should they be doing this?

[alexmum2]

My son is quiet good in a subject at school; he had a work partner that he worked well with the (only friend he has in the school) and not a close friend at that just one who says hello and maybe chats with him at lunch time some times.

Well there was a blip in his behaviour one day (he was particularly stress this particular week due to sex education lesson that he found difficult to cope with) anyway because they moved him down a class and put him with a group of kids that in his words are noisy disruptive and generally the dredges of the year. He feels totally let down and his likeing of the subject is deterioating because as he says he wants to learn and they don't; plus the fact that this teacher seems to "have it in for him" since his blip. We only realy became aware of how bad the situation was when we went to a parents eveing and spoke to this teacher who was quiet clearly very negative about our son. This prompted me to contact the head of studies by email as i couldn't get hold of her any other way to which she wrote me a letter exlpaining that he was doing well in this class and was not prepaired to move him.

Not happy with this ineffective reply we made an appointment to speak to the deputy head to ask why he was moved to a low group when this was not an academic issue. She said she would investigate and get back to us but we felt she was just making noise but will not move him. My question is do you think this is unjust and how can we force them to move him back?

[Spike P]

I would not accept this, no way. I would get down the school and demand a meeting with someone ! Even the bloomin cleaner! Seems your being fobbed of a wee bit. Has your son a statement ? If he has it clearly states what provision he should be recieving and how it should be achieved. He should also have an IEP. Alos you have reviews for him, ask for one now...before the SATS in May.

 

Me personally I would get an interview with Teacher and SENCO and thrash it out. ASD children seem to be put with low achievers and naughty ones!

 

Whay happened to you happened to my son. I discussed with teacher and got him moved, he is not underachieveing and not naughty so move him...period! No discussion, government mantra is clear all our children should be given the right to fullfill their full potential...So come on! I was sweet as pie to teacher, your good blah blah then hit them with what you want !

 

If you have difficulties with school you seriously need to get help from elsewhere, paediatric consultant? Local CAMHS team?

 

Good luck. Spike

[bid]

I wouldn't go in there all guns blazing...I think you need to clarify why this decision has been made before you make any complaints.

 

Bid

[bikemad]

I would not be happy with that at all n id be up the school in a flash and on the phone to the lea.

[alexmum2]

<'>

I would not accept this, no way. I would get down the school and demand a meeting with someone ! Even the bloomin cleaner! Seems your being fobbed of a wee bit. Has your son a statement ? If he has it clearly states what provision he should be recieving and how it should be achieved. He should also have an IEP. Alos you have reviews for him, ask for one now...before the SATS in May.

 

Me personally I would get an interview with Teacher and SENCO and thrash it out. ASD children seem to be put with low achievers and naughty ones!

 

Whay happened to you happened to my son. I discussed with teacher and got him moved, he is not underachieveing and not naughty so move him...period! No discussion, government mantra is clear all our children should be given the right to fullfill their full potential...So come on! I was sweet as pie to teacher, your good blah blah then hit them with what you want !

 

If you have difficulties with school you seriously need to get help from elsewhere, paediatric consultant? Local CAMHS team?

 

Good luck. Spike

<'> Thanks spike for your support; since I wrote this we have had an annual reveiw and yes he is statemented for 25hours. In the reveiw several teacher gave statements on my son progress and behaviour in there classes and all were possative even the teacher of the class he was moved out of!which didn't fit in with what the other teacher (the one that had it in for him) was saying! So I insisted he be moved back or I would make an appointment to speak to the head also it was suggested that if there was any future challenging behaviour then move him back I said at lease give him a chance, and I would eat my hat if there was! So the moral of this story is fight for what you believe is right! Just to say we have only just been offered the help of CAHMs.

[Sally44]

If he was removed from one class to another because of inappropriate behaviour, the school should have strategies in place to address these behavioural issues (and they need to have looked at what happened prior to the behaviour - there will have been a reason for it), and those strategies should be in his Statement. If they don't have any strategies in place (or in the Statement) the school needs to contact the Ed Psych for her to speak with school and yourself, and for her to put together some programme or strategy, depending on the behavioural problem is. And again that should be in the Statement - THAT IS WHAT A STATEMENT IS FOR! They should not be able to do anything to your son that is not in the Statement.

You say you have had the annual review. Have you signed that you agree with it? If not get this issue resolved and included in the Statement.

I would want a written explanation of what has been the behaviour that intiated the move in the first place. And I would want school to explain to me in writing how moving him to a lower ability class is going to improve his behaviour. I would also ask them in writing if they have sought the advice of the Educational Psychologist. I would also put in writing that this is something that should be included in his Statement. That is what section 2 is for ie. what are his needs ie. he needs a behavioural programme in place, or he needs more support in class, or he needs more frequent breaks etc. In section 3 it should state how they will meet those needs eg. XXX will follow the XXX programme as recommended by the Ed Psych and this will be carried out on a daily/weekly basis by a nominated TA, and the Ed Psych will review progress on a termly basis, or a nominated TA will be working with XXX during lessons he has particular difficulty with eg. XXX and they will ensure that XXX understands what is expected of him and will check that by asking XXX to explain to them, in his own words, what he is supposed to be doing, or due to anxiety and stress being a particular difficulty with XXX he receive extra breaks during lessons that are known to cause him difficulty ie. XXXXX.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

[alexmum2]

<'>

<'> Thanks spike for your support; since I wrote this we have had an annual reveiw and yes he is statemented for 25hours. In the reveiw several teacher gave statements on my son progress and behaviour in there classes and all were possative even the teacher of the class he was moved out of!which didn't fit in with what the other teacher (the one that had it in for him) was saying! So I insisted he be moved back or I would make an appointment to speak to the head also it was suggested that if there was any future challenging behaviour then move him back I said at lease give him a chance, and I would eat my hat if there was! So the moral of this story is fight for what you believe is right! Just to say we have only just been offered the help of CAHMs.

 

[alexmum2]

If he was removed from one class to another because of inappropriate behaviour, the school should have strategies in place to address these behavioural issues (and they need to have looked at what happened prior to the behaviour - there will have been a reason for it), and those strategies should be in his Statement. If they don't have any strategies in place (or in the Statement) the school needs to contact the Ed Psych for her to speak with school and yourself, and for her to put together some programme or strategy, depending on the behavioural problem is. And again that should be in the Statement - THAT IS WHAT A STATEMENT IS FOR! They should not be able to do anything to your son that is not in the Statement.

You say you have had the annual review. Have you signed that you agree with it? If not get this issue resolved and included in the Statement.

I would want a written explanation of what has been the behaviour that intiated the move in the first place. And I would want school to explain to me in writing how moving him to a lower ability class is going to improve his behaviour. I would also ask them in writing if they have sought the advice of the Educational Psychologist. I would also put in writing that this is something that should be included in his Statement. That is what section 2 is for ie. what are his needs ie. he needs a behavioural programme in place, or he needs more support in class, or he needs more frequent breaks etc. In section 3 it should state how they will meet those needs eg. XXX will follow the XXX programme as recommended by the Ed Psych and this will be carried out on a daily/weekly basis by a nominated TA, and the Ed Psych will review progress on a termly basis, or a nominated TA will be working with XXX during lessons he has particular difficulty with eg. XXX and they will ensure that XXX understands what is expected of him and will check that by asking XXX to explain to them, in his own words, what he is supposed to be doing, or due to anxiety and stress being a particular difficulty with XXX he receive extra breaks during lessons that are known to cause him difficulty ie. XXXXX.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Hi Sally 44 what a great reply I agree with all you say and i am not going to take this laying down again! they have moved my son back to his original class after the annual reveiw; I explained to the Ed Psych that was there ( never had one before at an annual review ) that I wasn't happy about the move she said that she didn't have the power to move him back but she would speak to the senco ( the senco was out of the room when she said this) they said that if he missed behaved again they would move him back, but after reading your reply there is no way i will let that happen! Like you say they should have stratagies in place to cope with any challenging behaviour, also he only misbehaves badly if he is stressed by something (wound up by other kids) Also statements were read at the reveiw from members of staff who teach my son and they were all very possative EVEN the teacher from the class were he was moved from! this made me very angry and i challenged the senco about it ,she made some feeble excuse about the fact that the teacher may not have notice my son behaving badly because his TA most likely controlled his behaviour so that the teacher didn't notice (is she for real or what?)

Anyway thanks again you realy have helped you've made me think (yes of cause why didn't I think of that!)

[Sally44]

I know this is going to sound very cynical, but I have experienced this myself. Eg. to your face, and in day to day school life you will get a totally different picture from the one you see at IEP meetings or Annual Reviews. Why? Because if they really say what the difficulties are (at IEPs and Annual Reviews) they would have to do something about it. And that would cost them time and money. So at the IEPs and Annual Reviews it is all smelling of roses.

Prior to me requesting a Statement for my son the Ed Psychologist had been into school, and had looked at the provisions the school had put into place and she said in her brief memo to me "that school have tried various strategies suggested to them and so far they have failed to help XXXX access the curriculum". After I asked for a Statement the same Ed Psych had to go into school and produce a formal report. In that she said "the school have tried various supports and strategies and have found that these have had a postive effect on XXXX's ability to access the curriculum". Firstly, I couldn't believe that she had done that. Then I couldn't believe that she had been so stupid as to contradict herself in writing.

There was a 3 week gap between the two sets of correspondence. My solicitor tore the LEA's case to shreds based on this and many other errors and inconsistencies. I even had one LEA member of staff phoning me on their mobile phones from a stationery cupboard to tell me they were supporting my case, but were unable to say so on their office telephone number for fear of being overheard because they had been told to 'remember who their employer was'. However at least one of them actually put in writing their concern about how my son had been treated. I will never, never, never again believe anything that anyone says from the LEA or NHS until I have double checked that against someone else from a reputable organisation such as the National Autistic Society or IPSEA. And when that stuff starts to happen, make sure you have got the Parent Partnership involved to take notes at meetings because then they will confirm everything that has been said and done.

However, you need to keep up the front of believing them, and having a good relationship with them. But always get everything they say and do in writing. And don't be afraid to drop in on school unannounced to 'see' how they are supporting your child. When I went in one day after school, I found the 'visual timetable' was 4 days out of date. They couldn't find the visual symbols they used 'every day' to show me, my son couldn't tell me where his workstation was etc. It was disgraceful.

[alexmum2]

I know this is going to sound very cynical, but I have experienced this myself. Eg. to your face, and in day to day school life you will get a totally different picture from the one you see at IEP meetings or Annual Reviews. Why? Because if they really say what the difficulties are (at IEPs and Annual Reviews) they would have to do something about it. And that would cost them time and money. So at the IEPs and Annual Reviews it is all smelling of roses.

Prior to me requesting a Statement for my son the Ed Psychologist had been into school, and had looked at the provisions the school had put into place and she said in her brief memo to me "that school have tried various strategies suggested to them and so far they have failed to help XXXX access the curriculum". After I asked for a Statement the same Ed Psych had to go into school and produce a formal report. In that she said "the school have tried various supports and strategies and have found that these have had a postive effect on XXXX's ability to access the curriculum". Firstly, I couldn't believe that she had done that. Then I couldn't believe that she had been so stupid as to contradict herself in writing.

There was a 3 week gap between the two sets of correspondence. My solicitor tore the LEA's case to shreds based on this and many other errors and inconsistencies. I even had one LEA member of staff phoning me on their mobile phones from a stationery cupboard to tell me they were supporting my case, but were unable to say so on their office telephone number for fear of being overheard because they had been told to 'remember who their employer was'. However at least one of them actually put in writing their concern about how my son had been treated. I will never, never, never again believe anything that anyone says from the LEA or NHS until I have double checked that against someone else from a reputable organisation such as the National Autistic Society or IPSEA. And when that stuff starts to happen, make sure you have got the Parent Partnership involved to take notes at meetings because then they will confirm everything that has been said and done.

However, you need to keep up the front of believing them, and having a good relationship with them. But always get everything they say and do in writing. And don't be afraid to drop in on school unannounced to 'see' how they are supporting your child. When I went in one day after school, I found the 'visual timetable' was 4 days out of date. They couldn't find the visual symbols they used 'every day' to show me, my son couldn't tell me where his workstation was etc. It was disgraceful.

 

[alexmum2]

Hi please forgive me if I have already replyed to this I'm still finding my way around this site. Yes i konw what you meen you have to be on as good a terms as you can manage with the school staff as I have learned to my cost; if ever I mentioned any thing negative about the treatment of my child or their ability use stratagises outlined in his statement they would make his life even more difficult than it already was! Also i would never trust any member of staff as in the past they have white washed over really serious issue that only come to light by accident or long after you can do anything about them. Yes i agree it's disgraceful what they think they can get away with.

[alexmum2]

I would not be happy with that at all n id be up the school in a flash and on the phone to the lea.

Thanks bike mad for your support just haveing support form people give you curage.