Niggles are annoying, aren’t they?
Last week I assessed a student who is in Year 11. The parents of this student had had niggles since primary that something wasn’t quite right academically. Something just seemed misaligned! The child took a long time to learn to read – however they seemed to get there eventually! But they never seemed to be able to comprehend what they had read, and the reading just felt bumpy. Their child would practise their spellings all the time at home but never got more than half right on tests and didn’t seem to be able to retain them. However, with such great vocabulary when talking, conversation was this child’s gift. The trouble is, this just never came across in the written work and their exam scores were always less than class work. Progress had ticked along, and the niggles were there but just not quite enough to reach out to a specialist or the child’s school.
Soon mocks came along and the first few exams were okay, although the student didn’t finish many of the papers. Then in the final exam, one that required long written answers, their child just froze… didn’t know what to write or what to say, how to read the question or where to start. Their child felt a bit broken and was confused as to why this exam was so challenging. Once home the parent contacted the school and explained, and a dyslexia screen was carried out. The outcome of this indicated the child to be a risk of dyslexia and the school recommended further assessment from a specialist.
As a result of the report following a full assessment, they were able to:
- Understand their child’s needs
- Know when to ask for help
- Pass information to teachers for support to put in place
- Apply for exam accesses arrangements
- Alleviate exam stress for their child
- Help their child work towards attaining their potential!
Moral of the story…
TRUST the niggles. There is never any harm in exploring them further if something just doesn’t seem right. ALL SCHOOLS have the ability to screen pupils, and they will at your request. It’s a super quick assessment takes about half an hour! This will let them know whether you need to seek further assessment or not. If they don’t need further assessment then great, but it if they do, better sooner rather than later. We can get the right support in place to help them reach their goals!
Niggles are there to help us question.
If you would like to book an assessment or talk to me more about how to approach school to request a screen please do get in touch.