Our little lad is struggling a bit and has some very strange traits! He’s 7 next yr and has a habit of writing everything backwards! It hit home quite a bit lately especially when we noticed a work book he’d brought home, he’d written everything from the right hand side of the page towards the left.
Been to parents evening tonight and the mrs is now upset! Any help greatly appreciated!

I’ll ask the g’friend as she is a special school teacher. Could just be something he tried with his mates and hasn’t stopped yet or that he’s left handed.

Just guessing like.

Thanks, it was quirky now it’s a worry 😐

Might be worth getting him checked for dyslexia.

he is writing so I would not be overly concerned re LD. He may have dyslexia – is he left handed as my eldest child does this.
What did the teacher say to upset your wife ? Assuming you want to share publicly

First up, try not to worry. You are not alone.

Our youngest son did the same. We had him tested for dyslexia as it runs in my family. Turns out he has Synesthesia – a very interesting thing indeed.

If you want any info on what we went through mail me – it’s too much to write here.

youngest is dyslexic and consistently worked from right to left (though lots of kids do but usually stops by 7)

also had/has hearing/perception issues and in one test she scored nearly zero because part of the structure of the test (which was poor) showed lines of items and asked her to describe the first or second item in the line – of course she worked form right to left not left to right and this is still a problem with some maths

dyslexia institute is good (but costs big time, though some bursaries)

these people can give helpful and supportive advice about how system should work

http://www.ace-ed.org.uk/

school goes to is good and has lot of kids with special needs and my better half knows way around school system but I found had to insist on assessment/interventions and meetings or it just kept slipping

good luck

edit – if problem with teacher then school will have a a special needs coordinator – just ask for an appointment saying you have concerns – personally i’d ask if childs teacher can attend but up to you

I think you’ll find there’s an expert here for everything.

We knew something wasn’t right, but hearing it from his teacher sort of hit home hard!! It’s annoying because we raised the issue over a yr ago and were fobbed off by his last teacher, but that’s irrelevant now and I will do/pay whatever it takes to first establish the problem, then hopefully help him. On the up side he’s very intelligent apparently according to a test they’ve done??
Any ideas of who to contact, the school said they’d start this that and the other but it “could take a while” that in my mind isn’t good enough as his whole future could be shaped by whatever this is!!

No expert here, but he sounds like a cool wee kid who does things his own way. Good for him, I am sure he has his reasons.

Is a label useful? Would you be better to concentrate on abilities and needs?

A lot of these developmental “abnormalities” are really part of a spectrum not a you haveit or you don’t situation.

Many of us would be given labels now, when we were kids we were not

Ffs TJ it’s not about a label, it’s about me and his mum worrying! He has many abilities, one being an awesome boxer for his age and the other is that he doesn’t moan about braking bumps! But I want him to be as helped and supported as we possibly can! And without knowing what it is how can we do that!

Thanks Hels, he is a cool little dude and makes all he meets laugh, and to top that he’d give his old man the last sweet in his packet everytime 🙂

Sorry squire – not meaning to diminish the issues but trying to suggest another way of looking at / dealing with them.

Everyone is an individual. The label does not change this

As you say the label may not tell you where on a spectrum he is but it’s a start point to getting appropriate support for him.

My advice is to just keep pushing to get what you want. If you leave the beurocracy to work at its own pace it’ll take forever.

Talk to school about what’s available but also contact charities etc to see what they can offer.

Google hasn’t been our friend so far!!! And TJ, apology accepted, we’d never use any “label” he got anyway, he’d still be the little scrote who I adore, just want him to have every available start in life. Just a thought, could a gp give me any advice you reckon??

My wife is the Senco at her school, she’s not here at the moment but I’m pretty sure she’d say push the school to get the Senco involved. They’ll do whatever it takes to find out what’s up, deal with it and then make a plan. Most senco’s are pretty switched on, they usually do it cos they want to not because they have to. Get involved and ask lots of questions, they should be happy to work with you.

Oh and she’d also say don’t worry, worrying never changed anything!

Good luck.

A GP will not be able to diagnose a condition such as dyslexia. Your best bet is to identify the SENCO at the school and liaise with them, asking them to sign-post you to the best possible agency for diagnosis and support; usually the next port of call will be your local LEA’s Support and Educational Psychology department. They will coordinate with your school to develop a Statutory Assessment, giving you a time-line and battle-plan.

If you need further information, email me. See; not all teachers are slackers… 😉

Thanks guys, really helpful last two posts. Now I have a name/position to contact at the school that should make it a lot easier! My intention is to push it along as fast as I can, I want something definately in place before Christmas! Thanks again 😀

Don’t worry. I used to do the same, I had lots of tests but nothing ever came back from it. I was good at hand writing and drawing and picked it up quicker than the other children in my class so decided I wanted to learn to do it backwards. I was rubbish in other areas such as maths so it all balanced out.

I can still write backwards and joined up perfectly now, I can do upside down too and upside down and backwards. Da Vinci did this too, so he’s in good company.

^ my p

That’s cool catflees 🙂

He does the mirror stuff! One thing that does stand out also is he’s definately not Specifically left or right handed! He writes with his right hand, always kicks a ball with his left foot, and rides his skateboard goofy! The lads a mess 😆

Or gifted.

My money’s on gifted! 😀

Cheers Dd!

+1 for bullhart response

(and apologies for spelling/ grammar errors in advance.. long day and a bottle of wine down already)

I would expect my staff to say something very similar. You do need a view from an expert. The school may or may not have one.I often explain to parents that my staff are excellent teachers; that does not translate as experts in all form of additional needs.

I would sek the views of an Educational Pyschologist.

I would not pay for one (ie go Private); in my personal experience they write what parents want to hear/ recommend the unobtainable. My professional experience supports this. Spend your money as you wish,but i would suggest there are better ways to spend it than that.

However this is a time of huge change in schools; our Local Authority are considering the withdrawl of Educational Psychologists, save for Statuatory Assessments.

IMHO this will lead to a huge increase in St Ass taking place; not sensible, financialy viable or even needed.

Get that request in soon.

Speak to the Head and then ask when you can meet the SENCO to sign the forms.

Best of luck

if he’s properly ambidextrous, get him a (righthanded for price/choice reasons) guitar when he’s old enough. IME i’ve met many many guitarists and I’ve met 2 who are ambi and they are just on another level

oh yeah hendrix was ambi 🙂

Whilst you are waiting you might enjoy the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

Hey, I would second talking to the SENCO and looking at the Educational Psycologist route. Depending on how he is doing academically they may look at using School Action or School Action Plus ahead of considering a Statement of Educational Needs. Depending on the local authority your may be able to access an Early Supportpersonalised at be able to offer more personalised support. If you do need support through the statementing process IPSEA and Network 81 may be able to help.

He does the mirror stuff! One thing that does stand out also is he’s definately not Specifically left or right handed! He writes with his right hand, always kicks a ball with his left foot, and rides his skateboard goofy!

My older brother was similar. Terrible handwriting, used to curl his wrist until it was at a ridiculous angle and write sideways. The teachers theorised that it was possibly because he naturally veered to left handedness, but was taught and got used to doing things right handed. As a result, he’s the opposite of ambidextrous, and does different things with different handedness. He’s clumsy and has virtually no spatial awareness (as 7 car wing mirrors will attest). He was fairly hyperactive and bright as a child, now he’s more chilled out but still has no patience (again, wing mirrors…). He’s done all right though – he’s now a rich businessman with a new Audi every year and personalised number plates. His handwriting is still appalling though…

Mrs toast that sounds bang on, the amount of times he kicks stuff over is ridiculous, he just doesn’t seem to see it, thank god we’ve got wooden floors and not carpets 😆
Also if you send him to look for stuff in his room he just can’t seem to find it sometimes!
Hopefully we’ll get him sorted over the neXt few months!

Good luck – another teacher saying +1 to Bullheart.
The fact that you are checking this thread before 7am for more ideas shows you are not going to let this one go, and you should not. Be polite but persistent and do not hesitate to write a letter to the head.

The new OFSTED framework states that an inspection can be triggered at anytime if enough complaint letters reach them. They can do a targeted inspection on an particular area. Hence, a letter to Head will get answered very quickly. I would use Bullheart to help you word one.

I would use Bullheart to help you word one.

No problem. 50p per word, minimum 400 words. And an agreement you never moan about teachers in a thread on here again.

😉

Seriously, drop me a line and I’ll help out. ‘Cos I’m a proper helpful deputy head, me…

Thanks for the offer bullheart. Very good of you! I’m going to give his teacher till Friday to come up with a plan then give her a ring. Hopefully she’ll have put the wheels in motion and we can get him sorted! If not I’ll drop you a line if that’s ok with a bit more info. He’s absolutely nailed his spellings at the first attempt tonight so god knows what the actual issues are, she was just so vague at parents evening which is what annoyed me most and why we haven’t a clue where to start! I do feel for her tho because I’m sure some of today’s “parents” would fire into teachers with “ere, you calling my kid fick”!
Thanks again to all contributors, definately been more successful than my last thread 😆