14 year old child diagnosed with dyslexia

[SillyBridget]

Please hit me with your top tips on how to support them at home and what to ask school for. Particularly interested in the GCSE years as they start year 10 in September and I'm wondering about both in class support which they definitely need and exam adjustments.

Thanks x

This is going to vary individual to individual depending on their specific difficulties. Whoever diagnosed should have made recommendations. If they haven’t, go back to them. Can you say more about what specifically DC is struggling with. Without knowing more about the difficulties DC is experiencing, any suggestions may not actually be helpful.

Look at JCQ’s access arrangement guidance and speak to the school about exam access arrangements.

Ok appreciate it's vague. So I don't have the report yet but I asked them today as I knew it was coming soon and they confirmed a diagnosis. Symptom wise they are experiencing letters moving around the board/losing their place when reading and some visual stress, that was the main one. They actually really enjoy reading for pleasure. Their writing speed is slow, they are much better at articulating themselves verbally. Their short term memory is not great. They find the concentration involved in school absolutely exhausting. Find it difficult to remember equations/formulas in maths.

I'm expecting based on what I saw during the assessment and feedback straight after, extra time enabled in exams based on their writing speed/need for processing time. And I think being able to highlight sheets rather than writing everything, watching videos, having graphs, verbal instructions to back up written ones may help.

Some example of things that are worth speaking to the school about include minimising copying from the board by giving handouts/electronic notes, not pressuring DD to read aloud to the class, trying a reading pen or computer reader/text to speech software, some assistive tech software has a screen ruler so you can keep track of where you are, a laptop or scribe or speech to text software, pre-teaching new vocab, movement breaks, placement within the classroom, not giving multi-step instructions, if homework isn’t already put online then either doing that or ensuring DD has recorded the task correctly, and a mentor to help with study skills/organisation.

Whilst state mainstream schools must make their best endeavours to meet their pupil’s SEN and must make reasonable adjustments, without an EHCP, the support can be more limited because of funding and staffing. For example, having someone scribe for DD full time in lessons is unlikely to be possible without an EHCP.

To be brutally honest, the chances of getting any support are slim unless your DD is unlikely to get 4+ in exams and/or unless you have an EHCP or an incredible school with not that many SEN kids and money/time to spare.

Access arrangements like extra time are not automatic for dyslexia. You will need at least 2 scores under 84 otherwise it gets more complicated. JCQ handbook has all the information.

Hopefully the EP report will have advice specific to your child. If working memory is weak, that is a real problem with GCSEs as there is so much content.

I have a very dyslexic child doing GCSEs now. She has targets of 8 but unlikely to hit that in most subjects. She gets 25% extra time, rest breaks, lap top, reading pen (they're pretty useless).

For us, what has made the difference:

• Moving to laptop for everything since Y6
• Tutors in all subjects in Y11 - maths since December, the others since March mocks.
• Videos, films, theatre trips for English
• Taking a BTEC instead of a GCSE (no exams)
• Dropping down to 6 subjects to minimise exam load
• Taking one subject that only has 1 paper.

It has been a VERY expensive year as there is no funding available for any of this.

Thanks for everyone's advice and info it's been very useful. Basically all the strategies that you both highlight are what have been recommended on the report. I'll ask for a meeting with the school to find out where we go from here.

Just to update this thread for anyone interested. I actually cannot fault the school. They have quickly sorted a laptop, movement breaks, a fidget, no cold calling in lessons, photocopied sheets that that can just highlight/add notes to, and all the access arrangements are going to be applied for. I haven't had to fund anything even though we offered and they don't have an ehcp. They are like a different child in such a short space of time now they are finally getting support and an understanding of their needs.

Oh they are getting a visual stress test as well and have been given a reading ruler. One thing I forgot to ask about is any kind of study support/mentoring which I know will be thin on the ground but I suppose it's worth an ask