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hazma

Advice wanted

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Hi

 

My son,who has Aspergers,developmental co-ordination difficulties and ADHD is in his first year of upper school yr 9,he has a statement of 18 hours per week.Not getting on too bad but has had a few problems with one TA.

In his home school book she wrote this

 

"H worked well but needed prompting.He 'fell out' with a member of his group and was heard rudely insulting her.

Team work is essential,hopefully this will be resolved by next lesson.

H you must participate more in group sessions."

 

Im unsure how to respond to this. Whilst Im pleased to be informed of where problems occur,and happy to work on targets with him and the school,surely targets need to be achievable and realistic. My son complains that nothing is said to the other kids when they antagonise him,and when he questions this, he is told" Im supposed to be concentrating on you,not anyone else" I was hoping some of you could give me your take on this. :unsure:

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Hi, we have had the same problems with our son and some of the TA's. I took it up with the SENCO, as she was the one asking the TA'S to write things about him in a diary. He was always the one being targeted, and the others not being told. You just have to make it clear that you are not happy with just your son being singled out, when the other pupils are also doing things. The way we put it was, that they are supposed to be helping him with his ASD needs, not reporting negative behaviur all the time. If the TA and class teacher were doing this, your son like ours, would not be having these problems. It took us a few times of saying all this, but we were eventually listened to. You should also point out about concentration, etc, is the reason he has a statement in the first place! Hope this helps.

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"H worked well but needed prompting.He 'fell out' with a member of his group and was heard rudely insulting her.

Team work is essential,hopefully this will be resolved by next lesson.

H you must participate more in group sessions."

Isn't prompting part of the TA's job?

What are the TA and the school doing in order that your son can achieve team work by next lesson, other than expecting him to spontaneously develop the ability overnight (literally)?

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Agree with Tally, and Js TA is there to keep him on Task, he too has social interaction difficulties, I would reliterate it in a letter to the SENCO, is there any spersific social skills courses/group that your son could attend at school?

 

May be they can look into why he fell out with a member of the group? also if he was angry or upset about this if help could be offered to help him express his feelings without hurting other people, also in the heat of the moment we say things we dont mean, maybe if he had more help for how he reacts, also stratagies to help children with ADHD too.

 

JsMumxxx

 

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I may be a good idea to keep a log of such incidents and go in to discuss it with the class teacher and Senco if you feel there is a recurring pattern. Maybe the Autism advisory team can be called in to assist with providing strategies for helping your son deal with conflict situations better? Having said that, if he is being continually and deliberately provoked, the other pupils should be dealt with appropriately as well.

 

K x

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Hi

 

On he whole a TAs job is to help a kid on the spectrum with a whole range of difficulties, which includes social interaction. It is of course a two-way street because attention also needs to be given to how your son is 'received' by others. He clearly also needs help to integrate into group work, not simply be told. Issues with group work isn't likely to be resolved as a one off, but given disorder, is likely to be a recurring issue. The TA should know that, although it may well be that she knows little about ASDs in which case it would be worth finding out how much she does know about ASDs (not so as to find fault, but it is essential given she's working with a child on the spectrum). A constructive discussion clearly needs to take place to establish the best way forward in terms of supporting your son (and ensuring the other kids don't make life difficult too), a management programme/structure/clear instructions/targets needs to be put in place as well.

 

Best wishes

 

Caroline

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Hi.

Is it just this TA that your son is having difficulties with ?

If so perhaps the SENCO could provide the TA with some advice and support.It may be that this TA just does not understand your son as well as others or has less experience regarding AS.

 

We have Ben who has AS and dyspraxia and is in year 7. We found at the last parents evening that teachers fell broadly into two groups.Most understood Ben pretty well and although things did not always work out they were attempting to support him.On the other hand one or two just had not taken information provided by the SENCO on board or perhaps had not been given it.They had various issues with Ben which we could see related to either Social Communication Difficulties or lack of organisation or planning related to dyspraxia.Although Ben had not always helped the situation by responding in ways that were less than helpful many of the diffficulties could have been avoided if the teachers had understood how to deal with Ben as well as those who get along with Ben well.

 

It is unfortunate that most staff can be doing a really good job in providing support but it only takes one to unsettle things.

In your case the TA must be line managed by another member of staff who is probably either the SENCO or perhaps a subject department head.Perhaps it might be worth raising the issue with them.

 

We thought that after a lot of input from the SENCO and Head of Year that staff were understanding Ben better.However he has swimming lessons as part of the PE curriculum provided by LA swimming teachers.One obviously has not got the message because Ben twice attempted to explain that he found back stroke difficult because he has dyspraxia and AS.Ben was able to say that the teacher appeared to not understand and then told him that he needed to use his asthma pump before lessons in future. :huh::huh::lol:

Karen.

 

I Edited to add a link.

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...c=22714&hl=

I remembered this previous thread.Although the topic is different I remembered some of the issues raised were similar and thought it might interest you. :)

Edited by Karen A

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Hi

Thanks for all your replies and great advice as always >:D<<'> Ive spoken to the Senco,but she kind of fobbed me off,saing that particular comment was just" teacher speak" and didnt really mean that he was expected to develop those skills overnight.Im getting a strong feeling this TA has no AS awareness whatsoever,TBH.

Seems she is the SENCOs protege however. I was extoled a list of her many talents.Young but has a degree in psychology,has worked with children with various difficulties before,but AS,ADHD ASD were not mentioned.On a positive note and to be fair this particular TA has been positive on occassion in his book,but this tends to be lessons where his behaviour has been exemplary,such as library lessons.Im getting the feeling she is just treating him as a naughty child,and just dosent understand him.He has no problems so far with the other 3 TAs,they were part of a whole school training day,just before my child started the school.He was one of quite a few AS kids about to join.They just seem however to have a certain level of understanding and seem to be able to tune in to his wavelength.Not that he is always fantastic with them,but they know how to deal with certain situations quickly with the minimum of fuss.Think its one of those situations Im going to have to watch,in order to work out how best to move forward. :unsure:

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Hi

Thanks for all your replies and great advice as always >:D<<'> Ive spoken to the Senco,but she kind of fobbed me off,saing that particular comment was just" teacher speak" and didnt really mean that he was expected to develop those skills overnight.Im getting a strong feeling this TA has no AS awareness whatsoever,TBH.

Seems she is the SENCOs protege however. I was extoled a list of her many talents.Young but has a degree in psychology,has worked with children with various difficulties before,but AS,ADHD ASD were not mentioned.On a positive note and to be fair this particular TA has been positive on occassion in his book,but this tends to be lessons where his behaviour has been exemplary,such as library lessons.Im getting the feeling she is just treating him as a naughty child,and just dosent understand him.He has no problems so far with the other 3 TAs,they were part of a whole school training day,just before my child started the school.He was one of quite a few AS kids about to join.They just seem however to have a certain level of understanding and seem to be able to tune in to his wavelength.Not that he is always fantastic with them,but they know how to deal with certain situations quickly with the minimum of fuss.Think its one of those situations Im going to have to watch,in order to work out how best to move forward. :unsure:

 

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...c=23746&hl=

If you read my latest thread you may find that these things can take some time. >:D<<'> >:D<<'> :rolleyes::rolleyes:

If you do find a way to work out how to move forward please let me know. :)

 

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