tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29317495061381122312023-11-15T08:19:31.470-08:00Algars Academy AnecdotesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-29291596735292840852013-09-13T02:12:00.000-07:002013-09-13T02:12:05.026-07:00Back with a BumpI know..I know....I have neglected this Blog...but it's been the Summer Holidays and a lovely one at that, and everyone's been happy and at home and relaxing and being happy with 'who they are'......ahhhh, happy days! But by the final week, my kids were actually quite excited about going back to school to show off their new bags & see their friends....<br />
<br />
It's now the end of the first full week back to school.<br />
<br />
BUMP!<br />
<br />
I am frustrated by the lack of communication as usual.<br />
My daughter is being excluded from her 'friends' as usual.<br />
<br />
Nothing changes.<br />
<br />
Last night she was in tears telling us that when she approached the girls in her class, they turned their backs on her and told her to, 'Go away, I want to talk to my friends.' There are the usual two 'top dogs.' Isn't there always? Then all the sheep hang around them, adoringly. My daughter tends to jump from group to group (not knowing where she belongs). Most of the time, she tolerates it....but sometimes, it gets to her.<br />
<br />
I watched a programme on T.V last night - 'Educating Yorkshire', and I was appalled at what I saw. The school bully, a girl (surprise, surprise) was systematically and sneakily bullying a lovely boy, who took it and took it and took it and took it, until he snapped one day and went for her. He was put on an 'anger management programme' and had to apologise for his 'behaviour' ('How dare he hit a girl!' Even though she was bigger and stronger than him). She behaved appallingly, to other pupils and to teachers, but they were all scared of her, and she got away with her nasty and vindictive behaviour over and over again. The poor boy, went on, trying his best, but was bullied again...he finally lashed out again (good for him) and was excluded! 'Excluded for being bullied' his lovely 'geek' friends said to the Head when they mustered up the courage to stand up for their friend...but they were ignored...The bully wasn't ignored, she was listened to, helped and pandered to. It made me sick.<br />
<br />
Now I am not for one moment saying my daughter has to put up with anything like this, but children do...and they are ignored...and the bullies with all the 'social or family problems' are listened to, helped and pandered to. It's the quiet ones who burst one day that need to be listened to, it's the one's that are a little bit different that need protecting, and the bullies, they need educating in how they are making people feel, whether it's because they are saying horrible things or excluding their peers. Why are we not teaching children to respect each other? You don't have to like everyone...and goodness knows, I am always telling my daughter, 'not everyone will like you, don't try to make them.' But can't we just be civil and at a push....kind? <br />
<br />
Flexi-School starts on Monday. It's been lots of work & I am really looking forward to getting started. My daughter can't wait. She said this morning that she is so happy that she is attending on Monday. Apart from the educational side, flexi-school will give kids who may not 'fit in' some respite. A place where they can be 'who they are'. A place where I will insist everyone is kind to each other.<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-52879705638983580542013-06-26T10:07:00.000-07:002013-06-26T10:07:09.569-07:00The Bee & the Analogy
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Working on my whole ‘multi-sensory’ approach strategy today,
I was sitting in my office with the door open.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A bee flew in & buzzed annoyingly (& noisily) around
the light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I put up with it for a while,
thinking it would lose interest in bashing itself against the light, but it
didn’t, so I tried ‘encouraging’ it out with a white board, ...still no joy.. I
could see that it was trying to get to the light, so...I turned it off...and
the bee fell to the floor, then flew out – good as gold!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This reminded me so much of the children that I teach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They keep trying to get to the light, bashing
their little brains up, when all they really need is for someone to try a
different approach....let’s turn the light off, given them some breathing space
& try again!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then the bee came back & stung me! (only joking!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<h2>
</h2>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-51103503180738122712013-05-20T14:30:00.000-07:002013-05-20T14:30:31.870-07:00What a Few Days!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Phew! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">What a few days!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I am so excited and motivated!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I am so overwhelmed by the emails & messages & tweets I have received from people who don't know me - but have taken the time to congratulate me for what I am about to do - thank you!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>"I have just seen an article in the local paper about your new flexi school and would just like to wish you luck in this endeavour. Students with dyslexia have so much potential and with the right guidance and help can achieve anything their hearts desire."</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em></em></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>"My son ******* has Dyslexia and in Australia that is a tragedy with it only just being recognised (not funded) as a learning disability in 2010. We were living in the US where they had dyslexia ADHD schools which were fantastic. I just want to say congratulations for starting your school."</em></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em></em></span> </div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>"I have just read your article.. Wow!! I'm so excited for you... "</em></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I am getting inundated with media interest:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">KMFM Medway
</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">100.4 FM / 107.9 FM news bulletin on Tuesday 21 May 'every hour on the hour'</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kent online </span><a href="http://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend_messenger/news/Mum-sets-up-flexi-school-to-852/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">http://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend_messenger/news/Mum-sets-up-flexi-school-to-852/</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And today, a request by the news editor from Radio Kent for me to do a slot with Julia George on Wednesday 22nd May from 10am! We chatted for ages and I am so looking forward to talking to Julia and finding out more of what the public think about my approach.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But the best thing of all?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My daughter came home absolutely over the moon, with her SAT's Reading Paper result written on her hand!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She had got a 3a, "My teacher said that I should be very proud of myself,' she said. I couldn't quite remember what '3a' meant - was it that good?! When we got home, I looked at what she had got last year, it was 2b - so she had gone up 4 SUB-LEVELS!! Brilliant! I also looked at the year before - she had also got 2b; so had made no progress in a year, but massive progress this year!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Now, I am not for one moment putting it all down to what I have done, she is a year older, she has a great teacher this year who she loves & who really 'gets her,' everything has really started to fall into place this year for her - BUT 4 SUB-LEVELS?!! after not progressing at all in the previous year - well, there is surely no doubt flexi-schooling works......</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">.....I wouldn't be so bold as to say that, but I recently got a report from a specialist teacher at KCC, who assessed another child I flexi-school. In 7 months he had gone up 19mths in reading accuracy; 15mths comprehension & 12mths reading rate, scoring within the average range. It also stated he had made "accelerated progress". The child himself told the specialist teacher he was now improving "big time".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This particular student has gone from being a frustrated, angry boy to a happy, confident young man, who embraces new challenges. I am so proud of him. And, of course, my daughter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">All sunny days have to have a black cloud on the horizon, and my black cloud came, once again, in the shape of my son. I was so excited about my daughter's results and my amazing day that I twittered on thoughtlessly in the car on the way home from school. When I looked in the wing mirror, I saw his sad face. I knew immediately the poor little thing felt totally left out, and I had been a fool. He said to me later, 'I want to join in, but I have nothing to say...' I spend a lot of time talking dyslexia; but I assured him I was mum first, to him & my daughter...I am just a thoughtless one at times - another lesson learned!!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-6878249262939147002013-05-12T13:49:00.000-07:002013-05-12T13:49:05.151-07:00That'll Teach me for using my kids as Guinea Pigs!!<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">So....I am very excited as I have been kindly funded by my parents to buy the Lucid visual stress & Dyslexic screeners for 4-8yr olds & 8-11yr olds. I waded my way through the COPS manual (Cognitive Processing Screener for 4-8yr olds), and said to my 6 year old son (who has no dyslexic tendencies as far as I am aware), 'I need you to help me out, would you do this fun, computer test so that I can practice how it works?'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">He was well up for it - computer? That's all that he needed to know.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">So, we started the test & I was shocked at how difficult he was finding things. He has always been extremely quick and able at most things; he can read efficiently and write pretty well...his maths is shockingly good at times and he certainly doesn't have trouble sequencing days/months/time etc... I have always been pretty sure that he didn't have my daughter's dyslexic tendencies, but now, watching him complete these tests, I wondered if I had been severely mistaken!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Perhaps I had concentrated so much on my daughter that I had completely missed my sons needs.. He was struggling pinpointing the rabbit jumping out of the hole sequence, couldn't recognise symbols and was saying blue was green & red was yellow! Was he colour blind & I had never noticed? Was he suffering with visual stress? Was he dyslexic???!!!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">We had to go to the cinema, so we left it & watched 'Life of Pi' (wow - what a mind-blower that is!), then we returned. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I looked at the results of my son's tests in detail & realised that there were many inconsistencies; he had scored high on some tests & very low on others that tested the same things..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I said to him, 'Were you doing what you could do; or were you doing what you thought the children who I would be assessing would do?'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">He looked bashful & I decided bribery was the answer - 'If you tell me the truth, I'll give you £1.'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">'The children you are going to be assessing,' he said. 'I was pretending to be them!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The little monkey is such a good actor I was totally convinced! I re-ran the tests that had given me scores that concerned me (5-10%) & he scored 80-90% !!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">We laughed - a lot! And he got his £1 (in fact he got £2, his dad was impressed with his cheekiness too!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The good thing is - the screeening tool works - even if children don't answer totally truthfully; it shows the anomalies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The bad thing is - my son is a better actor than me!</span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-64965131341299449792013-05-12T13:07:00.000-07:002013-05-12T13:07:23.068-07:00I just had to share this amazing piece of writing from a mum like me...
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received this email the other day, and I just had to ask the lady who sent it if I could share it on my Blog, I am so glad that she said 'yes'. Her clever words are yet another reminder of the pain and frustration that parents & children go through when they experience learning differences, and another reminder to me as to why I am getting to be a complete obsessive bore about all this stuff, and confirmation that I should be!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you to the lady who took the time to write this, I do hope that one day we will 'move mountains,'....If anybody wants to join us - please get in touch!</span><br />
<br />
****************************************************************<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Dear Narinda,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I’m a
friend of ***********, who told me about you and I nearly e-mailed months ago,
but for some reason never pressed the send button!!! So here we go.... I spoke
to ***** again today who reminded me of your blog and I’ve been catching up on
your latest entries – including the last few months of 2012. I’m not really
sure whether I’m looking for help, or just needing to sound off, but my husband
and I are going slightly crazy, and round in circles, with regard to how best
to help both of our sons – a couple of points in your blog struck home... I
hardly know where to start... </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Our
eldest son was confirmed with dyslexic difficulties at the beginning of year 4
(he’s now nearly at the end of year 5) – we had constantly asked the school
whether (in their expert educational opinion) our son showed signs of dyslexic
difficulties since <u>Year 1.</u> We were repeatedly told no (looking back it
was painfully obvious that he did have). When we eventually got the ‘nod’ from
his class teacher in year 4 (and it was literally a nod from her when we
mentioned the D word – she never actually said it) we took action immediately –
contacted a Dyslexic Consultant, who carried out a full educational assessment
and bingo, what do you know? My son has slow processing skills, phonological
processing issues, and a poor working memory – on the other hand – he was
almost ‘off the scale’ with ability in certain other tests (noticeably pattern
recognition) – his overall assessment for ability? not average, not above
average, not even high ability, but in the ‘superior’ range!! Obviously the
fact he struggled desperately to read and write, meant that his school
attainment of ‘just below average’ was far short of where he should have been.
Not that we ever doubted it, but now we knew with certainty we had an amazingly
bright and gifted son, who was being educationally crippled by a system which
couldn’t or wouldn’t help him. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry – I think
we did a bit of both. (Your point about struggling with emotion during school
meetings is a point well made!) We were angry at the school, we were angry at
ourselves for not trusting our own instincts, and we felt so guilty for how
demoralised our brilliant son had become in those unhappy years and how much he
had had to put up and cope with, needless to say, let battle commence........ </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">We have
had meeting after meeting with the school, we have met class teachers, senco
teachers and the head teacher (the use of plurals here is not a mistake – the
constant turn-over of teachers at this school is an ongoing headache –
particularly when you are trying to work with the school to help your
children... but that’s another story). Whilst the school were relatively quick
to put my son on to the ‘standard’ ‘one size solves all issues’ programmes
which they employ to help children who are ‘behind’, it was and is apparent
that this does not really help him – he gets by on his underlying ability,
which causes us and him such frustration because he’s forced to learn with his
wings clipped, he’s certainly not able to fly... My son weathers school, he
doesn’t and never has, enjoyed it. One of the big no no’s we realised for him
(after nearly a year of him hating it) was actually a system which you have
found helpful – as you say every child <u>is</u> different. My son hated Toe by
Toe with a passion, and our Dyslexic Consultant actually said to the school
(she came to our first meeting with us) that for children with his particular
issues Toe by Toe is like torture. Stupidly, we allowed the school to use the
programme (basically because it was the only help they had to offer), but
eventually after several terms (3ish?), we asked them to stop, My son was
extremely unhappy, hated doing it, didn’t like being made to say sounds and
made up words which made no sense, and felt stupid and demoralised being made
to do it. When he stopped it, he became much happier in himself straight away.
However there was no system to replace it so he has once again had to find his
own methods of coping and trying to keep up. My son is now coming to the end of
year 5, his reading and writing is about a year behind where the Government say
it should be (they have sats at the end of this term, so we’ll get another idea
of where he’s at soon), although his maths is OK. None of his results are
anywhere near reflective of his overall high ability. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">At home
we paid for, and embarked on, a home reading system called ‘easyread’, have you
heard of it? It did without a doubt immediately boost my sons confidence with
reading, for once he actually wanted to try – it basically removes words and
letters and replaces them with pictures representing sounds, words are slowly
incorporated over time, gradually training the brain to connect sounds to
words. It’s fun, its daily, its short sessions, and there are rewards aplenty.
We felt it really worked, at least in the first few months – the system takes
about 12 to 18 months to complete – but the school weren’t interested in
working with it – I don’t think they even looked at it, (I offered to do a
lesson in school with my son with the TA present, but it didn’t happen) and at
the same time he was being forced through Toe by Toe, inevitably his
frustrations at school led to him fussing about the ‘extra’ work at home – even
though it wasn’t hard for him, even though he liked the regular prizes through
the post, he kicked back at the principle of having to do more than other
people, at home he was desperate to switch off & do something different,
and I can’t say I blame him. One of the main points stressed by the makers of
the Easyread system is that children have to be relaxed and happy to benefit,
and to learn, because the higher functioning levels of the brain which need to be
accessed in order to learn are shut down by stress hormones – a stressed child
simply can’t learn (how many schools consider/remember this fundamental
fact!?). So we backed off, we haven’t yet finished the course. My sons reading
is still very poor. Likewise his writing and spelling....</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">In the
meanwhile, my husband and I have considered just about every option, looked at
different schools (including private – even though we would have to bust a gut
to meet the costs), considered changing state schools – but how can you really
know if it would be any different? (guilt trips about taking our boys away from
their friends) and there aren’t any spaces locally anyway. Offered to fund the
cost of dyslexic support for our children at their current school – this was
met with a flat refusal – ‘it wouldn’t be fair on the other children who
couldn’t have the same help’... how about, ‘it’s not fair that my children
aren’t supported with the right help in the first place...... ?’ Our most
recent offer - for me to provide the support for my son, in school, myself –
again a flat refusal – it would be ‘inappropriate’. We have considered home
schooling, but unlike yourself, with no experience of teaching ourselves, we
felt this just wasn’t possible. Again referring to your blogs, can you see
where all of the above has already been mentioned? KCC special education?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">“Moving schools, educating at home or seeking private education...these
are the usual routes.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I could
not believe my eyes when I read this!!! Why oh why are our primary schools so
ill equipped to help dyslexic children? Why is the system so inflexible? We are
unable to help our own children in the state system – we are effectively barred
from doing so..... so go private???? (even our consultant recommended this), in
fact we have looked at several private schools, very cautiously because we did
not (as others did) arrive in our extremely posh £40K Range Rover – rather our
reasonably elderly, but presentable, Ford Galaxy.... anyway, and we were
absolutely amazed to meet other parents, just like us, specifically seeking
private education because their children had dyslexic difficulties, not because
they would have considered it otherwise. For us, this is still an option we
haven’t ruled out......</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">There is
so much I haven’t said here, neither have I mentioned that we took the
initiative with son no.2, who also has dyslexic difficulties (diagnosed Dec12),
and got straight on with the assessment, a year earlier than we did with son
no.1, based on our own feelings because school weren’t going to suggest it.
However, based on our experience with son no.1, son no.2 (currently in yr3)
hasn’t got much to look forward to at this school...</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">there’s
any possibility you want to hear more of our story (there’s loads I haven’t
mentioned), please me know, I’d love to speak to you, because as parents we’re
really unhappy.. you feel that you’ve let your children down.... we just don’t
know where to go from here, my son doesn’t enjoy learning, and son no.2 is
heading in the same direction. Son no.1 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>wants to take the 11+ not that I think Grammar
is the answer to the problems – heaven knows we’ve had that discussion – but
with his high ability and potential – particularly in maths (providing he can
read the questions), why shouldn’t he have the choice? The school haven’t even
been able to tell us if he would be eligible for extra time.... he has a tutor
(yes I know this is a contentious point with many people), but she totally
understands the situation, based on past history, I’m ultra sensitive to
whether my son is happy or not, and I’m very happy that he actually enjoys his
once a week sessions, he loves doing well with the extra help, he loves the
praise and he loves being good/outstanding at something.... so we’re sticking
with it – no pressure on him, but we’ll give him a fighting chance if he wants
to do it. Credit to him that despite his experiences at school, he still wants
to try... which school would ultimately be the right secondary education for
him we really aren’t sure...... but what we are determined about is that it
will be a better experience for him than his primary school experience.....</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks
for reading this (if you got this far!!) and keep going, what you’re doing is
so needed, and so right – we need to drag KCC education into the future..... I
have loads more examples of things we have experienced which back up your view
point and experiences, if everyone gets together we may just move a mountain!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-28438742213407863482013-04-26T06:20:00.003-07:002013-04-26T06:20:49.810-07:00Oh No – Now I have to learn all about Dyscalculia Too?!
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have known since the Dyslexia issue came up, that my
daughter had problems with maths too & that this was a common issue for 40%
of dyslexics – but her reading was my priority & that is what I
concentrated on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This issue is all but
nearly solved now – reading is not an enjoyable experience for my daughter
& still tires her out – but she can read anything, and does.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">However, although I have come some way with her maths using
numicon, I know I haven’t really solved her issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was brought home to me yesterday when my
daughter told me that she had ‘gone down in maths,’ ‘what do you mean?’ I
asked, ‘I was 3 last term & I’ve gone down to 2c or something’ she
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘But it’s alright, the teacher
said I’d just made silly mistakes.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
first I tried to put it out of my mind, I’m hugely busy at the moment so it’s
just a bit too much to deal with & in any case, maybe she had an ‘off day’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I know in my heart of hearts that’s not
true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just another example of the
teacher misunderstanding the issue...I don’t think she said ‘silly mistakes’ to
be mean; in fact, it actually shows that she believes that my daughter is
capable of more – BUT ‘Silly mistakes’ is a bit like ‘just needs to read more’,
or ‘needs to concentrate more’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
daughter makes ‘silly mistakes’ because she DOES NOT KNOW HOW NOT TO!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What seems ‘silly’ to most people, are just
how a person with dyscalculia sees numbers and methods of numeracy...So, here I
am, back to the internet, books, training courses.... to find anything I can
get my eyes, ears & brain around to help my daughter & my tutees in
their struggle with dyscalculia – aghhhhh!!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Any help would be greatly appreciated!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-42704276996227683422013-02-02T14:00:00.000-08:002013-02-02T14:00:25.972-08:00Rocky Balboa & Visual StressYes I know, it's a strange analogy, but it kind of works...I watched the Rocky VI special features tonight & Sylvester Stallone said how he wanted to make the film because he wanted to leave behind a legacy saying that age was not a barrier to achieving. He was so passionate in his words & belief, but I remember when the film was being promoted how he was slated for 'being past it,' and 'ridiculous'. But HE believed in it, and justly so, it is a good film, with convincing acting and a good storyline, and it finished the Rocky legend....<br />
<br />
I think that the fight, barriers and criticism that Sylvester encountered when making this film is comparable to the fight, barriers & criticism that parents encounter when they raise the fact that their children may not be able to read due to visual stress. A lot of people don't believe that it even exists, a lot of teachers do not know what it is; much less what it means, most sufferers have no idea that they are, in fact, suffering, and it would seem that the government deny it's existence in order to save their precious money.<br />
<br />
I find this attitude very strange; in a world where we know how different brains can be, that vision is completely different for different people, and where thousands have been helped through coloured overlays or tinted lenses, that has been scientifically proven and used in many Schools, how can its value be denied?<br />
<br />
I only happened upon visual stress by accident. My husband was a trainer and was asked at a training day by a delegate, if he could change the background of the slides to red, otherwise he couldn't see the writing. Upon arriving home, my husband questioned that maybe this was the problem that our daughter had...we looked into 'irlens syndrome' screened our daughter and realised the questions that she answered (just on the back of an Irlens pad of paper) strongly indicated that she had visual stress. I had not heard of it before this, and I was a teacher AND thought I was pretty in touch with educational issues - not at all it would seem. After asking my daughter's school about this, I got nowhere, they did not really believe me and my daughter continued struggling...<br />
<br />
I did more research and contacted my opticians. Luckily my local Specsavers had an optician whose nephew had visual stress, and she had recently been on a screening course. After screening she said that my daughter should definitely be assessed properly & told me about an opticians nearby - Leslie Warren in Sevenoaks that did the full colorimetry assessment.<br />
<br />
So we went & my daughter had a full colorimetry test. The results were incredible. My daughter was asked to read letters that the optician pointed to and she consistently read the letter 2 letters on from where she was pointing - THAT IS HOW FAR THE LETTERS WERE MOVING ABOUT. When the right tint was found, she read the letter the optician pointed at SPOT ON. And what's more, she could READ. I was in tears in the opticians (and I am not an overly-emotional woman!) The results were unbelievable - I NEVER though my daughter would read - and how could the poor thing when the words were rolling off the edge of the page and jumping about?<br />
<br />
So I paid £80 for the test, and a further £350 for the glasses, and my daughter has gone from strength to strength. This is not solely down to the glasses, she has had flexi-schooling and a lot of extra help for her specific learning style...BUT she would not have been able to do any of this, (and go up 3 National Curriculum Levels in only 2 terms, when the yearly expectation is only 2), if it wasn't for her glasses. She CANNOT read without these glasses, and if she had not had them, she would NOT be reading now.<br />
<br />
Please tell me, why it is that the Government say that they want every child to leave Primary School being able to read, write and do maths at a certain level, BUT they are unwilling to provide these children with the glasses to allow them to do so? I am short sighted...I got my glasses on the National Health. I could have walked up to the board to see my school work if I needed to in order to access education; these children cannot do this. They have no hope of understanding text without these glasses and yet they are denied them. People say that the understanding of dyslexia and related issues has improved. It has not. We have the knowledge, but not the acceptance. But our children are lucky, there are many fine parents and fighters out there, and we will fight on, until, as Rocky Balboa says, 'We did it, Adrian!'Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-64113406040135245622012-11-18T13:58:00.003-08:002012-11-18T13:58:57.991-08:00My first day Flexi-Schooling and The Cross Word!
Last Friday I had my first full day flexi-schooling a child that was <em>not</em>
my daughter. I have been given the privilege of being trusted by her parents
(who are also funding the sessions) to take her out of the 'norm' of her School
and try new methods in order to improve her access to education in the long
term. I had her all day, and whilst I thought that a full day would offer her
the best chance of rapid improvement; I was a bit nervous that it would be too
full on...just me and her, would it be too much?...and what would we do for
breaks with no other children around?<br />
<br />
I needn't have worried, the day flew by and we achieved so much together. We
worked on Toe by Toe and time enabled us to really get through some pages. Then
we went on to identify the 1-100 most used words that may still be spelt
wrongly. It is strange, unlike my daughter, this girl has fantastic handwriting
(no fine motor skill issues here), and good spellings in general. But there are
some fundamental mistakes, that unless corrected will stay with her always.
Mostly, her issues are with homophones (words that are spelt differently, but
sound the same), in this week's case 'there, their and they're', so it's not so
much a spellings issue but 'what do I use when?' issue. We tried using 3D
letters and writing in water on the deck, but a test showed she was still
unsure, so next week we will be drawing, using acronyms and making the words
with clay. And she will know when to use them before the day is out!<br />
<br />
Another huge issue for her was telling the time. We had already worked on
clocks, sorting the hour hand (0-12) from the minute hand (0-60), which took
quite a while - 'look at the length of the hands, the long hand points to the
minutes - the dial on the OUTSIDE of the clock, the short hand points to the
hours - the dial on the INSIDE of the clock.' Then we had broken the clock down
into the minutes, at first the 5-minute intervals (5x tables here), but that
got her confused with the hours, so we counted them as individual minutes and
she finally understood the concept of 60 minutes in an hour....BUT then I realised
the problem, knowing that there are 60 minutes in an hour and 12 hours in a day
& night is okay, BUT it does NOT help us tell someone the time! After all,
we do not say '50 minutes past 2', we say '10 minutes to 3' - TOTALLY
DIFFERENT! No wonder the poor kid was confused! So we halved the clock face
& started to label the minutes in 5-minute intervals from the 12 down to
the 6, so each half of the clock had 5,10,15,20,25,30 as the minutes. Now she
started to see what to say....finally she could say 'ten minutes past 2' and
'twenty minutes to 3' (she understood that when the hand went past the half way
mark we were 'to' the next hour. SHE COULD TELL THE TIME! Next week we will
talk about quarter past, half past and quarter to...but I was over the moon,
and my tutees mum said she was too when she got home that night.<br />
<br />
We tried to do a bit of Touch-typing then, using English Type, a really good
programme. My daughter always takes ages on each lesson, but is very accurate.
This girl was the polar opposite! She stormed through the lesson at a rate of
knots, (her method of coping with her dyslexia), and consequently had to
re-take the lesson 3x as she was just too inaccurate. It was amazing to watch
as she hammered at the wrong keys on the keyboard; as much as my daughter
needed encouraging to even start for fear of making a mistake, this girl needed
holding right back to avoid making too many! This programme will be fantastic
for her - not only to learn keyboard skills, but also the pace in which she
must work to avoid getting things wrong all the time. She does the same with
her reading, and we are working on that too....they say people with dyslexia
are all different...they sure are, and it fascinates me!<br />
<br />
With regard break times, they were easy too...she drew pictures, and played
with my 5 cats - she wants to be a vet, just like my daughter - I hope I can
help them get there...<br />
<br />
And now - <u>The Cross Word</u><br />
<br />
I have just heard my 5 year old son reading a 20 page Biff, Chip &
Floppy Book from the Oxford Reading Tree. These books used to fill me with
horror when my daughter bought them home...in fact her mistakes when she read
one one night gave me the title for a book I have written! The experience was
painful to say the least, as she struggled with each letter, not able to put
them into words, and not recognising the words even though they were repeated
on every page. As for non-phonetically spelt words such as 'said,' and 'one,'
there was no chance! And this went on to till Year 4 - aged 7, until I
intervened with Toe by Toe. Tonight, my son, read a book, much more difficult
than she could just a short while ago... easily...he did not struggle with the
word 'said,' he sailed through every page and understood fully what he had
read. He <strong><i>is</i></strong> bright, he <em><b>is</b></em> quick, he <em><b>is</b></em>
competitive and wants to achieve...BUT he is <strong>NO</strong> brighter, <strong>NO</strong>
quicker and <strong>NO</strong> better in the intelligence stakes than my
daughter was at his age....he <strong><i>just has a natural ability to read
symbols</i></strong>. Don't get me wrong, I am pleased and proud that my son
can read, I celebrate his achievements, and am so relieved that he does not
have the same issues as my daughter.... <strong>BUT</strong>.... I am <strong>hopping
MAD</strong> that my daughter and I had to go through so much when it was SO,
SO obvious that she had dyslexia. And I am<strong> HOPPING MAD</strong> that so
many other children are going through the same experience as I write this. I
was a Secondary level teacher with no knowledge about when or how a child was
meant to read...however, the teachers at my daughter's school did have this
knowledge. What the hell happened? How could they not see that this bright
little girl should <strong>not</strong> be struggling with such a simple and
innate ability? It is appalling what these children go through, when their
issues are as plain as the nose on their faces. IF THEY CANNOT READ, THEY ARE
NOT STUPID, THEY HAVE A GIFTED DYSLEXIC BRAIN - DEAL WITH IT TEACHERS - DON'T
IGNORE IT! If you can't provide the specialist teaching they require, that is
one thing, but at the very least put them and their parents out of their misery
by telling them that you 'get it, it isn't their fault, and THEY ARE NOT
STUPID.' I implore you......<br />
<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-25147439560778811952012-11-13T15:15:00.004-08:002012-11-13T15:28:14.772-08:00Flexi-schooling for Dyslexia - It's Happening & A Tip!Flexi-schooling...can it really happen? Well apparently it can. This Friday I am 'flexi-schooling' a little girl that doesn't belong to me! I have been tutoring her for about 6 months now and her parents have seen big improvements...but they have also realised that an hour just isn't enough. The girl is in Year 5, and is where my daughter was BEFORE I flexi-schooled her. She is different....instead of being reticent to try anything for fear of failing, she is like a bulldozer, crashing through questions & tasks in the hope that if she talks the talk, and walks the walk, nobody will realise that she doesn't actually have a clue about what she is talking about!<br />
<br />
But her issues with regard stuff we all take for granted are so similar to my daughter; she cannot tell the time, is struggling reading and spelling and particularly with maths concepts. The only way to really help her is to tackle each thing slowly & with creativity. BUT.... back to the main event - flexi-schooling - how did it happen?<br />
<br />
Well, this little girl's mum approached me wanting the same for her daughter as I had done for mine, and I agreed that it would really help. She is in Year 5, there is only a year and a half till Secondary School and time is ticking.....So she put the wheels in motion after some advice from me; she got her daughter assessed for dyslexia in School, visual stress at the opticians & is awaiting an appointment for auditory processing from the hospital. Well, after the dyslexia assessment it was clarified that her daughter had definite traits of dyslexia (why had they not explored this possibility before her mother asked?!) and that her levels of attainment were not where they should be.<br />
<br />
So...after more phone calls and letters and little response, this little girl's mother finally got a meeting with the Head Teacher. I offered to attend as an advocate, professional that knows the girl's educational needs and a friend. I was glad I went. The girl's mother was (as I was when dealing with my own daughters education & happiness) emotional; I (for once) could remain passive and professional - a place I like to be!<br />
<br />
At first, the HT was fully supportive of the idea of one-to-one tutoring, but when she realised we weren't talking about 1hr, but a whole day per week, she balked. I explained that results were quick, and that we may need no longer than a term to get the girl back on track, and she relented. I have the girl every Friday until Christmas, and then we will review it....Flexi-schooling has started! I will keep you updated as to our progress....<br />
<br />
<u>A TIP</u><br />
<br />
Working with a few tutees this week on spellings I discovered the following about teaching spelling THROUGH/THREW<br />
<br />
Neither is spelt phonetically so I considered the word through - well take off the th and it spells ROUGH - 'think of something rough I said', my brilliant tutee came up with 'a starfish'<br />
<br />
We drew a starfish with 5 legs, a face, then put R,O,U,G,H in each leg.<br />
<br />
Then I asked them to draw a cave round it, and write T one side & H the other.<br />
<br />
So....when wanting to spell the word THROUGH - this is the image....I know it sounds crazy & long-winded...but it works! And they are 'most used words' so important that they know how to spell them.<br />
<br />
For THREW we threw a beanbag back & forth sharing letters <br />
throw (T) <br />
throw (H)<br />
throw (R)<br />
throw (E)<br />
throw (W)<br />
<br />
I also emphasised the sound 'ew' (yeoouuu!)<br />
<br />
Much fun had by all & another word learnt!<br />
Try it!<br />
<br />
God I love teaching these kids!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-15124763190402799312012-10-14T14:34:00.000-07:002012-10-14T14:34:00.343-07:00Change? - yes it can!Well, it's been a while since I met the Head teacher at my daughter's school following her entering Year 5....life has been busy! Sorry!<br />
<br />
I was/am also still in a bit of shock after the meeting, and was kind of waiting for the bubble to burst! So far, it hasn't....<br />
<br />
My husband and I both attended the meeting; I was fully expecting a 'no' to the flexi-schooling option as I had had an email from the specialist teacher at KCC after I wrote asking what her opinions were regarding continuing to flexi-school my daughter. I was both shocked & disappointed with the response, she stated;<br />
<br />
'I think that **** can cope and that she benefits from school socially and with the broader curriculum. I am not sure about flexi-schooling; it is very uncommon. Moving schools, educating at home or seeking private education...these are the usual routes. I can see the logic for what you have done...keeping the social input but also providing intensive support, but KCC won't have had many instances of this ccurring. There is no doubt that your intensive support has boosted **** confidence and enhanced her basic literacy and numeracy skills........I cannot tell you what to do and have no intention of doing so but the skills that **** has learnt on a one to one basis need now to be applied across a range of tasks and situations for the benefits really to be seen. Where and how...that's your call. But I do know that she likes school. Given her range of difficulties, learning is never going to be quick, easy and without much effort. However, ***** has resilience and if you work with the school, sharing targets and objectives, giving **** time, not pressure, and above all, encouragement, then I am sure that there will be a happy resolution.<br />
<br />
- not sure about flexi-schooling because it is 'uncommon'?!?!?!? So?!?!?! It has worked amazingly well, is the fact it is 'uncommon' a good reason not to do it?<br />
- 'learning is never going to be quick, easy and without much effort' - quite frankly - what a crock! She learns easily, quickly and with the <strong><em>same amount of effort as anyone else</em></strong> when she is taught <strong><em>in a way she can learn.</em></strong><br />
- she will be okay as she is 'risilient'?!?!?! Risilient to what? Potentially - not being able to access education, being teased by other children for her purple glasses and not being able to spell? Being consistently told to 'try harder' by teachers when her poor little brain is trying at least 3x harder than the other 'clever' kids? Being put in front of tests and exams she can never achieve? <em><strong>Why should she be bloody risilient?</strong></em><br />
and the worst bit? 'time not pressure, and above all encouragement' is the key...Excuse me? Isn't this basically saying 'back off pushy parent,' well I am <strong>not pushy</strong>. I don't want my daughter to go to Grammar School, acheive A* grades or be in the 'top' sets. I am quite happy with her the way she is thank you, but I do want her to be able to have basic literacy/numeracy skills that are essential for living in our society! So sue me!<br />
<br />
Needless to say, I was a bit miffed (to say the least) at this response. I responded saying so and indicated that I hoped Kent would soon catch up with London, Devon & Leicestershire and embrace flexi-schooling.....then we went to meet the Head...and I realised that maybe I had been a bit hasty to critisise the KCC Ed Specialist who may have just been giving me an alternative point of view, whilst still supporting me in ways that she could whilst remaining 'impartial' ....Why do I say this? <br />
<br />
Well....the Head was amazing! She had the timetable ready to discuss which afternoon we would flex-school my daughter. She said she would be given extra time in exams. She said her teacher would communicate with me regarding her learning regularly. She even talked about potentially getting her a Statement. She even said she 'wished more parents were as supportive as we were.' [was I dreaming? I have asked my husband several times since & he has confirmed it was said!] <br />
<br />
So, there was no fight, my daughter (after 3 years of meetings, letter writing and tears) is being recognised as having dyslexia, scotopic light sensitivity, auditory processing issues, hypermobility and dyscalcula. She is also being recognised as having amazing confidence, leadership skills, amazing depth perception, original thought and a lovely personality...she even bought home a Headteachers Award this Friday that said, 'for always putting in maximum effort at all times.' My daughter was so pleased - I was over the moon!<br />
<br />
So for all those parents out there who are struggling with the school system - keep at it, you will get there...I don't quite know what has happened, has the Head finally realised we were right? Has KCC put pressure on? Has time, experience & the fact that 'this mother wasn't going away' paid dividends? I don't think I will ever know, but my daughter is loving school, my daughter is loving her flexi-school which teaches her 'her way' and her mother is loving feeling that it has all worked out.<br />
<br />
Long may it last - so this Blog can get back to giving hints & tips to help others teach these amazing children.<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-66601008952625363012012-09-17T14:33:00.000-07:002012-09-17T14:33:00.766-07:00Nothing changes - or can it?!So, here we are in a new term in a new school year. My daughter is back in School full-time, and I am awaiting a call from the headteacher to discuss our flexi-schooling options (if she decides we should have any). I have written a 3-page letter to my daughter's class teacher outlining her difficulties as I haven't had any previous contact with her, and am meeting her tomorrow to discuss how she is going to put the recommendations given by professionals into the classroom setting - wish me luck!<br />
<br />
But my daughter is, so far, happy at School and that is the main thing. She is so much more confident after her term flexi-schooling and seems to grasp everything (even spellings!) much more successfully.<br />
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So what am I whingeing on about now?!<br />
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All the others.... I tutor don't I, so I am seeing other children who are stuck in the place that my daughter was, with no confidence, no understanding about why they are struggling and no enjoyment of School. I hear their voices and I see their 'dead' eyes as they give up on a system that just doesn't cater for them. And then I hear about the Education Secretary's wise decision to change the GCSE into a qualification that will exclude success for dyslexic students even more. You know what I think? Dyslexic people think 'outside the box,' they challenge accepted practice (even the way words are spelt!), and are often tantamount to genius in certain areas. So of course our Governments want to keep them down by excluding them from an education - who wants someone who challenges the system in Government or in high flying public sector positions....they want 'yes men' (and yes - it is usually men too). By denying them a GCSE English and/or Maths they are stuffed. And so Government is full of the top 20% - we all think the same way - brains. Brilliant!!<br />
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Sometimes I feel that the system is just too big to beat, but then I read another facebook entry, twitter post or blog with similar stories to mine, or I help a child struggling and suffering in our education system & I think I can't give this up.<br />
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But, I also need some help! So if you or anyone you know has any ideas, inspiration or clout with the powers that be to improve the education of dyslexic students in mainstream schools - please get in touch, my email is <a href="mailto:narinda@algarsacademy.co.uk">narinda@algarsacademy.co.uk</a>, I look forward to hearing from you!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-24024084276005402182012-08-22T14:38:00.000-07:002012-08-22T14:38:14.584-07:00The fight goes on....<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sorry to all those who read this blog...I haven't written for a good while now...I have been too riled up! I got to the end of my term flexi-schooling my daughter, and was so proud of our acheivements. I have a folder full of the work we have done: she has learnt how to tell the time; the 2,3,4,5,10 and 11 times tables; understands tables and fractions; knows the sequences of days of the week/months of the year, can spell the 1-150 (out of the 300/75% of ) most used words confidently and has read 3 'proper' books cover to cover and can read sooooo much better. We still have work to do, especially writing skills, but I was so happy with her progress....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then I had a meeting with the School, the last week of term. During the time I flexi-schooled my daughter I was given <strong>no support or guidance, or requests for progress</strong>...being me though, I kept a detailed log of progress and was able to show this to the Headteacher. Then, after being suitably impressed, she hit me with the news that she was no longer going to let me flexi-school. I was devastated, and said I would do anything to continue - go into School, do any hours most suitable, but 'Please, <em>please</em>,' I said, 'don't take this away from us.' She said that my daughter showed 'little progress in assessments,' (despite going from way below average in the SATs at the beginning of the term to average [average? - amazing!!] in the CATs at the end of term ), and that on that basis she could not let flexi-schooling continue. <em>She had not talked to me, my daughter, heard her read or talked to her class teacher.</em> I eventually persuaded her to allow me 'some time - maybe a morning' to tutor her, 'but this would be discussed in September..'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I went through it all, I would change Schools, take her out altogether & home School, move both my children to another School, maybe even move and get a new start...I was so angry and disappointed.....But time heals, and I have decided that if I am to help other parents in this situation - which is something I want to do in the future - I have to stick it out and fight for my rights. I was made to feel a failure, then I got a present of an inscribed pen from a tutee I have been helping in a similar way to my daughter saying 'To a brilliant tutor,' and I remembered who I should listen to.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So watch out - for the next instalment in September. Ding, ding!! Round 2!!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-83628951935518495702012-06-29T05:49:00.000-07:002012-06-29T05:49:57.941-07:00Months of the Year & more on Auditory ProcessingHi all, Flexi-Schooling is going amazingly well and we are seeing massive improvements in my daughter. She can now read a book (so far 3 TO THE END - something I NEVER thought would happen a few months ago!), spell 100 out of the 300 most used words, knows her 3&4 times tables fluently, has improved her handwriting no end and has bundles more confidence & a joy for learning which had been rapidly disappearing before I started all this. BUT......<br />
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<strong>Sequencing</strong> - this has always been a problem! Days of the week, Time, Times tables, and MONTHS OF THE YEAR. My daughter had just about mastered days of the week, and is getting much better at time & timestables (helped massively by numicon - but that is something for another Blog!), but Months? At 9 years old, she still didn't have a clue.<br />
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This bothered me, after all - how could the seasons be truly appreciated and understood, without a sense of how the month names fitted with them? So I tackled the situation. It was a bit of a trial - but amazingly, after struggling for years, it only took about an hour to rectify!<br />
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1) I set out the 1-12 numicon shapes (but you could just have bits of paper labelled 1-12) on the table.<br />
2) I then got my daughter to write all the names of the months that she could remember, in whatever order. We then added any she had missed.<br />
3) Then I asked my daughter to stick the months on the correct numicon shape, e.g January on 1, March on 3 etc, if she looked like she was going to go wrong, I put her right.<br />
4) We then talked through the months, using any 'memory tricks' that we could think of, e.g 'Your birthday is in November, the 2nd to last month,' 'Christmas is in December, the last month', 'August is great, it's in the middle, & it's your Summer hols!' We also separated the months into seasons,<br />
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Winter - Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb and discussed that it gets cold in November (when our birthday's are) and then we have Christmas. Then the New Year starts & often it's even colder & sometimes even snows! Then in February it is still cold for St Valentines Day.<br />
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Spring - Mar/Apr/May - it gets warmer in March, the mad March hare hops out & all the flowers start to spring up! In April we have April showers, but it doesn't last long because May is always lovely & a special month as it's our Anniversary.<br />
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Summer - June/July August - June is the beginning of the Summer Term and in July we are really in Summer for your cousin's birthday, August is the BEST month as it's when the school holidays occur!<br />
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Autumn - Sep/Oct - We go back to start a New School Year in September, with brand new uniform, shoes & a new teacher! Shortly after is October, and Halloween & Trick or Treat!<br />
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5) After talking about all this for some time, including vivid descriptions including colours, feelings, likes/dislikes, images etc, I removed the stickers with the months on & stuck them on the edge of the table in a random fashion.<br />
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6) I then asked my daughter to stick them back on again, in order.<br />
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7) She did this a few times, and then I packed everything away & asked her to recite the months in order 3 x.<br />
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8) She could do it! And ever since she has been able to not only know the months in order, but also whether it is the 6th, 8th or 12th month! Last night, she worked out how many months it had been since she had had her ears pierced to see whether she could now leave them out without the holes closing! Independant thought! I never thought I would see the day when she didn't ask <em>me</em> these things.....<br />
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If your child is struggling with sequencing months - try this method. It only takes an hour - and it works! (I have now tried it on other dyslexic children too, with the same results).<br />
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As an aside - I have finally had the Auditory Processing test done & it is true - my daughter cannot hear a 2nd instruction as her brain is too busy processing the first! Equally, she gets very easily distracted as her brain hones in on periphery noise (birds tweating, people whispering, horns beeping in the distance) rather than a person talking directly to her! So if your child consistently gets comments like 'lacks concentration,', 'needs to listen carefully to instructions,' 'needs to stop putting their hand up,' etc etc on their reports, BUT you know they are not a naughty child - get them tested! They get more time for exams if they have this issue - so it's worth it.<br />
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Ah well - onwards & upwards! There is still a lot to do, but we <em>are</em> getting there. Please let me know if you use my 'Months Method' & any results you have - I would be most interested to hear your experiences :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-89899164975543825672012-05-28T13:08:00.000-07:002012-05-28T13:08:08.171-07:00I'm Awesome!A fantastic morning with my daughter. We worked on adding 6 lots of numbers using Numicon (check out <a href="http://www.numicon.and/">www.numicon.and</a> worked out by fitting the 9-shape with other numbers you could clearly see that to fit in other numbers the gap in the 9 needed to be filled, so just meant that to add other numbers to 9 you just took off a unit - so 9+<strong><span style="color: red;">8</span></strong>=1 <span style="color: red;"><strong>7</strong> </span><span style="color: black;">9+</span><span style="color: red;"><strong>6</strong><span style="color: black;"><strong>= </strong>1 </span></span><span style="color: red;"><strong>5 </strong></span><span style="color: black;">9+</span><span style="color: red;"><strong>9</strong></span><span style="color: black;">= 1</span><span style="color: red;"><strong> 8 <span style="color: black;">etc AND</span></strong></span><br />
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then worked out that likewise the 11 shape has an extra 'bit' so that meant it added on an extra unit so..<br />
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11+<span style="color: red;"><strong>8</strong></span><span style="color: black;"><strong>= </strong>1 </span><span style="color: red;"><strong>9 </strong></span><span style="color: black;">11+</span><span style="color: red;"><strong>5</strong></span><span style="color: black;">= 1</span><span style="color: red;"><strong>6 </strong></span><span style="color: black;">11+</span><span style="color: red;"><strong>7</strong></span><span style="color: black;">= 1</span><span style="color: red;"><strong>8 <span style="color: black;">etc!</span></strong></span><br />
<strong></strong> <br />
My daughter had never been able to do these sums before and always counted up on her fingers; a technique encouraged in School's but my pet hate (if we start relying on our fingers, we find it hard to trust our brains!). Within a short time she had mastered the technique & understood WHY it worked (important for a dyslexic brain as they ALWAYS need things proved & cannot really 'do' abstract). Before she had always counted up on her fingers which took time & she ineviteably counted too far on, got confused, tried again, got frustrated and just thought she was rubbish (yet again!)<br />
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This way, she got it, and she jumped around the room, opened the door & shouted to the neighbours,<br />
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'I'M AWESOME!'<br />
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Hell, yes!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-27243666473701192262012-05-24T14:45:00.000-07:002012-05-24T14:45:57.588-07:00Lots of Stuff....<u><strong>Flexi-School Update</strong></u><br />
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So...it's been a while since I wrote an update. In the main flexi-schooling my daughter is going extremely well. She has definitely become more her happy, confident self again, and is learning tons! She told me how happy she was that she could actually read her 'quiet reading' book in School which was 'Charlotte's Web'. I asked her, 'what did you do when you couldn't read so well, or do the work set?' and she replied, 'I would just sit there staring at the page and not do anything, then I would get in trouble.' Oh the joys of School for a dyslexic child! <br />
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However....some days have been flippin tough - normally when I have had a row with the other half, or something 'big' is distracting me..... I find that my husband & daughter's behavioural characteristics are sooo similar that I can transfer my frustrations about him onto her very easily and this does NOT lead to a productive morning's learning! I have also felt quite poorly with a cold/aches in the past few weeks and instead of just taking things a bit easy, tried to stick with the regime & then failed to remain patient! For some bizarre reason, one morning I chose to do fractions, on a day when my head was pounding & I felt dreadful...It was all going okay, we worked on the concept of dividing by the denominator & multiplying by the numerator and she seemed to grasp it....then at the end of the hour or so, I asked her a question and it was like we had never done a fraction! I lost it! Then apologised and said it was my fault - that I clearly hadn't taught it in the right way (despite cutting up oranges, using numicon and every other strategy I could think of!)...well what could I say? "Where the hell has all that information we have just spent an hour working on gone? Why are you so stupid? Come on - think! You must know this by now!" All this she has heard many times...so I had to dig deep and blame myself...but it is very hard sometimes!<br />
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Then the other day, I looked back in her work folder and was absolutely amazed at the progress of her writing in 4 weeks. It has gone from a messy, misspelled 4 year old to a mature, much more accurate, neat 7 year old and I nearly cried!<br />
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<strong><u>Tutoring</u></strong><br />
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A rather disturbing experience occurred a week ago during tutoring. I have a boy come to me who is a joy to work with and be around; he is happy, kind, thoughtful and funny; however, when he came to my Office for his session, I would not have recognised him. In fact, if I had not known him so well, I would have thought he was at best ADHD, at worst mentally unstable. He would not look at me, swung round and round on his chair, hit himself on the head and would not talk or do anything I suggested. <br />
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It was clear that I was not going to get him to do Toe by Toe - in fact, it seemed that the poor little red book was his personification of all his problems. I recognised he was angry, but he would not lower his guard. Nothing worked, until I asked him what he enjoyed doing, "Drawing," came the answer, so he drew.... pictures of teachers telling him off, of him crying, of him being angry....at last we talked about things and he became the boy I recognised again.<br />
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So...how many other boys and girls are displaying behaviour like this in Schools all around the Country? How many seem like they have psychological or behavioural problems when really they are just sick of being different, sick of having to work 3-5 times harder than everyone else, sick of being told off/to concentrate/that they should know this by now when they are trying so hard. No wonder they are a bit angry! As adults we would never put up with this treatment, and sometimes I truly think our education system is tantamount to mentally abusing these children by teaching in a way they just CANNOT learn. Controversial I know.....Comments?!<br />
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<strong><u>Some Advice from my Experiences</u></strong><br />
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If you think your child may be dyslexic, s/he probably is, but here is a check-list from my experiences:<br />
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1) If your child cannot remember letter symbols in a natural progressive way, they could be dyslexic. Dyslexia merely means that a person cannot read/write/spell as well as their intelligence would suggest. <em>(please note - parents are very competitive when it comes to reading & how well their child is doing. They will try to make you believe your child is just a bit slow or thick - but go with your gut - your instinct will usually be right).</em><br />
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2) Ask your child if the words move around on the page, or if they 'jump' around. Try turning the lights down & see if reading improves in dim light (you can time reading to check). If you are at all worried, book a colorimetry test at an optometrist. My daughter has scotopic light sensitivity, which can affect people with dyslexia, she couldn't read ANYTHING until getting tinted glasses, now she relies on them completely - they are a miracle!<br />
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3) Insist on a LASS test at School, BUT do not let them fob you off that the results show no problem. My daughter's results said she was 'borderline,' but on further investigation, we realised the results had not been properly analysed.<br />
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4) Get Toe by Toe - by Keda Cowling. 20 mins a day can change your child's life. Also, if you can, get a private tutor who has some knowledge about the issue to keep you both going - it's a tough road! However, if you are one of those lucky individuals (whom I have yet to meet) who has School support, this should not be necessary.<br />
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5) Remember - don't get too bogged down in it all (I have at times), your child is the same wonderful, unique and truly amazing individual they were before they started learning and the dyslexia became apparant. If our education system was different, their difficulties would not be an issue. Celebrate their strengths as much as possible - with support and understanding these 3-dimensional, out of the box thinkers can be something truly special!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-5489314490864056822012-05-09T06:29:00.000-07:002012-05-09T06:29:04.645-07:00Shocking!I have listened to as much as I can on utube about dyslexia, and have heard teachers say that in hindsight they feel dreadful that when a pupil came to them that was struggling they sent them off with a wordsearch or to draw a picture - instead of giving them the help they needed and deserved. This week in Algar's Flexi-Schooling, I have been working with my daughter on maths and have been shocked by the lack of basic skills she has learned in the past <u>5 YEARS</u> at School! Up until this week, she still didn't have a grasp of units, tens and hundreds, and told me that if this came up in a test she would just leave it! She said that teacher's would say, 'you should know this by now,' and then that she would 'sometimes just give up and sit there doing nothing quietly hoping nobody would notice.... I would be kept in at break because they said I hadn't listened properly, but I still didn't get it, and nobody helped me.' (she, of course, hasn't told me any of this in the past!)<br />
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Well, if it were just that she was a bit thick or naughty, I could accept this situation entirely - BUT, she proved she wasn't thick (and I know she isn't naughty!) because after half an hour with me, she understood completely!<br />
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I found a fantastic method through Numicon from the Oxford Learning Resources; it is such a SIMPLE idea but really appeals to the dyslexic brain that can't just <strong>accept</strong> something to be true; it has to have it <strong>proved</strong>!<br />
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Basically, I laminated 1,2,3 & 4 digit numbers then cut them up. They all have an arrow shape on the end and can fit on top of one another; thus when I asked her for 4000 she picked up the number, then when I asked for 300 she laid it on top (in the right place because the arrows fitted), then 80, then 2. She was then able to see how the number was LAYERED with thousands, hundreds, tens & units and it made complete sense to her WHY the digits were then in the places they were.<br />
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This was all it took - we worked up to ten thousands, hundred thousands & millions and she grasped it completely! For FIVE YEARS she has felt completely stooooopid because of this - it took half an hour to sort out....hmmmpgh!<br />
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If anyone else is having similar problems with hundreds, tens & units with their children - please do try this method & let me know if you have the same positive results! If you have any questions then do ask, I want to help!<br />
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Ah well - onwards & upwards!<br />
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NarindaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-85317831992475396642012-05-03T08:16:00.000-07:002012-05-03T08:17:32.833-07:00What we see is not necessarily what other's see; A Learning CurveSo...I was tutoring late into the evening last night and I came across a 'eureka moment'. <br />
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My tutee is dyslexic and has scotopic sensitivity syndrome so wears green tinted glasses, (SSS is a sensitivity to light, making black lettering on white extremely difficult to read as it moves about & sometimes floats off the page altogether! My daughter also has this - IF ANYONE WANTS MORE INFO PLEASE ASK!!) Anyway...back to the story . <br />
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We were playing a literacy game which consisted of using translucent (but strongly coloured) counters round a board to guess 'silent letters' in words. My tutee kept putting the counters directly on top of the words, then I would move them off as I couldn't see the word underneath - then he would move his counter and put it directly on top of the word again, then I would move it off & so on! Eventually I asked, 'Can you see the word underneath the counter?' 'Of course!' he replied. I couldn't believe it & tested him with 2, then 3 counters on top of the word AND with his green filter glasses on! He could still read any word I put the counters over, and if 3 counters were put on a word I couldn't even make out that there were any letters there - far less read the word! It was then that it hit me -<br />
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as teachers we teach as WE SEE THINGS - <br />
NOT TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THAT OTHER'S SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY! <br />
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We rarely take the time to ask children what they ACTUALLY see; presuming that it is the same as us! Well....it's not! When I tried it on my daughter later (who wears purple tinted glasses), she agreed that by covering the word with the counter it actually HIGHLIGHTED not OBSCURED the word! Fascinating! And a big learning curve for me as a teacher AND a parent!<br />
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As an aside......after our tutoring session this morning I asked my daughter how she was finding it after nearly 3 weeks of being taught by mum, she cheekily said, 'The teaching bit is really good, I am learning a lot and you are patient, you just need to work on the mum bit, cos you're not nearly as patient as mum!'<br />
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Grrrrrrr!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-17273020252740083392012-05-01T05:42:00.001-07:002012-05-01T05:43:15.504-07:0011-Plus & which brains should go to Grammar School?Was busy tutoring my daughter this morning, who was getting on very well with touch typing with the help of EnglishType (check em out at <a href="http://www.englishtype.com/">www.englishtype.com</a> - it's amazing the progress she's made; going from not knowing from where any of the keys are to knowing most of the top two lines in a matter of weeks!), when my mum phoned & said Radio Kent were talking about tutoring for the 11-plus. Well, this is one of my areas, so I checked it out...then phoned in...& of course - got my 2-pennyworth in about dyslexia & 'fantastic brains!'<br />
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Check it out between 2.38hrs - 2.45hrs on the following link;<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00r6rmn/Julia_George_Are_you_cheating_the_system_if_you_tutor_your_child/">http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00r6rmn/Julia_George_Are_you_cheating_the_system_if_you_tutor_your_child/</a><br />
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WHAT DO YOU THINK??<br />
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Should the system for 11plus be reformed?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-25124797522767948002012-04-29T13:53:00.003-07:002012-04-29T13:53:53.374-07:00Auditory Processing - what?!?!<h3>
No - it's not a hearing problem, it's a PROCESSING problem. </h3>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The term has been bandied about by my daughter's School for</span> </span><span style="font-size: small;">a while now. I was told initially that the School would refer, but then the SENCO told me that the School Nurse did not refer for this any more & I would have to go through the G.P. I did this, but got an appointment for an Occupational Therapist!..... It was worth it, as it turns out my daughter has hypermobility & fine motor issues, so requires a slanted desk & special writing instruments, as well as exercises for strengthening the writing hand. All good stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">When I addressed the auditory processing issue with the School again, (this time with a specialist teacher present) amazingly enough the School Nurse WAS able to refer, (is it me, or was someone telling porky pies?!) The appointment came through for last Friday and as it turned out it was just for a hearing test (which I had already said was NOT an issue for my daughter - who can hear my husband & I talking about 'secrets' we do not want her to hear at the lowest of levels!); luckily the kind Doctor referred her on without further forms being filled in, which is the normal protocol...and so we wait, for another 6 weeks probably...for another appointment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, what is it I am looking into & why?</span><br />
<br />
Understanding Auditory Processing Disorders in Children<br />
<em>by Teri James Bellis, PhD, CCC-A</em><br />
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'Children with APD may exhibit a variety of listening and related complaints. For example, they may have difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments, following directions, and discriminating (or telling the difference between) similar-sounding speech sounds. Sometimes they may behave as if a hearing loss is present, often asking for repetition or clarification. In school, children with APD may have difficulty with spelling, reading, and understanding information presented verbally in the classroom. Often their performance in classes that don't rely heavily on listening is much better, and they typically are able to complete a task independently once they know what is expected of them.'<br />
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Whenever I talk to my daughter's class teacher, their biggest complaint is the amount of times my daughter puts her hand up to ask the teacher for clarification, or repetition of an instruction. This, of course, really ticks them off, after all, why can't she just listen?! BUT, my daughter IS NOT a naughty girl, she would do anything to please, but constantly risks being told off by asking again & again, her hearing is excellent, she is very bright - WHY??? Maybe, just maybe, she can't help it? I have been into School, meeting with her class teacher & the head teacher because my daughter was sooo upset that she (once again) got 'adequate' for concentration on her report....Despite our discussions and acceptance from the 'powers that be' that she may be suffering with AP difficulties, this term's report came home, and yes, you guessed it, concentration was 'adequate', and if I hadn't brushed it aside, the tears would have rolled again.<br />
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So, if any of you have children who you know are pretty well behaved but keep getting reports that say 'lack concentration,' perhaps you too should go down this route...I will let you know if my daughter is diagnosed & what this will mean, if & when that occurs. In the meantime, please comment if you have any experience/info in this area. Thanks...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931749506138112231.post-9071704261681122122012-04-25T07:04:00.000-07:002012-04-25T07:04:47.835-07:00Me; My work & living with Dyslexia<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This is very exciting; my first blog! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My name is Narinda Algar (hence the name of the company), I am a private tutor/qualified teacher, run a drama club at weekends, write books and am a mum to 2 gorgeous children; one of which (my daughter, aged 9) is dyslexic. Hmmm, dyslexia - such a misunderstood thing. I have spent the past 3 years learning about it, dealing with it and at times, crying about it. Now I tutor other children (and their parents!) with similar issues & experiences, and yes, I have seen them too learn about it, how to deal with it and sometimes cry about it! This inspired me to start this blog, so that I can share my experiences and knowledge (which is growing with every session I tutor) with other parents of children whose experiences at School are difficult because of their reading/writing difficulties....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Recently I won a long & arduous battle...first to identify my daughter as dyslexic and then to allow me to 'flexi-school' her - basically tutor her at home in the mornings so that she can catch up with her peers/be taught in a multi-sensory way - [don't worry - all will be explained in another blog!] and then attend mainstream School in the afternoons to do the creative/physical subjects. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I started 'flexi-schooling' last week after the Easter break, and can already see the benefits. My amazing, confident girl was coming home from School with what I describe as 'the dead eyes of a dyslexic'; after 2 days of being at home she was glowing again & full of life..In this blog I will share with you our ups & downs; achievements & failures!</span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I absolutely welcome all posts, comments and information that you may want to contribute, I do not profess to be an absolute expert - just a teacher with some knowledge of education & a passion to learn more about these incredible brains & a mum who will do whatever it takes to help her kids through this life!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Join me on my journey!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829402267243659070noreply@blogger.com0