Son really struggling...advice?

FullOf..IT

Hi,

My son has just got back his results from the Sigma T and Micra T tests which he done 2 months ago in first class.

He got a 4 for the Sigma and a 1 and 3 for the Micra, the 1 for class based and 3 for age based.

He started to talk later than expected. He has always struggled with his reading and writing and still has trouble with some of his pronunciation.

We have sent him here... www.Cluas.ie as we seen an ad for them and he had some of the symptoms that they described. He was assessed and they told us that there was a prolem with how his brain processed infomation (from right ear to left side of the brain if this makes sense but it could have been the other way round), is this some form of dsylexia?

We got him the tomatis therapy on offer and we did see some improvements. He was re assessed after the therapy and improvenments were made to how he was hearing and processing infomation we were told. In addition to the tomatis we are carrying out NDT exercises with him and meet with a NDT therapist regularly at cluas

He is also carrying out another session at the recommendation of those at cluas but now with the results of the sigm / micra tests we are frustrated and feeling more and more powerless. It has not been cheap to get the tomatis done (we will have spent €8k when this session is finished) and we are starting to question if this was the correct avenue to go down.

Should we seek a 2nd opinion and where?
Should we look at keeping him back a year (he only turned 7 in april this year, is he too young for 1 st class?)
Should we look at special needs schools? (kills me to say this).

His teacher and the people at cluas have said that he is an intellegent boy and i can say this too but i dont know how objective my assessment is.

Thanks in advance for first reading this and 2nd for offering any advice you can.

Thanks

byhookorbycrook

4 is in the average range, 3 and below are offered learning support in our school. Personally, I don't have much faith in NDT etc,I'd get a proper educational assessment and see from there.
Keeping a child back may well cause other problems ,like self-esteem problems.

We use New Wave mental maths in learning support and find it very good and I think it would be of help to you. We give a sticker to each ten out of ten and ten stickers means a small prize (pencil etc). The children love to look back on their record sheets and it does wonder for their confidence.

On the scores you post, I doubt he is special school material, but an educational assessment would be best to clarify his strengths and needs.


On the literacy front, I'd ask the class teacher to suggest books at his level and that you read together every day, using the shared reading model.

HTH

FullOf..IT

FullOf..IT wrote: »

Hi,

My son has just got back his results from the Sigma T and Micra T tests which he done 2 months ago in first class.

He got a 4 for the Sigma and a 1 and 3 for the Micra, the 1 for class based and 3 for age based.

He started to talk later than expected. He has always struggled with his reading and writing and still has trouble with some of his pronunciation.

We have sent him here... www.Cluas.ie as we seen an ad for them and he had some of the symptoms that they described. He was assessed and they told us that there was a prolem with how his brain processed infomation (from right ear to left side of the brain if this makes sense but it could have been the other way round), is this some form of dsylexia?

We got him the tomatis therapy on offer and we did see some improvements. He was re assessed after the therapy and improvenments were made to how he was hearing and processing infomation we were told. In addition to the tomatis we are carrying out NDT exercises with him and meet with a NDT therapist regularly at cluas

He is also carrying out another session at the recommendation of those at cluas but now with the results of the sigm / micra tests we are frustrated and feeling more and more powerless. It has not been cheap to get the tomatis done (we will have spent €8k when this session is finished) and we are starting to question if this was the correct avenue to go down.

Should we seek a 2nd opinion and where?
Should we look at keeping him back a year (he only turned 7 in april this year, is he too young for 1 st class?)
Should we look at special needs schools? (kills me to say this).

His teacher and the people at cluas have said that he is an intellegent boy and i can say this too but i dont know how objective my assessment is.

Thanks in advance for first reading this and 2nd for offering any advice you can.

Thanks

Hi All,

Sorry to drag up an old post but I have hit a wall and need some more advice.

My son was assessed a few months as by an Educational Psychologist. He was diagnosed with dyslexia but had an above average intelligence.

She suggested material and a specialist school that deals with kids with reading difficulties. We purchased the recommend reading / maths material and my son has made progress through these.

We made contact with this school with the attention of placing him there from next year. They only do 2 years for each student so he would be starting in 3rd class.

We were offered a place and from speaking to other parents who had sent their kids there the feedback was excellent and we finally felt that we were getting somewhere and the frustration of the sitution was coming to an end as we had this light at the end of the tunnel.

That was until today.

The principle sent us an invite to come and visit the school today.

I could not attend due to work commitments and the short notice. My better half went with my mother. The end result was that the principle withdrew the offer of a place due to my child being too immature (Child is 8 next month and currently in 2nd class so maybe a bit young). This 'assessment' was gathered all within an hour.

My child is shy and inward. He becames very withdrawn when introduced to strangers. The principle offered 2 other students to show him around but he clung to his mother and wouldnt go. Maybe this is a bit childish but shouldnt placement in this type of school be based on the needs of the child and not an assessment taken over the course of an hr. IMO he was refused beacuse of his shyness / confidence as if he had have gone with the other kids there would have been no problem.

I am in a place now where the frustration is creeping back in. I intend to ring the principle but i will leave for a few days as I am not in the corrrect frame of mind
for an assertive discussion.

I would appreciate any input on either what next step to take with the school or some suggestions on how to get more son more confidence / more open with strangers.

I know i am basing my analyse on second hand and quite possibly biased info from my mother and girlfriend so i would appreciate soem honest feedback.

Thanks in advance

TheColl

When was the psychological assessment done? Having being diagnosed as having dyslexia, has your son been given resource time in school? If he is getting resource time, and will continue to get it next year, then perhaps this will help him? Perhaps you could apply to the other school again, and work with your son on self-confidence between now and then?

byhookorbycrook

TheColl wrote: »

When was the psychological assessment done? Having being diagnosed as having dyslexia, has your son been given resource time in school? If he is getting resource time, and will continue to get it next year, then perhaps this will help him? Perhaps you could apply to the other school again, and work with your son on self-confidence between now and then?

Children with dyslexia do not qualify any longer for resource. They may be taken in a learning support group.

If your son is shy and finds it hard to make friends, he might be as well to stay in his own school, provided he will be in learning support. Does the DAI run workshops near to you, they are generally excellent.

http://www.dyslexia.ie/supports.htm

I use Toe-by-Toe with children with dyslexia, but your chap might be a little young. www.starfall.com is a lovely site and gives visual and aural stimulation. HTH

bget

I know dealing with this kind of thing can be very stressful but you need to keep your head, be persistant but not forceful or agressive as this will get you no where. i would also advice if you have an older niece or nephew or some other family member who is good in these areas ask if they would work with him because its my experience that children repond better to extra help from someone other than a parent.
Another thing which i hope will give you hope is that it could be the school/teacher. I know a boy you persistently scored very poorly in these test for maths. this same boy is now in secondary school and thriving, doing orsinary level maths and consistanly getting in the high 80's or low 90's percentage wise.
Above all be patient and done let your son see your frustration as this will make matters worse.
Good Luck and feel free to message me anytime

E.T.

I'm used to teaching younger children but from my experience, a lot of psychologists won't diagnose (formally) dyslexia until a child is 8 or 9 now. I've had children diagnosed as having severe dyslexic tendencies, and told informally that they're severely dyslexic, but because younger children quite often have some of these tendencies anyway the formal diagnoses are being held off.

One good thing about your child's age is that they're getting to the stage where they can try to explain to you some of the reasons they're finding reading/writing difficult eg children in infants are only beginning to learn phonics and how to use the sounds of letters to decode words, and just don't have the vocabulary or experience to understand or express their difficulties.

Our learning support teacher has told me before that as the children going to her get older, they begin to notice differences between the way they see things and the way other children see or understand them. Hopefully this will be the case with your child too and they'll have a learning support teacher as lovely as ours!

I'd definitely get back in touch with the specialist school and ask them to clarify why exactly your child wasn't accepted. From my own day to day experience in school your best bet would be to ring and ask for an appointment to speak either in person or on the phone to the principal so that you'll get to have a proper conversation with them.

Good luck!