Sherie

Hi there,
Can anyone tell me if there is any help for kids/students with dyslexia in schools or universities in Oz? Here in the Uk it is possible to get a writer and claim extra time in official exams so I wondered if the same is possible in Oz.

My 9 year olds writing is typical of a child with dyslexia, he is very bright academically, but finds writing and spelling difficult and will need support to get all the work done in exams.

Anyone out there with any experience of a child/student with dyslexia?

Thanks!

NJJ

hope you dont mind turning this into a bit of a "people with dyslexia moving to austraia" in general thread?

I do not have any childrean with dyslexia but I do have it myself. I have found in the workplae people are just as understanding as at my previous jobs in england e.g. me having problems with written reports etc.

I would be interested to hear of any other people who have taken the plunge from england to oz who also have dyslexia and what their experiences have been.

NickyC

I know that in official (school) exams in NSW like the School Certificate and HSC, you can be assigned a 'scribe'. Kids have to be assessed, of course, but anyone with known difficulties would qualify. I don't believe they get extra time to complete the exam, though.

jad n rich

Yes your child will get extra time in exams.

My son with dyslexia is 11, if I answer this thread honestly I dont want to get losts of flack from people who wont like it, firstly search on dyslexia, there are a few people whos children have had it, most have now returned to the UK where help is much better.

Its not called dyslexia here its lumped in with all difficulties and just called learning disability. I understand the reason for this is calling someones child dyslexic is discrimination I wish they would just call it what it is and do something about it.

There is very little money for learning support, we after 3 years have finally managed about an hour a week with a professional last term, this term its nothing, no funds too many other kids needing help. Catch 22, private schools dont want kids with dyslexia or learning disabilities, of course you wont get told that but it will be harder to get them in.

To cut a war and peace epic short we employed out of our own income a overseas teacher to tutor our boys, the difference is incredible and they are now back in a state school but the tutor is back on our books next term.

I should mention the specialist side of things was a joke, at $300 a pop we got offered testing, a stack of blocks and a one line riddle for him to write out, then a script for ritalin, which I believe is for behavioural problems great stuff for a child with absolutely no behavioural problems, the boy is school student councillor, very gentle, diplomatic personality. We also had optical testing, $400 for the specs and another specialist who deals with stuff like coloured lenses, I think that was $160 but he didnt think the coloured lenses would help anyway. After about 2 years we did finally get school testing about a 2 hour session with a wonderful woman who's workload covers about 5 schools some with 1000 kids, anyway that testing was free and confirmed above average in everything except spelling but did lead to the hour a week help last term.

I do believe, but of course its just my personal opinion if my child had behaviour problems as well he would have got more help, those do seem to be the kids that get the limited funds for help.

Anyway this opinion is formed over 5 years, 4 different schools, one private three state, queensland and victoria.

MrsDagboy

J&R, Ritalin isn't pidgeonholed for behavioural problems, its a very effective drug to helps the synapses in the frontal lobe work properly, which allows better concentration & other functions that the frontal lobe control eg short term memory, central auditory processing problems & cognitive memory & processing disorders.

kevmitch

My 18 year old has dyslexia. He has just been assessed by his High School and will get extra time in the exams. The system (in NSW at least) is the same as the UK, although the testing was not as thorough.

racheybabe

Hi all.

We heard about SPELDA schools when we were out last year. Anyone know what they are???

ABCDiamond

Heres a couple of Links for Dyslexia in Australia

http://www.dyslexia-australia.com/
http://www.dyslexia-speld.com/