Hi, we are based in glasgow and our son was born born premature and has dyspraxia(dcd). After managing to cope with the dyspraxia condition, he also has a difficulty with learning to read.He is now 9 just started primary 5(mainstream school) and he still cant read a preschool book.The school cant offer one to one support and we feel time is ticking on before he starts secondary school in 3 years,where the real problems will start.Our question is ,is there more we can do with the school(scottish education system) to force one to one support? and is it worth considering a private tutor to try help him with reading?
thanks
Hi. I don’t know if things are the same in Scotland but in Wales, you would tell the teacher that you want an educational psychologists assessment. I have done this previously and as it was taking time I also rang the local education dept, asked to speak to their educational psychology team and was able to check with their secretary that the school had put the referral in. The school should ask you for your concerns / comments to put on the referral form. The schools can be less eager to do such referrals because the results could mean them having to put additional support in which comes out of their budgets. (or at least that is my understanding of how it works)
The ed psych assessment will then test all areas of knowledge and if for example the child performs much better in general knowledge and areas other than literacy, it suggests the child may be dyslexic. However, in my exp, the ed psych said the results were indicative of a child who was likely to suffer from dyslexia. Where as really, I want an actual diagnosis, not sitting on the fence. As the diagnosis makes a difference in terms of any support given as they grow up e.g extra time at exams. Therefore, worth pushing for this. Good luck.