Jane's* fight for her two sons

Jane’s two sons are happy, confident teenagers – testament to her steely determination that her severely dyslexic boys should get the education they deserved. Their journey has been gruelling.

Jane first tackled her education authority when her youngest son was at primary school. John was making no progress. Jane took John for a private assessment which revealed that he was severely dyslexic.

Jane knew that John would not cope in a huge comprehensive. The family felt the best place for him would be a special boarding school 75 miles away. They had to go to tribunal to win John a place at the school. She found IPSEA on the internet, and an IPSEA volunteer adviser talked her through the tribunal procedure.

“IPSEA was absolutely brilliant. Without them I wouldn’t have gone to the tribunal, as I felt overwhelmed”.

They won their tribunal. “John cheered when he heard the news!” John has a reading age of seven and has made his parents immensely proud by achieving C grades in GCSE science and PE. “He’s a different lad now. He’s a confident young man, well liked and sociable. And he’s not ashamed to say he’s dyslexic.” Jane is fighting for John to stay another two years, so he can progress further with his reading skills, and work towards A levels.

But after that first tribunal, Jane faced a fresh battle for her son David. “He was unofficially excluded from school all the time. The teachers didn’t understand him, so he was labelled ‘difficult’.” They went to tribunal for the second time, to “get David’s needs met”. After a two-day hearing the tribunal agreed that David should attend the same boarding school as his brother. During his happy two years there he passed an impressive eight GCSEs. David has since got a job as a lifeguard and is doing well.

* Names have been changed.