School do not believe in IEP's!!!!

[westie]

Hi

 

I have a niece who is almost 9. She has been assessed and diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia, and is waiting to be assessed for ADHD/ASD in near future. Her problems were not picked up until she was 7, and her main trouble is that she is having significant difficulties with reading and writing (assessments have put her at age 6 - the lowest score she can be rated at). At her primary school she is on school action plus. The school refered her to request that she attend for some hours per week a special reading scheme at a special school in the local area, however they have refused to do this as (in summary) the school have not worked with my niece using special reading plans recommended to them (school say they do not have these special things in their school) and that the school also do not have any objectives which are working towards her achieveing some improvement in reading/ writing. Nothing they have done so far has made any difference. Also that she is so easily distracted that their scheme may not be suitable.

 

Her school have told her parents in meeting that they do NOT BELIEVE in IEP'S so she does not have any!

 

Now am I mistaken in believing that if you are on School Action Plus the school must do an IEP and review regularly?

 

Another thing is that they will not help her further and have just told her parents that they will have to try again in another 6 months to try and get her on this scheme. So basically they are doing nothing. Meanwhile she is having more problems behaviour wise (its starting to come out now) and being teased etc by others. They also told her parents to get assessment for ADHD/ASD at CAMHS but told them to go to GP and ask them to refer as the school/ SENCO could not make such a referal, I know this is a load of rubbish as the SENCO at my sons school refered him to single point of access team to get a referal to CAMHS for anger management counselling (he is statemented and has been since reception).

 

I just cannot believe a school can decide they do not believe in IEP's even when they are getting funding to help kids with special needs, and could generally be so unhelpful !! Can they refuse to do IEP's or is it breaching some regulation or other?

 

(this is same primary school I attended. I was in a wheelchair/ in a calliper as I had Perthes disease as a kid and the school were brilliant then, things must have gone downhill a lot since - mind you it was some time ago! )

 

Thanks

Edited February 26, 2008 by westie

[JsMum]

I would write all your concerns about her learning difficulties to the chair of governors and senco and send a copy to the OFSTED and local MP and see if any action on supporting children who have special needs and how come across the nation there is billions of IEPs used in every kind of educational system even in college though these are considered as action plans, having targets and stratagies, they also can provide vital evidence to prove that the child needs extra specialist help so IEP are actually a useful tool in special needs provisions and further assessments that may lead to other difficulties.

 

If your niece has dyslexia her reading and writing are going to be comprimised and futher support will be required have you contacted the Dyslexia Institute and looked at a statatory Assessment of her needs and have it in a statement that could later lead to a more specialist school.

 

I would complain if there seems to be no action on supporting her SENs with this kind of attitude it does question wether this school is the right place for her and would a new placement be a consideration.

 

JsMum

Edited February 26, 2008 by JsMum

[Flora]

Westie

 

The primary school my son is at said the very same thing to me...'I don't believe in IEP's'. When my older son was at the school he was turned down for stat assessment. I then asked them to implement an IEP because there didn't seem to be anything recorded to prove whether he was making progress or not. I thought he wasn't making any progress and the school said he was but there was no recorded proof. They refused to do an IEP because the HT who is also the SENCO doesn't believe in them!

 

My youngest son who is still at the school has dyslexia and dyscalculia. He is taking the KS2 SATs soon so I'm waiting to see what results he gets. At KS1 he was marked with P levels which I don't understand at all. However I will know if the school have been exagerating his progress or not when we see how he does with the SATs.

 

I produced all sorts of policy documents from the county council website to show that they should be implementing IEP's. The only time they ever produced any was once when I nagged them about my youngest son, and once when OFSTED were visiting!!!

 

Flora

[JsMum]

Flora its funny what you said about the ofted visiting, in our area where Dyslexia is presently diagnosed very low, though thousands have it there is not much support for children with dyslexia and yet even though our area have the best results for ofsted where it falls often is reading and spelling, it does give a clue to where the focus needs to be and that more recognition needs to be done for Dyslexia.

 

JsMum

[westie]

Thanks for your replies!

 

I have told her parents to contact parent partnership for advice on schools and their help to look further into situation with current school, but independently of this to start the process of asking for assessment. I do not think it is suitable, she is making no progress there and it seems they are not bothered.

I will also look into the Dyslexia institute.

 

Why do some people/ schools/ LEA's make it so hard to get help for your kids(when they so obviously need it)