends has not in my opinion been supporting my child as best they can and a full academic year has just slipped by with them not even using assessments I provided (by the Dyslexia Institute). Communication is very poor too with matters resulting in me now having to contact Sendias. My DC is on school action, but surely he should already have been placed on 'school action plus' due to the concerns the school were made aware of when he joined last September?

I now potentially have the opportunity to send my DC to an Independant school with a class size of 14 where I have been assured he will be fully supported. My DC has attended an Independant Prep school before the State school and the support he received there was fantastic.

The Gap has widened in his ability in the last 9 months (his diagnosis report confirms this) so I'm considering the Inpendant route again... Thoughts would be much appreciated on this as all I can see are busy teachers stretched beyond belief with other children who have greater needs.

Thank you in advance.

I was once advised by an Ed Pych that if your child has significant SEN then go state, get statemented and then you will have resources "thrown" at you. If mild, then go independent as the smaller class sizes really help.

My DS has mild issues as we went independent in a mid sized primary school. This has a specialist SENCO, i.e. not a form teacher who also fulfils the SENCO role. This has generally been a good choice for him, although we have had issues along the way and I do sit down with his Form teacher and English teacher each year to explain his issues.

My DD has mild dyslexia and is in a very small independent school. They have been terrible. Now that we have threatened to leave, they are finally doing something to help but I am not sure if it is enough….

I think therefore it depends of the independent school you are considering. Also if that school would add value by means of other non academic activities that would bolster confidence.

Check that the prep would provide appropriate support. If he is year 5 now the pressure to do well in entrance exams will be starting to kick in and they may not be so amenable.

I don't think you can generalise, it really depends what your local offering is. Our y5 moderately dyslexic DD is at a large state primary and has had good support once we got her assessed. Being in a large mixed ability class seems to suit her. She has 2x sessions with a specialist TA and 1 outside school with a private specialist teacher.

We considered the local private options - four of them won't knowingly take a child with her degree of dyslexia, one is Steiner and while two others might have taken her they are small owner managed schools where I seriously doubt they have any real resources to support SEN.

So cut according to your cloth I guess......