Help required Please

[Annea]

Hi Everyone and Happy New year to you all...

 

Now I have my 14 yr old settled at her Priory school, I am trying to get My 11yr old daughter sorted...

 

We are still not sure about whether she has ASD BUT she sure does have a lot of problems I recognize from my eldeset daughter...

However the problem I have right now is her progress in school...

 

She is 11...

 

She can not recite the months of the year unprompted, and if I were to ask her for instance... How many months is it until June.... She would really struggle to answer....

 

She can now tell the time but only the main times such as oclock, half and quarters.... and she has no real grasp of how long an hour is etc....

 

now she has other various problems but the problem I have is that Her school say she is meeting ALL necessary targets...

 

When I ask My daughter how she is able to do things at school but not with me, she tells me ' But my teacher helps me get the right answer!' Now this doesn't surprise me as I have stood outside the class when a spelling test is going on and the teacher will say something like...

 

Ok spell Went.... thats W-e-n-t pronouncing each part of the words phonetically <hope thats not confusing> and so not surprisingly, most of the kids get good marks in their tests.... However when I say to her "spell.... Went.. in a clear and normal voice", she wouldn't have a clue....

 

So my question is.....

 

How can I prove that actually my daughter is NOT achieving what they claim? I have thought about doing a short video <my daughter is happy for me to do this of her doing a test at home> so they can see how she 'tests' under normal circumstances..... I feel I would then have the right to say to them... "prove the same for school"

 

Any other ideas???

 

Also can someone point me in the direction for where I can find tests in spelling and maths that are suitable for level 6? At present she doesn't even know her two times tables.... she can't count in 5's she can do her 10. s but is sometimes caught out if I said for instance... what is 11 x 1 she would say...mum you know I don't know my 11 times tables!" Because she just doesnt realise that its her 1 times tables infact!

I just want to be able to demonstrate the places that she is struggling clearly and concisely and also highlight where she is doing really well, preferably before she goes to secondary school and ends up under acheiving.

 

In other areas such as science..... she will have indeapth conversations at quite a deep level and has an excellent grasp of History.. it seems that it is definitely a sequencing issue she has..... They have told me i should accept that maybe she just isn't bright, and if thats the case that is ok... but if she is and they are just not recognizing a problem.. I feel this is really wrong....

 

All help would be greatly received as I am meeting with school and LEA in two weeks and want to get all my facts straight before this meeting!

 

Thanks in advance

 

Anne

The person that Helped me fight for the rights of my eldest daughter.

http://www.educationadvocacy.co.uk/

 

[Karen A]

Hi Annea.I think the expected level at the end of primary is a level four.Some children do manage to achieve a level 5 .There are loads of books that show the sorts of things that children should be able to do to gain a level four.However from what you have said it sounds as though your dd may be behind.

It is very possible for a child to be very able in some areas and still have problems in others.Ben has AS and dyspraxia.He is in year 6.He is very very able in history and writing.He knows more about topics that interest him than most adults.However he needs help with maths.He is certainly very bright [much brighter than me ] however he has a statement and full time support.Specific learning difficulties are not necessarily linked to intelligence.

It may be worth thinking about attempting to put together a case for asking for support in the areas you are concerned about as well as concentrating on the levels your dd may be at.SATS tests in year 6 should provide an indication of the level children are at.However it will be rather close to secondary if the results are not good.....you may be aware that some children started secondary in 2008 without having had results.

Are school currently providing any support ? You may not be aware that you can request a statutary assessment yourself by writing to the LEA.However it is now very unusual for the LEA to agree to an assessment unless the school can show that all attempts have been made to provide support at school action and school action plus...without significant impact.

Another option worth considering might be to ask the school to request an Educational Psychologist to do an assessment .Karen.

[av16]

Do you know what levels your daughter is working at for reading, writing & maths? In yr 6 the average child should be on level 4; at this time of the year if she is near to average she should be at least 4c.

Do you know what her targets are? Does she? I would ask for this information now so that you can gather some more facts before your meeting. Our LA has a threshold for applying for a statutory assessment so that if a child in year 6 is working below 2c, if you apply for SA there is a reasonable chance it will happen. (Obviously they look at other factors too). From some of your comments it sounds like your daughter is working below the expected level and you should know how the school is helping her.(Not by 'cheating' at tests!)

Has she had any assessments done by speech and language therapists? If she has problems remembering/sequencing they maybe able to identify any issues. The school should be able to help with this too.

Good luck!

AV

[Annea]

Hi thanks for replying...

 

Ok the problem I have with the school, is that they think I am a pain in the ***

 

When my eldest daughter was having problems <she is now at a priory school which we were awarded at tribunal> They said she had no problems, lied to me constantly about her progress and of course ended up looking very silly....

 

So with this daughter, we are now back to square 1, with all hostility thrown in for good measure.....

 

They havent said what level she is at, we don't do SATS in wales, but they say she has NO problems! and is working at a peer equivalent level....

 

I requested her school records recently, but they are unenlightening, and are mainly made up with tests they did with her to 'satisfy to themselves that she didn't need SA+ anymore' however, my daughter tells me she was helped a lot with these tests and she certainly can't do this work at home!

 

All the time she was on SA+ she was not seen by the ed psych, but to be hnest, as the ed pysch was also heavily critisicisd at the hearing for my other daughter, she is very hostile to us too and less than helpful the times we have spoken on the phone.

We can't get SALT assesssments done here, they just don't have the manpower unless achild waits for yars and I just can't do private right now....

 

I have searched the internet for resources so I can set up some sort of test to see'roughly' at what level she is working at, my idea of videoing the test was so that the LEA could not come back to me and poopoo it... I know from experience they will try every way to discreidt before they accept facts!

 

The school will NOT help at all, I know the only way I can do this, is to prove the school have got it wrong. I will be asking for a stat assessment again<she was turned down last year> but I need some proof on my side as the school are certain that she is ok and back up their claims with assessment 'results' that 'prove' she is doing ok....

 

Can anyone point me to key stage resources so I can have her do some sort of testing???

 

Any other ideas also gratefully received!

 

Thanks

Anne

 

 

The person that Helped me fight for the rights of my eldest daughter.

http://www.educationadvocacy.co.uk/

 

 

 

[Karen A]

Hi.Sorry.If you live in Wales and don't do SATS the information AV16 and myself have given is probably nut much help. <'>

If you look on one of the intenet book order sites and search up key stage 2 revision SATS books for England the books should give you a good idea of what would be expected at the end of primary in England.Here most children do SATS in May in year 6.Karen.

[Kazzen161]

If you google: QCA SATs tests

 

you will get several web-sites, including some free papers.

[Annea]

Thank you, and also for the info via PM )

 

Anne

[julie1]

if you are not sure about her levels and do not trust the schools to give fair tests, i would get a educationial psycologist to do an assesement. You may have to pay for this yourself or you could ask for an assesment frpm the L.A. However from my experience the L.A tend to go with the school, and if they are sating there is no problems you could have a fight on your hands to prove otherwise. Good luck with this problem you are not alone this is a typical problem that a lot of parents have.

[daniels-mum]

My son is in Yr 6 at the moment and will be moving to Secondary in Sept. I have been in to see his teacher and she told me that in Literacy he will probably be working towards a 3B or 3C, a 4 for Science and possibly a 5 for Maths, he is very good at arithmetic but now they are starting to learn about things beyone actual sums he is definately not finding this as easy. He has just been refused a diagnosis for AS from CAMHS but they have stated that he processes information very slowly and has significant social and communication difficulties. He is on School Action Plus and recieves 6 units of funding which will stay through transition. I am also going to seek a second opinion, private if necessary with regards to his AS diagnosis as I think CAMHS are wrong. I am also going to apply for a Statuary Assesment but dont hold out much hope.

 

Is there a parent partnership scheme near you, I think if the school are been hostile there is certainly nothing to lose by involving parent partnership or some kind of advocate for yourself. It may also make the school pull their finger out.

 

Also, may be wrong, I frequently am, but I was under the impression that they had to send Yr6 SATS exams away for independent marking, which can only good as it means there should be know bias there.

 

Sorry my knowledge is very limited, I am only posting from personal experience, but I know how worrying it is when they are going up to secondary. My son is getting worse if anything and CAMHS have just made me feel it is all my fault, he is awaiting an OT assesment as I am sure he is dyspraxic and I am also going to request a dyslexia assesment for him. This has all been going on for years now. Why is it such a battle to get some kind of answers.

Edited January 10, 2009 by daniels-mum

[Kazzen161]

Also, may be wrong, I frequently am, but I was under the impression that they had to send Yr6 SATS exams away for independent marking, which can only good as it means there should be know bias there.

 

You are correct (though the standard of the independent marking left a lot to be desired this year - lol!).

 

I think Annea was saying that it was the way the exams were given, not the marking, that was biased.

 

There are clear guidelines on what help can/cannot be given in proper SATs, but whether the school follows it could be debated, eg: in the spelling test, the word is read clearly, in context, but it is not sounded out. The SATs are monitored by inspectors, but obviously they cannot be everywhere all of the time.

 

[daniels-mum]

You are right there Kazzen161, my sons teacher has said he will have a reader with him for his Literacy Sats and possibly his Science so surely that in itself will impact his answers. He has a very good teacher and she does know her stuff and Daniel himself very well, but part of me thinks they should let them take the exams unaided to get a true picture of their attainment levels, this would hopefully then lead to the appropriate help in YR7 once at secondary school.

[Kazzen161]

They are not allowed to read the comprehension paper in SATs so it should still be obvious that he has difficulties reading. A note should be made of any allowances made, and those allowances should be ones that the child has every day (eg: if they usually have someone to scribe for them, they could have a scribe in an exam (except for some literacy papers)). So there should be no surprises if the school sticks to the rules properly. Literacy scores are averaged out though, so sometimes a poor reader/good writer can appear to be average overall.

 

It is very frustrating to watch children struggle to answer the questions, and to not be able to help them beyond reading what is actually written in the question. I know some teachers will offer more help than they should.