Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologist

Advice on Special Needs and the 11 Plus Exams

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
AustinR
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:55 am

Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologist

Post by AustinR »

.
Last edited by AustinR on Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:11 pm, edited 3 times in total.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologis

Post by mystery »

I think there are two routes to take for "diagnoses" - via your GP who then refers to paediatrician who then moves onwards to appropriate specialists and services, or the Educational Psychologist route which your school could send your child down, or you could fix up privately.

Another option would be to find private tutors who specialise in the subjects your daughter needs to boost, and who also have expertise in working with children with a range of SLDs ........ even if your daughter does not have one this could be useful as they might be more ingenious in seeing what the "blocks" are and working their way round them.

You might find that your local dyslexia association has a list specialist tutors who could help with literacy (and maybe even numeracy) for example, or you could conduct some other form of hunt for an appropriate tutor.

I don't think you should feel bad for not spotting what was going on. Some schools are good at informing parents, others are poor even if you did your very best to get all the info you needed out of them on a regular basis you could fail to find out what was really happening.

Have you tried speaking to the SENCO at the school and asking if the lack of progress your daughter is made is sufficient for him / her to refer to Ed Psych services, special services etc. If he / she says no, ask what the criteria are and if this is the school's own criteria or the LA criteria.

If the school is unwilling to refer, and you feel your child really needs this, you could also phone the LA and ask for the contact details for the Parent Partnership in your area and see if they can help with advocacy etc. You could also phone the LA and ask to speak to someone in the correct dept (Ed pscyh, special services, whatever they call it) and ask them what the procedure and criteria is for getting your daughter referred.

As all these things take time, you are right to bash on with extra maths tutoring - do you feel it is the best one for your daughter you are using? Maybe supplement with literacy tutoring too in the meantime?
tiredmum
Posts: 1161
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 am

Re: Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologis

Post by tiredmum »

have a look at this post, its about a younger child but its all about organising an ed-psyc appointment.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 40&t=17513" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also many children who are great at other subjects can find maths very challenging - my dd2 for one. She was a level 2a at the end of key stage 1 - the good level was more down to strong comprehension skills. Anyhow at the start of year 5 they told me she was only a 3c in maths - so since year 2 she had only advanced from a 2a to a 3c! I worked with her and so did the teacher and found she had big gaps in her maths understanding that hadnt been spotted! She also needed topics repeated and repeated and again and some more - till they became semi-solid in her head :)
AustinR
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:55 am

Re: Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologis

Post by AustinR »

.
Last edited by AustinR on Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
tiredmum
Posts: 1161
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 am

Re: Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologis

Post by tiredmum »

AustinR wrote:We will also start at a lower level book and take it from there I guess .

Thank you again.
this is exactly what i did, went back to year 3 maths and went forward from there, repeating topics she found difficult
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologis

Post by mystery »

There are some books Scarlett recommended which I think look rather good called "level up" ...... I've bought them and not used them (typical!) but they do look very thorough, and very good for moving on logically from national curriculum level to national curriculum level and look quite appealing to me.

I find it very sad when children get left behind in primary maths. None of it's rocket science, there's no real reason why with logical teaching and lots of repetition the majority shouldn't do pretty well at it.

Some other cheap repetition can be gained by using the Power of 2 books - you can google it. Also got some good games etc on that website. It's like a one to one coaching system - the child doesn't have to write anything down, and adult sits with child for 10mins or so each day, and you can't leave a question behind until it has been answered correctly on three consecutive occasions. Everyone starts from the beginning. So this would, certainly for number, help to flush out any weak patches from square one.

But it's not problem solving. It's arithmetic. But then, if the arithmetic is not scary, it's easier to solve the problems, so long as you have the logic to work out what the question wants you to do.
AustinR
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:55 am

Re: Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologis

Post by AustinR »

.
Last edited by AustinR on Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
tiredmum
Posts: 1161
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 am

Re: Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologis

Post by tiredmum »

mystery wrote:Some other cheap repetition can be gained by using the Power of 2 books - you can google it. Also got some good games etc on that website. It's like a one to one coaching system - the child doesn't have to write anything down, and adult sits with child for 10mins or so each day, and you can't leave a question behind until it has been answered correctly on three consecutive occasions. Everyone starts from the beginning. So this would, certainly for number, help to flush out any weak patches from square one.
.
Mystery this stuff looks great, am going to investigate for my dd2 - even though my she caught up with her maths (now in yr 7) she still has these lapses where she forgets how to do something, or a concept dosnt sink in. Its odd because anything to do with shape, volume, 3D etc she finds almost easy - same with science but probability, fractions, and other number work she almost seems to have a block. Her spelling is not good but her writing content is fantastic so its like number+spelling dyslexic tendancies she has, if there is such a thing :o
tiredmum
Posts: 1161
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 am

Re: Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologis

Post by tiredmum »

Just be looking - not sure if it covers year 7 maths stuff - though on the front page of the site someone says they use it at their secondary school - but this is the sort of method she needs because of the repetition.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Some advice needed- re seeing an educational psychologis

Post by mystery »

I think you might still find it useful just to whip through it - there's also the same method for Time, and for Times Tables. I think there is also a computer version. You might find that although it does not go far enough, it puts some basics into longer term memory which will then enable her to go further more easily herself, or for you to see where there are some weaker concepts or memory where you need to come up with some more specific exercises and problems. The whole lot works out less than the cost of a couple of hours with a tutor, so I'd suggest that even if it turns out to be the wrong thing for you it's not too much of a waste of money, and you can maybe sell it on somehow.

If your daughter finds it v. easy and pointless but you think there is still some value in it for her, you could stress that it is for building up speed and accuracy, that's it not about stretching her, you know it's easy, but it's to aid fast mental recall of what she already understands. ........ or some such guff.

Sorry it might be completely wrong for your year 7, but it does depend what you feel is holding her back right now.

From what you have said, you might need to get her to be able to visualise certain areas of maths e.g. fractions. Get her to think of it all as whole cakes, cakes sliced up into the appropriate numbers, and to be able to draw out as pictures the problems involving fractions she is struggling with.

Maybe even start with paper plates cut up - great for really grasping equivalent fractions.

Can you give me an example of the sort of thing she would struggle with for fractions?


Don't worry, you can be great at real mathematics - professor level even, and rubbish at ever remembering number facts. The handicap is if the school assumes you are poor at maths because you have no arithmetic memory, and never moves on beyond the basics.
Post Reply