Dyslexia Multi-tasking

The suspension files arrived yesterday so I began the task of relocating from the SENCO filing cabinet in the admin office to the new SEN room.  I had also discovered other files in other drawers so these moved too.  Now all files are together but are yet to be meaningfully looked at and sorted into categories.

So far I have a drawer dedicated to children who have a "Cause for Concern" , SA, SA+, Statement, Medical and a drawer for LAC files, both of these I have sorted through so they contain the relevant material and children (some still contained files on children who had left more than three years ago!)but the other two drawers are filed with a miscellany of files.  If anyone has suggestions about the important categories then I'd love to know.

I also managed to sort out more of the room by putting things away into the desk and the filing cabinet of social and emotional support which was initially in the room.  The two tables and chairs are now in place and only a few more things to be put away (hopefully less than 1/2 an hour) and the room will be operational for teaching and meetings - hurray!

My role in school also extends this year to school librarian and the state of the library is something to behold!  Choosing three willing volunteers from my class for lunchtime library duty we set about trying to put some of the books back onto the shelves from the piles that have just been dumped around the library.  It soon became evident that one child who I have suspected of dyslexic tendancies (bright, interesting & out of the box ideas, bizarre spellings) could not use the alphabet without trying to recite from A each time (for filing books in the M-R sections) totally confused after F (H G K J!) and unable to say what came after M (even after two reminders).  This library exercise gave further evidence so I am really pleased with the multi-tasking involved and may use it with another two children who I also believe have dyslexic tendencies.  The atmosphere of laughing at the unbelievable mess of books and the bonding process of how much work we all had to do to sort just a few shelves meant no-one knew I was gathering information and certainly the child in question enjoyed the task because of the support given and the help they were giving me.

Dyslexia, Knitting and Feral Cats

Last night, I watched the BBC programme, Growing Children that focused on children with dyslexia.  Having trained as a specialist dyslexia teacher last year I know something about it, but the programme really brought it home to me about how lost these children can be in our mainstream school system and how little maybe my specialist teaching can really help.  The young girl that had received three and a half years of the same specialist teaching instruction I deliver was still struggling so much that her parents decided to pay for her to attend a special private school for dyslexic children, where classes are very small, noise levels for concentration are minimised and all teaching is specialised; conditions that I don't think can be replicated in mainstream school.  

The two hours I have timetabled for specialised dyslexia teaching within my school now looks miniscule and will it really, actually help?  Of course, I know it will help them in terms of self-confidence, being given the chance to talk about what's happening in their head without fear someone is going to think of them as odd and allow them to have an hour where they are truly happy in their learning environment, this I have discovered from the child I have been giving specialist instruction to after school for the past year (in my own time), but I also know her grades did not improve in class with her class teacher or for the end of year tests and this is what my headteacher is going to be expecting for funding for lessons like this to continue.  Slightly depressing, I think!

So to cheer myself up I will post some photos of my latest knitting project, that I hope to be sewing up today, to create a hat for canal boating during the autumn and winter months.

This pattern I found in a charity shop for 20p.  It's the pinky, stripy one I've knitted.

I also found the Jaeger wool at the same charity shop, 5 balls for £2.50!!  100% pure wool.  Bluey-grey with multi-coloured flecks in.  The hat took just two and a half balls, so I'm passing the left overs and the pattern to my mum who wants to knit something for the soldiers' xmas boxes.

Last of all a plea to anyone out there who could possibly help a friend out who is being over-run with feral cats.  Over the years a cat colony has formed based around the abandoned out-buildings of the old house she owns.  She is now becoming too ill to look after them properly and needs to find loving homes for them to be rehoused to, preferably in pairs or more and to people who understand that they are not lap-cats.  As you can imagine the cat shelters are all full to bursting and cannot take on anymore.  The cats have been neutered but not vaccinated and the ones to be re-homed range in ages between 9 months to 5 years (of which there are about 15!!).