The child's learning difficulty

3:61.   The LEA should seek clear, recorded evidence of the child's academic attainment and ask, for example, whether:

i.   there are extreme discrepancies between attainment in different core subjects of the National Curriculum or within one core subject, particularly English/Welsh.  LEAs should be especially alert if there is evidence that, within the core subject of English/Welsh, a child has attained average or high levels in Attainment Target 1, speaking and listening (oral in Welsh), but significantly lower levels in AT2, reading, and/or AT3, writing

ii.   expectations of the child, as indicated by a consensus among those who have taught and closely observed him or her, supported, as appropriate, by appropriately administered standardised tests of cognitive ability or oral comprehension, are significantly above his or her attainments in National Curriculum assessments and tests and/or the results of appropriately administered standardised reading, spelling or mathematics tests

iii.   there is clear, recorded evidence of clumsiness; significant difficulties of sequencing or visual perception; deficiencies in working memory; or significant delays in language functioning

iv.   there is evidence of problems sometimes associated with specific learning difficulties, such as severe emotional and behavioural difficulties, as indicated by clear, recorded examples of withdrawn or disruptive behaviour, an inability to concentrate, or signs that the child experiences considerable frustration or distress in relation to his or her learning difficulties.  LEAs should be particularly alert if there is evidence of such difficulties in some classes or tasks such as reading or writing but not in others.

The child's special educational provision

3:62.   In the light of evidence about the child's learning difficulty, the LEA should consider the action taken by the school and, in particular, should ask whether:

i.   the school has taken action to make both the curriculum and the school day accessible to the child by alerting all teachers to the child's particular needs, helping the child develop appropriate practices for taking down and recording information, adopting appropriate marking policies and promoting the use of such devices as personal dictionaries

ii.   the school has formulated, closely monitored and fully evaluated, in conjunction with external experts, individual education plans, including structured literacy programmes involving, for example:

- for reading: a reading programme structured to respond to the child's particular
strengths and weaknesses as revealed by a diagnostic assessment of the child's reading performance, and including phonics teaching

- for spelling: a structured spelling support programme promoted and monitored by teachers across the curriculum, such as simultaneous oral spelling linked to the development of cursive writing