broke down in tears as she revealed she is struggling to cope with her son Carter's worsening dyslexia - and shared her dilemma over whether to send him to an 'expensive' specialist school far away from home.
Frankie Bridge in Tears Over Sons School Dilemma
Frankie Bridge broke down in tears as she revealed she is struggling to cope with her son Carter's worsening dyslexia - and shared her dilemma over whether to s...
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The former Saturdays star, 37, shared an emotional update in her latest vlog, revealing
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects accurate and fluent word reading and spelling, and can affect individuals of all intelligence levels.
Frankie - who shares Carter and son Parker, 12, with former footballer husband - admitted she feels 'trapped' and doesn't know 'what the right thing is for him anymore' after dropping him at school in tears over his struggles.
'I, today, went to see a specialist dyslexic school for Carter,' Frankie explained. 'His recent assessment is that he is severely dyslexic, and he's worse than his last assessment.
'[The assessor] said that, because of the effect of him moving school so many times, and having to readjust to new environments, new teachers, new friends, or whatever, obviously that's affected his confidence and to move him now probably wouldn't be the best thing for him.'
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Frankie Bridge broke down in tears as she struggled to cope with son Carter's dyslexia and shared dilemma over whether to send him to an 'expensive' specialist school far from home
The former Saturdays star, 37, shared an emotional update in her latest YouTube vlog, revealing 10-year-old Carter's dyslexia has worsened dramatically since his diagnosis last year
The Loose Women panellist revealed that while Carter's current school near their home in Surrey provides good support, a specialist school may be a better option for when he begins secondary education in September next year.
'There is one not far - I mean, it is quite far from us for a drop-off and a pickup point of view,' she admitted. 'I'm not really sure how we'd make it work.'
The star explained her initial reservations about visiting the school, saying: 'If I'm honest with you, I kind of wanted to hate it... I guess it's the fear of putting a kid in something different.'
But she was impressed by what she saw, saying: 'It's very similar to the school he's in now, it's just every class, everyone at the school is dyslexic and every class is catered to be able to teach children with dyslexia, they don't need one on one, because the whole class is doing the same thing, because everyone's dyslexic.'
Frankie also expressed concerns about whether Carter would become reliant on specialist teaching methods, but acknowledged: 'The whole point of the [specialist] school is to get them to a level where they're confident enough within themselves and they know enough to be able to go back into the mainstream school.'
She added that sending Carter away to such a school would be a huge upheaval for the family - both financially and logistically.
'It's not an ideal scenario for us because it's far away and it's really f***ing expensive,' she said. 'But it was lovely. And I think his confidence has been so battered that I'm like, how lovely to put him in an environment where he doesn't feel different, and that he's actually being set up for success rather than failure.'
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Specialist secondary schools for dyslexic children in the UK typically cost between £15,000 and £40,000 a year for day places, though some boarding options can exceed £60,000. Costs vary based on location, boarding, and intensity of specialised support.
Frankie added: 'He's had to move to so many different schools, and nothing's been able to meet his needs. I just don't know if it's realistic for us as a family, for us to be able to get him there and back every day.'
The former pop star then broke down as she described dropping Carter off at school, where he had been crying about maths - 'his hardest subject by a mile'.
Trying to fight back tears, Frankie said: 'I find it mentally just so hard that I just never know what to do, what's best for him.
'There'll be so many parents out there, I know, that have to drop their kids off, crying at school every day. I just feel a bit worn down by it now. I just feel a bit trapped because, obviously, they have to go to school.
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'He's been to so many different schools that I just can't move him again. And I just don't know what the right thing is for him anymore.'
Frankie couldn't hold back her tears as she admitted she feels 'trapped' and doesn't know 'what the right thing is for him anymore' after dropping him at school in tears over his struggles
The Loose Women star shares sons Carter and Parker, 12, with former footballer husband Wayne Bridge
Writing a piece for The i, she said: In the eyes of the system, he wasn't old enough to be officially diagnosed with anything at the time, but we hoped it would give the teachers a better idea of how to help him.
'Everyone's biggest concern with Carter was his lack of confidence. He was aware that others in his class were able to do things that he couldn't.'
'When he finally turned eight last year, he was officially diagnosed with dyslexia. I foolishly saw this as the missing piece. That his teachers and us would now know exactly what to put into place to teach him in a way that he would understand. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t the case.'
She said at the time she and husband Wayne decided to move him to an international school which they knew would be better equipped to suit Carter's needs.
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