Unhelpful school - what to advise parents and talk to them sensitively?

[Icucumber999]

I'm a private tutor who has been teaching twins for over a year now.

After two hours I thought that they could be neurodiverse and there were signs of dyslexia (skipping words and lines when reading, muddling up letters and struggling with verbal instructions - if I give them a homework verbally they will do a different homework to what I have set). With support from the parents, I did a dyslexia screen from their perspective. They then sat on what to do for a while (the whole label vs non label debate as if they do have dyslexia they are mildly affected). The girl twin got overwhelmed when starting year 10 and struggled with organisation so at that point they spoke to the school about getting the twins assessed for dyslexia (on my recommendation).

The school took the fact that the twins were receiving private tuition very badly and have point blank refused to get them assessed. The council only have funding to assess the most severe cases it seems and the school have justified not assessing them with 'they are doing fine school'. The boy twin when I started working with him was predicted the old 'D' grade for English (about a level 3) despite being in the top three of the entire year group for sciences. However, by the time the parents went to the school, his English has improved and he is now predicted the old 'B' grade. They took over a month to respond to a letter and refuse to meet with the dad when he tries to make an appointment/ had turned up at the school.

The parents gave up battling with the school and I wasn't sure what to advise them (both twins were making good progress in our lessons). However, I know SPLD are more than just being able to get a good English GCSE grade - it may affect them thoughout their live and it it so much easier to get an assessment when you are in education than as an adult.

How do I advise the parents to go forward? To get both twins assessed it will be £900-1200 minimum (that is just a dyslexia assessment) in our area privately. How can they convince the school?

Also, I am not entirely sure it is dyslexia, or only dyslexia, I have noticed autistic traits in the boy twin (and autism presents very differently in girls on the mild end). However, they could just be traits and I feel like it's such a sensitive subject I really don't know how to bring it up especially as I am not qualified to make any sort of assessment. Again, my own dad jokes that pretty much everyone at his work is on the spectrum (engineer) and that they have all got on just fine without a label. However, I have a new student who had mild autism (female) who had a complete meltdown in A-level and she is now coping so much better with support. I think if I hadn't been told she had an ASD, I wouldn't have necessarily suspected it. Thus, the fact that there is this nagging feeling that there is something neurodiverse - I would feel very guilty if I didn't speak up and they struggled later on. I had a few friends with SLD who didn't get diagnosed till University (because that is when they first started to not really cope with life) and now knowing that they have dyslexia they wonder if they would have such self-esteem issues, feeling 'useless' had they got assessed earlier.

TLDR: How do parents convince school to assess children with mild dyslexia (they tried but gave up the battle last year)? Or it might actually be an ASD - how do I bring this up with parents and again how do I convince the school?

*didn't make it clear my new student didn't get diagnosed until she was in year 13 and had dropped out of school (that dropping out of school probably wouldn't have happened had she had support earlier on).

The British Dyslexia Association offers assessments by Educational Psychologists for around £600 each. Could the parents manage that?

Yes, so both children that is £1200; I think that is a bit steep for them.

Local authorities function differently from one another. One I’m at you can contact inclusion services and ask for a parental request for a EP. If your able to do so it’s under consultantion, sometimes they say the request should come via school, that atleast might get schools attention.
If parents have written to the school they should have a policy of how long they have to respond (usually 15 days). Advice parents to always get a receipt from reception on delivering letter. Should the school ignore the request follow schools complaints policy. They are not allowed to ignore parents concerns. They should specifically ask to see the SENCo. With the ASD the gp could refer them to CAMHS, once external agencies are involved schools act a lot differently. With diagnosis comes support e.g Access arrangements, reasonable adjustments ( Send code of practice chapter 6), If ASD too then possibly EHCP. IPSEA, National Autistic Society.SOSSEN, Special Needs Jungle all provide lots of information. With the parents try to be honest but tactful, make a list of the traits and explain the anxiety that come with unsupported ASD kids. The Girl With The Curly Hair by Alice Rowe are comic book versions to help people understand autism- could reference that. Hope some of that helps.

Tell parents if they haven’t already to contact local IASS ( parent information, advice and support service).

So spoke to parents. I just asked a few questions about how the children did socially etc dad said the son is doing fine socially (which to me suggests isn't ASD although they said their daughter had difficulties). They've asked me to write a letter to the school (the school did reply to them in the end saying they were fine and it would cost £7000 to get them assessed which they couldn't justify seeing as they said they were not fine). I'll try and find some council policy/ law to quote about their obligation to get these children assessed. Does anyone have any further suggestions/ suggestions of things to put in the letter?

Refer to the Send Code of Practice Chapter 6:
6.1 All children and young people are entitled to an appropriate education, one that is appropriate to their needs, promotes high standards and the fulfilment of potential. This should enable them to:
• achieve their best
• become confident individuals living fulfilling lives, and
• make a successful transition into adulthood, whether into employment, further or higher education or training
• use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEN gets the support they need – this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN
• ensure that children and young people with SEN engage in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have SEN
6.2 Every school is required to identify and address the SEN of the pupils that they support. Mainstream schools, which in this chapter includes maintained schools and academies that are not special schools, maintained nursery schools, 16 to19 academies, alternative provision academies and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), must:

Children & Families Act 2014 also has relevant bits of law.

The cost should irrelevant as it’s a school issue, parents should ask for the process involved in assessment and refer to the law. If they are dyslexic that can really affect their learning and certainly reaching their potential. As I mentioned in the above post IPSEA are a good soured for SEN law and advice. Good luck