According to Davina Sharry, senior teacher and director of Powerful Parenting Australia, ‘A learning difficulty will be diagnosed after classroom observation, assessments for vision and hearing are tested and sensory impairment can be ruled out, and diagnostic and cognitive assessments and all other possible factors that might have caused the learning problems are eliminated.’ This means that your child’s school is the best place to get help, as they will then set up a learning support programme and bring in a STLaN (Support Teacher Literacy and Numeracy) to give your child the best possible chance at an education.
This might involve providing a quiet, distraction-free learning area, getting your child to present work in small units, aiming activities and tasks at your child’s level of interest and understanding, giving systematic training in phonics for learning difficulties affecting reading and spelling, adjusting timetables and lessons to give your child the time they need to complete tasks, and, where possible, allowing alternative forms of presenting work such as verbal presentations or oral examinations.
However, if you do not feel your child is getting the support they need from their school, you might need to consider moving your child. Ask how you’ll be informed about the adjustments being made for your child, who will be spearheading those adjustments and will they affect which certificates your child will be eligible for at end of schooling. You also need to be aware whether your child will participate in standardised assessment, and if additional support will be provided. If you don’t like what you hear, you can turn to another school or consider private programmes. However, private programmes could end up costing you thousands of pounds to only discover the same thing that the school told you, so approach schooling with a positive attitude and give it a fair shot.