I know of lots of schools who 'do' Jolly Phonics in YR/1, but who mix it with learning the HFWs as sight words and guessing words from context, pictures & initial letters. The results come to me in KS3 to be remediated.

and im angry as i have quite a few who have come from ks3 and 4 for me to remediate

you wouldnt believe the things they have told me

Angry with me, dq?

Or are you angry at the completely useless and ineffective methods that have (or haven't, because some children don't get any help at KS3) been used to try to remediate them?

What sort of things have you been told? I'm agog to hear

I'm sorry I upset people on here, but what I say is not just an 'opinion'. It is based on the scientific research evidence of what works best for children with difficulties in reading & spelling. If research evidence showed that the most effective way to teach reading was by swinging naked from the light fittings, I would do it (though, thank heaven, it doesn't!). I don't see any point in wasting the children's precious time on ineffective strategies. If they haven't learned to read by the end of KS1 they are already desperately far behind and need fast, effective help.

never angry with anyone who has tried to help these kids, but angry with the ones who wont take the trouble to find out why and how, and help them, and write them off as they dont have the time

by the time they get to me they have no self esteem, and that is necessary for them to get motivated and commit to learn, even if they see it as going back to square one

and the stories are the ones ignored at school, no help, passed onto other courses cos they are lazy, regardless of what is going on in their lives, whether they have parents to fight for their needs, or if those parents have the same needs and no ability to push for what their children need and deserve

edited...... i cant say speciifics as colleagues see this forum

sorry its been a bad day

The Beat Dyslexia scheme sounds exactly the same format as my Foundation Course in 'How to Identify and Teach Dyslexic Learners'. It follows Alpha to Omega very closely. My tutor is dyslexic and both her children so I think the scheme is sound and well used. HOWEVER I must agree with Maizie that this is a very long process, fine if you catch it in KS1. That is not usually the case in my school because pupils are just thought of as being a bit slower to learn at that stage.
They then arrive in Junior dept and it's push, push, push on the NLS. Stragglers were left to struggle. We are now tracking ALL pupils using NFER, Burt, Schonell and anyone a year or more below chronological age will receive Read Write Inc. (when we can get training). Since the Rose Report our school has become committed to phonics in an attempt to send our pupils off the secondary with better basic skills.
I do 'dip into' my dyslexia training from Alpha to Omega and use the alphabet arc for working memory exercises. I am very new to SEN though, so this is just my findings from limited experience. We have no trouble getting pupils assessed as long as we can get it past the SENCO!!

Hope you don't mind me asking but how exactly do you get a child assessed?

My sister thinks my nephew is dyslexic, he's in year 6 and has recently moved to Scotland. They've been told he has SpLD but that's it........no explaination just those four words!

She saw the programme last night and made contact with someone, but not much help, only the number of somewhere in Glasgow that charges £200 to assess


Any help would be appreciated please?

im not sure about Scotland, you may need to ask Jaydee the procedure, but normally the Senco will arrange an assessment either in school if they can do it or by the LEA specialist. If they have been told he has a SpLD then there must be evidence that he has been assessed to be able to say that, they need to ask the person who told them about the details and results.

If it is the new school then maybe they have been sent his file by his previous school, and the details are in there

lots of parents will pay for their child to be assessed privately though, as it does depend on funding, but it sounds like that has already been done

Hi Old Bird,

SpLD is often used as a term instead of dyslexia these days, although you can have Specific Learning Disorder without it being dyslexia.

The school should not say this unless your nephew has been seen by the Learning Support Services. But in order for your nephew to get a referral the school should have got your sister's signature to say she is happy for him to be assessed. So it sounds as though someone has just used a generic term to fob your your sister off.

My advice would be to get your sister to make appointment to see SENCO and express her concerns. You usually have to make a concerns known to SENCO as she/he will fill in referral form. Once the SpLD team get involved they will work out an intervention programme and keep track of your nephew. Much harder to achieve in secondary.

Hope this helps. Lbee

Thanks DQ and LBee, I'll pass that onto my sister. She seems to be chasing her tail with this, so guidance is really appreciated.

Hi Old Bird. I agree with Lbee. Get your sister to make an appointment with the SENCO. If they say he has SpLD he should have already been assessed. I had to sign a consent form for this. They cannot legally assess without permission, so your sister needs to know what exactly is happening. I would be very upset if they had 'labelled' my son without assessing him first. Your sister should have a copy of the assessment and also his IEP targets, as a Spld will have very specific targets (excuse the pun) and she will need to know them so that she can support her son out of school. Sorry I cant be of more help but I dont know the Scottish rules. Good luck and let us Know how she gets on.

Thanks for all your help and advice. I've spoken to my sister, it appears he has been assessed in both schools (england and scotland) but they can't expand on his SpLD!!!!! They have no name for it, it's just his concentration (but as I've said my sis thinks he's got some form of dyslexia and is contemplating getting him assessed privately)..............have told her to speak to the SENCO though to get more clarification.

the school have to make allowances for his dyslexia, extra time for exams, maybe a reader etc, as dyslexia now comes under the DDA, so there shouldnt be any need for his parents to pay for a private assessment

their best bet is to read up on strategies, which he probably has already developed himself to help himself cope with day to day life and school

once they know these then he can try out and use the ones that help him, as every dyslexic learner will benefit from some but not other strategies

ideas such as coloured overlays and paper, fonts, spelling strategies and phonics..organisation strategies etc

Thanks dq...........would you be able to suggest any websites/books etc that my sister could use please?

here is some info i posted about the coloured overlays and the BDA

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if you scroll down there is info for parents and how to help at school, Getting Information

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