Mayor Quimby

It does vary from country to country. When I was teaching in a more mainstream environment I used to train some high functioning ASD children to be the referee. It worked in some cases and it also ensured that they were getting exercise and were involved. It didn't always work though.

Tell your children's teacher that other teachers do give them to the parents. IMHO it's good practise and it makes you accountable for the child's education. The milestones that they reach should also be dated. So if your child has a long period with no dated improvements then something is going awry. I try to review my p-scales every term and I use the descriptors on it to feed into the IEP. I also use the Birmingham Profile too and the descriptors on that feed into the IEP which is reviewed every term and sometimes sooner depending if they've reached that target. I have no qualms about parents seeing these. Parents should also have a copy of the IEP targets. I find it helpful to be honest as many of my parents use the IEP's to reinforce what they're doing at home. I have found it particularly helpful when they are using PECS.

Luckily in our school we have two autistic classes, so any children higher up the spectrum in mainstream classes tend to get a good deal. They don't want me up in their rooms finger wagging. However, in many mainstream schools there is a great deal of ignorance about ASD.

Being a teacher myself I can say that the SENCO has acted in rather an unprofessional way. But you do need to get both sides of the story. However, 99.99999% of teachers will be 100 times more responsive if you asked for a quiet private chat to ascertain what happened and you asked politely, but firmly for them not to do it again. Teaching is a hard job and sometimes it gets so stressful it's difficult to act totally rationally at times. On the the hand I'm also parent and there have been occassions when I've have had an issue with his class teacher and I've found the quiet, private, polite but assertive chat the best method of dealing with it by far.

There is a Local Authority lifeguard on duty when we are in the pool. However, as my children have severe learning difficulties and some engage in stimming behaviour I think we need someone who knows the children on the poolside.

Thanks all.

Thanks for the help. My class has 6 children. We have a lesson in swimming pool with another class of 9 other children who are Key Stage 2 pupils with moderate to severe learning difficulties. The pool isn't a special needs specific pool, but as it is an old fashioned 20m pool with a deep end and a shallow end with not much else in it bar the pool, it suffices but it isn't briliant. I am a qualified lifeguard (bronze medallion) and I passed the preliminary swimming teachers award about 10 years ago. I am a very strong swimmer myself. I am a member of the local triathlon club (and I have compete in about 6+ races per year) and I help run the children's section of the club. The LSA's seem to think that every member of staff should get in the water. I don't. I have two children who are strong swimmers and who are capable of swimming a length quite easily. All of the children bar the two strong swimmers work on a one to one basis in the shallow end. The two strong swimmers train at the deep end with me. I teach them at the side of the pool with my trunks and t-shirt on, should I need to get into the water. None of the other members of staff are strong enough swimmers to go out of their depth for any lengh of time.

Thanks.

I am a teacher of a KS2 ASD class attached to a mainstream primary school. My support assisstants aren't happy with the way the swimming lessons are being organised, but I just follow guidelines I was given and I consider what they are saying to be unsafe. Has anybody got any decent links to swimming sites and ASD ?

I usually take the childs p-scale assessment with me to the annual reviews so that the parents can be told if they want. I personally have no problem at all with the parents taking them home with them and having a good read and editing anything they find on them in pencil.

Before starting an IEP I suggest that the class teacher draws up an assessment first. We use the Birmingham Profiles for instance, but there are plenty of them out there. From that assessment there will be plenty of targets to be drawn.