[mymission]

My son has been tested and found that he has dyslexic tendency. She added that he it will be something that he will have for the rest of his life. Aparently due to new rules they are not allowed to diagnose that a child is dyslexic because of so many negative connotation attach to being dyslexic. As far as i'm concern the negative attitudes are by people who have not got a clue what it is. This is unfortunate, my son will not be given the help he need to do his transfer test. He has been thinking about doing his transfer test but the test will not be dyslexic friendly.

Does anyone know what i can do to help my son?

[Womble]

Call bullsh1t on the negative assessment thing and say that you want your son assessed for specific learning difficulties (SpLD), which happens to be another way for testing for dyslexia. On the last assessment i had done i was described as having specific learning difficulties of a dyslexic nature. Whats going to b more damaging, not being fully assessed for difficulties and not getting the help needed or being fully assessed and a couple offended by a couple of morons.

[lankyT]

mymission, on 10 July 2010 - 06:07 PM, said:

My son has been tested and found that he has dyslexic tendency. She added that he it will be something that he will have for the rest of his life. Aparently due to new rules they are not allowed to diagnose that a child is dyslexic because of so many negative connotation attach to being dyslexic. As far as i'm concern the negative attitudes are by people who have not got a clue what it is. This is unfortunate, my son will not be given the help he need to do his transfer test. He has been thinking about doing his transfer test but the test will not be dyslexic friendly.

Does anyone know what i can do to help my son?

when you say transfer tests do you mean entrance to grammer school tests..?

[mymission]

lankyT, on 11 July 2010 - 10:07 AM, said:

when you say transfer tests do you mean entrance to grammer school tests..?

Yes entrance to grammer school.

[lankyT]

Im not a proffesional, but this sounds very wrong to me, also discriminatory. By not acknowledging his dyslexia arent they reducing his options rather than widening them?

We are considering a 11 plus entrance exam for my daughter this year, shes not dyslexic, but I noticed when I was looking at the application form that there was help for dyslexic students to take the test.

Have you contacted the school where he wants to take the test to ask them about provisions for dyslexic students for the entrance exam?

[BubblewrapPrincess]

mymission, on 10 July 2010 - 06:07 PM, said:

My son has been tested and found that he has dyslexic tendency. She added that he it will be something that he will have for the rest of his life. Aparently due to new rules they are not allowed to diagnose that a child is dyslexic because of so many negative connotation attach to being dyslexic.

This is utter nonsesnse.

Dyslexia IS diagnosable, but only by a correctly trained professional (an educational phycologist).

We often hear "we don't want to lable" or "diagnosing dyslexia is harmful," well there are other lables too such as "thick" "lazy" "slow" and "stupid" which is what we had before. These are even lables we give ourselves if we are not awair why we are having problems.

Why should some one not be diagnosed and correctly supported? There is very very little stigma attached to dyslexia, and as it is an invisible issue people only know most of the time if we or others choose to tell them.

What can happen is people as adults get tested, or when they go to university, then they tend to be angery and bitter they didn't know before. Just knowing is emencely helpful. This type of attitude of not telling or knowing is only held by people with little knowledge of dyslexia,have their own preducises, or who want to fob you off.

It's like saying: oh the childeren with astma get picked on, so we wont diagnose it anymore, or tell kids they have it incase it makes them feel bad.

Then childeren are left not understanding why they struggle with exorsize, or why breathing is sometimes difficult. When if you tell them they understand what is going on and it isn't as frightening or worrying, you can get them inhalors and adjust your life style accordingly to improve things.

If you think your child might be dyslexic, get them tested, and get them support.

I highly recomend looking into private dyslexia tuition, I went to Dyslexia Action and they were very good. However this is costly. Alternatly make sure a dyslexia specific scheam for literacy is being used with them in school or at home. Toe by Toe is often recomened. However if you can get the private tuition it is excellent and made a big difference to me and other dyslexic relatives.

Don't dispare, yes dyslexia doesn't go away but it needn't stop you achieving your goals. I have just completed a degree in English with a 2.1, and I am a severly dyslexic.

[mymission]

BubblewrapPrincess, on 11 July 2010 - 09:03 PM, said:

This is utter nonsesnse.

Dyslexia IS diagnosable, but only by a correctly trained professional (an educational phycologist).

We often hear "we don't want to lable" or "diagnosing dyslexia is harmful," well there are other lables too such as "thick" "lazy" "slow" and "stupid" which is what we had before. These are even lables we give ourselves if we are not awair why we are having problems.

Why should some one not be diagnosed and correctly supported? There is very very little stigma attached to dyslexia, and as it is an invisible issue people only know most of the time if we or others choose to tell them.

What can happen is people as adults get tested, or when they go to university, then they tend to be angery and bitter they didn't know before. Just knowing is emencely helpful. This type of attitude of not telling or knowing is only held by people with little knowledge of dyslexia,have their own preducises, or who want to fob you off.

It's like saying: oh the childeren with astma get picked on, so we wont diagnose it anymore, or tell kids they have it incase it makes them feel bad.

Then childeren are left not understanding why they struggle with exorsize, or why breathing is sometimes difficult. When if you tell them they understand what is going on and it isn't as frightening or worrying, you can get them inhalors and adjust your life style accordingly to improve things.

If you think your child might be dyslexic, get them tested, and get them support.

I highly recomend looking into private dyslexia tuition, I went to Dyslexia Action and they were very good. However this is costly. Alternatly make sure a dyslexia specific scheam for literacy is being used with them in school or at home. Toe by Toe is often recomened. However if you can get the private tuition it is excellent and made a big difference to me and other dyslexic relatives.

Don't dispare, yes dyslexia doesn't go away but it needn't stop you achieving your goals. I have just completed a degree in English with a 2.1, and I am a severly dyslexic.

I'm going to give SEN a call tomorrow or call the educational psychologist who assesed him last year. I think some teacher don't know what dyslexic is and i don't think his teacher has much patience for it. I feel bad for him he is not getting the support he should be getting. His comprehension mark was two years above his age but output was very low.

What happens in the private tuition? I was looking over Toe by Toe so its good to hear its recommended. I'll contact dyslecix action also.

Well done!! I hope my son will reap his rewards.

[Christine]

Are you in NI?

Quite a lot of the time schools use the term specific learning difficulties instead of dyslexia. In some ways it is more useful, as dyslexics have specific not general difficulties with learning; and what works for one dyslexic may not be appropriate to others. However lots of people have more idea of what dyslexia is that SPLD, also when schools can also talk about mild learning difficulties MLD, severe learing difficulties SLD and general learning difficulties GLD. It can seem like there is a continuum rather than, SPLD being a categorically different issue. (I am particularly talking about general teachers rather than trained teachers.)

In England most private schools (and as far as I know Grammar schools) do may access arrangements for children with dyslexia, but these can be somewhat adhoc, and you have to apply for them as an individual. What help has your son received so more? What is his usual way of working in school? What difficulties does he have? How is his reading? Writing? Spelling? Any problems with Maths?

Good luck!

[BubblewrapPrincess]

mymission, on 12 July 2010 - 11:28 PM, said:

I'm going to give SEN a call tomorrow or call the educational psychologist who assesed him last year. I think some teacher don't know what dyslexic is and i don't think his teacher has much patience for it. I feel bad for him he is not getting the support he should be getting. His comprehension mark was two years above his age but output was very low.

What happens in the private tuition? I was looking over Toe by Toe so its good to hear its recommended. I'll contact dyslecix action also.

Well done!! I hope my son will reap his rewards.

The tuition was very focused and had a very logical progression. It went back to basics and built up from there so nothing was missing. It was multi-sensory, so I learnt usihng touch, pictures and sound. I would tap on the table to learn sylables, and where you broke up a word into sound sections. I had cue cards with a picture I drew on one side and the letter or letters on the other. These where to help me learn phonics, which I really struggled with. I reviewed them each evening with mu mum, and if I forgot I could look at the picture to remind me. This was to get past my poor short term memory. I made a new card for each new sound or letter combination I learnt, and I would do work sheets, games and crosswords on it.

As I improved I would be asked to read passages with words I should be able to read in them, which were about interesting things. I remmber one I did on pandas, because I learnt baby panders were born the size of a hamster, and this really supried me. I had some on things about history, or geopraphy. I would be asked based on what I read to awnser verbal questions, draw pictures or write a response. This was to improve my comprehension.

I did Toe by Toe in school with a TA, but I didn't enjoy it very much so wasn't always responsive. With the tuition we played a lot of games to improve memory and sequencing skills, so I enjoyed it more. The tuition was also targeted specificly to me, and my mix for strenghts and difficulties. This obviousely made a big difference.

I had the tuition with another dyslexic child, and we were quite competative. I felt I really benifted from knowing another dyslexic child as I didn't feel as alone then.

The Dyslexia Action place I went to also had a libary system with books for dyslexics, which were easy to read but that had storys for a range of ages. There were also recorces for teachers and parents to take away or borrow. My mum used to give their leaflets to my teachers, as they were short and clearly explained dyslexia, and simple way to help support dyslexics.

I had termly reports like at school on my progress as well, which I still have.

Going to this tuition was a big break through for me, as my teachers had given up on me ever reading, but with in a few months my reading age shot up by several years. I am not promising it will be the same for your child, and it did slow down after that initual burst, but I feel I benifited huguely from this support.

Since I have had the tuition several of my cosines have been diagnosed with dyslexia and they still go to Dyslexia Action. They can read and write quite well now, and one is stopping his tuition after september as he no longer needs it. He will be off to secondary school with the neccisary literacy skills to learn at that level, which not all dyslexic childeren of his age will do. His case was more mild than mine, but it has still made a big difference. At least literacy wise he is as able as most other students, though he is still forgetful and has difficulty organising his ideas.

I have had tuition with my nan, who retrained as a special needs teacher to help me and one of my cosines, and this was also excellent, and used similar techniques. However she mostly helped me with maths, which I also have issues with. I have had free tuition for dyslexia with another specialist teacher through my university, which was to help more with my writing and essay structuring. I had been trying to teach myself these things for ages and makeing slow progress, with a tutor I made much much faster improvments.

I still have difficulties, but I am severly dyslexic and the support I've had means I could compleate an English degree dispite this.

Basically if you can get a specialist dyslexia teacher/tutor I highly recomend them.

[Darren B]

Hi mymission,

If you are from NI so am I. I wanted to go to a grammar school like all my friends. I did the entrance exam for one school 4 times but I just couldn’t do well enough to get in.

In the end I went to a very good school in Hillsborough. www.beechlawnschool.co.uk

OK is not a grammar school but It was very good at understanding my Dyslexia.

As for dyslexia action if you live in Northern Ireland forget about it. They don't have any Centers over here.

I hope you get the info you are looking for. Don't hesitate to contact me ( PM ) if you would like to chat about anything.

Darren