Possible dyslexia, help needed!!

[MeMudmagnet]

Can anyone help or advice me please?
My 6yr old dd is really behind with her reading, writing, spelling and maths.

She's in yr2 and has had an IEP since yr1 for focusing and concentration.

She's recently started with a private tutor, who is a specialist in dyslexia. Although she's not been formally assessed, the specialist tutor says she's showing signs of dyslexia.

The SENCO at school said they don't assess them till they're 8/9yrs and if you get a private assessment I was told they won't act upon it.

I've found out, she could get a private assessment through dh's work healthcare program. If she was positively diagnosed, would it be worth pushing for a statement? Or would she be unlikely to get this?

At the moment she doesn't appear to be getting any extra help, apart from a bit of group reading with the rest of the IEP group now and again. She's had no one to one reading at school at all this term so far.

All of her class are starting to read chapter books and she can barely read a sentence! She can't read and write without help and she's starting to notice how far behind she is.

I'm so worried she'll never catch up and other areas of her education will start to suffer.

What can I do to get her more support in school?

I've made another appointment to see the SENCO and am going to offer to come in myself to do one to one reading with her or other exercises which I will have to research for myself. I'll even support her in class if they'll let me. Don't know how this suggestion will go down as I'm not a teacher. But other than watch her fail, what choice do I have?

She can't be expected to do anymore at home. She already has an extra tutor session, reads every day, spellings every day ans homework once a week from school plus once week from the tutor. She spends all day at school. she needs to be learning there.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Hi.

You should get a private assessment if it is free - it should contain some recommendations for school.

You almost certainly won't get a statement for dyslexia - nor do you need one. While it varies lea to lea to get a statement for dyslexia in my lea you need to be in the bottom 1%.

You don't need a statement because the school should be able to provide extra help for her from within their existing SEN budget.

For example my daughter gets an hour a day in a group of 8 who are all very far behind doing phonics and writing. Plus 1:1 reading with her TA every day.

You are quite right that she needs to be learning at school and she can't do anymore at home.

Do you know how far behind she is? Do you know what her predicted levels are for the end of the year? Or her current level? Or what colour book band she is reading?

Hi IndigoBell,

I met with her private tutor today, she has assessed her as being in the bottom 5% for reading & writing. She's at least a year behind her peers and is on the blue book band for reading at school.

She doesn't do any one to one reading in school, only group reading.
The IEP seems to mean nothing.

Hi MeMud,

Re Indigobells' comment:-

"You almost certainly won't get a statement for dyslexia - nor do you need one. While it varies lea to lea to get a statement for dyslexia in my lea you need to be in the bottom 1%"

It is true that it is very difficult indeed to receive a statement for dyslexia - but not impossible. You have to decide whether you want to go down that particular route. Re Indigo's second sentence her particular LEA are operating a blanket policy and they are thus acting illegally as a result!. Blanket policies are not allowed.

"You don't need a statement because the school should be able to provide extra help for her from within their existing SEN budget"

But they are not doing so. Devolved funding is proving to be bad news for children with special educational needs.

MeMud - you are your DDs best and only advocate. Children with dyslexia need to be taught differently; they cannot fully access the national curriculum as it stands. Are there any specialist schools for dyslexia in your area?. They do exist.

I would also seek advice from the dyslexia organisations like Dyslexia action and the Dyscovery center.

Hi - I had to post as I could have so easily have written your post myself about my DD who is also 6 in year 2. She doesn't have an IEP and school doen't seem to be interested. She is reading yellow band and as I volunteer read at her school I know that she is the lowest in her class but she is making some progress with her reading with help from us at home. her main problem is her writing and she gets in such a mess with her spelling and an initial assesment suggested that her spelling age was less than 5. She has also been seeing a private tutor who thinks she may be dyslexic. I am so frustrated with school and agree that our DD's cant do anymore at home and that school need to do more. My DD still has the same spellings as everyone else so usually gets them wrong - I don't want her to lose any more confidence and I don't know what the answer is. I've been thinking about home ed for a year or so with the support of the private tutor but DD enjoys the social side of school. There is an excellent private school near us that specialises in dyslexia but the fees are £10000 pa!

Sorry I can't offer advice but I do empathise and wish I knew the answer.

Marking my place to come back to this later. My DS is dyslexic. He has never had - or needed - a statement, but we did have him privately assessed by an educational psychologist (at age 6) and it was the best thing we ever did. The school did act on it and gave him the extra support he needed. He is now 11 and has the reading age of a 13 year old. So please don't despair.

Toe-by-toe can easily be done by a parent at home. And they you can do it 7 times a week rather than 3. It costs almost nothing....

Whether it will help your child or not is a different question.....

Toffefudgecake - The school SENCO told me that even if we get a private assessment the school won't act upon it!
Even if she isn't dyslexic, it should obvious to them something is wrong.
I'm told she's bright, lively and creative, but her progress with literacy is painfully slow.

I know of other children in a similar position, some seem to be getting help and others aren't. The is a 'good' school on paper and dd1 did very well there, but she was very able. I just feel dd2 is being ignored and allowed to fail.
She is so frustrated. She will often sit and look at books and sometimes she tries to work them out on her own, she's so desperate to be able do what all her friend can do.

IndigoBell - I feel strongly she should be getting help during the school day. She already does quite enough out of school..reading daily, spellings daily (to have any chance of getting them right) a private tutoe before school once a week, homework from the tutor to complete through the week and homework from school once a week.
I think that's quite enough for a 6yr old, she still needs to play, have friends round and be a kid.
From what I've learnt about dyslexic children, they work harder in 20mins than the average child does in 2 hours. So it's hardly surprising she's tired after school.

I will look into the Toe to Toe though thank you. I'm going to ask the SENCO if I can go into school myself an do things such as this with her. I've feeling the Head won't like it though.

If you like the look of toe by toe ( and it does work for a lot of kids ) - do it instead of daily reading and daily spellings.

(Another alternative is dancing bears. Which I personally think is better for a 6 year old than toe by toe.)

I've seen toe-by-toe recommended by Ed Psychs - and then school does do it. So your HT has no reason to not do it....

I definitely wouldn't be doing spellings with her daily. I'd be talking to the teacher about setting appropriate spellings....

Thanks I'll look up Dancing bears as well.
Have you heard of Nessy too?

The only reason I practice spellings daily, is because if I do a little each day she can can them all right when tested, so gets her sticker. She will have forgotten them a few weeks later so although it is all a bit pointless, it means a lot to her to get that sticker.
Her tutor has said this will make a big difference to her confidence, which really needs a boost.

Talk to her teacher about her getting fewer and easier spellings. My DD gets a very easy list just for her. Your DD does not have to get the same spellings as the rest of her group.

I also know Nessy. There's one for about £20 for home use and one for about £120 for school use. The home use one is not good enough. I haven't tried the school one.

What kind of work does her Tutor set her? It is entirely possible that Dancing bears done daily would be better than her tutor....

Talk to her teacher about her getting fewer and easier spellings. My DD gets a very easy list just for her. Your DD does not have to get the same spellings as the rest of her group.

I also know Nessy. There's one for about £20 for home use and one for about £120 for school use. The home use one is not good enough. I haven't tried the school one.

What kind of work does her Tutor set her? It is entirely possible that Dancing bears done daily would be better than her tutor....