what do I do now?

[kwjd]

My little boy age 5 has been intergrated in to Reception this year he was been in nursery since he was 3.

He Has a diognosis of Autism. He sees a speech therapist in school once a week. thats all the help he gets.

Even though they all know he needs more I dont know what to do or how we move on from this.

Every time I speak to the teacher they say he is doing well. But at home we dont see it he cant write or even hold a pen.

There is one teacher and one TA with 30 kids.

I just dont know where to go from here. I spoke to the HT at school and asked about a statement them seem to think im getting ahead of myself.

The Senco who has been really great was the nursery teacher is off ill know for the forseeable future. Can anyone help of give some advice on what I should do? Many thanks

[Pancakemaker]

Hi love,ask to speak to your schools educational psychologist,and contact your local ASD outreach service and tell them the situation,I did and they sent someone out to observe my boy in nursery and advise the teacher and senco what your boy needs and what needs to change.if your son has special needs he's going to need a statement any way ,he's entitled to itso don't let them make you feel like your wrong.xx

[sesley]

My little boy age 5 has been intergrated in to Reception this year he was been in nursery since he was 3.

He Has a diognosis of Autism. He sees a speech therapist in school once a week. thats all the help he gets.

Even though they all know he needs more I dont know what to do or how we move on from this.

Every time I speak to the teacher they say he is doing well. But at home we dont see it he cant write or even hold a pen.

There is one teacher and one TA with 30 kids.

I just dont know where to go from here. I spoke to the HT at school and asked about a statement them seem to think im getting ahead of myself.

The Senco who has been really great was the nursery teacher is off ill know for the forseeable future. Can anyone help of give some advice on what I should do? Many thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you read stories with your son? can you get him to read some of the words of the book you are reading.Will he hold crayons for colouring? It might be good if you can do things with him at home. You can do a lot of home support,like reading and encouraging colouring and drawing.

[Sally44]

You don't need anyone to agree with you that he needs a Statement before you request that he is assessed for one.

 

You just need to phone or write to your LA and say that you want them to carry out assessments towards a Statement of Special Educational Needs. They have to respond to that. The LA can refuse to assess - and you can appeal that decision. The LA can gather reports from the SALT/EP etc and may again decide not to issue a Statement - which you can appeal against.

 

So you have nothing to lose by asking the LA to assess him.

 

Who recommended that he should be placed in a mainstream school?

 

What reports do you have from any professionals to date ie. towards his diagnosis. Reports from the speech therapist about his receptive/expressive language, phonological awareness, social communication skills?

 

I presume he is definately Autism (ie. language disorder), and not Aspergers (ie. typical language development up to age 3).

[Sally44]

I would also advice that you get in touch with the local authorities Autism Outreach Teacher. They will have one. Ask her to come and work with your son in school. The school need to invite her. They should already have done this IMO. This teacher should also have some information about local parental support groups. These are very useful because you meet other families/children and they can give you alot of information about local services.

 

I would also recommend that you register with the NAS so that you get information about their HELP seminars for parents of newly diagnosed children.

[Sally44]

My son also was not holding a pen or writing/painting when he started school.

You can go to your GP, or to the paediatrician that diagnosed him and you can ask for him to be referred to the Occupational Therapist to be assessed for Dyspraxia.

[Sally44]

You can get in touch with BIBIC and/or CEREBRA to see if they can assess, or have any vouchers that they can give you to use for private professionals to see/assess/provide therapy for your child.

[kwjd]

hi thanks for that. We do try at home i try painting, couring crafts etc he will scribble a bit on the paper with alot

of encouragement but it never looks like anything.

 

The Senco thought it was best for him to stay in nursery.. he tried reception for a few weeks last Sept he didnt cope at all.

I will get in touch with those people about a statement.

[chris54]

 

I presume he is definately Autism (ie. language disorder), and not Aspergers (ie. typical language development up to age 3).

More and more there is seen as not distinction between Autism and Aspergers.

[Sally44]

More and more there is seen as not distinction between Autism and Aspergers.

 

That is true, and the diagnosis of Aspergers may disappear altogether. But the acquisition of language is still something that highlights a difference between the two. And the reason I asked about language is because the greater the difficulty with language acquisition, the greater the chance of a related specific learning difficulty relating to literacy and/or numeracy.

 

I was also recently told by an independent Ed Psych, that if a child is assessed for "theory of mind" and passes some of the assessments, that is also a "known indicator" that the child may be able to be placed mainstream. But that those children would still have problems with higher order theory of mind. My son was assessed and passed the theory of mind tests (the more basic ones). So my own son, has many characteristics that push him towards the mainstream/capable end. Yet he is assessed as having severe/profound speech and language difficulties and also a severe SpLD in literacy and numeracy which makes mainstream impossible.

 

And what is frustrating is that many of the NHS and LA professionals know about these indicators and should actually be flagging up children at a much earlier age for them to be monitored for these difficulties. But in reality it often takes years before something like a SpLD is even considered, often the LA won't assess, and parents can find their child (as we have) in year 6 and illiterate. And I have done everything I could have done to get it recognised and to get support in place. So if I have not managed to get the proper support and professional input, I imagine that most other parents have the same problems too.

 

My son was also finally diagnosed with dyspraxia in 2011 - and [through data protection act searches] i've obtained standardised assessment results carried out by the OT years earlier that place him overall on the 5th percentile - and those assessment results were never given to me. The OT never stated that he had dyspraxia at the Annual Review, so that EVERY need was identified. And the school said they had no concerns in this area! He has been assessed again because we are going to tribunal, and now he is older and still cannot do the tasks in the standardised assessments, he is now on the 1st percentile - so he has fallen further behind. He struggles to write, and he gets very tired and gets alot of muscle pain.

 

I think there were many reasons why my son did not write/draw as a toddler due to ASD, dysgraphia, dyspraxia etc. And until a child is properly assessed the co-morbid or combination of difficulties are never even considered. And once the diagnosis is given, it is another long slog to get something in the Statement.

 

From the OP I am concerned that a very vulnerable child, who may have associated movement and SpLD, has been placed mainstream. Especially as he has already been held back a year due to not coping.

Edited September 18, 2011 by Sally44

[flappyfish]

I would make an appointment to go into school and talk to the teacher. I am a teacher, and it's not unusual for children, especially boys, not to be able to write on entering school or even to make meaningful marks. Also, what you think 'doing well' means and what his teacher means may be different. It's not unreasonable for you to ask her what she means - what is he doing well at? She is probably talking about his ability to follow classroom routines, for example, or his ability to focus on a task. Ask your child's teacher what you might reasonably expect in terms of progress and what you can best do to support this at home. He may be nowhere near learning to read, but there are lots of pre reading skills you could be helpfully developing. Be prepared to be patient - just adapting to being in a new environment is a big deal for our children. Hope that's helpful.

[justine1]

I would make an appointment to go into school and talk to the teacher. I am a teacher, and it's not unusual for children, especially boys, not to be able to write on entering school or even to make meaningful marks. Also, what you think 'doing well' means and what his teacher means may be different. It's not unreasonable for you to ask her what she means - what is he doing well at? She is probably talking about his ability to follow classroom routines, for example, or his ability to focus on a task. Ask your child's teacher what you might reasonably expect in terms of progress and what you can best do to support this at home. He may be nowhere near learning to read, but there are lots of pre reading skills you could be helpfully developing. Be prepared to be patient - just adapting to being in a new environment is a big deal for our children. Hope that's helpful.

Hi

 

I agree with flappyfish. My son has just turned 8 and is in year 4. He is oone of the youngest in his class. He could not write his name until the end of year 1. He then missed out nearly all of year 2 because he was not coping in mainstream. Now he is doing very well at an ASD unit attached to mainstream. He is still behind his peers with his writing but to me he made more progress in a space of 4 months then he did in 18 mths. Whether its because of the fact he gets more help or because he is just happier or it could just be that it suddenly "clicked" and he now wants to write more, I really don't know the answer. I also don't know if his writing will ever be that legiable when he gets a job one day but its little steps at the moment.

[sesley]

you can do a lot at home,like regular reading stories to them and using crayons even though the images don't look much,you have to build up their confidence with tasks, i have to say don't depend on the school for everything,they only have a certain amount of time in the day and for adressing everyone's needs do as much support learning at home yourself,the more input a child gets the better,but be patient and allow processing time when you are speaking to your son. Use short simple language that he can understand for when you are giving instructions. The other thing is to think his mental/social age ,may not match his birth years,partiuclary if he has delayed speech and understanding abilities,so don't expect him to do what a n/t 5 year old can do.