Parents Eve - Livid at School - Son's Literacy Well Below Average

DVardysShadow

pandora205 wrote: »

I'd second the use of word processor for written work, if you are focusing on content and/or punctuation. It can make a huge difference, and you could devise activities, such as you typing in a story he dictates, and he puts in the punctuation.

Really, there are three separate skills here which need different help:

handwriting: check basic formation and spacing, if problematic try multi-sensory activities (writing in different media - large felts, chalk, etc.) once these are okay, lots of practice is needed. Sometimes children struggle with print but write much more fluently when introduced to a cursive script.

For pupils with severe handwriting difficulties of this age and above, schools can consider alternative forms of recording for some activities. This could be the use of a notebook, dictaphone or recording in diagrams, etc. All of these forms need lots of practice to make the most of them. They are not natural skills to most of us.

punctuation: the exercise above (word processing) would be useful, as would you typing his dictated speech without punctuation, then reading it back as it is. This gives the opportunity to demonstrate the purpose of commas, speech marks, exclamations etc.

writing content: there are several levels of this, from the use of vocabulary to overall structure and appropriate style. For vocab, you could try lots of discussion on a topic before writing, then introduce free verse poetry rather than long text. For structure, try making headings then expanding (introduce characters, setting, problem, resolution, etc.) For style, point this out when you meet text, e.g. the difference between a recipe and teletext holiday details.

A great post.

2/3 of this mirrors my own experience. I hated writing. I never had problems with punctuation, but I struggled with handwriting and generation of content. And grappling with both problems simultaneously was just too much My reading was fine from just before 7 years old.

If you are going to make progress with this, you will need to work on all of the weak areas but only one at a time. I would say that the combined task is just too complex for him that he is overcome by the effort to the point that he doesn't learn anything significant on any of the tasks and never feels he makes any progress.

You have to be flexible to what is required, but I would suggest that you work on generation of content and let him dictate as a priority, so that he can begin to generate content to a level which is intellectually stimulating for him. Handwriting may flow more easily after this. Tackling handwriting first may turn out to be a lazy way of tackling the problem - with poor results. If he cannot generate stimulating content and the stuff he does write looks terrible in his eyes, it will be awfully demotivating.

slummymummyof3

Has anyone suggested doing mind maps with him to help him with ideas for his writing. What really annoys me about teaching is, we expect children to just sit down after a bit of input and magically write a story or similar. Do we not consider that even famous authors have writers block at some point in time?

You could also try looking on the internet for a 'punctuation pyramid' it serves as a little reminder for the child: each side offers different levels of support - different forms of punctuation, another has different connectives, sentence openers and the last side has ambitious vocabulary. The top of the pyramid equates to working at level 1 and the further down the pyramid you use, the higher the corresponding level.

You could also look at printing off a 'writers toolkit' just as a little prompt for him.

It could well be that the school is now using APP to assess your childs work rather than a once a term writing assessment so are in fact getting a more realistic view of his work.

Effectively your child is working at the level of year 2 - what were his SATS results like in year 2?

[Deleted User]

What we did with my OH's son (who is same age but literacy assessed as level 1a), we phoned the school at first. Found out who the Senco was.., and the head teacher and his personal tutor. We spoke to all three as often schools don't seem to have very good communication thru different departments. Then we obtained the phone number for educational psychology dept for his borough. Phoned them and found out who the ed. psych. was for his school. Spoke to him, was told that only schools can request an assessment. We were polite but firm and said we knew that parents could request an assessment. We made it clear that we weren't going to go away.

The ed. psychologist then started speaking to the school and the school started speaking to him. In my stepson's case, we knew there was a high chance of dyslexia as its in the family (we had also informally tested him for colour blindness and found out he was red / green colour blind, goodness knows how this was missed at his school). We found an opticians that would test for this and it was confirmed officially. Meanwhile his school had finally got their act together and they have got another assessment sorted to see if he's got dyslexia. It all happened fairly quickly and I think the firm but 'I'm not going to go away' approach reaped rewards. We had to point out a number of times that altho he had been given limited extra help, it wasn't going to help if he had dyspraxia and a literacy assessment of 1a was way too low for a 10 year old. This indicated assessments and further help was needed.

Schools WILL try to fob u off, as u are aware. They will say there has been some improvement (you say not enough, and what level he should be at as, u have). They say they can't give any more help.., u say he has to have it. I'm not going to go away until he gets it.

In this way we actually got quite a lot of help for my older son, even tho he's not actually statemented.., and as I said earlier he's now their star pupil lol!

Persistence in spite of what u are told is what's required. U are doing the right sort of research. Initially when my son had problems I phoned Parentline, they were very helpful and gave me a lot of information to start me off as i knew nothing. Try the ASD friendly site http://www.asdfriendly.org/board/ .., and there is a thread on here where people with children with ASD (Dyspraxia and Dyslexia are all on the Autistic Spectrum of Disorders as all these disorders share some symptoms) or adults with ASD themselves post. They are an invaluable source of advice. See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2465617.

It may be found that your son does not have Dyspraxia, or it may be something else or nothing they can identify, but the tests will help identify which areas specifically your son has problems with, and they will then come up with suggestions as to how he can be helped. I know there are horror stories of these tests not being carried out properly, or not at all, but my experience of educational psychology depts has been very positive (they are usually the one's who do the tests).

This is a very long post, I hope its understandable. I am sorry if I have given u too much information. Sometimes i seem to have literary diarrhea lol.

GEEGEE8

My handwriting and literacy have always been good, I put this down to copying the books when I was a kid. Literally, finding a short book and copying it as though I was writing it myself.

If he struggles to know what to write then maybe this will help?

Gingham_Ribbon

If you are considering a private assessment, have a look at the BPS. Choose 'educational' from the first drop down menu and you can add key words like dyslexia or dysgraphia at the bottom, though there may not be specialists in your area.

I phoned several before I found one I knew I wanted my own son to see. It was well worth the money for us as we could help our son, but schools can be a bit more difficult when it comes to acting on the advice from the report.

Gingham_Ribbon

GEEGEE8 wrote: »

My handwriting and literacy have always been good, I put this down to copying the books when I was a kid. Literally, finding a short book and copying it as though I was writing it myself.

If he struggles to know what to write then maybe this will help?

It helps children who dont' have a disability in this area, but it can cause problems for children who are disabled.

That said, what you mention about not knowing what to write can be a major factor - if they're thinking AND concentrating on the motor skills involved in writing, sometimes it can result in a frustrated child and a blank piece of paper.

So concentrating on just writing without thinking can help. A multi sensory approach can be helpful -

Make the letters in the air, trace them on each other's backs, say out loud what the shape is as you're making it, trace them in sand or a mixture of water and cornflour. It sounds babyish for a child that age, but it really can help when more senses are being used together.

pandora205

A view here from an educational psychologist who has done both private and LA work. Most Local Authority educational psychologists do not take referrals directly from parents, nor indeed necessarily begin with 'assessment'. In my area, we allocate time to each school based on size, phase, pupils with statements and other factors. A programme for the EP is negotiated with the school through the SENCo/Headteacher on a termly/annual basis. We work closely with our support services (learning and behaviour support, also speech and language therapy) so can decide which agency is the most appropriate for involvement. We don't do assessments specifically for dyslexia, as the LA has offered training and guidance for schools on appropriate assessments, using these diagnostically, use of curriculum materials and national advice (eg Inclusion Development Programme materials), etc. Schools have generally mapped their provision for pupils with SEN and have graduated support for specific needs, including literacy/dyslexia. This would include targeted small group work, 'catch up' programmes, use of IT and more intensive support for some pupils with significant needs. Secondary schools employ staff who have specialist qualifications and who do reports for the examination boards etc.

As an EP I only tend to get involved if the situation if the child's needs are particularly complex (for example there are significant emotional needs). The other situation where we can be involved is if the school is requesting a statutory assessment of SEN, which means the level of need is 'severe and persistent' and we are advising the Local Authority on appropriate provision. By this stage, we would have expected the school and support teacher had carried out a range of assessments and followed recommended interventions (evidence based practice) to support over a period of time.

This is all very different from working independently as an EP. I did this some years ago but basically most psychologists in private practice work similiarly. They are commissioned by parents, who often request assessment either because their child has less significant SEN and they feel that the school isn't addressing these. As private EPs do not (generally) work in state schools they do not have access to the SENCos records, classroom observations or other information. Nor are schools very receptive to advice given to them from someone who does not know their provision, training and organisation. This means that the private EP is advising parents predominantly rather than the school, although a good report should be useful to staff too. An advantage of a private report is that it is likely to be very in depth and include more extensive psychometric tests (This is also a disadvantage, as it makes the assumption that the difficulties lie within the child, rather than related to the teaching and support that has been given). You are more likely to see a full cognitive (IQ) assessment included, as well and in depth reading and spelling assessments. However, a word of caution is that some independent reports are very similar, using a set range of tests and interpretations, and most importantly, recommendations may be out of date or not related to support given in schools. I know from having been out of the school system for four years, it is very easy to lose touch with the latest recommendations and initiatives, new materials and approaches, etc. It is very useful to know about these (for example the 'Letters and Sounds' materials, advice on the use of synthetic phonics and the Rose Report on Dyslexia http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/jimroseanddyslexia/).

If anyone is seeking a private assessment, check with the British Psychological Society and also with the Health Professions Council, as EPs now have to be regulated to practice. And bear in mind, the main resource following from an EP report is likely to be your support at home. Some will suggest private tuition - and I would suggest a little caution here. If a child is working hard at school and also completing homework, this is quite a lot to expect. It would also be essential for this to link in with other support at school, otherwise the child will become confused.

Alye16

My son was struggling to even write his own name in year 3 also his spelling was awful, I kept asked about dyslexia and was told they would do indicators.After a whole year they still hadn't done these indicators I felt i was always brushed off by the school, who didn't seem to care because he was well behaved and didn't cause any trouble in the classroom.
We realised that time was passing and if there was a problem they weren't going to identify it.I tried working at home which just always resulted in us shouting at each other.A friend recommended a retired teacher, who came to our house once a week.My son got on well with her and worked well, and at last started to make some improvements.She said she believed he could be slight dyslexic and if we put him in for the test it would be unlikely he would get any extra help at school.
We then discovered he was being bullied at school and after lots of discussion with the school,LEA and governors the bully wasn't suspended.We moved him to a private school in year 5 and since then he has maded fantastic improvements and has just past the exam to get into a Grammar School.
My advice if your not happy with the school try other options, out of school lessons etc.They don't ever get back the lost time not all children catch up and sometimes other options work.

DelBoyPhil

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

If you are considering a private assessment, have a look at the BPS. Choose 'educational' from the first drop down menu and you can add key words like dyslexia or dysgraphia at the bottom, though there may not be specialists in your area.

I phoned several before I found one I knew I wanted my own son to see. It was well worth the money for us as we could help our son, but schools can be a bit more difficult when it comes to acting on the advice from the report.

I find the school my child goes to only does things when you ask them and they do not think outside of the box. I asked my school if they would do a Educational Psychologist Assessment as my child has been diganosed with ODD from child health services and they said they would see if she can as they dont have much staff these days..

Anyway.. I phoned one up and its £300 and this should show if they have missed something ang as she is 15 it will help her with help for college.

But for £300 u get a good Assessment and you get the help you need we hope in the end.

Rainey_LB

Have the school put him on an IEP (Indvidual Education Planning), these are used within schools if a child is falling behind or not reaching correct targets. It gives them individual targets to work on and sets out a plan of how they are going to reach these goals. Such as extra phonics sessions, reading sessions, in this case handwriting skills etc with a T.A.

Sometimes you do really need to push the schools and I have found some teachers are fantastic with the kids that are struggling and some just find it too much hard work, go to the head if you need to.

Level 2 is the expected level of the Year 2 SATS, so he does have some work to do. I was wondering if you have checked he has no undiagnosed hearing/vision problems, these can cause all sorts of problems and if the child has always had them he will not actually realise anything is wrong.

My son has a problem with the tracking of his eyes, they basically lose focus, so he then has to re-focus and loses his place, luckily a very good SENCO suggested he had the test (we paid private for this as we going through the GP was going to take over 6 months and it would have been with the same opticians!), its not been that long since we found out the problem, but with all the special steps that are now in place to help him and continuing with the IEP he has caught up loads.

Good luck, keep pestering the school until they get something in place for him, hope things get easier for your son soon.