babnye1

Thanks for this. I have just spoken to Ed Psych team and they say a parent can request an ed psych consult. This is different from a request for a statutory assessment of SEN. I'm not sure why the school have been dragging their feet on this. My son is only on SA. The interventions have come at our instigation and not through school referrals. Is there any difference in the amount of funding available for SA and SA Plus. Thanks for the info on delegated funding. It is really helpful to know. I am in Wiltshire and experience here is that it is almost impossible to get a statement unless the child is profoundly behind academically. This is why I was wondering whether the Disability Discrimination Act (which has different obligations in relation to meeting needs) was a more useful way of ensuring obligations are met. He is being assessed by the Social Communications Disorder Team led by a consultant clinical child psyachologist. The team includes SALT (who said he had SCD but said school deal with that and discharged him which is routine here), Consultant Paed, Community Paed, Ed Psych and OT. You do not routinely get an Ed Psych investigation as part of the assessment. My son was also assessed by BIBIC who identified the working memory problems and the auditory processing difficulties. It is clear that he fits the profile for dysgraphia too. He is nearly seven and has problems with writing which were masked by effort and the fact that his writing appeared within the 'normal' range at a younger age. I explained the issue to school but they would not do anythign to address this until they got an OT report. We are nearly finsihed OT assessment and it's clear he can't sit still in his seat and has difficulty with writing at any length, mixes up his letter (lower and upper case), often inverts letters, and that his hand hurts when writing. Last April the school assessed him at level 1a and this Jan's targets assess him at the same level so no improvement throughout the time. We are about to start an Early Bird Plus course with the school next week and I think they believe that this will solve all the problems.

My son is undergoing assessment for ASD. He is bright and doing quite well but has clear problems in working memory and probably dyspraxia/dysgraphia. We are seeing an OT for the motor skills/sensory side of things and we went to bibic for assessment in relation to some of his difficulties. They confirmed auditory processing and working memory problems. I have asked school who needs to address this to no avail. He is on SA but gets no assistance at all over and above differentiated teaching. His targets relate to social skills and were compiled before the reports had started to come in. There was an occasional social skills group last term but that seems to have fizzled out. I would like to know whether I, as a parent, can request an assessment by an educational psychologist or whether this has to be requested by the school. I understand that this is not the same thing as a request for a statutory assessment of needs Why would they be reluctant to do it? Does it cost them? They clearly know there are problems. Also, the OT will certainly come back with a whole of host of suggestions. Are the school obliged to implement them if they are 'reasonable accomodations' related to a disability?

Hi I have a paediatrician's appointment later this month for my son who has just turned six. We have been referred by our GP as he has strong sensory issues (smells, food, clothes). He also gets very upset about change or being hurried. Anyway, getting dressed for school is always a bit of a chore. We try and have a system in place but things can be turned on their heads by the wrong socks or underpants (we are now down to only two pairs being acceptable!) Variation on a theme today as I got changed and put on a skirt and tights. Ds has mentioned before that he doesn't like tights and I nearly always wear jeans these days (I work from home at the computer so no need to dress up!). Today, he got so upset about me wearing the tights I had to change back into jeans. Is it the change in routine? He almost looked like he would be sick. I didn't look that bad honest?!! Any ideas? He also seems to hang on my every mood. I try to be really calm and patient in the morning and don't rush him. I tell him it doesn't matter if we are a bit late. But it is stressful and he knows, for example if I go silent or sigh (after the 5th pair of socks)that I find it difficult so it makes him shout or get upset. I find it very difficult to deal with as I have a three year old to dress too and husband goes out to work really early so is not around to help

Hi I have a paediatrician's appointment later this month for my son who has just turned six. We have been referred by our GP as he has strong sensory issues (smells, food, clothes). He also gets very upset about change or being hurried. Anyway, getting dressed for school is always a bit of a chore. We try and have a system in place but things can be turned on their heads by the wrong socks or underpants (we are now down to only two pairs being acceptable!) Variation on a theme today as I got changed and put on a skirt and tights. Ds has mentioned before that he doesn't like tights and I nearly always wear jeans these days (I work from home at the computer so no need to dress up!). Today, he got so upset about me wearing the tights I had to change back into jeans. Is it the change in routine? He almost looked like he would be sick. I didn't look that bad honest?!! Any ideas? He also seems to hang on my every mood. I try to be really calm and patient in the morning and don't rush him. I tell him it doesn't matter if we are a bit late. But it is stressful and he knows, for example if I go silent or sigh (after the 5th pair of socks)that I find it difficult so it makes him shout or get upset. I find it very difficult to deal with as I have a three year old to dress too and husband goes out to work really early so is not around to help.

Thanks for all your helpful posts. I always thought of my son as calm and peaceful until he started school and recently things are just getting worse. Today, he's been off ill but he had a massive screaming session when I turned the tv down as the phone rang and then started hitting me when I was on the phone. He just doesn't seem to be able to control his emotions. He never used to be like this. It seems to get more pronounced as he gets older. Is that normal?

Hi I am new here and looking for advice/support. My son is almost 6. I never noticed anything unusal about him until he satrted school last year. He was just my lovely, imaginative, kind boy - he still is!. When he started school, he seemed to have problems with other children in the playground - or at least one specific child - who would hit and push. He is imaginative and there seemed to be alot of 'play fighting' going on without much guidance from adults. it was not something he ever did at home. My son was as good as gold in class but there were a couple of incidents where he was reprimanded for retaliating and as time went on, I could see he found it difficult to deal with some of the other children who were quite aggressive. The Head changed at the start of Sept and I went to speak to her about completely unrelated matters. She raised, in a rather abrupt and insensitive way, a few concerns she had about 'sensory' issues. She didn't call them this but I could see what she was getting at. My son had been chewing books/pencils and she put this together with the fact that he had problems with playground play and toilet 'accidents' when he first started and seemed to be trying to suggest something was wrong. We had decided to change schools in any event as the chaotic playground environment of this massive infants school was not right for my son. I pushed the head on the issues she raised and she backed off saying she didn't think there was anything to worry about. These things stick in your head though! Anyway, my son has been at his new school since October and he really likes it. However, since about Christmas, I have been getting increasingly worried about what I see is more pronounced, age-inappropriate behaviour. For example: (i) he chews things - paper, cushions you name it (ii) he has complete meltdowns about the slightest thing, like a toddler, screaming and kicking - he never did this as a toddler!! (iii) he is very possessive about particular toys; he uses a toy gun as 'protection' when he goes into nervous situations and if you touch it (or if his younger brother touches it!) he goes crazy (iv) the list of foods he will eat is decreasing - pasta/pizza - I never know what to do about packed lunches (v) he is hypersensitive to the point of hysteria about smells - he will gag or be sick when this is particularly bad (vi) he is hypersensitive to clothing and shoes - he had to wear boots and a plain t-shirt to school for the first three weeks of term (vii) he seems to find change very difficult - being off for two days with the snow really through him and he was hysterical at the thought of going back to school today (viii) he gets very anxious and agitated in certain situations e.g. picking up younger brother from nursery - he won't speak to people and gets quite aggressive - very unlike him I spoke to my health visitor and she spoke to the GP. I then spoke to the GP who has referred him to a community paediatrician. She thought, given his imagination, concentration, empathy, it might be something along the lines of dyspraxia (can't ride a bike/finds swimming difficult). The school have not noticed anything but I have kept them posted. I feel like I'm going a bit mad as they seem to see nothign wrong yet I have a 6 year old in tears in the morning if his underpants aren't 'right'. The GP says it is common for parents to notice these things first. In the meantime, I find it dificult to know how to deal with issues as they arise. Sometimes, I feel I need to point out to the teacher that he has been particularly worked up/worried but I feel like they might think I'm just an old fuss pot pathologising her son's behaviour! There might be nothing wrong and if there is, I'm not sure what it would be. He's very happy most of the time so these types of behaviour really stand out and seem more odd as he gets older. I wanted to post here as someone mentioned AS/HFA and I wanted some more info. My son is affectionate and seems to be empathic and I wondered whether that would rule this out. Thanks for listening!