Why, Why, Why?

Bennifred

deannatrois, is there any way you can afford to get your son tested privately by an Educational Psychologist? If you get a private report then you will have the proof to present to the school, and the report should also have recommendations of how to best support your son.

We ended up paying privately for an assessment and report for our youngest, after his school disputed that he had "real" problems and declined to take any further action. It was a struggle financially, but the best thing we could have done for him, as the report confirmed that he is dyslexic and dyspraxic and was performing several years behind his actual ability indicated he should be (like your older boy with his reading). If this is absolutely out of reach - have you contacted the local Dyslexia Assocation for help?

If you can't get through to them (school, etc) - find a way around!

Another thought: does the school's Board of Governors have a designated SEN governor you could approach? They will definitely have Parent Governors......

meritaten

I have had to go away and 'calm down' several times!
The attitude of the school and some posters has infuriated me! of course people can get away without actually 'writing' things down! people have taken university exams using an 'amanuensis' - literally a scribe!
the problem is, is that schools like students who conform to the norm. it costs the LEA or whatever they call themselves, if students have special needs. therefore they will block you. and it is a major battle to overcome this. You did it once - you have to do it again. but this time work smarter! don't do it on your own! you think he is dyspraxic - get in touch with the local or national dyspraxia group - and ASK FOR ADVICE! get him diagnosed - and statemented. don't believe a word the head teacher says - from experience they lie. research for yourself.
and at the end of the day - the law only states that every child must be educated - not that they must be educated in schools.

I have been priviliged to have as one of my jobs that of student support in a local further education college. and one of my favourite classes was that of school 'failures'. and learned the failure was from the school! these were bright kids who just needed support and help. when they got it they achieved much more than expected.

poet123

Bennifred wrote: »

deannatrois, is there any way you can afford to get your son tested privately by an Educational Psychologist? If you get a private report then you will have the proof to present to the school, and the report should also have recommendations of how to best support your son.

We ended up paying privately for an assessment and report for our youngest, after his school disputed that he had "real" problems and declined to take any further action. It was a struggle financially, but the best thing we could have done for him, as the report confirmed that he is dyslexic and dyspraxic and was performing several years behind his actual ability indicated he should be (like your older boy with his reading). If this is absolutely out of reach - have you contacted the local Dyslexia Assocation for help?

If you can't get through to them (school, etc) - find a way around!

Another thought: does the school's Board of Governors have a designated SEN governor you could approach? They will definitely have Parent Governors......

I agree it is imperative that he is tested and most schools would also want that too. Do the school not agree there is a possibility he is dyspraxic?

The problem for schools is that the Ed Pysch will have a waiting list of 20 plus weeks and will have set parameters for referral. Unfortunately, the school may have others they consider to be in greater need.

Going private might be the way forward if it is financially viable. The advice from the professionals including those you have mentioned is very much what I and others have stated. That is find strategies that will bolster, encourage, and support the child to write rather than admit defeat and use an alternative form of communication.

holgate79

Things have changed very recently and some of the advice you are getting on here is outdated.

If you request statutory assessment, this is done within a specified timescale. It doesn't matter how much work the ed psych has the panel will be bound by these timescales.

It sounds like the school do not know very much about dyspraxia and reasonable adjustments...however, your son is young and I would not be ruling out any one way of working at the moment. Yes, he should write, yes, he should use assistive technology etc. it should not be a big deal.

I work with blind pupils who use braille and / or assistive technology however they are still encouraged to develop legible handwriting.

Try to put aside what you want for your son and what you think would help unless you are a dyspraxia specialist. Ask for professional advice for the school and then get some help in ensuring school follow the advice. Don't be afraid to ask what the credentials / qualifications of the specialist are ... Make sure they administer standard tests / tell you how they have come to their conclusions.

Bennifred

I agree with you poet123, except for the persisting with writing to the nth degree.
I absolutely agree that it is a very important skill, but for very dyspraxic children it may be a better use of their time and effort to master touch typing. Word processing can be used in just about every subject except for maths and some science. This is more effective for the student in the short and long term than using a scribe (which is a skill in itself, and of no use during private study later on).

My experience is not only as the parent of a dyslexic and dyspraxic son, but also years of working in a learning support department in a large secondary school (and latterly in the exams department)

poet123

holgate79 wrote: »

Things have changed very recently and some of the advice you are getting on here is outdated.

If you request statutory assessment, this is done within a specified timescale. It doesn't matter how much work the ed psych has the panel will be bound by these timescales.

It sounds like the school do not know very much about dyspraxia and reasonable adjustments...however, your son is young and I would not be ruling out any one way of working at the moment. Yes, he should write, yes, he should use assistive technology etc. it should not be a big deal.

I work with blind pupils who use braille and / or assistive technology however they are still encouraged to develop legible handwriting.

Try to put aside what you want for your son and what you think would help unless you are a dyspraxia specialist. Ask for professional advice for the school and then get some help in ensuring school follow the advice. Don't be afraid to ask what the credentials / qualifications of the specialist are ... Make sure they administer standard tests / tell you how they have come to their conclusions.

The OP doesn't seem to be at that stage with the school though. Special Action and SP plus haven't been mentioned. Reading between the lines it seems that it is the OP who thinks there is an issue. Yes, she can ask for SA without the school being onboard but it is better to have them with you.

I agree with your other points though and the OP would be advised to get some support.

poet123

Bennifred wrote: »

I agree with you poet123, except for the persisting with writing to the nth degree.
I absolutely agree that it is a very important skill, but for very dyspraxic children it may be a better use of their time and effort to master touch typing. Word processing can be used in just about every subject except for maths and some science. This is more effective for the student in the short and long term than using a scribe (which is a skill in itself, and of no use during private study later on).

My experience is not only as the parent of a dyslexic and dyspraxic son, but also years of working in a learning support department in a large secondary school (and latterly in the exams department)

It is not my personal advice but is the advice given by the professional bodies in the field for a child of that age.

I don't think that saying that at 7 he shouldn't be "allowed" to give up on writing is "persisting to the nth degree". I agree that in later the years lack of handwriting skills is not an insurmountable problem, but in the early years the basics need to be there.

duchy

I broke out in a cold sweat reading your post -remembering the battles to get school to do even things clearly laid out in IEPs and you can certainly tell who posting on here has walked this path and who hasn't and is making HUGE assumptions about how AEN operates in schools.

Stand firm, get support from Parent Partnership and remember you CAN do it and ignore the idiots who haven't a clue what a vast undertaking this is !! Sending hugs.

poet123

duchy wrote: »

I broke out in a cold sweat reading your post -remembering the battles to get school to do even things clearly laid out in IEPs and you can certainly tell who posting on here has walked this path and who hasn't and is making HUGE assumptions about how AEN operates in schools.

Stand firm, get support from Parent Partnership and remember you CAN do it and ignore the idiots who haven't a clue what a vast undertaking this is !! Sending hugs.

Not every school has issues in this area. Undoubtedly, some do, but I am an SEN governor and I believe that my school supports all identified children well. It can be a vast undertaking but it doesn't have to be and it shouldn't be.

tom9980

I wonder if there are multiple children in that class with SEN problems my wife has 3 in her reception class this year who all really need one to one. The school doesn't have the money and as these issues are mostly only now being diagnosed for 2 of the 3 the support they get isn't yet available. Even if it was it only amounts to a few hundred in extra funding, it is stretching my wife and her TA to the limit.

It takes a long time to get that help too my wife knew within two weeks the little girl had big problems and she enacted measures and extra support but it's only now 4 months on that things are even moving in the right direction, the help is unlikely to be seen until the summer term at the earliest.

One thing to remember the one constant in your child's education is you, teachers vary in quality and experience, nobody should expect a teacher to know everything about every disability, sometimes you will have to push more than you should. Ultimately the system is too slow and inflexible for problem children who really should be in a special school with properly trained specialist staff rather than being pushed into mainstream schooling