Is the teachers attitude to my sons dyslexia Norma?

[Anothernamechanger1]

Ds in year 6 has a lot of Sen problems and was also diagnosed privately with dyslexia earlier this year. It's really helped me and him getting this diagnosis. However I'm having problems with the school. His spelling is very bad, it always has been and he spells phonetically. His hand writing is also very poor. At parents evening last week I asked if there was any help he could get with his spelling (or anything I could do) because it's affecting his attitude to school because they have spelling tests every Friday of which he gets most wrong. He can't spell words such as 'those' or ' people' words he should've learnt in ks1. The teachers words were 'it will come'. I said I'm concerned as he's obviously at secondary next year. The head said 'they don't have spelling tests at secondary and they use spell check anyway'. Yes this is probably true re spell check. But for them to say 'it will come' just appalled me. If he's at 10 and can not spell even simple words, how on earth will he suddenly just be able to spell when he's older?!

Does anyone have any suggestions?

And I'll have a look at their website now.

This website might be useful

Secondary sounds more promising then.

Thanks cece I'm aware of IPSea. I just don't understand the schools attitude to his spelling. I know they say things just to appease me as what they say is different to what ds says. Although I know sometimes I have to take what he says with a pinch of salt.

I'm not sure you can realistically expect the school to put in enough support to close the literacy gap that dyslexia causes. Some yes, but intervention a couple of times a week, or even a few minutes a day, is unlikely to provide enough repetition and overlearning to make a difference.

TBH, I think if you really want to make a difference, you have to take it on yourself.

My DS has some dyslexic type difficulties. Over his 10 week summer break I did about 90 minutes of 1:1 work with him (in short bursts) every day based on Toe by Toe, Apples and Pears, Dancing Bears and Nessy (I am an SEN teacher so felt confident to build lessons using a range of resources, but any of the first 3 programmes on their own would work). During term time he is doing about 30mins each evening and 90mins each weekend day. I have pulled him out of the school spelling programme/ test regimen so he has more time to learn in the way that works for him.

The difference it has made is phenomenal, he has pretty much caught up with his class and his confidence has sky-rocketed. However, there is no way on earth his school could have put in that much 1:1. Even if they could, I would want him to miss that much class time.

I am a secondary History teacher, one of my brightest year 10s is dyslexic and has a scribe for assessments/tests, his handwriting and spelling is very poor but verbally he is excellent. He copes well with any literacy based starters/plenaries (scrabble/anagrams/boggle type) etc, as he will have a scribe he will lose the SPaG marks in the exam. Last year despite this he still outperformed his peers.
He has always had a lot of support and help, we work with him. Other pupils like resources printed on green paper/use tinted glasses for reading. I always take into account dyslexia when marking.
Once school is aware of the diagnosis there really is no excuse for not working with the child, TAs and teachers to find what works.

Thanks lizzy that's what I don't understand. He's 10 and say 'it will come' being able to spell but I don't see how it will when he can't spell basic words. Bizarrely he is good at anagrams now you mention that.

sister I appreciate what you are saying but doing 90 minutes a day on anytbing with my ds that he deans to be 'work' will not happen. Apart from the fact I'm a LP and have another DC, I also work. I can not get him to do the set spellings each week. Doing his home work is one of the most stressful things to do with him and I have to priories that.

lizzy I'm glad to hear there are some teachers that will help. With his ASD and on top of his mental health problems and his anxiety it's really hard. He's suffering socially too, I just want what's best for him. I wish I could change his view of himself. No amount of praise has built up his self esteem. He thinks he's 'thick' and that couldn't be further from the truth but he doesn't believe me!

Excuse the typos

Oh that's hard!
It would possibly not come, it could, who knows? Dyslexia affects children in different ways. He'll be fine x

Don't be robbed off!
Use apples and pears by sound foundations
School wont help
Believe me

When your son gets to secondary (or beforehand), get in touch with the SENCO or head of year. In fact, finding out about SEN provision could be one of the key factors you use to help you decide which school he should attend (if this is something you're able to choose).

It may be that he will be deemed eligible for a scribe, a dictionary, a laptop with or without spell-check, or another provision for his public examinations such as GCSEs. However, he will be assessed again before he reaches that age and then any special or extra provisions will be confirmed, (probably at the start of Year 10 unless procedures have changed before then). What's unclear is what provisions he will have in internal exams. in Years 7 to 10 and in the classroom day to day. This is what the SENCO at his secondary school can confirm.

In the short term, maybe you could work with him at home on a small number of key spellings, e.g. start with 5 words, build up gradually to 10, 15? Flashcards may help, also having "tricks" for spelling the words - children at my school say "pee-oh-play" to help them spell people and "beh-cows-say" to help them spell because for example (I didn't teach them that; I presume it came from primary as they all arrive doing it in Year 7 and continue right the way to sixth form!)

Hope this helps? Good luck to you both.

I am a teacher, dyslexia assessor and tutor (and mother to a severely, dyslexic DD) - some state schools will try to ignore an assessment. However, the SEND code oF Practice makes clear the school's responsibilities

www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-guide-for-parents-and-carers

I agree with the previous poster that you should be pushing for phonics based extra support in school. If you can afford it, I would consider also getting him some specialist tuition - it can make a huge difference. In addition, Something like metamemory training will help him understand that his brain just works differently - there are clear links between dyslexia and low self-esteem. If handwriting is an issue then I would consider getting something like Nessyfingers to help him learn to touch type and Nessy also do spelling programmes or the Nessyquest App is good. In case you think I work for Nessy, Word Shark is another good programme.

The school should certainly be applying for extra time for his SATS and if he is using a scribe - it should be someone he is used to working with otherwise, he will be disadvantaged. Unfortunately the SPAG emphasis disadvantages children with dyslexia anyway.

Don't despair, with the right help, children with dyslexia can acheive outstanding academic results --DD is on track for a 2:1 in History at a RG uni and another severely dyslexic friend has just started studying physics at Cambridge.

What exactly are you hoping for school to do? You are more likely to get it if you have something very clearly in mind.

It sounds like his anxieties are very high at school so he probably isn't learning optimally there anyway. If at school he is just mainly coping with being at school and you say you can't help him at home then he's short on opportunities to catch up.

You asked for suggestions and mine is that you tell school he is not doing spelling tests anymore and instead of the school spelling practise you find time to do Apples and Pears with him at home. Is it not worth finding 30mins a day for? I realise he might not be very compliant, but as his parent you know what motivates him? Ipad or whatever? You can use whatever you can to get him to do it if you think it is important enough.

Thanks everyone for the responses.

It's not so much as what I 'expect' from the school, i just don't know what they are 'expected' to do legally? Or wether they have to or not etc. Thank vets for that link u will have a read when I'm on the laptop. I have thought about a tutor but I can't afford it but also there is no way he would do any 'work' after school. He is a nightmare, the minute he's walked out of school he is so het up he needs to be left to chill out. He goes to bed quite early as he gets up about 5am (and no going to bed later won't help this!) so there isn't much time after tea to do any work but u will definitely have a look into what I can't find for him to do on the tablet.

I will have a look at nessy etc. Iv already told him about touch typing and that it would benefit him and he wants to learn which is good.

He will definitely need chill out time - dyslexic children have to put in much more effort to do even seemingly simple things like copying from the board. My DD used to have complete meltdowns after school each day as she was so exhausted His classteacher should be making adjustments to support him - no copying from the board, opportunities to overlearn etc.

If he is a morning person, then I would strongly recommend getting programmes and apps that he can use independently. Most of the children I work with enjoy them and they are game based so quite motivating. Could you get him to agree to do 30mins before school each day?

vets that's exactly the problem, meltdowns are unbelievable. yes I probably could BUT he is obsessed with his tablet, more like addicted and he is aware of this. I limit how much time he is allowed on it and neither DC are allowed them in the morning as he wouldn't get off it in time to get ready for school. With the ASD, he has to follow a routine of what he has to do on it before he will turn it off and that lasts hours. He's really hard to get ready and to school as it is. I wonder if there's something perhaps on the laptop I could get instead?

vet you say your dd USED to come like this..... What changed?

What changed? Part of it was just growing up but she also developed a range of work arounds and coping strategies to support her own learning so she felt less stressed. As she had more success, her confidence soared and she became more motivated. DD is very able and that did increase her frustration - she was really aware of her own difficulties

Also I learnt that she did need to relax when she came home so stopped insisting that she did her homework straight after school instead she would veg out in front of the tv for an hour and we did her reading first thing in the morning for instance.

What is his current morning routine? If he is up at 5 - he must have nearly 3 hours before school. Would he respond to things like timers to come off the laptop?

These are all laptop based

www.nessy.com/uk/product/nessy-fingers/

www.nessy.com/uk/product/nessy-reading-spelling/

www.wordshark.co.uk/wordshark/wordshark-home-use.aspx

This is about metamemory/metacognition strategies

eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.co.uk/2007/02/strategic-learning-metacognition-and.html

He's now bother when he gets up, watches tv mainly or he will read/look at books/magazines. Isn't really capable of 'playing' with his sibling as he doesn't have the ability with the ASD as everything has to go his way! I could certainly trial this with the laptop...

How about if you had a visual timetable for his morning routine so it includes things he already does but also adds in some laptop time - maybe specify a favourite programme for 30 mins, nessylearning 30 mins (timed on a timer), another tv programme 30 mins, nessyfingers 20 mins (timed on timer), breakfast, wash and dress, independent reading, go to school.

Normally I wouldn't recommend doing all the extra learning on a laptop or tablet but it sounds like you need to pick your battles.

Yes 'picking my battles' sums up life at home with him! Some days he's great, really lovely and a pleasure to be around. Other days, when he's stressed or angry etc he's a different person and then his sensory issues then get worse and its hell on earth!

it sounds tough. I find it frustrating that so few schools offer adequate support - a huge waste of human potential IMO.

I see wordshark recommended and l second that. Most of my work as a support teacher in a main stream school is with dyslexic children. They love wordshark. We do their weekly spellings on it. Your ds would probably prefer to do them on computer than you going on at him. It is a bit expensive but worth it. He would be better to forget class spellings and do the lists on there. Children with dyslexia need to learn everything. You cannot presume on any knowledge but when they get it and it goes into their long term memory they keep it. Over learning is key.
My ds is dyslexic. At 9 he could barely read and could spell far less. His teacher said it will come. I was a main steam teacher then but in order to help him l went full speed into dyslexia stuff. It's slow and painful. He fought me every step. He was also a school refuser at 16 as said the others were all geniuses and he couldn't stick it any more. He is now at university and doing well. Actually third level had been the most supportive so far.
Does he go to a support teacher in school? I'm in Ireland and don't know your system. I often have my own spelling list for individual children and they leave the class one. But buy wordshark. He will do it. Don't despair.
My dh has all signs of dyslexia but no diagnosis then. He has a medical qualification. He leaves me notes saying
"lm gone dwon town! " He is a dreadful speller.

Hello,

As a parent, not a teacher, from everything I have seen in the system (which is totally under resourced), the most efficient use of your time is supporting your son yourself rather than fighting to get the school to do extra.My son has had the most astounding success using firstly www.engagingeyes.co.uk
Then when he could read we started tackling the spellings (He is a little younger than your son but could not spell 'he' 'she' or 'and'). The same mum that made engaging eyes made
www.spellingtutor.co.uk
This woman is a saint is my eyes for creating these programmes. We still try and do spelling tutor nightly, I think we will be working through it for probably the next 2 years. When my son first started I negotiated with the school to drop the school spelling lists which were causing us so much grief at home, and he just did spelling tutor.
The school offered so little support, they dropped his spelling list down from 10 to 7, but the words were still inappropriate.

The other intervention I would recommend if you live anywhere near London (although this is quite expensive, so I am very grateful we had the resources to pay, although it was still a stretch), visit handwriting tutor Lee Dein www.magiclinkhandwriting.com/magic-link-teachers/
Handwriting is a hard slog to crack and no fun, my sons handwriting will never be the best, but at least it is not holding his school work back now. I wouldn't buy the programme to do at home, that is expensive and it is such hard work without the support of a tutor I would have ended up quitting if I tried to do it myself.

Go on the special needs boards, you will get more help from other parents in the same boat.