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Michele17

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About Michele17

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    Salisbury Hill
  • Birthday 10/17/1962

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    Female
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    South Hampshire
  1. Michele17

    Exclusions

    Thanks for the support everyone - bad morning - sometimes it just really gets to you doesn't it? The hour long walk round the beach with the dogs at 5am sometimes gives me too much time to mull things over. Anyway - it did turn out to be a very positive meeting - as HOY was there, I was pretty amazed. It turned out that they had been getting increasingly worried about Z, who was withdrawing more and more and totally disengaging from everything. He does have a statement ( fully funded!) and he has places to go and people to support him all day, but he's really not coping at all. We - school and us - have come to the conclusion that mainstream school - or indeed a school environment - just isn't the place for Z at the moment. We thrashed out a plan - using his 25 hours of funding to pay for a tutor at home a few mornings a week, plus until that's sorted only attending school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; maybe mornings only. The SENCO and I are going to bombard the head of SEN for the county with requests to attend an urgent meeting about Z (his psychiatrist said that if we push Z too much in the direction of school at the moment, he could have a break down) and get county to really come up with funding and any other ideas. I was so relieved that it went so well - meetings with HOY are so often fraught and tense affairs. His SENCO is amazing and really fights for 'her' kids and tries everything she can to get the best for them. We'll see how it turns out - I managed to get the statement after a battle - this is just the next one.
  2. Michele17

    Exclusions

    We challenged an exclusion where another boy (talking year 8 here) deliberately wound Z up to the point where Z retaliated and pushed him against a wall, where he hit his head on a light switch. The view taken by the head of year was that this was a deliberate attack by Z and excluded him for 3 days. The other kid got 1 and a half days internal exclusion. When HOY and I spoke about this on the phone and I pointed out that Z had been deliberately targetted and he should have the same sanction as the other kid, the reply was: " I'd love to give Z internal exclusion, but if his violent behaviour continues and he has to be excluded permanently in the future, then we have to show a series of shorter exclusions before we can do that." I was speechless!!!! We took it to the Governors, who upheld the decsion to exclude but did stress that they didn't run a system of accumulating exclusions before permanently excluding pupils - in otherwords, big rap on the knuckles for HOY. It wasn't a great outcome, but what we expected really. I did it to show that I was not going to take any c**p lying down and would fight Z's corner. Today we have a meeting about "recent events with Z" - I have absolutely no idea what they mean - am very anxious about it and not a little angry. If 'events' have been bad enough to call a meeting, why haven't we been kept more up to date? So hacked off - seem to have got to a complete dead end - why does the system make them fail, then hold up their hands and claim it's not their fault and oh by the way, there's no other provision for your child other than anything totally unsuitable?! Sloping off upstairs for my shower now, cry buckets in there and then go to work before the meeting. How can I concentrate on teaching my reception children when I feel like this? They deserve better.
  3. My son is in year 8, mainstream secondary and only did a full curriculum for the first term of year 7. We are now talking about him taking his options this year, and only 6 subjects - basically because you only need 6 GCSE's to carry on with A levels. He doesn't do PE, a language, drama, RE, History or art. It's not that he doesn't enjoy these - he can't cope with the lessons, even with support. He's going to do some extra curricular stuff in school time EG horse riding (we pay for it and take him!) so he's at least getting some physical activity. If we didn't do this, he'd be a complete hermit. The school - well, the SEN department - have been brilliant. His statement review last week was very positive and everyone was really trying to be creative about the way he can access his curriculum.
  4. I teach Reception and I'm very surprised they are considering keeping him in the Foundation Stage for another year. The guidelines are very clear that when children enter Year 1, the teachers should take them from where they are on the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile - not just start them on the National Curriculum. To be honest, Piers sounds like half my class!! I have a class that is almost half summer birthdays and about 2/3rd boys - and half of them have poor concentration on the carpet and listening to instructions. I'm definately NOT trying to play down your son's needs, but I've often had children from other schools who have come with IEP's and then wondered why? Are you happy with his school? Do you trust their judgement? There have to be quite exceptional circumstances to keep a child down a year from their peers - I've only known it happen once in 22 years of teaching and I've been at the same school for 17 years. Do you think Piers would manage in Year 1 with more support?
  5. Oops! Sorry - that was me. The LA has agreed to assess my son without me having to go to appeal - I have no idea why, but I'm just very grateful that they have. I think that he has no chance this side of the next millennium of getting into the unit, but if not, then I'll fight for a lot of support in school. There's no way he's going to any of the BESD schools here - I know they're not the place for him. I re-read his diagnosis letter and his psychiatrist actually said he considers my son to be low incidence - don't know if it'll make any difference.
  6. Kazzen161 - they're building it at ****** Secondary School in Stubbington. The guy I spoke to in Winchester (don't think I should name him on a public forum, but you probably know who I mean) did explain that's how the other units in Hampshire had started. He seemed quite surprised that I was appalled that all those places are going to be empty for years! call me jaded - I think I haven't explained myself very well - the request to assess wasn't refused because there was no hope of him getting into the unit, but because they felt the school was coping adequately and they couldn't see why a statement was even being considered. Basically the school messed up the paperwork! I am going to appeal - I was very upset when I got the letter and now I just want to get on with it and do battle. I just find it incredibly sad that the LEA think that a probable total of 30 places for the whole of Hampshire (which is a blimming big county) is OK!! And from your replies it isn't unusual elsewhere in the country!!
  7. The school sent off requesting an assessment for a statement - it came back on Friday with a big fat refusal from the LEA. I phoned the guy in charge, left a message asking why? he phoned me back today and we had quite a chat. Basically, there is an AS unit being built that would cover this part of my county. It won't be ready until September 2010 and I was told it would have only 2 places for each year group - I make that 10 in total. BUT, they're not going to fill all the places when it opens - only from Year 7 (basically 2 children for the first year) and so on each year until it's full. It will be funded by the LEA so how on earth can this be legal??? How can my son be denied a place (if he gets his statement) because of his DOB?????? It really makes my blood boil! He tried to tell me that it would provide the education needed by the children in the South East part of the county that is lacking at the moment, but TBH how can it if they fill it in this way? On a positive note he did agree to talk to someone else about the decision to refuse assessment - not holding my breath, but won't be giving up. Parent Partnership are phoning after half term to discuss an appeal.
  8. It's a load of old tosh to tell you that a PSP is the first step! The IEP is definately the first step and by the sounds of it, he should be School Action Plus because he has involvement from an outside agency EG his CAMHS key worker. It's DOESN'T matter that he has no diagnosis. Secondary schools! Pah!!!!
  9. As a primary teacher who has had quite a few ADHD children in my classes over the years, I'd say that you made the right choice, seeing how extra help panned out before accepting medication. However, I have found that the difference in children on medication is usually amazing. They have thinking time, they are more able to control their behaviour, concentrate and contribute to their class and their learning. They find friendships easier too. They become happier in school because they are more successful in everything they do, rather than it being an uphill struggle. It all seems to make sense to them - before it was just gobledygoop really because they couldn't stop, think and process the information they were bombarded with.
  10. Thank you for all your replies. We went back to the psychiatrist last week and had a very in depth talk about the prozac. We have decided to try it - my son was worried that it would 'change who I really am', but we have had lots of discussion and let him mull it over. He has decided to give it a try - we'll start at the beginning of the Easter holidays as I understand that it can increase irritability during the first couple of weeks. It really wasn't an easy decision to make, but there is no possibility of a place at an AS unit for 2 years (they haven't started building it yet!!) and that's not a guarrantee. Mainly, it's to target his oversensitivity and intolerance to unwanted stimulation. Apparently, Prozac is used quite widely round the world to help kids in these circumstances. I sound like I'm trying to justify our decision, which isn't the case at all! So, fingers crossed for any positive results!! Thank you again!!
  11. My DS is so depressed about school and not coping and his psychiatrist mooted Prozac. Our next appointment is at the beginning of March and we're going to tell him our thoughts then. I've read loads online, but am finding it difficult to find first hand information from parents. DS is 12 (on Monday anyway), Year 7, BIG secondary school, a statement is in the process of being considered, severe end of Asperger's, no hope of an AS unit for a year and a half (they haven't started building it yet, and no guarrentees he'd get in), spends alot of time in behaviour support, and absolutely hates school - although he loves learning. I'm tiliting towards agreeing to medication, anything to help him, but would really like to hear your experiences and opinions. I so hate sending him to school everyday (home schooling isn't an option economically, but would pull him from school in an instant if he had a definite place at the AS unit) - it breaks my heart. TIA!!
  12. Thank you, thank you!!! That was so useful!! I've been struggling all week trying to think what to put on the form!!
  13. I'd definately ask for a second opinion. When my eldest was first referred for ADHD assessment, we saw a young doctor who was in the process of doing her rotations just after qualifying. She had NO experience at all and quite frankly came up with the biggest load of garbage I'd ever heard. We saw her twice, after which I asked her to make sure we were referred at our next appointment to someone who actually knew what they were talking about. My OH was horrified and said that I was 'pulling rank' because I told her that in 10 years of teaching (at the time - 20 now!!) I had more experience of what was 'normal' behaviours in children then she did. But it worked - next appointment we saw the consultant and began to make progress. ALWAYS ask for a second opinion/referral - it makes people jump up and down and to be honest, most people don't even know that they're entitled to do it. Good luck! For what it's worth - the bloke sounds awful and I'd have wanted to slap him into the middle of next week!!!
  14. I agree with Clare63 - do the dog walking thing! I too have met lots of people and have made some friends doing just that! And everyone is always friendly - they say 'Hello' even if you don't have time to stop and chat. I walk my 2 dogs at 5am and believe it or not have made friends at that time of the morning!! I know how hard a move can be - I got married on a Saturday, moved to Spain the next day and started my new job on the Tuesday!! Mega stress!!!! I was VERY lonely for ages but very slowly made a couple of friends. Hang on in there - 2 friends are better then none!
  15. When we went for our appointment, we by-passed the 'Choice Appointment' because the Ed-Psych had already suggested AS and we felt that was right. (That's how the system works here - yours may well be different). When we got there, the Doc asked us if that was what we were sure we wanted an assessment for and discussed lots of other things with us. I was really nervous too, had no idea what to expect and was terrified they'd say there was nothing wrong with Z and we'd come away empty handed!! Write down your concerns and questions and take them with you and even if you're not asked if you have any questions, make sure you raise them. Having the piece of paper in your hand will remind you!! As far as I know, a Connor's checklist is for ADHD and maybe, ADD. I sometimes get them as a teacher to fill in and had one for my eldest as his parent. Good luck!!
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