Reading Age

[Sally44]

I've been repeatedly asking my son's school for his reading age. Well I finally got it today. He has been assessed as having a reading age of 4.9 years. He is 9 years and 2 months old.

So basically he has the same reading age of a reception year child that has just walked through the school doors.

 

So my insistence that he was not 'learning' but memorising and not making any real progress was right. Where is the 'accelerated progress' his school wrote about?? And the school used this 'accelerated progress' as justification for not involving the EP or SPLD teacher.

 

So fed up and angry I don't know where to begin. Especially when at the last MEP meeting they reduced me to tears by saying I was 'anxious' and 'critical' to the extent that certain members of staff did not feel able to attend the MEP meeting. I really really wish they had been able to prove me wrong. I wish I had a clone that I could pass this onto because I am feeling so worn down by it all.

[bensmum2]

Hi Sally, it's so hard isn't it? But you have to keep going, we were even accused of being the cause of our sons anxiety to the point where they were threatening child protection proceedings, then miraculously, once he was diagnosed the social services assessed us and said we were such good parents we fully met all his complex needs and therefore didn't even qualify for any help!! That was all withing 4 weeks!! i have had a complaint in wiht the LGO since last May when he couldn't got o school and they refused to provide any alternative, i thought , at least this will prove they acted illegally, but, NO, i heard this week that i lost and the LGO found in favour of the LEA, actually stating that they were right in questioning our parenting and believing we could be causing his anxiety!!! Even after all this time and all the evidence and the fact that the statementing process took from may till march to complete!! I have wanted to give up many times, and you have got me through it, as well as many others on this forum, and i hope you will also be able to take strength from the support on here like i have done over and over, we as parents know our children best and we have to keep on fighting, i know the way things are at the moment i will never win my appeal for the school i want, noone is listening and my boy is 14 he only has 2 years left to make up for what he has missed out on, but i refuse to put him through the hell of mainstream again and so i will fight and fight, and so will you , you seem to know a lot about the processes and help loads of people on here, be strong and take a couple of days off from fighting, then get back to it with renewed vigour!!! Have you spoken to ACE or IPsea they can write letters and stuff i'm sure you know that. Keep up the fight and good luck x

[zenemu]

Hi Sally,

 

My cousin who is also AS, has quite severe dyslexia. I was just wondering if your son has been assessed for that?

 

It isn't uncommon for people with ASD to learn by memory. In many cases the more they are exposed to the more they seem to know. That is certainly true in my case. I have a very good memory for facts, figures and things I hear people say. Add dyslexia into that mix and reading would certainly be a low priority in many cases.

 

Just a thought.

 

Zen

[jaffacakes]

Sorry to hear that Sally, I am realising from so many comments that everything said about our children has to be documented and not allowed to pass - not great in hindsight but the only way to get people to listen.

 

I hope you can start to get things moving now, I'm still at reception stage and think we have the same problems with Ross. I'm just about to start another thread and would welcome your comments.

 

Deep breath and onward! It may help to vistualise all the teachers sitting on toilets with knickers round their ankles at your next meeting them - don't let them get you down as you are much better than them.

[Sally44]

Hi Sally,

 

My cousin who is also AS, has quite severe dyslexia. I was just wondering if your son has been assessed for that?

 

It isn't uncommon for people with ASD to learn by memory. In many cases the more they are exposed to the more they seem to know. That is certainly true in my case. I have a very good memory for facts, figures and things I hear people say. Add dyslexia into that mix and reading would certainly be a low priority in many cases.

 

Just a thought.

 

Zen

 

 

I've told the EP service since 2007 that I believe my son has a SPLD or dyslexia. They have refuted that recently at the annual review. So I'm very suspicious as to 'what' they believe the reason for this very poor performance is. He already has a Statement that says he is likely to be dyslexic and that if he does not make progress he needs a specialist teacher to be bought in. But school have kept saying over the last two years that he is making good and accelerated progress. It has taken a while to actually pin them down. For example they have been saying he is learning new words - but forgot to mention that he is not consistent and frequently forgets words he supposedly already knows.

We already have dyscalculia in the family, and my younger brother probably has a mild form of dyslexia.

I've been made to look like the anxious, bad unreasonable person in all this.

Hopefully things have now turned the corner.

The LEA should have amended his Statement at the annual review. But instead they want a total re-assessment. I can only assume that is to delay things. Both the OT and SALT have already said that their AR reports stand (which repeat what is already in the Statement to a large extent). Just the EP service I'm afraid that have not done their job. The Statement says that they should monitor his progress. That was a reasonable request as he was already having persistent difficulties attaining literacy skills. But they just did not do it because school said they had no concerns.

 

So it is back to the argument of what do you do to counter a schools stance that 'they have no concerns', 'the child is making progress' etc etc. He very obviously is not. But it is hard to actually get that evidence unless you keep paying for a private EP to see them, especially when school is also not answering your letters/emails telephone calls etc. But now that I have put in a complaint to the EP service, and wrote a letter specifically to his current teachers, she has given me the information now. But that means that another 2 academic years have passed.

 

I've been looking at the widgit communicate rebus system. Now that looks interesting and promising.

[av16]

I've told the EP service since 2007 that I believe my son has a SPLD or dyslexia. They have refuted that recently at the annual review. So I'm very suspicious as to 'what' they believe the reason for this very poor performance is. He already has a Statement that says he is likely to be dyslexic and that if he does not make progress he needs a specialist teacher to be bought in. But school have kept saying over the last two years that he is making good and accelerated progress. It has taken a while to actually pin them down. For example they have been saying he is learning new words - but forgot to mention that he is not consistent and frequently forgets words he supposedly already knows.

We already have dyscalculia in the family, and my younger brother probably has a mild form of dyslexia.

I've been made to look like the anxious, bad unreasonable person in all this.

Hopefully things have now turned the corner.

The LEA should have amended his Statement at the annual review. But instead they want a total re-assessment. I can only assume that is to delay things. Both the OT and SALT have already said that their AR reports stand (which repeat what is already in the Statement to a large extent). Just the EP service I'm afraid that have not done their job. The Statement says that they should monitor his progress. That was a reasonable request as he was already having persistent difficulties attaining literacy skills. But they just did not do it because school said they had no concerns.

 

So it is back to the argument of what do you do to counter a schools stance that 'they have no concerns', 'the child is making progress' etc etc. He very obviously is not. But it is hard to actually get that evidence unless you keep paying for a private EP to see them, especially when school is also not answering your letters/emails telephone calls etc. But now that I have put in a complaint to the EP service, and wrote a letter specifically to his current teachers, she has given me the information now. But that means that another 2 academic years have passed.

 

I've been looking at the widgit communicate rebus system. Now that looks interesting and promising.

You may like to remind them that under the new OFSTED framework allchildren are expected to make 2 levels of progress over 4 years for the school to be considered satisfactory. For instance if they are on P6 at the end of KS1 they need to be on P8 by the end of KS2 or if on level 1 b, they should be on 3b by the end of yr 6. The days of accepting little progress academically 'because they are SEN' are over. Schools have to prove what they did to try and support a child when they haven't made the 2 levels. I have been part of a new inspection and the focus is really on inclusion and sen now. As a professional it's tough but as I parent I say good job!

You could ask for the name/number of the 'SIP' - school improvement (something beginning with P - partner?). It's their job to 'keep an eye' on the school on behalf of the LEA and challenge the school. They keep watch on academic attainment on the whole school so if your son is and has been constantly at the same levels they would want to know why. I hope this might help you a bit - this is what happens in my LA and I would imagine similar things would be in place elsewhere.

Good Luck

[Sally44]

You may like to remind them that under the new OFSTED framework allchildren are expected to make 2 levels of progress over 4 years for the school to be considered satisfactory. For instance if they are on P6 at the end of KS1 they need to be on P8 by the end of KS2 or if on level 1 b, they should be on 3b by the end of yr 6. The days of accepting little progress academically 'because they are SEN' are over. Schools have to prove what they did to try and support a child when they haven't made the 2 levels. I have been part of a new inspection and the focus is really on inclusion and sen now. As a professional it's tough but as I parent I say good job!

You could ask for the name/number of the 'SIP' - school improvement (something beginning with P - partner?). It's their job to 'keep an eye' on the school on behalf of the LEA and challenge the school. They keep watch on academic attainment on the whole school so if your son is and has been constantly at the same levels they would want to know why. I hope this might help you a bit - this is what happens in my LA and I would imagine similar things would be in place elsewhere.

Good Luck

 

 

That is interesting to know, but are you sure it means ALL children. Because I have raised this already and have been told that not every child will make this increase per academic year. But what I don't understand is how on the one hand he is not making this incremental increase every year and the SENCO/Head agree that the gap between him and his peers is widening "and will continue to widen over the next 2 years" - yet they still are not involving the EP or teacher for SPLD!!

 

And my complaint about all this is that phonics is auditory based. We have folders of evidence that his auditory system is severely affected. For example yesterday I asked him to remember and repeat the words I said,which were stairs, floor, bed, window, cat. My son said "stairs, hall, bear, cat". So he had not sequenced them correctly, he hadn't remembered them all, but more importantly he HEARD them differently. That means that sounds to symbol processing is going to be incorrect and confused. Everyone agrees apart from school and the LEA EP service. By contrast I lined up 7 items on the table. Whilst he turned away I mixed them up. He could correct them every time. Then I asked him to turn away and name every item in order. Which he did correctly. That means that his sequencing, working memory and memory retrieval is spot on and much better than his auditory system.

 

School are arguing that his progress each academic year is typical for him. But with an unsuitable approach that is like trying to teach someone with a visual impairment how to read and then saying their lack of progress is typical of their cognitive ability. No it isn't. They can't see properly, that is why a visual approach is not working!!

 

I have lodged a formal complaint to the LGO and the EP service. His Statement is pretty good, and it already states his progress should be monitored by the EP service. It also states that a specialist teacher should be bought in if he is not making adequate progress. It already states he has symptoms/traits of dyslexia and says that the EP service should work with my son to determine if he does have dyslexia and to identify how to move his skills on. That hasn't happened. I cannot think how else, or what else, we could have done to try to cover ourselves and protect my son in the Statement.

 

Can you tell me 'where' I can find that wording, because I have his next MEP meeting soon. If having a reading age of 4.9 at 9.3 years does not trigger any professional having to be involved, then I don't know what does!?!

[zenemu]

Hi Sally,

 

Regardless of opinion, one thing seems clear, your son is struggling to learn to read. While at Uni I used to volunteer at an adult literacy class and I also worked with dyslexic children at a local school. Teaching children is a little different obviously, but their are a lot of interesting and helpful techniques out there to help children like your son learn to read.

 

The first thing you need to do is build his confidence. At your sons age, it will be becoming evident to him that his peers can read quite well, and he can't. It is pretty obvious that sooner or later he is going to wrongly assume he is stupid. He is going to become frustrated and angry at himself. You can help with this, and all it takes is a little cognetive therapy. Your son, like all children has his strengths and weaknesses. If he is ASD, perhaps a list will help here, a list of things he is really good at. Focus on his strengths for a while, work together to explore the things he is really good at. He needs a positive self image, and if he can really excel at something, then that is going to work wonders for his confidence.

 

Working on the actual reading is a slow careful process with children. You need to find something he loves. Superhero's, football, dinosaurs, what ever rocks his boat really. He is a nine year old boy, if he finds a subject boring, he will switch off instantly. When teaching him, it is important that his imagination is fired. Remember, learning to read and write also go hand in hand.

 

Learn about his problem. Children with reading difficulties struggle with the size and shapes of letters, so experiment with him, look at how you write b's & d's for example, see if he can pick them out. If he can't write them differently and slowly turn them back into the proper format. Use phonetics to help with complex spelling and sounds. Also bear in mind that English is actually one of the most complicated languages to learn, especially in a written format as it has contradictory rules.

 

Keep sessions short, 15 minutes every evening at most, and reward him for his patience too (cake!).

 

There are a lot of great forums around that will help to give you more in-depth teaching methods. It is going to take time and patience on your part, and by all means talk to and push things with the school, but I would work on the assumption that they are going to be of little or no help. That way any help they do give will be a bonus.

 

You will get there in the end. It just takes a little commitment and a lot of patience. Now is the ideal time to address this as he still has a couple of years before secondary school.

 

Good luck!

 

Zen

[av16]

Have a look at this Sally, www.nasen.org.uk/uploads/publications/61.ppt this is a bit old but it is now official and guidance has been issued to schools. I went to a seminar where the author spoke.

 

I do agree with Zen though as I think the school are probably not going to do much. There are lots of phonic games you could try - the British Dyslexia assoc has some good advice too. If I see any good resources/catalogues I'll let you know.

 

You should find things improving a bit as I'm being trained to be a specialist Dyslexia teacher due to the Rose report -http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/jimroseanddyslexia/. The aim is for specialist teachers to be available in local authority areas to work in schools. Again your local authority should have an overview and may be able to tell you if there are any trainees in your area or qualified teachers who could help.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

 

AV

Sorry haven't done links properly, can't remember how at the moment and need to get dinner started!

Edited April 29, 2010 by av16