School Reports

[lisa]

My son has had a great year academically this year. Since getting LSA support at the end of year 5, he's gone from level 2A's (year 5) to getting all 4's and 5's in his year 6 SATS. This equates to going up by 4 years progress in one year. So why can't the school give him a bit of praise and acknowledge all his hard work and what a great achievement this is for him.

 

The school said that he didn't need a statement and were proved wrong, so why can't they just admit it. His report was full of stuff like "J needs to learn not to be distracted by others"!!!!! The whole gist of the report was that he could do so much better if he tried harder. What more do they want of the child?? Yes, he is a very clever child and in the right situation and environment he can do extremely well at times, but they seem to think that because they've seen that he can work to a high standard, anything less is laziness. J has a lot of sensory problems and probably also has ADD although he's not been assessed for it. He has major problems with concentration, attention and distractibility. I don't think the school give him credit for how hard it actually is for him to function in school.

 

J's teacher even had the cheek to say to me that J wants his freedom (because obviously being a parent of an ASD child I'm neurotic and over protective) and suggested I let him travel to school by himself when he starts secondary school this year. She's been with him a whole year and she successfully demonstrated in one sentence how she doesn't know him at all.

 

I'm sure there are some 11 year olds with Asperger's that are capable of travelling by bus to school alone, but my son ISN'T one of them!!! All a stranger would have to do is tell my son he had a real lightsaber at home and J would go with them, he just doesn't think. It wouldn't be hard to spot him as a vulnerable child or find out that he was a Star Wars fanatic because he talks about it constantly to anyone who'll listen (or not, it makes no difference to him, he'll carry on regardless).

 

 

Lisa

[sarahjane]

This "he's just lazy" attitude drives me nuts! I get it from my son's teacher because she knows he is v intelligent but he has failed to progress. It is easier to blame him than tackle the real problem- his as. I would take his report with a pinch of salt (trying explaining that one to H!) Praise him for you know what he has acheived! And well done to him it just shows what can be acheived with some support- makes me more determined to fight for more help for h next yr!

[Kathryn]

Hi Lisa

 

Congratulations to your son for doing so well this year . It is frustrating that the school can't see the extent of his underlying difficulties - a situation that feels very familiar .

 

(I have two Star Wars obsessed people in my house - luckily they talk to each other and I don't have to listen. )

[Guest flutter]

that is great how well he had done

as to the travel to school, you have to do what you think is best, for you both,

if he needs your support then you do it! it may gradually change, over time, or it may not

i am going through the same thing soon, but i am lucky that there will be people on the bus who will take care of her for me, and i wll get told what is going on

as parents we generally know best, i know there are often 2 differnt kids, but still

take care

C x

[Canopus]

Primary schools tend to value kids that are only average intelligence, work hard, and put pen to paper more highly than high intelligence kids that don't do much written work.

 

Bad school reports don't mean much in practice and I know of parents who just rip them up and throw the pieces in the bin.

 

I don't think that the education system will look at good points of AS kids until the attitudes of teachers change and that won't happen in the forseeable future. Teaching in Britain is a subculture that is badly detached from the real world. There are limits to what educational psychologists and LEA special needs reps can do, and at the moment they are about as effective as powering up the water pumps on the Titanic which delayed its sinking by 10 or so minutes.

[Zemanski]

we had exactly the opposite experience with reports this year.

 

at primary level Com's reports were pretty accurate - celebrating achievement and acknowledging difficulties. (primary was much better at appreciating Com's intelligence and achievement than high school, Canopus)

 

since going to high school Com has had glowing reports which wasn't so bad last year but this year we had this 'excellent' report with 'pleasing progress' and no sign of any problems.

When we looked more closely Com had actually regressed in terms of independence and life skills and his levels had fallen in 4 subjects (possibly more as 3 subject reports were missing) and in one his current target is actually lower than last year's achievement.

 

what I want is a picture of my boy that tells me how he is doing; the good and the bad - just some honesty and some consideration of what is really happening to him.

 

don't suppose I'll ever get it though!

 

one good thing about getting a really bad report though is that it serves as evidence that a child needs support - glowing reports often come just before they try to reduce support!

 

on the travelling to school - I spent 6 months training Com to get to school on the bus and was so proud of him. He travelled alone for 2 terms quite happily (only one way as the return journey is more complex and there are roads to cross and a bus stop with 20-30 loud teenagers to contend with).

School didn't see that as much of an achievement and when we told the senco that he could no longer do it due to stress this year she just wasn't interested, not her responsibility!

 

take care

 

zemanski

Edited August 3, 2005 by Zemanski