is this really enough for a statement?

[NynaevesSister]

DS has mild hypermobilia, and I suspect he is dyslexic. A parent, aunt, and another sibling all have dyslexia.

His posture and handwriting, and fine motor skills in general are poor. At a meeting today with the SENCO they said they weren't concerned about his maths (he's fine with that and really enjoys numeracy, is probably just on level for his age, so room for improvement but not bad), but he is a 1b for literacy (is in Y3). They're putting in further strategies (more OT, specialised phonics tuition etc) but have said that if he doesn't progress this term they want to seek a statement.

A statement for what? What would that mean and why would they want one? Is he really that bad? He's a very imaginative child who loves making up his own stories, and he spends a lot of time creating his own comics. He makes a lot of props himself for his own games at home. He's very sociable and gets invited on playdates. He's the one who thinks up most of the games when playing with his friends - he's great at storytelling.

I don't think he has a learning disability outside of possibly being dyslexic, and I have asked them today to test him for that. He's not even 8 years old yet. I am quite sure that, following the pattern in the family, he's goin to pretty much catch up academically when he's 8 to 9 years old, especially if he is dyslexic and gets help for that.

What has been the experience of other parents. If they ask for him to be assessed for a statement should I say no?

If the school think that he needs a statement of SEN then why not go for it? If he needs the help to catch up how can that be a bad thing, IF, he gets one from your LA then if he catches up it will be removed anyway.

I guess I'm worried about how much that label will define him, and for how long. If the statement is removed will it stay on his school record permenantly? My concern is that his development is mostly being affected by the hypermobilia - his literacy isn't helped by the fact that holding a pen is still difficult for him and can be painful.

In short, what are the downsides to him having a statement? On the upside, he would get more resources, and so would the school I guess. That would be of benefit too for the other children in class. Would it stigmatise him though?

If he is struggling to hold a pen then a statement will help him because it can state that he will need to use a laptop or other form of computer to do his recording.

This will be vital when he goes to secondary and that will come round very quickly.

If I were you I would be patting the senco on the back for being so on the ball!

Not sure how a statement is a label it is not tatooed to his forehead? Plenty of parents have to fight really hard long battles to even get offered the kind of support your child is. There is no downside - bite their hands off!

What is his rate of progress in literacy? Standardised assessments for reading and spelling? tbh even if there is not adequate progress (the ratio gain during Wave 3 intervention should be around 2.4 to allow catch-up as well as progress but as low as 0.6 could be argued to be acceptable if ability is compromised) it is likely that SA will be refused. LEAs are not supposed to do so (ie it is illegal)but have little charts relating to how far behind a child needs to be academically to trigger assessment. 1b is the level a child would be expected to be at at the end of year 6 before the LEA would consider that the child's needs could not be met from the school's own budget at SA+.

I would not say no - I would bite their hand off! As part of the assessment your son would be seen by the educational psychologist who would perform cognitive assessment using WISC-IV or similar. I had to pay £600 in desperation at the beginning of year 6 to get cognitive assessment carried out by an EP. This will give you more than a 'diagnosis' but a clearer understanding of his weaknesses and strengths.

KS2 can be very difficult for undiagnosed kids as they have no way of explaining to themselves why they find some things so much more difficult. Dyslexia is rarely 'pure' but often associated with other difficulties. Self-esteem is something that affects all children though.

He would also need to have been seen by an EP to qualify for extra time in SATs exams. It frequently takes longer than an academic year to progress through the various stages of statementing. A statement would also mean that your son/parents could select the secondary school in advance of standard appliations for places and that a chosen school could not reject him unless they stated they were unable to meet his needs. Transition would be managed and the school - ie all his teachers - would have an awareness of his needs.

Thank you all! I had no idea about much of this, it is all a lot more positive than I thought. The school has been fabulous getting things sorted really quickly. Have lots of questions but am on phone so will writeore when home.

N

What the others have said.

Bite their bloody hand off and be truly thankful that they are thinking of applying for a statement now. Not all schools are as forward thinking by any means.

It took my friend's child till Y8 to receive a statement for her dyslexic son and he could have done with such help attached to such a document far, far earlier.

Please do not associate the word statement with equalling bad enough to need one. Its not like that at all. My son is certainly not stigmatised for having a statement and nor actually is any child I know of who has one of these in place for their additional educational needs.

Statement broadly means protection of needed provision by law. I have no idea why the school would want one. Mostly they go out of their way to avoid them, especially for the more able children as the school doesn't get any additional resources just an obligation to use their resources in a certain way rather than how they want.

I assumed the school would get more resources or something - couldn't really work out why they'd push for one otherwise. Attila you're right and I hadn't thought of that. We had to really push for his older brother, who is now in his 20s, to get assessed and spend hundreds of our own money in the process. I hadn't thought of this statement in terms of his dyslexia (stupid me!). Guess I was just a bit blindsided by the SENCO as I hadn't realised they'd thought he was in need of one.

KeepOn you've totally lost me there. I have no idea what you mean by WAVE gain? He was P8 at the start of year 2 and 1b by the end of it. His maths is 2a according to his last report.

He has been seen by the educational psychologist, actually twice now. Once in reception, and again at the start of this school year. I will have to look at the report again. I don't know what WISC-IV is either!

It is a large school - four form entry - and I think that really helps a lot. They're able to have a specialist teacher who does speech therapy in the morning and OT in the afternoon. So he gets one session of OT a week at the school itself. It isn't surprising perhaps that the school has a level of SEN pupils that's higher than the national average.

OK so hand biting it is then!

You need to check out the Rose review on dyslexia (Sir Jim Rose, 2003). Your own lea may have a dyslexia policy.

Specialist phonological interventions are quite likely to be Acceleread/write (Wave 3).

Your school do sound better than most and so informing yourself may be to understand why they are acting as they are.

The school will get extra resources to help him, but it sounds like you are really lucky to be getting so much help already without a statement. Not many people get EP time and OT time without a statement.

It's not a label unless it is made one by the school / community.