Indigobell

[Minx179]

Indigo. Thanks for your response on my thread in Secondary. I didn?t want to respond to you there for what will be obvious if you read this long post.

My son can write, but its formation is approximate to a child of 7. He was assessed by an OT this year as having a writing ability at -0.2 percentile. Yet his writing is apparently not a problem in school; it never has been! Though I have noticed increasingly that when I try to talk about writing the school concentrate on the act of putting pen to paper, when I try to talk content etc, I get blank looks (and raised eyebrows), or? he?s not as bad as a lot of children?. I don?t dispute the last statement but it doesn?t mean I don?t feel he should be ignored.

He was using an Alphasmart between yrs 5-9. A laptop was recommended by EP when he was in year 4. The school wouldn?t provide one, we could, but only if we provided a top of the range one, which we couldn?t afford. It took a year of fighting to get the school to allow him to use an Alpha smart in school. He gave up using it towards the end of year 9 due to bullying in classes; I still have the note from that year?s planner from his English teacher asking if he can use it because handwriting is interfering with his work. Yet he has written all his work during year 10, only one teacher has mentioned his handwriting; though a number informed the SENCO ? only she failed to pass on. The SENCO states they have some spare laptops in school, but as yet he has not been offered one, despite her saying in June that he would get one (reminder letter on way to school). A computer obviously takes the stress out of writing, giving him more time to concentrate on what he needs to be doing. What he writes does improve somewhat, but I?m not sure too what extent.

We have also had manipulation of SAT test results; KS 1 and 2 externally marked. DS1 now 18 (NT) got level 2?s for everything at the end of KS1, DS2 (15) got level 2?s across the board as well, that is where the similarity ends. DS1 could do all that was needed to get to that level. DS2 couldn?t do number bonds to 10, couldn?t count accurately to 20, 1+2= and 2+1= were to him completely different questions, which needed working out on fingers even when repeated one after the other. English, delayed reader; only really began ?reading? in the Jan/Feb of SATs year after a course of Vision Therapy, comprehension was v.poor. Writing, illegible, I had to write what he said on one line and he would copy underneath. That was the only way to read what it said.

We moved to a different school, although we were informed his maths was an N, they apparently couldn?t say in regard to his English, because there wasn?t enough work in his file. Unfortunately it doesn?t appear that one school can change the results of a previous school. So if they are inaccurate they remain inaccurate. Unfortunately teachers are under a lot of pressure to ?prove? children have moved up a level; otherwise their teaching is at fault. DS?s (private) tutor told me at the time how her head had tried to force her to sign off that a child with autism could attain x, she refused but it was only because her head of year backed her up. Children with higher levels than they can actually attain is a big bug bear among teachers, but stats matter in some schools.

My DS got an N in his maths mocks end of KS2, yet by the time he sat the test in May he had a level 3. He also got a level 3 for English, or did he? Level 3 is reasonable for a child at end of KS2, yet he was included in an intensive English group with another 10 children entering year 7; told on the quiet by the SENCO, that the school had to arrange the group quickly in Sept as the children had come into school with 3?s and 4?s but most couldn?t even read. Why my DS was in the group went inadequately unexplained by the head; he is in an intensive English group with other children with similar SEN?!!

When he was in yr 8 I was given a load of Teacher Assessed (TA) work, all of which was homework. This had all required a significant amount of parent input to understand, plan, write and draw out the knowledge he has. If he had been left to his own devices none of it wouldn?t have got done, because he didn?t understand where to start. This mirrors what was in his transition report by a specialist teacher. From his E+ C file I noted that one of his teachers in yr8 noted that he cannot follow instructions even when they are in front of him, this was never transmitted to us. We moved him at the end of year 8 for a number of reasons.

I managed to get hold of his teacher assessed English work from yr 9, again this was all homework; there was no class work at all included in the TA assessed work. The school refuse to discuss why only his homework was used for TA. If they are only marking work where he has had significant support, his difficulties are masked, which probably contributes to him not having difficulties in school!

Part of my concern is that KS3 TA marked work goes towards the Fisher Family Trust data that generates the predicted grades; the baseline for FFT is a child?s KS2 results; this is great if they were correct, but his more than likely weren?t. The head of his current school has informed me that they use data from the upper level of the FFT; for motivational purposes. On top of that I also found out that his maths and science tests had been boosted to the next level. This was purely motivational you understand, but it also showed he had made one level of progress over the key stage in both subjects. So he has essentially been given two lots of statistical motivational boosts by the school, but no support to attain them. The major problem with this as I understand it, for him and his teachers is a) his targets are purely aspirational therefore unobtainable b) there is no way his teacher or DS can put in the work which would enable him to reach these targets c) as he has been doing so well according to TA?s for the last 4 years it is going to be quite difficult for them to turn round and say well actually his writing is crap, he can?t xyz. This contributes to why they appear unwilling to tell me what level he is currently working at.

I do kick up a fuss, and have done at every school he has attended, but there is only so much you can do with little support. When schools don?t want to provide you with the necessary information or the child with support it feels as if you are fighting a continual battle, with your child on the losing side. I have proved that the SENCO, head of KS3, and Head of School have lied misinformed me, and withheld pertinent information from his subject teachers, on a number of occasions. It was requested last year that I do not contact any teachers without first going through the head, so he can co-ordinate what I am being told.

I went to Uni when he was in yr5, to find out why schools lie and so many kids with SEN end up in prison. It helped give me the outline and a better understanding of the system, but is has been teachers on forums such as this and TES that confirm what I think and give the links to stats which support my argument.

Hi Minx,

Thanks for sharing your story. Not exactly cheered me up though...

Pretty much backs up my experience. My first school continually lied to me about DS and DDs grades.

Luckily my new school is, so far, brilliant, and totally agree that both kids have problems, and have them on all sorts of interventions. They even agree that the last school inflated DDs KS1 grades.

It was really interesting to see a sample of your boys work on the other thread. It is far better than my sons - but obviously so far off what he needs to do to be able to succeed at school.

My DS still can't write in sentances and his letter formation is about as good as a 5 year old. I am putting in a huge amount of effort now to try and get him to at least be able to create appropriate content on a laptop.

I've kind of given up on the handwriting, because it all stresses him out so much, and there's only so much you can do. So I have decided to focus on OT and typing in sentances. School have put him on a handwriting intervention though.

But I kind of think I have left it too late to improve his handwriting anway, now that he is 10. I think he may be too old to learn how to write?

I split my energy between worrying that my (very bright) DS will never learn to write and worrying that my DD will never learn to read, write, or add up.

I've had to stop doing work with my DD at home because I was stressing her out so much - but school are doing a lot for her.

She has had 1:1 every day since reception and she is still 2 years behind (ie reading at a reception level in year 3). Although she is on the SEN register she has no dx of anything.

You must be so worried. I know I am.

Thanks for contacting me.

I'm glad your children are getting some support/interventions. Having a supportive school makes all the difference. It doesn't stop you worrying but it helps if you think they are getting support and you're getting the information you need.

I'm not too sure that it is ever too late to learn to write, it will probably come with time, but it is frustrating/worrying when you know they are having to do essentially the same work as the NT kids; differentation or not.

I do think your right to not force the issue at home. Children need somewhere they don't feel under pressure to perform. If they need to be coerced practice things it helps to focus on those interventions which may prove the most beneficial in the long term. His OT and sentence building will be more beneficial for him than spending hours with a pencil, which probably adds to his stress levels and impacts on his ability to do a sentence. Does he ever draw/colour for pleasure?

Have you ever tried to get him to talk/tell stories/do his homework into a dictaphone then type it for him? It could allow him to show others how bright he is, how much information he retains or can apply to different situations etc, even though he can't express it in writing himself.

If you're seeing an OT, have you not been able to get referred for a diagnosis for them both through their service? What do the school say about getting a dx?

Your DD is fortunate if she is getting 1:1 every day. Is that am and pm or just am? That is unheard of in any of the schools in our town. An hour a day if they are lucky. The first school my Ds went to when we moved here, didn't have any in KS1; other than reception.

Have either of them been seen/assessed by the specialist teacher service in your area (if there is one)?

The one thing that I think helped my DS was reflex therapy followed by vision therapy. There have been a number of thread on here about it recently. It is horrendously expensive, it's not a miracle cure, but it certainly helped especially the reflex therapy.

Just noticed on another thread you are doing reflex therapy for your son. Have you had your DD assessed as well?

Sally Goddard writes about reflexes and the impact they can have on children, they are very readable.

Hi Minx,

Re DS. He has a dx of Aspergers and Dyspraxia and yes we're doing retained reflexes with him. Luckily this school do know he is very bright - in fact it was them who told me so! Because they do a non-verbal reasoning test on every child. And he scored the top score ever! [Very proud mum emoticon]

However, it doesn't really matter (in exams) how bright you are if you can't write....

Re DD. She has had one assesment by the lea dyslexia team - who said she couldn't read at all. Their recommendation? That she continue with Read,Write,Inc - which she has been on for the last 2 years! I was furious. The dyslexia team appear to be really shit and subscribe to the myth perputated on the main MN education board that there isn't really anything as dyslexia - just kids who haven't been taught using the miracle synthetic phonics.

Which obviously from the specialist dyslexia team is not the attitude I was hoping for.

She is not getting full time 1:1, just 20 minutes every day - which I am very happy with. + 1 hour small group literacy.

I'm planning to take DD to the sound learning centre at Christmas to see what they recommend. Hopefully they'll think retained reflexes will help her as well.

We have only just managed to move her to this school, so I need to give them at a term to see if they can actually teach her anything. Because she was getting loads of support at her school - it just wasn't working.

Thanks for all your support.

Indigo.

Your DS may not be able to physically write, but if he is using a laptop in class, then the school should be looking at putting in a request for him to be using it during his SATs. If he is verbally bright has it been suggested that he has a scribe for exams?

This needs to be put in place now because it takes practice to use it effectively, it can be done either by him talking to teacher/TA and them writing down what he says, or him talking into a dictaphone and the work being transcribed later.

With regard to your DD - if it doesn't work try it again and again and again . Really don't understand the logic of this.

If your DD is that far behind across the board academically, have they suggested monitoring her progress for the next term, to see if there are any improvements etc. Are they planning on applying for a statement if there is no progress?

You need to be careful, that you don't get dragged down the 'lets wait and see' route.

Hi Minx,

With DD we have just started a new school. They are all full of enthusiasm that they can help her - but I am also very impressed with the SENCO.

So I will make sure we have very measurable goals put in place for her to achieve by Christmas. If she (again) fails to make these goals then I'm not sure what we'll do. I don't think a statement would be right for her. I guess I'll continue to try 'alternative' stuff like retained reflexes and vision therapy.

With DS - Can he use a computer in exams rather than a scribe? I'm reluctant to go down the scribe route before trying typing. He's only in year 5 so 2 years before his SATS. I'm confident this school will get him the right support for his SATS. There is no way they will want him to be writing his SATS :)

But I don't want him to get good SATS. I want him to be able to write / type to an appropriate level. It feels to me if he never learns to write his opportunities in life will be severely limited....