phasmid
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Posts posted by phasmid
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Moncs, I am currently writting my dissertation on SEN focussing on parental and school staff views. The problem you might have is not everyone wants to 'talk' about things on a public forum. Perhaps an e-mail address to send info to you might illicit a better response. There are plenty of horror stories (and some good ones too) comming through to me on my questionnaire.
Just a thought.
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The issue of 'holding things together' is a worry for me because I'm just not sure how much it applies to James. I think it may be more that he's calm and relaxed in school and feels settled enough not to be under pressure, that conforming is relatively easy for him and that's why so little of his Beelzebub persona comes out there. But I can't be sure that he's not under some stress he's not yet aware of because of his immaturity, and I don't want to make matters worse for him. Perhaps I'm just being over-cautious because in the past one little mistake on my part has often led to lasting negative effects.School is ROUTINE ROUTINE ROUTINE! Evrything happens to a timetable, meals,lessons breaks,and of the day etc. He knows whats going to happen and when ASD heaven! But, they still have to cope with the odd bits that happen from day to day - and thats difficult. We have been in exactly the same situation. Though I think Phas jr's targets that were set included things like copping with new class, timetable and routines - they don't always have to be educational targets!
As I said it is all a question of striking a balance. I'm sure you'll get there.
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Hi Karen,
As I was reading your post a few things were popping into my head to say to you. I don't need to...simply because Helen and Carole have already said them. I agree totally with both posts. So:
Re Helen's post: I agree, the SENCo is being lazy. If targets have been met then new ones should be set. His new teacher can be given a copy of previous IEP's to gauge where he was to where he is and how he got there. What you have been told sounds like a cop-out.
Re Carole's post: Phas Jr was pretty much the same. He would 'hold it together' at school, but step through the door and we'd get instant meltdown! Home is safe, you can drop the act, and be 'you'. He used to do this regularly. The school had no hassle from him - that was our job. I can only say it did get better. From a school staff point of view (and this WILL sound like an excuse, sorry - it's not meant too) this sort of problem occuring 'at home' is rarely a 'school problem'. UNLESS, of course the meltdown continues into school the next day. That said, I would ALWAYS, as Carole suggests, advise school of whats going on at home. The 'big picture' can often help them, even if they can't help you. You could seek support from other sources for the home meltdowns though, and school could back you up with something along the lines of 'Mrs/Ms XXXX has spoken to us 'X' times about son's meltdowns at home...etc' providing they know about it.
Striking that balance where all is hunky-dory for everyone concerned all of the time is not an easy task to achieve. It can be done, so hang on in there.
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It is also VITAL that in any interview conducted by the Police (or others) an ASD TRAINED person is on hand. The manner in which they are questioned WILL influence the response. Advice from o/h (SEN governor and exclusion appeal committee chair - at LEA level) is consider a counter-claim. Had he not been pushed, he may not have lashed out in return. You need to tell your friend to get expert help!
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You can present your reports as parental evidence under sect 8:30 of the CoP (p151).
Wave that at the Ed pysch!
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I'd be asking the LEA 1 question:
What medical qualifications in ASD diagnosis does the Ed psych have?
If they are more medically qualified than the people who wrote your reports then they have a leg to stand on. In my experience I have never come across an Ed psych who is qualified to make, or dispute a diagnosis.
I'd challenge them on that one if nothing else!
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steven also flaps his legs about the doctor says that he is showing signs of restless leg which is where the legs wont stay still but i thought it was just part of his asd/adhdIt is NOT ASD related, it is a syndrome all of it's own. Restless Legs Syndrome is a pain. I have it so badly that I am on medication for it ( it is actually for Parkinsons which I DO NOT have). It has caused no end of rows when I have been taken into hospital or been to GP and seen a locum in the past. They have wanted to take me off the tablets. So I have to sit there and fill them in on the background - specialist sleep clinic and the tests they ran etc. Most of them sit there and go "Oh!"
Mine is extreme, arms and legs going crazy all night! I was filmed overnight once and they showed me the video the following day. I was running a marathon every night and never left the bed! No wonder I was knackered most days! Add sleep apnea to the equation and I was blooming zombie!
If it is realy bothering you (and him) see your GP - look it up on the Net and take something with you, most of them have less of a clue for it than they do ASD's!!!
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I agree with Nellie, contact IPSEA and/or NAS and sooner rather than later. It would be interesting to note the schools reaction to the incident. Has ANY action been taken by them in respect of this incident? If not, the lack of reaction speaks volumes to me. If any action has been taken, what was it?However, I would advise you to tell your friend to not allow their child to accept the caution without getting advice from above.
Cautions do come back to bite people.
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Zemanski, I could kiss you
. Been looking for something to help someone and had not been able to find what they needed. You just did 
Mwah!
(Only hope your female
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I agree with Helen. It is a red tape nightmare but, I'm afraid it is one you need to follow. If you try to skip a stage in the complaints procedue it is all likely to come to a grinding halt. You need the school policy on SEN and the complaints procedure. On the LEA website is a list of schools who have websites. If yours s one of them it may be on there - that would save you asking for it.
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LKS, I never doubted your effort for one second, (sorry if that is how it read) I meant theirs!!!
Sorry but I think the senco is talking cr*p! School budgets are set in April now, and at least where I live the SEN audit is carried out in time for the SEN budget to be set and sent to the schools by then as well. Therefore the staffing levels should have been sorted. I know that many schools are having problems because of workforce remodelling and PPA time. But this should have been sorted by now! It is simply not acceptable to respond like this.
As Zemanski says
there's no excuse for not being ready for a new child with ASNone!!
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Go here and print off anything you feel they need to know. Put it in an envelope and hand it in...or leave it somewhere. Hell, if it were me I'd pin it up in the staffroom!
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Elle,
Phew! Where to start?
LEA policy is a good point, you say you live in Leicester. Is Leicester City Council your LEA? Have just been trawling their website for info, but before I go plunging in I need to be sure I am looking at the right LEA!
Next, dealing with the school.
This is particularly difficult given the circumstances and my heart goes out to you. Given the fact that these are your work colleagues cannot make this any easier - in fact it makes things so much harder for you. Do you have a husband or partner who can step in here and deal with this instead of you? It is what Mrs Phasmid did when our children were at my school, or at their middle school when I was a governor there, this allows you to keep your professional life and personal one seperate - I know that is not easy when you are dealing with an issue along the lines of what you are dealing with. But, it might be easier for you if this is possible. If this is not possible you need someone to speak for you. They can do this without the difficulty of having to deal with, in effect, their boss. Ipsea and so on are the best bet for this. You simply CANNOT try and deal with this alone.
I cannot understand why the school are being so inflexible. I have, at work, seen this situation arise more than once. When one child begins to rely on another to the detriment of both then something needs to be done to address this. From what you are saying this is not the case here. The fact that the other parents have also expressed the same concerns as you would indicate that they do not see the continued friendship as being a problem. Your daughter has a DX of a condition that makes it very hard for her to form new relationships. I'd be asking them if they would take away cruches from a child with a broken leg on the basis that they are going to have to learn to walk without sooner or later? Would they take away a hearing aid? A wheelchair? etc on the same basis. A sensible solution to the problem (that they are seeing) is not to pull the rug out from both children in such a dramatic fashion. Suggest they are left in the same class as each other next year but, use this year to begin to lay the groundwork to put them in seperate classes NEXT year. Have them intorduce other children for them to work with and over a period of time get them both used to working apart for short periods. These can be lengthened over the course of the year. It needs to be a gradual process... it HAS TO BE a gradual process. From what I can see, at least in your daughters case they are going to end up witha school refuser as a result of their actions - that helps nobody, least of all your daughter.
Do you know if your daughters school has a website? (Do not post it up if they do) If they do do they have any school policies on it? Have a look and let us know. If they do, on both counts I'd like to look at them - you can PM me with the details. Your doing everything right. Hang in there!
You are not alone on this anymore - you have a small army sitting here to support you. We'll do the research, we'll point you in the right directions, we'll help you through this.
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Hi Elle,
You're going to have to to hit the ground running on this.
Firstly you need the following documents:
School SEN Policy (They must have one)
LEA SEN Policy (ditto)
Read through them and find ANYTHING that backs your stance. Monday contact any professional who your daughter has contact with (or has in the past) who can back you up with their professional input, ANYBODY!
Contact your local Parent Partnership Service (their details SHOULD be on your LEA website). Their job is to assist you at times like this to ensure that the SEN Code of Practice and other policies are being followed. IPSEA will, as suggested also be able to help.
Get yourself armed with all these bits and pieces and make an appointment with the school asking that the Head are present.
I have to go out now but will look to see what I can find to help you later. Don't despair.
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Hi LKS,
It does sound like they have paid lip service to your son's transfer. Transition from one school to another is an important and difficult time for any child. For those children with an ASD it is even harder. With effort from all concerned it can be done successfuly - the key word being effort!
I know the following won't be much use to you as such this late in the day, but it might help others. In the meantime go make a nusciance (I know thats not spelt right - it's the end of a very long week is my excuse!) of yourself at his new school if that's what it takes. Make them listen to what you have to say. I'd also suggest contacting IPSEA as nellie advised - I think that you have good grounds for a complaint to the LEA as your son's review should not have taken place this late in the academic year. NOT when he is transfering to a new school. HH has copied the relevent section of the Cop that you need to quote.
Anyway this may help someone in your position in the future:
The following is based on our experiences as parents and Mrs Phasmids role as a governor and our joint knowledge of SEN. All we can say is it worked for us.
Even before addmission papers have been issued asking you to choose schools start doing your groundwork. Visit all the schools you are considering. Arrange to go round them on a normal day and see the school at work. Do this without your child. Ask to speak to the SENCo, get copies of the SEN and any other policies you want as well as a school prospectus. Most schools will be happy to do this. I'd be very wary of any that won't!
Once you have done that, compare your thoughts on them. Then arrange for you AND your child to visit on a normal day. See how the staff re-act to them and your child to the staff - likewise the pupils. Then, again, sit down and compare notes. If, when the forms come out the schools have open evenings go along. Take a list of any questions you have and take the time to speak to the staff. Then sit and talk it all through (AGAIN).
After all that, fill in your form and wait for March (normal time for being told whether you have got the place in the school of preference).
Once you know the school, get talking to them. Identify asap the names of important staff if you don't know them already. At this point we took Phas Jr's new school a letter describing him. His likes, dislikes. The sort of things that would upset him and how he would react - how they should react to him. We also arranged for him to have visits to the school in the summer term so he could get to know the staff, layout of the building, noise levels between lessons and so on. This was in addition to the between schools 'Transfer Day'.Through all of that, and the normal academic exchange of information between the schools they had a very good idea of what Phas Jr was going to be like. They told us the 'this is Phas jr' letter was brilliant, whatsmore they circulated it around all staff who he would be taught by - we know this as we saw the copies!
We also made it clear we were wanting to work with them. If anything happened at home that may effect his mood at school we phoned them. Likewise if anything happened there that we should know about they were to contact us. We got talking. We all knew each other well long before he set foot in the school as a pupil. It was really worth the time and effort. We knew exactly who to contact when there was (is) a problem and they knew we were there to back them up.
Basicaly be careful when choosing a school - don't go on other peoples opinions, whats right/wrong for their child may not be the case for yours! Once you know the school it's COMMUNICATION,COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION!!!!
If your child has a statement I would add the following to the above. Ensure you are able to attend the yr 6 review (or yr 4 and yr 8 where applicable) if at all possible and make your thoughts known. If you feel it is nessecary write in and ask the current school to give you the date for the review at the start of the academic year, reminding them -gently- of the relevent passage in the CoP. Insist upon a transition plan being drawn up AND followed. If you are unable to attend you can still make a written submission. As with any annual review you should get a copy of the revised statement sent to you before it is made formal. If you don't like/agree with what you see, put it in writting and tell them so.
Hope that helps.
LKS, give some serious thought to making that complaint.
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Well done. I began following your story very late in the day. The fact that this was (is) a special school makes this victory all the more important. We have been very lucky with Phas Jr, we know that. For many,many others special schools are their last ray of hope. In your case that ray of hope was snatched from you in a way that should never have happened. You didn't take that lying down. Good for you.
Hold your head high.You have done your son proud.
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This simply should not have happened! All children should have the chance to take part if that is what they want. For the school to do this is, as Helen is saying, discriminating against your son because he has a disability. That, is illegal.
I am sooo angry that a school has reacted in this way. If he was happy to take part, and you were happy to let him, they should have allowed him to participate.GRRR. Apart from encouraging you to follow this up by complaining I don't know what else to say to you...
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My aplolgies if you have already seen this on the education forum. However, I really do need your help. If you would be willing to take the time to fill in the survey it would be a big help (to those who have already - a BIG thank you). What would also be a help is if you would all spread the word about my research onto other websites or via e-mail newsgroups you belong too. I had hoped for many more responses thatn I have had to date. I need as many respondants as possible to be able to support my findings. Plenty of interest has been shown by various national groups who are assisting me by making their members aware - they are also keen on knowing the outcome of the research.
So, below (copied straight from the Education Forum) is the details of my research and website. I really do need your help:
I am the parent of 2 children with SEN, 1 has partial hearing loss and 1 has Aspergers Syndrome. I am currently a SEN Teaching Assistant in a mainstream primary school in the East of England. I am aiming to become a qualified teacher specialising in SEN.
I am currently studying SEN provision in MAINSTREAM ENGLISH Primary schools as my final year dissertation for a BA (Hons). a segement of my paper will be focussed on parental views of SEN provision and family support, in England. Below is a web link to my site:
http://phasmid.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/
I would be very grateful to any uk based parents who can spare me the time to fill the questionnaire in for me. I believe that things could be much better than they are and hope my research will provide proof of this.
Many thanks
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CMJ, thanks for that. I am going to contact them re my own research (a scratch each others back type approach).
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Same again.
Only wish the number of views = the number of responses on the survey itself!
Soooo, if you haven't filled it in yet I'd be really grateful if you could spare the time to do it. I hope to be able to use this dissertation for the good of any SEN child in mainstream but, I will only have any clout with my findings if I have a higher number of responses (only about 130 so far).
Thanks
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We have a few children in my school who are unable to compete on equal terms with their peers due to various disabilities. They all have the option of NOT taking part if they choose - they always take part. They get the biggest bloomin' cheer of the day when they finish and are so chuffed with themselves. They could teach some of their more able peers a thing or two about determination and just 'taking part for the fun of it!
Play it by ear on the day. The school are doing the right thing - by leaving it to him to decide. If he wants to do it, I'd let him. If he does just be prepared for an overwhelming sense of pride.
My own sun cannot run for toffee. When he decided to do the 800m a few yrs ago we were horrified! He came in last, and was lapped by just about everyone - his whole school were stood their cheering him on as he crossed the line- more than just his mum and I had a tear or two running down our cheeks.
Let us know how he does
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Sounds very interesting indeed.
Could you put up a link to where we can register?
SEN provision in mainstream primaries
in General Discussion
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CarerQuie, thanks for looking in to it. Tizzmeclare, thanks for filling it in.