of working with a child who has dyslexia. age 9 - Y4.

For the past few months since November i have been working on things like learning the months of the year, days of the weekys, months of the year and reinforcing some of his blends using word shark. plus some reading and other bits and pieces,.

now that he's got another IEP i feel like i'm really panicking that i'm going to be found out! that i'm not going to be 'good enough'!

the targets are about extending his writing abilities and the teacher suggests that i work around sentence construction.

my fear - panic more like is that i'm not going to be supporting him with the right stuff!

It seems such a large area to work on.

feels like i'm wading through treacle at the moment.

his confidence has increased and he is becoming slightly more positive. Which are HUGE iin themselves i know that.

i have this child for 15-20 minutes every day and i'm just struggling with seeing the overall picture and how to break it down into manageable chunks.

A worrier i have always been,

i've got various resources but struggle to know how to use them to the best of my ability and his learning.

i'm not stupid - but just right now feel it. inadequate comes to mind...

x

why not start with sentence basics....punctuation, then extend to simple sentences/complex and compound sentences/ grouping them into paragraphs using planning...maybe spider diagrams/mind maps and use a favourite subject to write about to contextualise it

you can do it and you are good enough...and reading will help him with his sentence construction so keep on with that!

Thanks DQ

i need to be satisfied with what i can do.

each day will be doing something for him! however small i think it is.

sometimes it is really difficult to measure progress,. you know its there just hard to say exactly.

he loves word searches and the teacher has given me a list of words he needs to be familiar with this term so i can do that for him.

thank you for your ideas.

X

If he likes wordsearches you can make them on

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using any words you choose - just type in the words you want, how big the wordsearch grid is to be and how frequently (or not) you want letters to be included in different words in different directions. You can even choose whether the wordsearch is in capitals or lowercase. The finished article can then be printed out.

I agree with the above and add that you could also combine the 2 ideas basic writing skills and spider diagrams to "brainstorm" different words he could use for e.g emotions, weather, colours size etc. this would increas his writing skills whilst not asking him to do much writing and you could use coloured gel pens on coloured paper to make it even more dyslexia friendly.

or

how about targeting just one area of writing say description and giving him basic sentences that he can add a descriptive word to. I have done this for a similar age dyslexic child on a power point presentation with some fun clip art to make it look fun.


By the way the stuff you have been doing is all really use ful and relevant stuff too and should not be undervalued.

Catbells I think a lot of us feel inadequate when we work with children with complex needs. I got really panicky last term when a child I had been working with for 4 years seemed to be making little progress. We then had the opportunity to have the services of a Speech and Language Therapy assistant for 6 weeks to provide advice and resources. She couldn't offer anything other that what I was already using or had devised myself.

IEP targets should be achievable and should give ideas how to help the child. Speak to your Senco if the teacher is unable to give you any more ideas and ask if there is any specialist training available. Google dyslexia and see what comes up.

I find that I panic and can't think of anything but if I talk things through the ideas flow. Start small and work up and keep a record of any progress so you can look back to see what you have helped the child to acheive.

You are not inadequate. You have already made a huge difference to this child. The impossible we can do but miracles may take a little longer.

Sorry I can't offer any ideas as I work mainly with children with speech, Language and communication needs.

Good luck and remember you are making a difference.

I use these catbells, you can get a class set, but i have this small set it is ideal for 1-1 activities

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thank you for your input, your thoughts and your encouragement.

hoping to spend some time at the weekend just organising my thoughts and ideas. and your ideas into something that i can work with over these next few weeks.

It just seems a huge remit even though its broken down into several targets.

i somehow have to remind me and keep remiinding myself that Rome wasnt built in a day...

i had a better day with him today. Reading, constructing some sentences. i decided to give him an exeercise book for his work with me and he wrote out all the momths of the year unaided. well a tiny bit of support for August!

i need to feel proud of that achievement as proud as he did!

The support and enoucragement and all of that doesnt happen in our place. i'm afraid that the criticism will in due course.

Sometimes i just need ideas which you ppl have kindly and so freely shared. Sometimes i need to think out of the box a little bit more.

oh and i do keep daily records of what i do. needed by the SENCO. i also include daily evaluations. Just as important as the activities themselves.

Catbells x

catbells you have already taught him lots of things don't discount them these things are life skills- the most important skills.

If she is wanting the child to concentrate on sentence structure I did a lot of this work some years back I think Black Sheep have a package. It takes time making it but very worthwhile. Each type of word is colour coded.So verbs, nouns, prepositions,pronouns then add in adjectives, adverbs etc.You start with simple sentences and then build up to more complex ones.I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for.If it is ask your SENCO as it is a Speech and Language Programme.I'm sure it was Black Sheep as I did a lot of work based on there ideas with an Autistic child.He was able to write quite well by the time he left school.

Thanks Everyone.

I think my problem is that i am afraid that i'm not doing enough.

Or that it will be considered wrong.

Part of me has never left the classroom from my time in school!

The fear of criticism and all of that.

I have more idea of what i want to do - just fearful that his CT and the sENCO will consider that i have 'wasted' good learning time.

Sometimes i think i just need to believe in myself more.


and that i praps expect too much of myself. Or fail to see that any progress he does make couldnt possibly be anything to do with me! daft i know...

which is why support and encouragement here matters to me because there is sod all in school.

Just spend a happy hour or so planning what i shall do with him this week.

Catbells x

Catbells, don't worry what you're doing is incorrect, insufficient or not enough progress is being made. Believe me, we've all been there. There's one thing you've got to remember, you are a TA not an expert. Nor are most teachers in the field of SEN and most are ready to admit that. If we were we wouldn't need outside agencies coming in to school to help us. Over the years, because I mainly work with both G & A and those that are SEN, I've picked up a reasonable amount of knowledge. But children are all different and each time I'm given new children to work it means I've got to start from scratch again and find out what will work with them. We're both learning, the children and myself.

If you use Pivats in you school. Why not Privat the child. It's a very good way of seeing what progress is being made. Celebrate each tiny step for both yourself and the child. Keep checking what courses are available and try to get on them.

Above all, remember that we are not miracle workers and that sometimes you'll get a child, who for whatever reason you'll not be able to help. It makes the job interesting and at least you can say that you don't get bored.

I have several dyslexic children I work with and one thing that has really helped them with writing tasks is word webs, they love doing them. They can choose a picture (magazine/ Christmas card/ etc) or use the camera to take their own. We have lines coming away from the picture(s) and a word relating the picture goes at the end. Any word, but it HAS to be spelt right as this will become a word list for a piece of writing. We sometimes then look up the words in a thesaurus and extend vocabulary that way - more lines, more words. IT can end up looking really 'webby' but that's ok. Have done group ones too where each child wrote in a different colour. This can be used for report writing, poetry, descriptive writing, letter writing - reminder of what to put in, etc.

Most recent ones I've done were a group one they used to write a report on planning/ setting up a compost bin as part of the school's eco school application and one where the child and I went out so she could take photos of 'spring' and then wrote a poem from her word web. The teacher has started using this with other children too.

Jaydee that's a lovely idea.

stressed out.

went to see the SENCO yestereday. because it dawned on me that this child was never going to reach the targets set on his IEP. i felt very torn between trying to do the impossible and carrying on with what i had been doing with him. been stressing myself out with it. worrying about him, worrying about it all. and luckily she could see what i was talking about and how ridiculous the targets were. so i felt heard and understood.

feel though that i have betrayed this class teacher who set the frigging targets. feel torn,. yet the SENCO is my line manager.

i feel though that i've kind of stood up for this child whom i support. feel relieved that i have permission to go back to what i was doing with him. but even so feel that this class teacher will make her feelings known to me. Targets are meant to be SMART. trying to get a child to spell polysyllabic words when he struggles with CVC words is plain stupid.

Our learning support bod is off on long term sick which hasnt helped. so all of us TA's supporting children with special needs are left isolated and alone.

thank you for being there and sharing your ideas and support.

dreading going in to work later today though - after taking A to the dentist! i know i'm not skiving but feel like i am.

just feel utterly stressed.

x