private education?

meester

If you have fees problems, contact the private school and ask if they offer any financial help.

Most will.

cheepskate_2

hi Sparkkee,

Hope you get something sorted out, if you want to pm me feel free.

I would say to one of the posters it's not a case of the child not liking school, but something deeper usually something that the child themselves cant explain..

All children are individuals and what suits one may not nessesarily suit another. In general most children fit into their local school, but not all .

My child is also into music, chess and singing, this can at times in mainstream be difficult to connect to other children as music does not have as big an area as in independent school.

As the children get older it's these interest which bind them and decide which friendships stay and which go.

If you are going down the route of independent schooling , i would take him around the schools and let him get a feel for them he will be able to tell if the school suits him. Dependant on your circs you may be eligable for some funding.

Please look into this no matter what you do I know from personnel experience that children don't need to be unhappy at school.

dollydoodah

beautifulgorgeous wrote: »

I was told that in some education authorites the ed psy is almost told not to find dyslexia and that paying for your own test is both quicker and may get a different result. Incidentally I find dyslexia doesn`t end only in poor spelling. It is often poor coordination, recall of tables, sequencing of months of the year, telling the time and its significance, shoelaces, riding a bike, confusion of left and right, poor handwriting, verbal knowledge far in advance of written.
I also read of a study that dyslexic babies tend not to crawl and if they do they are later and not very skilled at it.
Also don`t believe everything you read, private schools have to "sell" themselves. Try to talk to current parents and see what help the children actually get.

That is actually dyspraxia.

I have a 9yr old dyspraxic son who is extremely bright but yet his motor skills are that of a 6yr old.

Sarahsaver

Not crawling is not just a sign of dyspraxia.
Have you thought about self referring to your local child mental health service for an assessment?

Gingham_Ribbon

Sparkkee wrote: »

wow! what a response!

to try and answer your questions:

ds is 8 and in year 3, going up to year 4 in september.

i've asked why he's unhappy and i get the same three replies:
"school is boring"
"school is stupid"
and "because i hate school"
i've tried narrowing down why he thinks that school is boring and stupid, but all i get in return is that it's boring and stupid. that's the same replies as his teachers, aunt, the sen co-ordinator and all the rest have got out of him. whatever it is that is upsetting him so badly he either really doesn't want to say what it is or else he doesn't know how to say what it is.

he has never liked school particularly, but it's been really bad since year 2. he did settle down a bit for one particular teacher, but unfortunately they only had her for one term. this is why i suspect that it's not just school in general as the right teacher has managed to get him to not like school, but not to detest it.

i have thought endlessly about home schooling, but whilst i would love to give it a try, i don't think it would work for us.

academically he is doing well, even with all of the disruptions to his education caused by being sick and refusing to work. he's in the top third of his year group in everything, higher than that in maths. the one area he isn't succeding in is writing and spelling. he really struggles to get his handwriting to a point where it is legible. his teacher and sen co-ordinator have both reviewed him and decided that it is just appalling handwriting rather than due to some underlying cause such as dyslexia.
!

I'm not suggesting that this IS the problem, but please do consider that it might be. Some very bright children cope very badly with school because the way it is structured does not meet their very unique requirements, from repeasting work when they understood it the first time to it being too rigid for their quick brains to cope with the monotony.

Poor handwriting is common with these children as is poor spelling. I'm not sure of the reasons but I think part of it is that they see the whole word rather than seeing it in parts and the writing thing can be down to asynchronous development - where they are advanced in some areas and 'behind' their peers in others. And partly it can be because their quick little brains find writing extremely slow and frustrating. Is he better typing on the computer?

This may not apply to your son but with you saying the above, it made my ears !!!!! up, and the simple fact is that many extremely able children are totally failed by school because they are bored. Plain and simple. An ordinarily bright child is likely to succeed much more than a very bright child or a gifted one.

Please give these guys a call. You might get some new ideas that could help.

Gingham_Ribbon

Ah, sparkee, I've just read your other post. If you're not getting support from school about this and are making you feel like a pushy mother, I'm almost certain that NAGC can help you. I know someone who has been through it recently with her very able daughter.

My son has been picked up by his preschool, but unfortunately, they were unable to meet his needs so I'm having to homeschool until he is old enough to start full time school. I'm dreading having to pull him out of that too. (I love homeschooling but I don't know how we'll make ends meet long term.)

Sarahsaver

GR you almost describe my daughter. She was so ANGRY at being made to do things which were just way too easy or boring for her, and the stock answer from the school was 'oh well she should not be bored'

Gingham_Ribbon

I sympathise, Sarahsaver. I got fed up of pu$$y footing around the issue. There's nothing wrong with these kids and there's nothing wrong with their parents/teachers who recognise that their brains aren't quite developing at the speed people feel the 'should' be. The heck with it. I found out privately that there are lots of kids like these being failed by the system and I am not prepared to hide from the issue any more through fear of being classed as a pushy or deluded parent.:o

foreversomeday

If you are looking at private/independent schools, have you looked at Steiner Schools?

http://www.steinerwaldorf.org/

I think they sound much better than mainstream education, they do charge, but what I am gutted about is that my nearest one is over 30 miles away.

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart

To be honest, with the vomiting, this sounds to me like an anxiety problem. You've got to be desperate if you're making yourself vomit to get out of a place; that says panic attacks and paranoia. The strongest, most solid characters can be victims of anxiety and it may be that it is not displayed in anything other than this.

I wouldn't be thinking of changing the school just yet - you've said so yourself that nothing is specifically wrong there. I'd be getting him to a doctor and discussing your options. The school may also be able to put you in touch with an educational psychologist.