2021 has kicked off for many thousands of dyslexic learners having to engage with remote learning. With reasonable adjustments in place for the classroom, do we now have to get them reviewed for the remote learning environment?

A deadlock for one parent and their child’s school.

Yesterday I received an email from a parent of a child in year 6 with a diagnosis of dyslexia. The gist of the email was basically to share with me that her son who has a range of difficulties has not been attending online lessons as they are not accessible for him. Meanwhile the school involved is complaining of the lack of attendance but not outlining what is being done to make these lessons accessible to him. The email outlined the dialogue with the school that indicated that both parent and school had got themselves into a deadlock. The child can’t access the lessons without relevant reasonable adjustments being in place and the school is pushing for attendance before reasonable adjustments could be put in place.

For all concerned this must be a hugely stressful time and we do need to be mindful of the unbelievably difficult challenges that schools are looking to address in providing education during the pandemic.

That said, this scenario does make me question as to whether current reasonable adjustments, that have been put in place for dyslexic learners within the classroom, still meet the needs of the learner now that they are remote learning from home?

Parents and SENCo’s - I want to hear from you.

If you are a parent of a dyslexic learner in primary, secondary and further education then I want to hear from you.

Are you finding that your dyslexic learner’s engagement with remote learning has been affected by what may now be inappropriate reasonable adjustments as a result of your child having to learn from home?

I also want to hear from you if your school has been very supportive resulting in your child effectively learning from home.

If you are a SENCO, what challenges are you facing in supporting the needs of your dyslexic learners now that they are remote learning?

Please press the button below to send me an email to share your thoughts and I will collate these for a later blog article.