part 2 of my experiences of education focusing on middle schools. i am aware that thismay not be relatable for many people as i went through the three tier system which is briefly explained in the previous post.
however this was probable one of the most important periods of my life to date because it was in year 6 (2nd year of middle school) that i got my diagnosis of dyspraxia which according to my mum had a large impact on me as prior to that i was an angry child.
i almost forgot year 5 the start of middle school i had to learn how to do a tie and this will probably the angry pre-diagnosis side of myself i remember getting frustrated that i was struggling to tie the tie and ended up doing it wrong and pulled it on really tight (so much so that i couldnt actually undo it) and my parents thought i was choking myself when i was actually trying to snap it off my neck.
prior to my SAT's in year 8 was the first time i had any experience of special provisions in placve which was having a scribe and at that time it did not seem to work and i dont think that school tried anything other than a scribe so that when it came to actually taking my SAT's im dont believe i had any special provisions in place for my exams like scribe/transcribe or even extra time.
Sunday 31 July 2016
Tuesday 26 July 2016
Education Part 1 (primary school)
this post is the first in a 4 or 5 part series of blogs in which i will share my experiences of education.
first i am going to say that i went threw the 3 tier education system in the UK (primary school reception to yr4, middle school yr5-yr8, high school yr9-yr11 to sixth form yr12+yr13) and then went to university for 3 years to now (1year after finishing uni)
for this particular post i want to try and cover my primary school experience or at least try to. the few things that i can remember from my primary school is having the same teacher for everything only changing each year and that was probably not a good thing as i dont think any of my teachers were aware of what dyspraxia is and i know my mum has said that they were not very good at supporting the needs that i had even though i did not have a diagnosis of dyspraxia at anytime throughout my primary school years.
however the biggest standout memory of my primary school experience was when i was in year 3 and the biggest aspect of my dyspraxia was my very poor handwriting however during year 3 i had a teacher (happened to be the first male teacher i ever had) who did not care about the appearance of my handwriting and focused on the quality of the work, i believe he said something along the lines of i don't care how good your writing is i just want to see what it is that you can write. and this made a big difference as it meant i didn't have to focus on making my writing legible (or less ineligible) and i could focus on doing and completing the work.
first i am going to say that i went threw the 3 tier education system in the UK (primary school reception to yr4, middle school yr5-yr8, high school yr9-yr11 to sixth form yr12+yr13) and then went to university for 3 years to now (1year after finishing uni)
for this particular post i want to try and cover my primary school experience or at least try to. the few things that i can remember from my primary school is having the same teacher for everything only changing each year and that was probably not a good thing as i dont think any of my teachers were aware of what dyspraxia is and i know my mum has said that they were not very good at supporting the needs that i had even though i did not have a diagnosis of dyspraxia at anytime throughout my primary school years.
however the biggest standout memory of my primary school experience was when i was in year 3 and the biggest aspect of my dyspraxia was my very poor handwriting however during year 3 i had a teacher (happened to be the first male teacher i ever had) who did not care about the appearance of my handwriting and focused on the quality of the work, i believe he said something along the lines of i don't care how good your writing is i just want to see what it is that you can write. and this made a big difference as it meant i didn't have to focus on making my writing legible (or less ineligible) and i could focus on doing and completing the work.
Friday 22 July 2016
My Diagnosis
this blog post is going to focus on my diagnosis or what i can remember from being diagnosed and the testing process, although i may not be able to remember that much from either diagnosis or test.
first i am going to elaborate on why i have had two diagnosis' of dyspraxia the two tests took place quite far apart my first diagnosis was when i was in year 6 (so about the age of 10/11 i think) and the second test was done when i was in post 16 (16-18 yrs) directly before university so i was either 17 or 18 at the time and the second test was done to confirm i still had dyspraxia so that i was able to get disabled students allowance (DSA) but more accurately was to also assess/confirm the needs i had and to advise on the equipment i would need. this second test was done because because my first diagnosis was at a young age so the second diagnosis was to assess those needs and what support needed to be in place for me whilst at university so if you were diagnosed prior to the age of 16 you may need to get a second diagnosis if you wish to go to university.
for my first diagnosis/test i believe it was carried out by an occupational therapist at a hospital and i can remember being asked to do some writing tasks like writing my own name multiple times and writing sentences (i think the sentence that has all the letters of the alphabet in it) which i believe then led on to quite a few weeks of occupational therapy things i think im not entirely sure (it was a while ago).
for my second diagnosis i can remember doing a few writing exercises some reading things as well such as if i was able to read better with coloured overlays but most of all i can remember doing some physical things such as the finger tapping where you tap each finger to your thumb and then restart or you can go back and forth whilst your arm is stretched out, touching your nose with index finger from a stretched out arm with eyes closed another was walking on the inside of your feet (which i can remember not being able to do) and the outside of your feet and heel and toes.
unfortunatley thats all that i can remember from my diagnosis' but hopefully it helps some people especially the bit about potentially needed a second diagnosis if you wish to go to university.
first i am going to elaborate on why i have had two diagnosis' of dyspraxia the two tests took place quite far apart my first diagnosis was when i was in year 6 (so about the age of 10/11 i think) and the second test was done when i was in post 16 (16-18 yrs) directly before university so i was either 17 or 18 at the time and the second test was done to confirm i still had dyspraxia so that i was able to get disabled students allowance (DSA) but more accurately was to also assess/confirm the needs i had and to advise on the equipment i would need. this second test was done because because my first diagnosis was at a young age so the second diagnosis was to assess those needs and what support needed to be in place for me whilst at university so if you were diagnosed prior to the age of 16 you may need to get a second diagnosis if you wish to go to university.
for my first diagnosis/test i believe it was carried out by an occupational therapist at a hospital and i can remember being asked to do some writing tasks like writing my own name multiple times and writing sentences (i think the sentence that has all the letters of the alphabet in it) which i believe then led on to quite a few weeks of occupational therapy things i think im not entirely sure (it was a while ago).
for my second diagnosis i can remember doing a few writing exercises some reading things as well such as if i was able to read better with coloured overlays but most of all i can remember doing some physical things such as the finger tapping where you tap each finger to your thumb and then restart or you can go back and forth whilst your arm is stretched out, touching your nose with index finger from a stretched out arm with eyes closed another was walking on the inside of your feet (which i can remember not being able to do) and the outside of your feet and heel and toes.
unfortunatley thats all that i can remember from my diagnosis' but hopefully it helps some people especially the bit about potentially needed a second diagnosis if you wish to go to university.
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