statement of 10 hours DOES NOT INCLUDE TOILIETING STRATEGIES

[sawjd]

Hello everyone,

 

 

Just so angry and upset as the statement our k has now ,implies a lot of 'mother reports' even though they have evidence from hospitals and doctors about constipation and soiling, basically the school have implied if we don't see it, it does not exist. so our k hides and witholds his stools and the overflow soils his underwear but not enough to go through his trousers just his pants. I took him to the doctor last week and k would not let him look (ks bum was sore, equivilant to nappy rash) anyway i managed to get the doctor to look when we all went into the toliet and he saw how ks bottom was.

 

I have tried to get an OT onto this but no joy. I have gone through ks statement and found no mention of any strategies to get him to wipe himself, no referal even to the autism unit to ask about help in getting him to change into his PE clothes and quite frankly they believe its because i have not brought a PE kit in, its been a year since he had his PE kit and he never wore it anyway.

 

I brought in two pairs of plimsolls and he refused to wear them. So i took them home. He was not changing into his PE kit, since i took the PE kit home he has been willing to do PE provided he does not have to change.

 

Recently as last week he refused to go in on Thursday as the teacher last week (he has a different teacher for PE on thursdays) tried to get our k to take his shoes off. If i force k to wear a PE kit he refuses to go in, so what do i do ?.

 

 

In part 6 of the statement all its says regarding changing of PE kit is this.

 

Strategies to encourage k to engage in Pe and physical activities in school eg social stories good home/school liasion to ensure any anxities k has around changing are recognised and expectations are clear any issues around sensory sensitivites are considered.

 

Good home/school communication eg home school book so that learning can be supported at home and any issues dealt with to reduce k anxieties. (k forgets letters, homework and his diary) He struggles with homework so leaves his book and does need reminding (frequently) to get his book.

 

Apparantly his continued lateness and absences have made an impact on his learning. No kidding, he complains he does not get the help and has even said so to their Educational physcologist and that has been mentioned in the report inclosed in the statement.

 

Its so insulting i really feel like i want to scream and go running to the nearest solictors, i can act on ks behalf and it would not cost anything provided we have proof of our incomings and outgoings.

 

Can anyone advise on how to get a child to wipe himself at school. When we asked him why doesn't he do it he answer

is i cannot see my bottom to wipe it. Even though i have told him he has to keep wiping till his mess is gone.

 

Basically they see K as lazy (lacks motivation) and say its his attitude thats the main problem. I could scream. I have phone footage of how k is and they refuse to see (tribunal don' allow video footage. Just because its not a problem for k (he just sits in it) the school think its ok.

 

I am just so angry. This is second time around for us and its so frustrating. I know its not an educational matter but a social matter yet he still needs help in these areas. I want him to stay at mainstream but he needs more support in basic care of himself. Should the school be employing this,even though its not an educational matter, its still support he needs.

 

We have all told k he needs to wipe himself but he won't unless he gets help. The school thinks its k pulling the wool over my eyes and doing this for attention. I can think of other ways rather than putting up with a sore bottom, wouldn't you agree ?. I think this statement is boardering on disrimination of some kind. I never had this problem with the eldest one.

 

Best wishes to you all, thanks for reading.

 

sarni

[chris54]

The toileting need of ALL children have to be addressed by the school. This is covered by the disability discrimination act. It makes no difference whether it is in a statement or not. To repeat it is ALL children at school.

There will/should be a designated person who deals with this, Often the first aider/ often the receptionist.

 

But of course it sounds like your child has more problems than just continence. With my son it was, what seems to be a common problem, not wanting to use the school toilets. Mainly due to the noise. He was quite happy for the teachers etc to deal with the consequences. The school arranged that he would be taken to the staff toilet at regular intervals during the day. He is more or less OK now. At the time he did not have a statement. (Still hate using school/public toilets, Its the noise)

 

Of course your son would need to cooperate with staff, they would not be able to forces him to get cleaned up.

The soiling, not changing for PE problem, not undressing for the doctor, I would think are linked. Do you have any idea where it comes from.

[bed32]

M also has a problem with chronic soiling - and we are getting very little help from anyone - we've been round the clinical route twice and got nowhere so we are back at square one.

 

I think toiletting can easily be seen as an educational issue - in Ms case the impact of this on his education is significant in terms of time lost, let alone the self-care and social issues that are also part of education in the broadest sense. You certainly need to get this moved from Part 6 to Part 3 with the appropriate need identified in Part 2.

 

Without knowing the details it seems that your statement is inadequate (10 hours sounds way too low) so you should consider appealing and getting it in front of a tribunal - people like IPSEA give good advice and I think may be able to give you a lot of help if your income is such as to qualify for legal aid as your posting suggests.

 

As to actual strategies - I wish I knew. The only option seems to be an incentive/reward system but finding one that works consistently is hard. We have had some success on a couple of occasions with this, but as soon as the incentive is obtained, or his attention switches so that he is no longer motivated by the reward then we end up back at square one with things as bad as they were before.

[Sally44]

It is an educational issue. Education is a broadly used term to mean teaching a child to be independent as an adult. It includes life skills. It isn't just maths and english.

 

SEND allowed me to send in DVD evidence. Why are they refusing you?

 

Who has he seen regarding this issue? Is it the paediatrician? They need to write a letter stating that toiletting is an issue with xxxx and that he needs adult support and strategies to support him during school hours and that this is a need to be included in his Statement.

 

Anything that is in Part 6 of the Statement is NOT the school/LA responsibility. You need it in part 3 as well.

 

If they won't amend, you have to appeal.

 

It could be that he needs access to a quieter toilet. My son could not cope with the hand dryers, and banging doors, and kids coming in and out making a noise.

 

If he is soiling himself, is he wearing diapers during the day? If not, get referred to get some. Because by being precribed the diapers, that proves he is incontinent.

[Sally44]

Regarding things like his PE. kit. Give it to school. By you withholding it, it looks like you are being funny. And it does not allow the school to try to get him to put it on. So send his PE kit into school with a note asking them to try to get him to wear it. Then they will see for themselves that they cannot get him to put it on.

 

Has he soiled himself in school? What do school do about it?

 

My son's school did do a toilet strategy with him. That involved him having a board which showed what he had to do. A TA went with him into the toilet and prompted him. He did wipe himself. But not very well. And he would get stuck in the loop of wiping and used to block the toilets frequently. So we used wet wipes and he was given 3 of them. He too used to get a sore bottom. So the school did do something. And for children that are incontinent, as Chris says, the school MUST clean them.

 

You could phone a special school and ask them what their procedure is, and ask for that wording to be put in the Statement.

 

But it really needs a consultant or the OT to highlight this as a need.