Dyslexia- what should I expect from school?

[OddshoesOddsocks]

Dd (7) was screened as dyslexic (at my request) in November, our LA don’t formally assess until 11 and we’re not in a position to go private currently. ADHD has also been suggested and is ‘in the pipeline’.

Since then we’ve had 2 parents evenings (one the day of the screening and one yesterday), one meeting with the head and 2 progress reports telling me she’s below expectation in most areas but showing progress.

The head says all the right things and has put some things in place- she has her own spellings list now and they have tried out coloured overlays but they didn’t work. We are awaiting a cognitive assessment in school and I am waiting for a meeting with the sendco which I have chased up to no avail.

My real issue is with her teacher. She’s passive, lacklustre and has literally shrugged at me when I’ve brought up dd’s struggles. She has told me, is as many words, that she needs to do a course because she doesn’t know how to teach her and that it’s on the list of things to do…

so… with that in mind, what support can be put in place for a dyslexic 7 year old? I want to go in to this as prepared and informed as possible, I don’t want to go in angry or underprepared, I want to be objective and get the best out of the next meeting!

Thanks in advance, I’m all new to this and it’s a minefield!

Hi - my dd9 was diagnosed with dyslexia earlier this school year. She is on the school SEN register and has a separate plan for her learning. This includes 121 sessions with the TA for phonics, using IDL which is a spelling programme, and using Clicker to type rather that write in English lessons. The teacher also adapts the English lessons so that she can access them and she has a separate spelling list. It doesn’t really matter about having a diagnosis, if a child isn’t meeting the expectations there should be a plan in place to support them. Does the school have a SEN policy?

That’s really useful thank you 😊

they do but it basically just says they’ll make allowances in class. I did find a list of interventions they offer which was interesting.

How does your dd find the typing rather than writing? I know it’s beneficial to them but I can’t quite get my head around it, it seems almost defeatist to type rather than write (I don’t mean to cause offence with that, I can hear how it sounds!). If she’d benefit from typing in class then I’m all for it but I can’t imagine I’ll be able to talk the teacher round!

I think they do need to be able to write to a certain standard - but in reality - they’ll all be typing much more than writing when they leave school. The idea behind typing is to support the students spelling and therefore concentrate more on the content of their written work - so they are not held back by their poor spelling. With the typing software they use the teacher can input some vocabulary to help them and there is autocorrect and the software can read back their work to them.

Thank you. She does have difficulty concentrating and will be assessed for ADHD in the future. Anything that helps keeping focus is a bonus! I will mention it to the teacher 😊