reading school & learning disabilities

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Ann

reading school & learning disabilities

Post by Ann »

Hello all,

My DS is very bright but severely dyslexic. He was only diagnosed about 6 months ago, so we have not had much time to help him. He can't spell, his reading is comparatively slow, and his IQ is high.

Having read the thread about scores, I advised DS that I couldn't 't see the point in him sitting the Reading School tests because he would lose most lose most of the spelling marks and then not be able to gain high enough scores. He is also a November birthday

DS said 'I'm dyslexic, not stupid!', and husband agreed, so it was decided to allow him to take the tests.

Does anyone know if severely dyslexic children get into such schools. He did have extra time, but I don't think that will have helped him pick up any more marks for spelling?

Life doesn't seem very fair. Does anyone have any similar experience/words of advice?
:(
Bewildered
Posts: 1806
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:29 pm
Location: Berkshire

Post by Bewildered »

Ann,

I'm afraid I don't know, but you may glean more 'general' info if you look at the 'SEN and the 11+', section of this forum...

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... m.php?f=40

With such a positive attitude, your son deserves to do well.

Good Luck to your both.

:)
BW
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Post by yoyo123 »

speak to the school Senco, they will be able to help you
stevew61
Posts: 1786
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:54 pm
Location: caversham

Re: reading school & learning disabilities

Post by stevew61 »

Ann wrote:Hello all,

My DS is very bright but severely dyslexic. He was only diagnosed about 6 months ago, so we have not had much time to help him.(
Ask everyone involved for input current school, Local Authority ( Parent Partnership ) and Reading School.

IIRC if your child receives classroom help then they are allowed the same level of support in the entrance exam. I know of one severely dyslexic boy who had a scribe for his KS2 exams.

I have one boy just started at Reading and a second in year three at primary he is diagnosed "autistic but very able" we are working towards Reading but have some doubts as to whether it is the right school for him hopefully he will develop if not we will look at other options.

When would your son be sitting the exam?

Best wishes,

stevew61

PS if you register you may get more info.via PM. :)
Guest

Post by Guest »

Hello all,

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my posting. It was done in a hurry and on re-reading, I realised that it was not very clear.

My dyslexic son TOOK the exam this November. The extent (moderate to severe dyslexia) of his learning difficulties became clear about six months ago

We have been working with the SENCO and my son is receiving some help, at school, but is not considered bad enough for a statement. The school has no interest in training children for the 11+.javascript:emoticon(':(')
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He is very bright and it seemed unfair that he should not have a chance at a grammar school place because of his problems. We contacted Reading School and were told to send in the ed psych report. Outcome was that he was given 25% extra time for all papers.

Once aware of his difficulties, we spent the time up to the exam practising past papers. He is a slow reader and definitely needed extra time to complete them. (He reads better with a coloured overlay; if the paper was white and printing black on the day, this will have disadvantaged him.)

Despite our best efforts, we could not teach him to spell (and probably never will be able to). 24 hours of extra time would not have helped here!!

For all except the Non-Verbal Reasoning paper, we developed strategies to help him, but these involved marking the paper and on the day he was not allowed to do so. (We had asked the school about this bin advance and were told that it was discouraged but he could do so LIGHTLY.) javascript:emoticon(':(')
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I've no idea how he's done, but with the probable loss of most spelling marks before he even started, I doubt that he can gain enough marks to pass. However, he worked sooooo hard and with such determination, I've still got some fingers and toes crossed. javascript:emoticon(':?')
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Hope this is clearer and of some help to other parents in this situation.
Best wishes,
Ann

PS I'm also a Kendrick mum of some 7 year's standing and I believe my daughter's 11+ score was adjusted for age at the time.

PPS She applied to Oxbridge this year and the will she/won't she get/survive an interview has been a complete nightmare - much worse than waiting for the 11+ results. Future Kendrick mums beware! javascript:emoticon(':roll:')
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Ajay

Reading and writing disabilities

Post by Ajay »

Dear Ann,

My son is dyslexic and and gets confused.We decided against the Reading and Sutton Exams as it involved writing.

However,he got through the Slough exams.This had no written paper and was allowed extra time.

Once he in the Grammer school he would have to use a laptop which he is looking forward to.

All the very best - all children should be given a chance at a grammer school place.
Ann
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:24 pm

Failed

Post by Ann »

Hello all,

Thank you for your interest and kind comments. Sadly, my moderatley to severely dyslexic son did not get in to RG even with 25% extra time.

We now need to decide what to do next. We have an issue with the fact that on the day he was not allowed to mark the paper, despite having been told previously that he could do so 'lightly' (we do not have this on record). Without doubt this would have thrown him, because we had worked on strategies involving this prior to the exam - it is common to use such strategies with dyslexic children.

Can anyone advise on the logic behind not allowing this - is it a fiendish plot to filter out dyslexic children? Might it form a useful part of an appeal case? Does anyone have any experience of appealing with respect to Reading School? So many questions"!

Best wishes,
Ann :?: :!:
stevew61
Posts: 1786
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:54 pm
Location: caversham

Post by stevew61 »

Hi Ann,

Have posted this before but quicker to repost, had the same issue before 2006 exam, I asked school and they replied,

Dear Mr XXXXXXXX

Thank you for your email. We do ask candidates not to write on the exam papers and they are provided with rough paper for working out answers, however they will not be penalised if they do write on the question paper.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs XXXXXXXXX
Admissions Secretary
Reading School


On the day they were told many times not to mark the question paper and my son obeyed undermining some of our strategies. :cry:

I could see the school arguing that an adjustment was made by allowing 25% extra time and that everybody was subject to the same rules on the day. :cry:

Feel free to use the above in a general way if you decide to appeal.


stevew61
Ann
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:24 pm

Post by Ann »

Stevew61 - thank you for the reply - we didn't get this in writing - we may be able to work it into the case.

Have spoken with his Primary School & they seem very willing to support us, but we haven't got this confirmed as yet.

Best wishes,
Ann
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