11 Plus Exams Forum

Please no-one be offended by my question, it is just something that I have been wondering about. My son is dyslexic so I do know that children with learning disabilities can be bright and can more than cope in grammar schools.

My query is this. The 11+, or any other school selection test, is set, supposedly, to determine the brightest children to go to the more academic schools. If a child needs extra time to complete the test then do they manage to keep up in their school or are they always struggling.

Like I said above, I am not saying that they should not be allowed extra time or that they do not deserve it, I am just a parent wondering that in order to do what we think is best for our child we might end up sending them to schools where they then have to spend the next five years struggling to keep up.

Thank you

I hope I have not offended anyone in raising this question.

I'm hoping that lots of people will reply to this question, with 'My child received extra time in their 11+ and is doing amazingly well at grammar school.'

My child had extra time in the 12+ [there was a mix-up and it didn't happen at 11+]. Yes, child is doing well - and as a teacher I know other children in similar situations have also flourished.

Yes homework may take longer but this is not a worry

I know of one particular boy who was born blind and received his education at a Grammar school. Yes, special arrnagement needed to be made for him during his schooling.
Yet despite his disability , he excelled at the grammar school and progressed to study Maths at Cambridge.

So, sometimes we need to make arrangements for people due their special needs but this does not mean that they will "struggle" or are any less intelligent. In fact quite the opposite sometimes.

Regards

Caroline

Dear Guest101

I don't think anybody should be offended, its a forum for polite discussion....

Personally I believe it should be each case on its merits.

Not all dyslexics/dyspraxics are allowed extra time, the parents have to show/prove the need for it, some have more severe problems than others.

Some children that have had extra time in their 11 plus [Bucks] have gone on to use laptops at their grammar school, enabling them to be quick and efficient within the lesson.

No one in this world should be 'written off.'

Patricia

I agree with you Caroline and Patricia that noone should be 'written off' and that we should do everything possible to give people a chance to succeed.

My son is dyslexic and was not given extra time in the 11+, even though his Ed Psych said that he should be allowed it in exams. Luckily he passed. But obviously before we got the results, we were in the position of wondering whether Grammar School would be the right place for him, as I can see the difference between how much effort he has to put in to finish his written homework compared to other children in his class.

It's also worth checking what resources the school has for SEN.

I chatted to the head of a grammar who said that they had absolutly no children with special educational needs.

OK, I'll clarify that. "The LEA think grammars have no children with SEN, and therefore I have to find the money to pay a full time SEN specialist out of my own budget, rather than from the LEA budget."

If you think your child will be able to keep up with the work (and not languish at the bottom of the class) with or without specialist help, push for him to get in, and appeal (with full details of the problem) if he is not given extra help / time in the exam. And hope you have a sympathetic appeals panel.

That's good advice Capers123.

When we went to view GS I went straight to the English department to see the standard that they expect and to speak to the Engliseh teachers. Because we are in Kent, there is no English paper, as such, in the 11+ so English ability in GS is very varied. Whereas I can imagine it being quite high in areas where English is tested or like Bucks where the paper is only VR.

We have just received a letter confirming that we will receive extra time in the autumn.
Any other parent thinking about this for next 2008 do not give up it does happen,, I did not think it would.
Dyslexia and Dypraxia,
are not a problem.

ahs

I'm pleased to hear that - hope it all goes well.

My daughter is registered blind, totally blind in one eye and legally blind in the other with nystagmus due to not having enough sight to keep her eyes focused. Special adjustments granted included use of her sloping desk, enlarged papers, someone to read instructions on the front of the exam in person, but extra time was not granted. Against all the odds, she passed and got into Camp Hill King Edwards and starts in September.