Dyslexia and 11+ advice wanted
Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 12:43 pm
Hi mums,
I hope you can give me some advice on DD's situation. She is in year 5 currently and will be sitting for her 11+ exam in September 2018 (in Redbridge and Essex borough). I think DD has mild dyslexia, I say mild because she never had problems with reading when she was younger. She often used to write some letters backwards such as b, d, s and z until year 2/3. We spoke to the teacher about it at that time, they reassured us it's normal for that age. (We found it strange though as my younger DD who is 2 years younger never got those letters mixed up). She is very able in maths and her literacy has been good so far (above -average and never warranted any attention from teachers). She has always been on the top set at school for both maths and English.
We didn't realise how poor her writing is until now. She always avoided writing and said she disliked it so we didn't probe her further. Recently, we started writing every week in preparation for 11+ exam. Her handwriting is awful, her spelling is quite poor especially for words that has ie, au in the middle (e.g. field, friend, beautiful she would often swap the letter around). What's puzzling is she can spell it out correctly if I ask her verbally. She is very articulate but her writing does not reflect that at all, she can barely put her thoughts together. She doesn't do her capitals consistently and punctuation is very poor too. She reads a lot and is an avid reader, so we couldn't understand why she would have these issues. In the most recent parent teacher meeting, her teacher mentioned to us her thoughts and speech don't match up to writing but he wasn't particularly concerned. She struggles with comprehension tasks too, often missing a line or missing some texts. Same text if I read it out aloud, she understands it perfectly and is able to answer all questions correctly. In Maths she would read the number other way around, for example read 86 as 68. Both DH and I told her off many times for her silly mistakes and she would often say she didn't notice(now feeling very guilty about it). I mentioned these issues to a friend who works in SEN field, she immediately suggested I get her tested for dyslexia. She has been sending me some resources which I have been reading up on, it's like a light bulb moment.
The school she goes to has a SENCO department, I am going to flag it up to her teacher and SENCO to get some help. Other mums in the school said it's a very slow process. One of the mums have been waiting for a year to get a referral for EP appointment because the borough has many SEN children and limited funding. Unless a child has serious issues, they don't send for an assessment immediately. Since DD is above average, they are not likely to do anything soon. I would really like her to get some help at school and get a diagnosis asap (if it does come out to be true). Also I would like her to get a diagnosis before we apply for the 11+ test which is in June so that we can put it on her application form.
My question is shall I go down the private route? If yes, would the LEA (Redbridge and Essex) accept that to provide extra support at school and perhaps some consideration for 11+ exam? Is there anyone in Redbridge or Essex who has been through the process? Any advice would be appreciated. Also a private EP recommendation would be grateful.
Thanks.
I hope you can give me some advice on DD's situation. She is in year 5 currently and will be sitting for her 11+ exam in September 2018 (in Redbridge and Essex borough). I think DD has mild dyslexia, I say mild because she never had problems with reading when she was younger. She often used to write some letters backwards such as b, d, s and z until year 2/3. We spoke to the teacher about it at that time, they reassured us it's normal for that age. (We found it strange though as my younger DD who is 2 years younger never got those letters mixed up). She is very able in maths and her literacy has been good so far (above -average and never warranted any attention from teachers). She has always been on the top set at school for both maths and English.
We didn't realise how poor her writing is until now. She always avoided writing and said she disliked it so we didn't probe her further. Recently, we started writing every week in preparation for 11+ exam. Her handwriting is awful, her spelling is quite poor especially for words that has ie, au in the middle (e.g. field, friend, beautiful she would often swap the letter around). What's puzzling is she can spell it out correctly if I ask her verbally. She is very articulate but her writing does not reflect that at all, she can barely put her thoughts together. She doesn't do her capitals consistently and punctuation is very poor too. She reads a lot and is an avid reader, so we couldn't understand why she would have these issues. In the most recent parent teacher meeting, her teacher mentioned to us her thoughts and speech don't match up to writing but he wasn't particularly concerned. She struggles with comprehension tasks too, often missing a line or missing some texts. Same text if I read it out aloud, she understands it perfectly and is able to answer all questions correctly. In Maths she would read the number other way around, for example read 86 as 68. Both DH and I told her off many times for her silly mistakes and she would often say she didn't notice(now feeling very guilty about it). I mentioned these issues to a friend who works in SEN field, she immediately suggested I get her tested for dyslexia. She has been sending me some resources which I have been reading up on, it's like a light bulb moment.
The school she goes to has a SENCO department, I am going to flag it up to her teacher and SENCO to get some help. Other mums in the school said it's a very slow process. One of the mums have been waiting for a year to get a referral for EP appointment because the borough has many SEN children and limited funding. Unless a child has serious issues, they don't send for an assessment immediately. Since DD is above average, they are not likely to do anything soon. I would really like her to get some help at school and get a diagnosis asap (if it does come out to be true). Also I would like her to get a diagnosis before we apply for the 11+ test which is in June so that we can put it on her application form.
My question is shall I go down the private route? If yes, would the LEA (Redbridge and Essex) accept that to provide extra support at school and perhaps some consideration for 11+ exam? Is there anyone in Redbridge or Essex who has been through the process? Any advice would be appreciated. Also a private EP recommendation would be grateful.
Thanks.