Approaching your child's school (Part 2)

Preparing for the meeting with the principal/headteacher

Read this article in Spanish

In the last part of the story, John Bradford described how Amanda Royle was becoming increasingly worried about her son Steven's difficulties with reading and spelling. She felt she had to speak to the school about it. 'School Open Evenings' or 'Parents' Evenings' provide a helpful occasion for the majority of parents to have a brief chat about how your child is getting on at school. However, if you are concerned that your child is falling behind in their learning - and may have a learning difficulty - then you need to arrange a proper meeting with the school principal or head teacher. Amanda Royle was getting really worried about Steven's poor reading and spelling, and she decided to sit down and make a list of points to mention at the meeting she had arranged with the principal. But her mind went totally blank! She needed to present a clear picture of Steven's difficulties, and to do this in a way that the principal would take seriously. As things stood, she felt she was just going to look like an over-anxious parent. She badly needed some evidence that would clarify exactly where Steven had progressed to in his learning (not far!), and about the problems he was obviously struggling with. Would the school have him assessed? According to a friend of hers, Helen, they were usually very unwilling. "It's all down to finances," Helen had said. "It just costs them a lot of money to bring in the school psychologist every time a parent complains that their child isn't doing very well in school. Their budget is already stretched just providing enough staff for the school." Amanda's heart sank. "Why don't you get an independent assessment of Steven? It's expensive, but it will tell you if he's dyslexic or not. If he is, you can show it to the school. They won't be able to ignore evidence like that." It was the advice that Amanda needed, and over the next few weeks she began asking around. Her doctor recommended a psychologist he had used before for dyslexia assessments, but the cost was almost a thousand dollars. After some searching on the Internet, she came across the Direct Learning website and Steven took the home Dyslexia Test. Filling in the information on the questionnaire was quite straightforward, and some of the little tests were quite fun! "Can you point to my left foot with your right hand?" was one, while Steven enjoyed looking at his mom through a rolled-up sheet of paper, pretending it was a telescope (while Amanda noted which eye Steven chose to put the 'telescope' to). There was a reading test which Steven was happy to do, while Amanda ticked off the words he could read - giving him lots of praise for each attempt. Amanda told Steven that children were sending in drawings for an Internet competition, and that he might get a certificate. Steven was quite good at drawing, so he spent quite a long time drawing the pictures. When it came to the spelling test and getting Steven to write five or six lines of his own creative writing, Amanda took the advice in the test instructions, and set up a reward for Steven. If he did the writing and spellings, he could invite a friend round at the weekend and she would take them both out to a movie. It worked! They had a great time together and Steven went round to his friend's house the following week! The Assessment Report was nine pages in length and remarkably detailed. It turned out that Steven was dyslexic, though only moderately, and he was really excited getting a certificate for his drawings. Amanda felt so relieved - it wasn't just her imagination - or that she has been a bad mother to Steven. The cause of his dyslexia was the frequent ear infections he had experienced when he was a small child. When she went to the meeting at the school, the principal said how impressed he was at how clearly the psychological evidence of Steven's symptoms was presented, and how sensitively the Assessment Report was written. It was clear that Steven needed extra help with spelling and reading, and he would organize it to start as soon as possible. He frankly admitted that, with his limited school budget, he could not have afforded to have Steven assessed, and was really glad that Steven's difficulties had been identified so clearly. Steven now receives regular support in school with a specialist teacher, and, although not yet up to the average level of his class, is making really good progress with reading and spelling. Best of all is that Steven has a smile on his face when he heads into school each day! (Based on a true story, with the names changed.) John Bradford 1999

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