Gael scoil & dyslexia

Lisha · 07-12-2015 08:59PM #1

Is it possible for a child with dyslexia to reach their full potential in a Gael scoil?

If a child in 2nd class was diagnosed with dyslexia should they switch to an English speaking school?

Insect Overlord · 07-12-2015 09:55PM

There should be no difference, really. The child will still have dyslexia, whether they're being taught through English or Irish. At least by staying in the Gaelscoil they'd have that strong level of Irish to their advantage by the time they hit secondary school.

appledrop · 07-12-2015 10:00PM

There is a difference. A lot of children with dyslexia end up getting an exception from Irish in school based on an educational assessment. It does depend on the child but in most cases it probably would be in their best interest to move them.

echo beach · 07-12-2015 10:47PM

appledrop wrote: »

There is a difference. A lot of children with dyslexia end up getting an exception from Irish in school based on an educational assessment. It does depend on the child but in most cases it probably would be in their best interest to move them.

Don't underestimate the challenge of settling into a new school, especially if a child is 'different' in any way.
A lot of children do get an exemption from Irish but that isn't going to change the fact that they have dyslexia. Is there any evidence that being exempt from Irish helps them in any way? It is as good as putting a permanent label on them as not having studied Irish marks them out, not as dyslexic but as unable to manage the normal curriculum. How do other countries where bilingualism and multilingualism are the norm manage?

appledrop · 07-12-2015 11:04PM

Echo Beach an educational psychologist is the person that would decide if a child should be except from Irish. Are you trying to say that they don't know what is best for a child? They only recommend what they think is best for each child. As I clearly stated every child is different and that's why if there are concerns it would be best to get a professional opinion on it. While it may be a challenge for a child to change school it would be a lot worse if they were left struggling for years with a language they cannot understand.

One eyed Jack · 08-12-2015 12:04AM

Lisha wrote: »

Is it possible for a child with dyslexia to reach their full potential in a Gael scoil?

If a child in 2nd class was diagnosed with dyslexia should they switch to an English speaking school?

Dyslexia shouldn't hold them back OP with the numerous supports there are for children with dyslexia nowadays. I had been diagnosed with severe dyslexia around the same age as your child is now, and as appledrop says the best person to make a recommendation for your child would be a child psychologist. I think this can be arranged with the school nowadays.

I was raised through Irish at home and my mother was a primary school teacher, so when it was recommended that I might do better in a special school, my mother insisted on keeping me in a mainstream school and helped me with my schoolwork outside school.

There are different types of dyslexia, and as I mentioned above, it can vary by degrees from mild to severe. It took my mother and teachers a while to suss that something was up because by then I had developed tricks to hide the difficulties I was having, not just with languages and comprehension and expression, but socialising in general.

Personally speaking, it didn't make any difference to me whether I was thinking in Irish or English, and I've picked up a couple of other languages since. I still struggle with reading, writing, comprehension and expression sometimes, but having dyslexia hasn't held me back at all tbh.

Can a child fulfil their potential in either a gaelscoil or an English school? I would suggest there's a hell of a lot more reasons that could hamper their potential, but dyslexia doesn't need to be one of them.

Moonbeam · 08-12-2015 03:05PM

Going by my own kids by 2nd class they would be fluent in Irish and used to it being the 1st language at school already. My personal opinion is not to move him because trying to adjust to an english school would be a lot of work for him.
I would speak to an educational psychologist about it.
The irish exemption would not be much benefit in this case as the child already has the 2 languages.

byhookorbycrook · 08-12-2015 07:21PM

Children must fit quite a specific set of criteria to get an exemption from Irish. Unless the educational psychologist says that the child is disadvantaged by learning through Irish, there is no need to move them. In fact, I would argue that moving a child can impact on their self-esteem and learning.

I have put many, many children with dyslexia through my hands, if I felt they would be better placed in an English speaking school, I would not hesitate to say so to the parents.
I had a phone call last month from a past pupil , the 3rd in the family, all with dyslexia, who completed their PhD.They all went to primary and secondary through Irish.

zoviea · 18-03-2016 11:25PM

Hi, I had just had my childs assessment done and as we had always suspected , she is dyslexic..and worse is severely dyslexic. We have been continually been told nothing was wrong but now have our answers. I feel she has been totally let down by education system and look forward to telling the teachers how wrong they were so they can maybe be more vigilant. It solves nothing and I feel bad that I didn't follow my instincts earlier and ignore teachers.

Anyway Im not sure where to go from here, I can look for extra help from the school but what more can I do??

Any advice would be great or where to get more information, doesn't seem to be much out there..Feel a bit lost

ShamoBuc · 19-03-2016 01:54AM

zoviea wrote: »

Hi, I had just had my childs assessment done and as we had always suspected , she is dyslexic..and worse is severely dyslexic. We have been continually been told nothing was wrong but now have our answers. I feel she has been totally let down by education system and look forward to telling the teachers how wrong they were so they can maybe be more vigilant. It solves nothing and I feel bad that I didn't follow my instincts earlier and ignore teachers.

Anyway Im not sure where to go from here, I can look for extra help from the school but what more can I do??

Any advice would be great or where to get more information, doesn't seem to be much out there..Feel a bit lost

Can I ask what class your daughter is in?
'Looking foward to telling the teachers how wrong they were so they can be more vigilant' - probably not the best attitude to have as you look for help.

As mentioned earlier , "There are differed types of dyslexia, and as I mentioned above, it can vary by degrees from mild to severe. It took my mother and teachers a while to suss that something was up because by then I had developed tricks to hide the difficulties I was having, not just with languages and comprehension and expression, but socialising in general."

Now that she has been diagnosed, there is plenty that can and I am sure will be done.

It's not the end of the world, just a challenge that many face and in time can learn to overcome to the best of their abilities.

zoviea · 19-03-2016 09:51AM

Yes I understand that there are different levels, she had been diagnosed with severe dyslexia so I feel that it should have been spotted been the position there in. I'm not intending on totally playing the blame game but I want them to be more aware if a parent feels there's something wrong and get help needed.

Moonbeam · 19-03-2016 10:38AM

How old is she?

zoviea · 19-03-2016 11:34AM

She's 10

byhookorbycrook · 19-03-2016 07:46PM

How have her standardised tests been in English to date? What is her full scale IQ?Is she in a Gaelscoil?

zoviea · 19-03-2016 11:14PM

Tests were average but started to decline below average, not sure of IQ. Got tested by a professional to be diagnosised with severe dyslexic. Yes she's in a gaelscoil.

byhookorbycrook · 20-03-2016 02:26PM

Her IQ will be in the report from the ed. psychologist. She must have a good IQ to get average scores in reading to date. Did the psychologist recommend she move schools? Will she get learning support if she stays in her own school?

zoviea · 20-03-2016 03:27PM

The average scores were from the school sten but in English not Irish was not good. She will get some learning support but if someone else needs it she will be dropped as recourses she not plentiful. That's what worries me cause then she might slip back and loose all the work she has put in. Theres not much help out there for dyslexic or else I cant find it anyway,

byhookorbycrook · 20-03-2016 06:00PM

Have you come across Toe By Toe? It's boring but it does actually work. The Snip literacy programme also helps. Start with One and work up. Little and often is best.

Lady_North1 · 20-03-2016 07:08PM

Have you investigated reading units in primary schools. Our school has two classes, 8/10 pupils in each class. All have a diagnosis for dyslexia. Each child gets two years in the class and can then return to their own school or stay on in ours. I know there's very specific criteria for getting into the classes. Might be worth looking into tho.
They use the toe by toe programme, lots of reading and most have Irish exemptions. They go out into mainstream classes for maths and other classes (science etc).

zoviea · 20-03-2016 07:35PM

Thanks I will certainly have a look for toe by toe, any help is good. I have never heard about reading units, don't think there is any in my area anyway. Thank for the help anyway. I suppose I am angry that it wasn't picked up in school, should the teachers not be able to have seen this, teaching her every day??

byhookorbycrook · 21-03-2016 12:28AM

The units are hard to access as they are in great demand. If she was scoring average in her tests, teachers may well have missed her. I never even heard of the idea of dyslexia when I trained.

zoviea · 21-03-2016 09:31AM

Then I think teachers need to become more aware. We are placing our children in their care and assume they know what they are doing, she had many other symptoms that's pointed towards dyslexic but they continued to tell me no that she'd fine so I foolishly believed they knew best.

byhookorbycrook · 21-03-2016 04:02PM

Teachers' training has improved a lot since with a lot of focus on various SEN , thankfully. What recommendations did the psychologist make?

ted1 · 21-03-2016 04:05PM

appledrop wrote: »

Echo Beach an educational psychologist is the person that would decide if a child should be except from Irish. Are you trying to say that they don't know what is best for a child? They only recommend what they think is best for each child. As I clearly stated every child is different and that's why if there are concerns it would be best to get a professional opinion on it. While it may be a challenge for a child to change school it would be a lot worse if they were left struggling for years with a language they cannot understand.

Be exempt from learning Irish as a foreign language is very different than learnt Irish and being taught subjects through immersion in the Irish language. The two are not comparable so in this instance the fact that an exemption is available is not relevant

frenchmartini · 13-04-2016 02:36PM

Just my thoughts. My 10 year old was diagnosed 2 years ago. He's not in a gaelscoil and not Irish exempt. Ed Psy didn't think it was helpful at this stage, to have him separated, labelled etc. Now, the Irish. He does struggle with it, especially the written, and sometimes I wonder why I'm putting him through it. Ed Psy said the primary years will give him a good base even if he finds it hard, a start that can't be gained back, say if he needed Irish to join the Guards. I think each child is different in their needs. Dyslexia is such a ****ty condition for little ones to live with and some days I get so down about it all, but we will keep fighting for him.

ted1 · 20-04-2016 10:46PM

frenchmartini wrote: »

Just my thoughts. My 10 year old was diagnosed 2 years ago. He's not in a gaelscoil and not Irish exempt. Ed Psy didn't think it was helpful at this stage, to have him separated, labelled etc. Now, the Irish. He does struggle with it, especially the written, and sometimes I wonder why I'm putting him through it. Ed Psy said the primary years will give him a good base even if he finds it hard, a start that can't be gained back, say if he needed Irish to join the Guards. I think each child is different in their needs. Dyslexia is such a ****ty condition for little ones to live with and some days I get so down about it all, but we will keep fighting for him.

Tbh that's irrelevant as the post is about gaelscoils. Gaelscoils don't make a balls of teaching Irish like English language schools do. It's about immersion as oppose to beating lists and grammar into you

Gael scoil & dyslexia

Comments