Typical dyslexia support

[Superspecs]

Hi there, my daughter is 11 and in year 7 of an international school. She has dyslexia, diagnosed about a year ago by an educational psychologist.

I’m after some advice about the typical amount of support she’d be getting in a uk state school. Her school does not have an SEN department, but apart from that it is a good school, kind, friendly and she loves going. She is doing well in all subjects except maths and English where she is below average. Her dyslexia means that her spelling is very bad and it is sometimes difficult to tell which word she is trying to write. She likes to write though and will happily make up a story and write it down for fun. She is a reluctant reader but her comprehension is fine, she’s a little bit slower than average.

What support do you think she would typically get in a uk state school? Her school let her wear her headphones and use her speech to text and text to speech apps. They give her extra time in exams and allow her to see the spelling sheet a week early. They are able to apply for support such as a laptop in exams.

I’m conscious that the school doesn’t have an Sen focus and she may be missing out. However, if I can get a grasp how much she is missing out I can gauge whether we should move her to a school with more SEN support, though this would not be her preference. We have tried dyslexia tutoring in the past and she didn’t like that, though was fine with the pull out support she got within school hours in primary.

Thanks for reading. All help gratefully received.

Each home nation has their own SEN system.

Support is based on needs, rather than diagnosis, so there isn’t a typical level support for dyslexia. Some will receive very little. Others will have EHCPs (or the Scottish, Welsh, NI statutory plan) and receive a significant amount of support.

Some schools are also better than others.

Although there isn’t a set amount of support given, common provision for your DD’s profile of need would include the use of assistive technology, touch typing programme, looking at placement within the classroom, maybe something like Lexia, providing handouts to minimise copying from the board, pre-teaching vocab (this will become more important in e.g. science as DD moves through the secondary curriculum), precision teaching, exam, access arrangements, a key-worker, small group reading intervention, but it would really depend on the individual school.

Often schools withdraw DC struggling with English from MFL lessons. If you are very lucky, a school might have a dyslexia specialist tutor on staff. Would DD be willing to try someone else?

Thank you very much for your reply, that’s really helpful. I think I will try harder to get her to see a specialist tutor. The school is very open to suggestions and following the advice of her educational psychologist so the pre teaching of vocab and handouts already happens, but I am concerned about the reading intervention and key worker aspect because she doesn’t have this in place,

What do you think she needs? Back when I was young (and quite badly dyslexic) the intervention was very based on need. Just being dyslexic didn't get you much, aside from some technology accommodations and extra exam time.

On top of that it depending on individual needs. I had a lot of dyslexic friends that I met through classes/extra help and such, and I wouldn't say there was a standard approach. It ranged from very heavy-handed interventions including specialist lessons, 1-1 support, provision of devices/equipment, to more mid-level interventions, optional help at lunch, extended deadlines, through to very minimal help like the ones I mentioned initially.

Personally I had quite extensive support in primary school, but the strategies I learned worked quite well and by secondary school I was able to keep up and not cause teachers any serious problems. Then as soon as I hit the age where we were freely allowed to use technology to write our homework and essays, I began to match my peers perfectly because spellcheck, grammar checks, and other tools bridged the gap.

So, personally I wouldn't focus on what other countries or schools offer, but just look at your daughter and figure out exactly what she would benefit from, and then proceed with the school - which it sounds like you are.

I also wouldn't give up on specialist help/tutoring.. some tutors work with some kids and some don't. Just because one tutor didn't work for her, doesn't mean another won't be able to bond and really help her.