Richmond Dyslexia Association Autumn Newsletter 2010

The

Volume 67

Word Autumn 2010

Will children with SEN be left behind by the new Academies?

As the race to become an Academy school is reaching the finish line, for this year at least, there is growing concern that children with Statements of Special Educational Needs will not receive the services and support they need within our education system.

trained to deal with those needs. This raises the concern – will the way these new Academies are funded (by the government, not local authorities) mean that services for children with SEN will be withdrawn on cost grounds alone?

Over 1,500 schools in England have expressed an interest in becoming Academies, of which more than 828 have been rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. These top schools could be fast-tracked to academy status as soon as September, stepping away from local authority control and gaining greater freedom to operate independently from the national curriculum.

It is accepted by parents and education authorities alike that specially qualified teachers trained to ensure the best outcomes for children with SEN do cost more. There needs to be more than soundbite assurances from the Department for Education and the Education Secretary Michael Gove that schools converting to Academies do not seek to cut back on these vital specialist staff to save money. It remains to be seen whether new Academy status schools will pay local councils to ‘buy in’ specialist staff to educate children with SEN.

This break away from local authorities will also bring freedom over admissions – and children with Special Educational Needs require teachers who are specially

Autumn Lecture Series begins 21st September Back by popular demand!

The RDA’s series of lectures and workshops begins at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 21st September 2010 at our old venue, the Richmond Adult Community College. Once again, we will be issuing Certificates of Attendance which teachers can submit as part of their continuing professional development.

See our Diary Dates on the back page for full details.

Helpline: 020 8940 4626 • Membership: 020 8876 9406 • www.richmonddyslexia.org.uk

Highlights of the Chairman’s Address at the AGM This year’s AGM was held on 11th May 2010 at The Barn Church in Kew. Nesty formally approved the accounts for 2009 and paid tribute to our retiring treasurer, Mel Lever, for creating a highly efficient system for tracking the Association’s finances over the past three years. Nesty introduced her successor, Mike Camilleri, who gave a a brief financial review of the past year.

to attract membership from local professionals involved with SpLDs. Nesty gave an interesting overview of the world of dyslexia, focusing on significant legal developments affecting education and SEN. Dame Mary Warnock was instrumental in enshrining the ‘inclusive approach’ to SEN in the 1981 Education Act, but in 2007 she herself voiced doubts as to whether inclusion is the most appropriate way to educate all children with SEN, given that some children have patently failed to be adequately educated in mainstream schools while teachers have often been overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for these children and their families.

The RDA’s finances remain in good order despite making a small loss in the last financial year, which was covered by the charity’s reserves. Revenue has dropped as a result of falling membership but new membership categories for schools and local professionals are intended to reverse this trend. The main expenses continue to be costs for printing and postage and room hire for the autumn course.

One of the long-term effects of inclusion is that many special schools and specialist units attached to schools have closed, so now parents have little choice as to how they would like their children educated. Some boroughs such as Richmond spend a considerable amount of money sending children out of the borough to special schools.

Much of this change has to do with the cost of education rather than the philosophy of education.

Nesty thanked the committee members for their hard work over the past year (Sophie Camilleri for her work as secretary and in managing the RDA’s website, Monyra Ispahani for arranging our autumn lecture series, Sue Judge for producing the RDA’s newsletter, Eleanor Wright for her sound legal advice at drop-in sessions and in her contributions to the newsletter, Joan Crosland for manning the telephone helpline, and finally Lee Coole for her work as membership secretary). Nesty appealed to others to come forward to support and expand the work of the committee.

Integration has also had an impact on how schools deal with needy children. Much more use is made of classroom and teaching assistants, but in many cases they do not have the training to monitor the progress of special needs children.

Nesty reported that in the past year the RDA had established a new membership category for schools and now has 16 member schools. In the coming year a new category will be set up

Ofsted inspectors today are looking for proof of progress above anything else, but it raises the question of what we measure the child with SEN

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against. Is it against the average in a class, against the achievement of the gifted child or against the individual needs of the child in question?

The Education and Inspections Act 2006 states that governing bodies are required to appoint a suitably qualified Special Education Needs Coordinator and most schools now have someone specifically responsible for SEN.

The Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005 represent the new Code of Practice for Schools and make it unlawful to discriminate, without justification, against any child with a disability, in terms of educational and associated services, admissions and exclusions, and schools are now required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils.

The Children’s Act 2004 encompasses the five areas of ‘Every Child Matters’ : Be healthy Be safe Enjoy and achieve through learning Make a positive contribution to society Achieve economic wellbeing

The Education Act 1996 has specific pointers for Children with Special Educational Needs. A child is considered as having special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty which requires special educational provision (that is provision more than the average child).

This Act is intended to improve cooperation between local partners such as the NHS, police, schools, district councils and youth offending teams. The Act was further strengthened in 2006, concentrating for the first time on Early Years and Childcare. As part of this, Sure Start Centres were established across the country, to give support to families through pregnancy right up until their child reaches 14 years of age, including those with SEN, and to the age of 16 for those with disabilities.

The Education Act 2002 came about partly as a result of the tragic case of Lauren Wright, a Norfolk school girl who died of injuries sustained through horrific abuse. It includes all of the requirements of the previous act requiring schools to take reasonable steps to ensure that disabled children are not placed at a substantial disadvantage to those who are not disabled.

The Landmark Report for the Children’s Society called ‘A Good Childhood, Searching for Values in a Competitive Age’, spells out the role of schools, to ‘promote not only academic skills but also help children to develop happy, likeable and pro-social personalities. This requires both a good school ethos and the right approach to individual children.’

In 2005 the Education Act was further amended with two important changes for schools. In all previous Disability Acts the definition included ‘mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’.

The 2005 Act removed the need for the term ‘mental impairment’ to be clinically recognised, giving a much looser definition of physical or mental impairment. This means that many more children will automatically come under the heading of disabled simply on the say so of parents or notes from a previous school. This could have implications for admissions and the way in which schools write reports on children.

In 2009 The Rose Report into Primary School Education was extended to give recommendations on the identification and teaching of children with dyslexia and to establish a pilot scheme, whereby children with dyslexia will receive one-to-one support or Reading Recovery support from a specialist dyslexia teacher. The government also committed to training 4,000 SEN teachers over a two-year period and as a result there should be at least one specialist teacher for each local group of schools. It remains to be seen if the new government can deliver this in a time of economic crisis.

Another area of SEN is the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal which allows parents to appeal to SENDIST if they are not happy with the Statement of Special Educational Needs for their child.

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Early Differences

by Registered Psychologist Jeff Hughes

As the speaker for our AGM, Jeff Hughes gave an interesting perspective on the world of Specific Learning Difficulties, focusing in particular on the signs that are sometimes evident in the development of pre-school children.

other conditions such as dyspraxia and ADHD. This co-existence of more than one condition is expressed as ‘co-morbidity’ or ‘neurodiversity’.

Some of the signs of these related conditions are often evident far earlier than literacy difficulties and they can therefore offer vital clues in terms of anticipating possible dyslexia or other types of SpLDs.

At last year’s autumn course, Ruth Miskin (a government advisor on literacy and a leading authority in the teaching of phonics) highlighted the importance of talking to young children before they begin school in order to develop their language skills in preparation for the process of learning to read and write. Jeff Hughes made the point that the pre-school years are critical not only to language, but to all the skills children need to develop. The education process should begin at birth, not when a child goes to school. Jeff expressed his frustration with a system that waits for children to fail before providing the appropriate kind of support. If a child struggles to read, it is not usually a question of inadequate teaching, but that the teaching methods used were not suited to a child with SpLD. All too often a child’s dyslexia is only identified at the age of eight or even later, by which time s/he is usually demoralised and demotivated by years of underachievement, frustration and unfair criticism.

By observing a pre-school child, it is possible to see if the child is progressing normally or if there are likely to be difficulties. In many cases a child may have an uneven profile, with particular strengths in certain areas and definite weaknesses in others. Obviously for many parents, knowing what is considered ‘normal’ progress is hard to judge. However, there are several tests that are widely available, including the Portage Checklist. It includes a series of controlled activities and an indication of when a ‘typical’ child might be expected to achieve them. For example, does s/he: Reliably name familiar objects?

Appear to know colours one day but not the next?

Draw obvious associations?

Join in songs or does s/he fail to pick up the words and tune?

Appreciate that 9 fingers are more than 6?

Easily recite three numbers read out in sequence?

It is generally accepted today that dyslexia is rarely present on its own, but co-exists with

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RDA launches Adult Support

Walk in a straight line?

Recognise his/her own name?

Hold a spoon/pencil?

Thread beads with relative ease?

Know how to put a simple story in order?

Match patterns or pictures with relative ease?

Cope with physical discomfort, eg bright lights, high temperatures, noisy environments?

Adapt to change with relative ease?

Become easily distracted?

Refuse to join in cooperative play?

Show a lack of awareness of others?

Put clothes on in the wrong order?

It is important to identify difficulties in processing information at the earliest possible stage so that the appropriate intervention is given at the right time. Schools and nurseries also need to be aware of the relative strengths and weaknesses of their children so their resources are targeted accordingly. Teachers can then offer appropriate challenges, within a child’s ‘zone of proximal development’. If a child is pushed beyond his/her ability andgiven exercises that are well beyond his or herreach, s/he is likely to experience frustration and failure to an extent that damages his/ herconfidence and desire to learn.

The RDA committee has a new recruit, Nicola Maxwell, who has a particular interest in adult dyslexia in the workplace. Formerly a human resources manager, Nicola is qualified to teach in the lifelong learning sector and to screen for dyslexia and related conditions.

Jeff offered some useful advice for parents of children with SEN. If you have a concern, act on your instinct and be persistent with teachers – some are inclined to be dismissive of ‘over-anxious’ parents. Some difficulties are subtle and, with a class of 30, teachers do not have the time to piece together the full picture for every single child.

She is planning to run workshops in the area looking to support teenagers applying for jobs, helping them to bridge the gap between childhood and adulthood and ease the transition from school to work.

She will also be covering some of the legal aspects associated with dyslexia in the workplace, including the kind of adjustments employers are expected to make and the impact of the Disability Discrimination Act on companies and individuals. Once the arrangements for the workshop have been finalised, we will send full details out to our members by email.

Keep a record of your concerns as well as any signs of progress in all areas of development.

Remember to incorporate information on any family history with SpLDs as well as any medical problems which could have a bearing on a child’s development (‘glue ear’, for example, can lead to problems with speech and language at a later stage). It is helpful to analyse the information once written down and useful to refer back to at a later stage.

If in the meantime you would like to contact Nicola for advice, her email address is: nicola. maxwell42@gmail.com

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Appeals to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal Part tWO

Eleanor Wright is a Befriender with the Richmond Dyslexia Association who offers free advice on all aspects of SEN provision, including supporting parents in discussions with schools and local authorities, drafting letters and other documents, preparation of tribunal appeals and representation at tribunal hearings. She is a solicitor specialising in education law.

This article continues previous articles about the statementing process and, in particular, the preparation of appeals to the tribunal (SENDIST).

Evidence and documents to be lodged with the appeal The appeal should include a copy of the letter from the local authority (LA) with the decision being appealed against. If the appeal is against a Statement, it should include a copy of the Statement and all the annexes.

If for any reason the parent does not have these, the LA should be asked to supply copies as soon as possible; if there is any difficulty in obtaining copies, the tribunal can be asked to order the LA to file and serve copies.

The tribunal will not accept assertions about the child’s difficulties and the provision needed to meet those difficulties unless they are backed by evidence.

Occasionally there will be useful material in the annexes to the Statement and, particularly, in reports

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prepared for the purposes of annual reviews. It may be useful also to look at individual education plans (IEPs). If these demonstrate that the same targets are appearing time after time and are not being met, that is an indicator that the child needs more help. If there has been other professional involvement, for example via an NHS paediatrician or CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service), then reports from them may well be helpful.

Evidence from school records can also be useful; for example,

in an appeal against a refusal of statutory assessment, school records may provide evidence of lack of progress, eg. where the child’s reading age remains well behind chronological age, or IEPs demonstrating that targets are consistently not being met. Sometimes medical records will be needed, for example if a GP has become involved because a child’s anxiety in school has been manifesting itself in sleeplessness, bedwetting and the like. School reports can be helpful, but since these usually aim to emphasise the positive they may not give the best picture of the child’s difficulties.

It is worth either lodging a photograph of the child in question with the appeal grounds, or taking one to the final hearing, in order to focus everyone’s minds on who this appeal is all about. It is of course possible to take the child to the hearing, and even to invite him or her to give evidence, but this may well be very daunting for many children. If parents do take the child it is sensible to ask the tribunal to see him first and then make arrangements for him to be taken away again.

Expert evidence It is likely to be absolutely essential for parents to obtain independent expert evidence.

In most cases an assessment and report should be obtained from an educational psychologist. Other evidence depends on the nature of the child’s difficulties. In some

cases involving dyslexia it may well be worth obtaining a behavioural optometry report, especially if problems seems to be ameliorated by using coloured overlays or lenses. Obviously if the child has speech and language problems, a speech and language therapist should be instructed, but this will also be necessary if the child has a social communication disorder, such as autism.

Occupational therapy evidence will be needed if the child has motor control problems, including in particular handwriting difficulties; this will also be needed if the child shows evidence of sensory problems, for example particular sensitivity to light, noise and certain textures. If a diagnosis of anything in the nature of autism or attention deficit disorder is in dispute, it might be necessary to obtain a child psychiatrist’s report.

In choosing an expert, it is important to find one with experience of preparing reports for and giving evidence at tribunals. Experts who primarily focus on treatment do not necessarily know what is required for an appeal. Where the appeal concerns the contents of a Statement, the expert should be instructed specifically to advise on what should be in Parts 2 and 3 of the Statement, especially detailed and specific provision to be set out in Part 3 – eg, if he advises 1-1 sessions in any therapies, the frequency of

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such sessions and the amount of time needed; if he advises the child should receive, say, dyslexia-specific programmes, he should advise as to the qualifications and experience needed by the person setting up, monitoring and delivering such programmes, particularly if qualifications in dyslexia are needed.

If possible, at least one of the experts should observe the child in school and speak to his teachers. Schools can sometimes be difficult about this, in which case they should be reminded that the parents can get an order from the tribunal requiring the school to give access to the expert.

Experienced experts are inevitably very booked up and may well not be able to carry out the necessary assessments and provide their reports in time for the deadline for entering appeals. SENDIST is well aware of that fact and will not penalise parents for it. It is therefore not usually a good idea to delay lodging an appeal until independent reports or other documents are available, as it is not necessary and it is usually in the child’s interests to move as quickly as possible. In that event, the appeal grounds should flag up the fact that the parents will be obtaining independent advice and will take steps to supply copies once available.

Experts’ reports should of course be reasonably up-todate and should preferably be

based on assessments within the six months preceding the tribunal, so instructing them too early should be avoided.

If the expert has given an older report - for example for the purposes of statutory assessment - then he should be asked to update it, and in fact this can be particularly useful as the expert will be able to demonstrate what progress has or has not been made.

Other evidence Where the appeal relates to school placement, a copy of the prospectus for the school the parent is asking for should be filed with the tribunal, and it may well be useful to lodge OFSTED reports both for that school and the one nominated by the LA. These are available on the OFSTED website. If the school itself has done an assessment, a copy of the school’s report should be obtained and filed.

The tribunal may order other specific evidence to be lodged, especially in relation to the costs of disputed school placements. Some of this may only be obtainable from the LA or school. If there is any difficulty in this respect, an application can be made to the tribunal for an order requiring the evidence to be produced.

All evidence should be lodged with the tribunal and served on the LA as soon as possible. There will in any event be a deadline for all evidence to be lodged, usually four weeks before the appeal hearing. Whilst it

is possible to apply for leave to lodge evidence after this date, there is no certainty that permission will be given, and it may lead to an adjournment of the hearing if the LA needs time to consider the evidence or to obtain its own experts’ views on the evidence.

Obviously once the LA response has been received, the parents should consider it carefully and whether they need to lodge further evidence to counter it. A copy of the response should also be sent to experts so that they can comment on it.

Local authority evidence The LA may well ask for access to the child to be able to submit its views to the tribunal. This is a requirement under the rules and therefore it should not be resisted. A sensible LA will ask someone reasonably neutral to see the child for this purpose.

It also often happens that the LA asks for access to the child by their experts, having belatedly noticed that they have failed to obtain adequate

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expert evidence during the entire statementing process.

Whilst this is not satisfactory, in general parents should not resist this without good reason. However, obviously there comes a point with some children where they really cannot cope with yet another expert assessing them, and if so, that is a valid reason for refusing. The tribunal has indicated that it will not in general be sympathetic to LAs who ask for this at a late stage when they have had plenty of opportunity throughout the assessment period to make such assessments.

If a parent does resist making the child available for assessment, the LA can ask the tribunal to make an order.

The sanction for disobeying the order is that the tribunal will take this into account in weighing up the parents’ case, and if they feel that the parents are trying to hide something or manipulate the system, that may be harmful.

Nevertheless, the members of the tribunal have to bear in mind at all times that their duty is to decide what the child’s difficulties are and what he needs, and they should not be swayed by any annoyance with the parents.

I will move on to deal with appeals specifically concerning school placements, and the hearing itself, in my next article.

Eleanor Wright

Choosing Books for Dyslexic Children In 2003 Dyslexia Action became the chosen charity of the Waterstone’s as part of the booksellers’ commitment to making the joy and the benefits of reading accessible to all. Dyslexia Action, a national charity that specialises in assessment and tuition for dyslexic adults and children, has benefited substantially from the funds Waterstone’s has raised over the past seven years from instore collection boxes and the sale of a special book of short stories and Christmas cards. In addition, Waterstone’s and Dyslexia Action have worked together to produce a guide to help parents and teachers choose books that are particularly suited to young struggling or reluctant readers.

read and those yet to be read; books and chapters should not be too long; for younger kids, engaging illustrations help to break up the text into manageable chunks; choose stories of interest to the reader and relevant to his/her age; books printed on tinted paper help to reduce the resonance of black ink.

Below are some of the books included in the Guide to Books for Young Dyslexic Readers produced by Waterstone’s and Dyslexia Action.

Dyslexia affects different individuals in different ways; some may have a total aversion to the written word while others become avid readers.

A good rule of thumb is, if a child is unable to read five or more words on a page of a book it is fair to assume that it is too difficult. Below are some other important considerations when choosing books for young dyslexic readers:

For more information, visit their websites: www. waterstones.com and www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson Alone in the Wide Wide Sea by Micheal Morpurgo The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne Cirque Du Freak by Darrren Shan The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer The Twits by Roald Dahl The Temple of the Ruby of Fire by Geronimo Stilton Judy Moody by Megan McDonald Sheep-pig by Dick King-Smith

s hort sentences and paragraphs help to maintain interest and encourage a feeling of progress; ide margins and plenty of white space w encourage a good reading flow and pace; r ight margins that are unjustified make it easier to distinguish between those lines

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Aims and Services The Richmond Dyslexia Association (RDA) is a voluntary organisation which aims to promote awareness of dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties (SpLDs) in the Richmond Borough and to advise parents and teachers on the support available. Services include: Arranging talks to raise understanding of dyslexia and other SpLDs; Producing a newsletter twice a year and circulating copies of the BDA Contact magazine three times a year; Supplying a collection of dyslexia-friendly books and tapes to local libraries; Running a helpline for advice and support; Recommending private remedial teachers and educational psychologists; O ffering free advice to parents on the statement process and the support available in schools.

Membership Please help us to achieve our aims by joining the RDA. Our yearly subscription is £15 (£10 for unwaged households) or £95 for schools and businesses. For membership application forms, please contact: Lee Coole, 57 Burlington Avenue, Richmond TW9 4DG Email: leecoole@uk2.net

Useful Websites and Telephone Numbers

RICHMOND DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION (RDA) www.richmonddyslexia.org.uk Chair Nesty Boyd Helpline Joan Crosland Secretary Sophie Camilleri Autumn Course Organiser Monyra Ispahani Treasurer Mike Camilleri Befriender Eleanor Wright Editor Sue Judge

020 7736 7415 020 8940 4626 020 8876 1351 020 8241 1111 020 8876 1351 020 8892 3322 020 8487 1122

BRITISH DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION (BDA) National charity representing needs of dyslexic people in education and the workplace.

Tel: 0118 966 8271 www.bdadyslexia.org.uk DYSLEXIA ACTION National charity specialising in assessment and tuition.

Tel: 01784 222300 www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk CRESTED Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils.

Runs a register of schools approved for their dyslexia provision.

Tel: 01242 604852 www.crested.org.uk

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DIARY DATES

Tuesday 21st September 2010 ‘Motivating Reluctant Readers’

By Julia Rowlandson.

Tuesday 28th September 2010 ‘Lost for Words?’

A Talk about Vocabulary Development’ by Cat Heale.

Tuesday 5th October 2010 ‘More than just a game?’

How to make and use games to improve your students’ learning by Anita Weare.

Tuesday 12th October 2010 ‘Visual perception: Getting the whole picture’

By Angela King and Trish Babtie.

Tuesday 2nd November 2010 ‘Teaching Time and Money’

By Sarah Wedderburn.

Tuesday 9th November 2010 ‘How to assist individual children in short but frequent sessions’

By Nesty Boyd.

Tuesday 2nd November 2010 Seeing it differently Waterloo, London BDA conference focusing on visual perception and cost/ benefit of making reasonable adjustments for dyslexic employees.

Admission: £249 + VAT Email: conference@ bdadyslexia.org.uk Friday 5th and Saturday 6th November 2010 Dyslexia Explored Camden, London Two-day BDA conference exploring the latest research and best practice for supporting and assessing individuals with dyslexia and other SpLDs. Admission: £110-250 Email: conference@ bdadyslexia.org.uk

Affiliated to the British Dyslexia Association Registered Charity No. 281147

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21st September – 9th November 2010 7.30 pm, Tuesday Lecture series organised by the RDA Richmond Business School, Adult Learning Suite, Room 21, Richmond Adult and Community College, Parkshot, Richmond TW9 2RD Admission : £8 per lecture or £40 for all six (£45 for nonmembers) No need to book in advance.

Enquiries tel : 8241 111