Lying teachers

[Pancakemaker]

Hello all met Damiens ed psych today,she was very nice and helpful,said she'd go and observe him in nursery and do a report.my gripe is with the head nursery teacher,on their academic review day Damiens dad and I attended and at the end of the meeting,after being told in a sorry tone that they had set my baby the lowest possible targets they had available ie. To take off and hang up his own coat,I asked if in her opinion Damien got the attention and help he needed at their nursery,and she said "to be honest no", I then asked if she thought he'd be better off in a specialist school and she said "probably".I asked again last week just to be sure that I heard right,and she again said that he does need more help then he gets.today,before the ed psych meeting I said to the teacher that I would like to get Damien statemented and would she mind as I didn't want to do it behind her back,if I said that she'd admitted that he does need more help then he's getting? She said "I didn't say that!" I said that she had and she said no what she had said was in reply to a question that I had asked which was would Damien get more help and attention in a "autistic" school and she'd said probably.she peed me off,I really didn't expect that at all.good news is the ed psych said she wants to refer Damien to the occupational therapists,and on Thursday a music therapist is doing a home visit to arrange what days she'll see Damien,and I've joined the local toy library as well as they have a lovely sensory studio that I started taking him to last Friday which he loves,so every Friday he gets to go there. <'>

[Kathryn]

Glad to hear that there are some good things happening for your son. Helpful professionals make all the difference.

 

I know we've had a discussion in a previous thread about whether teachers deliberately lie - but whether or not that was the case here, it's always difficult to recapture these off the record remarks when you really need them. Get everything in writing, I always say, having learned to my cost, what happens when you don't.

 

K x

[Suze]

Just keep working towards getting the statement and getting all the necessary evidence you need to support it, and your application.The ed physch and the OT will carry more clout as it were than the nursery ...well they did in my sons case anyway.

[Pancakemaker]

Thank you ,feel like I'm pushing against a wall and it's pushing back!

[Sally44]

As already said, get everything in writing, or after a conversation or meeting send in a clarification letter detailing what was said and agreed.

 

This kind of thing has happened to me a number of times. Why do they do it? There can be a number of reasons. I think that from a legal government "inclusion" point of view it is very difficult for nurseries or schools to say they cannot meet need in mainstream placements. That can be interpreted as discimination. They have to say they can, especially infront of LA staff.

 

In reception year the Headmistress told me that they could not meet my sons needs and that in her opinion he needed a special school. She would not say that to the LA because she could not. She had to say "we will do everything that we can to include xxxxx in this school." And so he struggled there for 3 years until he was moved. And he was moved to another school that did have experience of children with ASD, and yet they still could not meet all his needs and he struggled for a further 3 years.

 

I've had the EP and Autism Advisory teacher recommend an autism unit to me and my husband verbally and infront of the parent partnership, and then the LA have denied that conversation ever took place and those professionals refused to put their opinion in writing to me. [However I did carry out a Data Protection Act search and discovered internal communications between the LA and their SEN departments where they did confirm everything they had said to me.] But it is way to early in the day for you to be considering such a search IMO - if you need to you do that much later on and when you think there will be something worth finding.

 

Even recently I had the EP and the Head of the EP service come to my house and they told my husband and I that at our forthcoming education tribunal they would say their opinion that my son should be placed in the autism unit. We were going to Tribunal seeking an independent placement and I think they said this to try to convince me that I should withdraw my appeal as this type of recommendation had the potential to wreck my case]. When I sent in a clarification letter, she denied having said that. At the Tribunal it was no longer worth her saying that because they then I had involved an independent EP and he had done a school visit and had seen both the mainstream and autism unit and had assessed my son and said that both placements were not suitable for the specific reasons he gave, and that the only suitable placement was the independent school I was asking for.

 

Whey do they do it? Because unfortunately they work for their employer, who is the LA. And the LA has a budget which they try to keep under control. They are not independent. And unfortunately that means the child often gets lost in the process.

 

In my experience it is somewhat easier if you have a child that fits into the kind of education provision your LA has ie. mainstream, autism unit or special school. The problems begin when you begin to gather evidence that the child needs more support, therapy [sALT, OT etc], or that his needs can only be met in an independent school. If you can prove those things the LA has to fund that level of support and fund that provision/placement/therapies.

 

Try not to take it personally. Just wake up and smell the coffee and be aware that it happens. And do your best to make sure you get everything down on paper.

 

IF you begin to get advice/evidence etc which is saying that your child is not suitable for a mainstream primary school, then please remember you will need to have the Statement before you can even seek a special placement. And Statements take over 26 weeks to the final statement IF the LA agrees to the assessment and then agrees to issue a Statement. You may have to appeal at either of those stages if the LA refuses.

 

Primary Reception places in special schools/autism units are often allocated out by the LEA a year before to those children they are already aware of that definately need those places. You don't want to end up discovering he needs such a place, but find that all the places are full.

 

Has the SALT seen him and assessed him? If he is unable to follow a simple one step instruction he is going to really struggle in a mainstream reception class and may need the environment and more specialist teaching and therapies he would get in a unit or special school.

 

You can apply for the Statement yourself, you don't need anyone to agree with you. You can also visit autism units/special school within your local LA catchment area which cater for children with ASD and other difficulties [which I presume he has as the OT is involved.] You can also ask the professionals involved now where they think he would best be placed.

[Sally44]

I also just wanted to add to this, that even if you do ask the professionals where they think he should be, you have to be aware that they may base their reply on whether they feel there are places available and not necessarily on his need. There are so few places compared to the number of children, that if you have two children, both functioning at the same level and one appears to cope whilst the other does not, then the latter child will get the place and the other will go mainstream and hopefully tolerate it there. Often they don't, and the problem then is that you are trying to fit your child into an ASD specific placement that is already full, and that would require going to an Educational Tribunal.

 

Again, I was promised by my LA EP that if we "tried" my son mainstream [because the advice from professionals was that he appeared too capable] and he did not cope, that she would move him into an ASD specific primary school. After 3 years [which is more than giving it a go], when he was very obviously not coping, and I asked for him to be moved, she then told me she did not have any authority to do so and that there were no ASD specific placements anywhere within our local authority.

 

What I did then was I visited the only LA mainstream school that also had extra funding for a specific number of ASD students [termed as "enhanced resource"] mainstream [they also had a unit on site], and I felt it was an improvement to move him to that school. But there were no "enhanced resource" places available. So I pushed forward with getting the Statement because a Statement is a legal document that has to be fulfilled. And I applied for a regular mainstream place at this school. I had to transport him to/from by car. By law they had to fulfill the Statement, which was over and above what the enhanced resource provided. We also appealed and went to Tribunal for an ER place, and the LA gave him an ER placement two weeks before the tribunal.

 

He lasted a further 3 years there before now being out of school, and we are now waiting for the results of our second Tribunal where we were asking for an independent ASD specific school.

 

Sorry to ramble on about our situation. But so many things could have been sorted out sooner, for the benefit of everyone, including my son, if everyone involved had been open and honest.

 

Those 6 years of struggling have damaged my son. But they saved the LA alot of money.

[Pancakemaker]

Thank you,no he hasn't got an OT but th ED did say hat she would refer him to one,I just want him to be somewhere that will understand him and have the know how to help him,just came back from a NAS coffee morning,had a good moan which helped!xxxx