Access the full curriculum?

[Sally44]

My son needs alot of input for various difficulties associated with his dx's.

School is trying as much as possible to interleave any out of class therapy he has with the national curriculum.

His teacher is saying that any further removal from the classroom will mean they cannot deliver the full curriculum to him.

 

If his needs are such that they have to be met, then what are the options.

I really do understand what the teacher is saying. However if he remains in the classroom, and is unable to demonstrate learning because of speech, dyslexia, writing difficulties - then being in the classroom is kind of pointless unless you can demonstrate and record learning.

 

Could he have a reduced curriculum to allow him time for therapies? Or can that only happen in a 'special school'.

[jb1964]

School is trying as much as possible to interleave any out of class therapy he has with the national curriculum.

 

Hi Sally,

 

Not quite sure what you mean about the class therapy side - but my daughter had a reduced curriculum in maintstream comp. - on the advice of the CAMHS consultant she was excluded from PE, Music, and also had the option of not taking Welsh/German - all due to her anxieties so it must be available for certain reasons.

 

Take care,

Jb. x

[Sally44]

I mean for example that SALT is done one to one with a therapist once a week and practised daily with his TA. The programme is interleaved with the national curriculum in literacy/topics etc. So it is relevant to what the other children are doing in the classroom. In that way he is not missing teaching due to therapy.

But it is interesting to see what certain things can be dropped. I wonder if it is the same in primary years as there are less subjects anyway.

[Suze]

During primary my son spent 3 hrs per wk out of mainstream, 1 hr spent learning typing skills and 2 , 1 hr sessions for english and maths support for his dyslexia.At high school he had 1 salt session a week, is disapplied from languages and RE, and has 2 sessions 1:1 extra english.Currently in yr 10 he has 3 sessions of 1 hr each week for extra work and study.It gets increasingly hard when they start their GCSE,s he is taking one less than the norm so he can have extra study time.

[Karen A]

Hi Sally.

Ben is in year 7 at secondary school.I think there must be more flexibility there because there are some pupils who do not do a foreign language.Instead they have extra support in numeracy or literacy during those periods.

We did decide to prioritise therapy options for most of the last three years.Ben had OT and SALT documented in his Statement.However up until christmas he also attended weekly psychotherapy appointments which were provided by CAMHS and not included as educational provision.We felt that if Ben did everything he would miss out too much both socially and educationaly.In practice we did not push for OT groups whilst Ben was still in psychotherapy.This has resulted in him perhaps needing more help with self-care than he would have done otherwise.However because I had been a nurse and worked in re-hab I felt I could help with the Self-care stuff whereas psychotherapy is a bit out of my league.

 

In your case one thing worth bearing in mind might be what the implications of working one to one for much of the time might be.If your son spends a large proportion of the day away from his peers how will he develop social skills or communication skills. Also If your son ends up spending most of the day one to one with adults in my mind it sounds as though he would be being educated one to one on the same site rather than being included.

I do not know what the answer is though it is very difficult to decide which things are most important.

 

For us the dilema regarding how to fit in various therapy appointments and provision has been more of an issue because Ben is in mainstream.In theoryI would think that in Specialist Provision more activities form part of the school day for all children .

The other thing worth considering is if it would be possible for your son to practice the skills learned with SALT for example in order to generalise them if he has less time in class.

 

Also all pupils need time to chill and have down time during the school day.I think it is possible for a situation to occur where the day becomes full of either accademic work or therapy/ social skills etc etc which could be exhausting and stressful.I know that Ben needs a lot of down time in the evening and at weekends.He finds the school day exhausting just because of the extra demands placed on him due to Social Communication Difficulties/ dyspraxia / sensory issues.

Karen.

Edited March 2, 2010 by Karen A

[Kazzen161]

Even special schools have to offer the full curriculum.

 

I did find this:

http://www.governornet.co.uk/linkAttachmen...7%20-%20pdf.pdf see Curriculum: point 54.

 

 

[hazma]

Hi Sally,

 

Not quite sure what you mean about the class therapy side - but my daughter had a reduced curriculum in maintstream comp. - on the advice of the CAMHS consultant she was excluded from PE, Music, and also had the option of not taking Welsh/German - all due to her anxieties so it must be available for certain reasons.

 

Take care,

Jb. x

 

I was wondering about this.My son is starting GCSEs next year,and I am not happy about him missing certain academic subjects.I asked the SENCO if he could be removed from PE,for social skills work.He struggles enormously in that subject,gets bullied and just hates it.He does outside activities loves riding his bike,takes karate ect,so no problem with his fitness just hates the lesson.The SENCO said she would look into it but believes it to be against the law as its a mandatory subject.So if anyone can advise me on this,or where to go to get advice I would appreciate it.

[BusyLizzie100]

My middle son (now aged 10) moved from mainstream to specialist autism school in September, and follows a full curriculum. The difference is how it's delivered. For example, he had 25 hrs 1:1 in mainstream, and ended up totally dependant on the LSA; he had to be weaned off the 1:1 at the specialist school and is now in a class of six other children. The adult ration is about 1:3, sometimes 1:2.

 

Very few of the children require individual SALT, but there is a group SALT session once a week, and - most importantly of all from my point of vew - the curriculum is communication-based, ie it might not be therapy per se but speech and language targets are being addressed constantly.

 

Likewise with OT; only a few, including my son, require 1:1 OT sessions, but there is a weekly OT session for the whole class and the OTs are on site, so if there are any issues, advice is readily available.

 

My son's learning style, including his SALT and OT issues, couldn't be accommodated in mainstream - he was ending up being withdrawn for individual work more than he was spending time in the classroom, and his behaviour was becoming more challenging because he didn't understand what was going on half the time. He disengaged quite rapidly. At the specialist school he is so much happier and he is really learning - and talking about his learning, to some extent, at home.

 

In answer to your initial question, Sally, our experience has been that special school fits it all in much better - without reducing the curriculum.

 

Lizzie x

[Karen A]

I was wondering about this.My son is starting GCSEs next year,and I am not happy about him missing certain academic subjects.I asked the SENCO if he could be removed from PE,for social skills work.He struggles enormously in that subject,gets bullied and just hates it.He does outside activities loves riding his bike,takes karate ect,so no problem with his fitness just hates the lesson.The SENCO said she would look into it but believes it to be against the law as its a mandatory subject.So if anyone can advise me on this,or where to go to get advice I would appreciate it.

 

Hi.

Ben is in year 7.He has AS and dyspraxia and also hates PE.He has difficulties due to the physical side of PE and the Social Side.

School have been flexible in the type of PE Ben has done.So we said rugby would be a disaster on all fronts....rough,physical contact,team game,mouth guard,shoe laces,dirt,inability to cope with group showers etc etc etc.Various groups do different activities and rotate.As Ben likes swimming he has done swimming twice in succession instead of rugby.

If a pupil has a disability then school are obliged to make appropriate provision available so that the pupil can take part in all areas of the curriculum and school life.So if the SENCO says PE is mandatory then she should have a role in finding a way to make PE accessable.

Karen.

[BusyLizzie100]

If a pupil has a disability then school are obliged to make appropriate provision available so that the pupil can take part in all areas of the curriculum and school life.So if the SENCO says PE is mandatory then she should have a role in finding a way to make PE accessable.

Karen.

 

Sounds right.

What would happen, if for example, parents wanted a child disapplied from French in Y7, since it's been a problem for him for the past three years, but school says no you can't? My friend has been told by the secondary school that they don't want it written into his statement for secondary because he'll have to do it. Their reason is that the school she's chosen, mainly because of its excellent pastoral care, is a language college, as well as a music college and technology college, so he;ll have to learn a language. Most schools our way have a specialty of some sort (this one has three) but it's not why most parents choose a school.

 

Lizzie x