I am very excited to be introducing one of my favourite people who is making a difference to families experiencing dyslexia, as my latest guest writer. Dr Helen Ross!

About Helen.

Helen is a Special Educational Needs specialist and Dyslexia expert. She is passionate about supporting young people to be their best ‘self’ through holistic intervention and focusing on building positive working relationships with all stakeholders of their education.

Helen is the Chair of the Wiltshire Dyslexia Association and Trustee of the British Dyslexia Association.

Helen writes:

So you have got the dyslexia report - Now What?

I’ve been a SENCO and now I’m a specialist assessor, so I’ve sat on both side of the table when it comes to producing, handling and making sense of a dyslexia assessment report. Truth be told, although there are set professional format guidelines for specialist assessors, we are all very different people who work and organise our thoughts differently. That can mean that our reports read very differently. If you’re a SENCO working with young people who have dyslexia, you will almost certainly have seen lots of different types of reports and are fairly used to dealing with them. However, it is quite likely that parents have never seen a report and may not know what to do with it! Here are a few suggestions about what to do one you have an assessment report.

Talk to your child about it.

If there are bits of the report that you aren’t sure about, usually the person who assessed your child will be able to help you and go through any questions you have. I know that I always offer people that option- and frequently there are a few phone calls or Zoom chats, just so that families are at ease with what they have learned in the assessment process. Sometimes young people are involved in these calls and sometimes not; that very much depends on the families and their approach to the assessment. There is no right or wrong way to talk it through- the only process for you and your family is your process!

Share it with your child’s school.

Schools can’t act on what they don’t know. I know they may not act on what they do know but for now, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt!

If I received a report when I was a SENCO, I always looked at the student’s profile and the recommendations before I looked at the rest of the report. They gave you the key information. There were often lots of recommendations that could be addressed quickly, at little-to-no cost and with a high impact. The school will be eager to make changes like that to help build bridges between you and them, and so that your child feels supported. There may be some recommendations that are trickier or more costly to implement; use of assistive technology can sometimes be a nebulous area to navigate with a school but it is always worth talking to them about how perhaps they may have a loan device or how you may be able to provide equipment. There are ways around it.

Meet with the SENCO and/or your child’s class tutor.

Talking to people and meeting them in real-time, whether over a video call or in person, can be a huge leveller and make it much easier to build connections. It may be that the school has questions to ask you about the report, or there may be some things that need clarification on both parts. Either way, I would say that making a face-to-face contact can make it much easier to implement recommendations quickly and effectively, or to work through disagreements or challenges.

A chat can be worth a thousand emails!

Contact Helen.

Got any questions for Helen?

You can contact Helen via her website at www.helensplace.co.uk.

Are you a parent of a child with dyslexia?

I have developed a way for you to reflect on how far you have come in getting support for your child and to identify the next steps that you can take confidently so as to unlock the potential of your child.

Find out more by clicking the link below:

www.parentingdyslexia.co.uk/pddiagnostic