Meeting new SENCO

[KezT]

OK, so we've got the statement

 

WE've got the (mainstream) secondary school we wanted

 

They've already allocated an LSA trained and experienced in supporting ASD children

 

Now we have to manage the transition..... just looking for any advice from those who have been there before...

 

I am arranging the first proper meting with the new SENCO - just me and DH to start with, before DS joins in the visits. I was thinking we would probably go through the statement, and discuss any specific issues/management techniques etc. Is there anything I need to specify, bring up or discuss do you think?

 

thanks

[Sally44]

If you are happy with section 2, then the main part to go through with school is section 3 and how they will meet the Statement.

 

I met with the school SENCO and it became immediately clear that certain aspects of the Statement [as good as it was] were still not specific enough for parts of it to be met in the way it was intended. So we just had to do the best we could with the rest.

 

Our main problem areas were not any 1:1 therapy or TA support, as that was specified. Where we found it all fell apart was when it moved from 1:1 sessions into functional settings such as the classroom or playground. Skills learnt were not generalised into those environments.

 

The hardest areas to monitor are social or life skills generalised into unstructured free time. But it can and should be done with an adult supporting, prompting and modelling the skill and then gradually reducing their input until the child is independent. The best way we found to try and monitor these types of issues was to try to get one target per term in the IEP relating to these areas. We failed to achieve that because school kept saying they had no concerns. But they didn't have the staff available to fulfill this requirement anyway. Mid-day supervisors, as lovely as they are, are not suitable to provide this level of support.

 

Another big issue we had was that the learning environment was too high arousal for my son to be calm and alert. He was just too overwhelmed and overloaded all the time. So lots of breaks, quiet time, somewhere to go during breaktimes, receiving an overview of the lessons from the TA before, during and after the lesson [to ensure understanding and recording any homework].