AAARRRGGGHHH!

[Lemony]

Sorry for the rant folks but i`m rather peed off at the mo!

 

My son started juniors on Monday,things have gone really well this week and i`ve been really chuffed...until this morning when i was introduced to his new SENCO. I was informed that due to a ###### up with paperwork, his teaching assistant wouldn`t be in school at all this afternoon.

 

He was given full time statementing (25 hours) in November last year but in juniors it is a longer day (an extra 30mins a day). This paperwork mistake means that he is still only entitled to 25 hours and he has to be assessed again in school by a woman who took almost 12 months to pin down last year, then it has to go before panel again etc etc....

 

We`re looking at possibly 2 - 3 months at least before this is sorted out, in the meantime its my son that suffers.

 

His teaching assistant was only informed herself last night and was genuinely upset and concerned for my sons needs. He will have one afternoon a week without any support for the foreseeable future...and i`m livid!

 

So my fight to get him help has just started...again. And to prove how much his teacher was missed today, he was a gibbering wreck in tears when i picked him up.

 

Again, sorry for going on, i just needed to vent.

[Brook]

Hi Lemony,

 

sorry, haven't any advice, just hope you can get this sorted as soon as poss <'>

 

Why dont these people ever think things out

The one afternoon a week without support could mess up his whole week.

 

 

Brook

[smallworld]

Hi,

wouldn't it have been easier to spread the defecit in hours over the week for the time being ?

just a thought,

wac

[UltraMum]

What a foul -up!

 

Why didn't the SENCo highlight this issue? They must have had this happen before with children with full statements!

 

So my fight to get him help has just started...again. And to prove how much his teacher was missed today, he was a gibbering wreck in tears when i picked him up. 

 

Start keeping your diary now so you can show them the evidence - you do know that you can ask for an amendment to the statement at any time? - only prob is both parties have to agree. You don't necessarily have to go through the whole assessment palaver again. It probably depends on the wording in the statement but if it says that he is entitled to full time support throughout the school day then I don't see how they can argue against a request to increase the hours to match the increased length of day.

 

I agree with Waccoe - why not spread this over the week?

[mossgrove]

Lemony

 

You must be absolutely livid.

 

I remember how much this kind of thing upset us last year.

 

One of the reasons we fought to have our son moved to a special school was that his mainstream school never understood the importance of a full-time 1:1 despite it being written into his statement. They failed to provide cover if she was off and often gave her other tasks to do for an hour or so when J appeared to be behaving himself. (Like running a reading group for another in the Library on Wednesday afternoons!) The may not have noticed the difference when she wasn't there but we picked up the tab later in the day as his stress levels went through the roof. Eventauly we reached a point where we didn't send him to school if his LSA was off sick.

 

I think the school understood the role of the LSA in managing J's behaviour so that the rest of the class were not disrupted, but never came close to understanding the role an LSA when it came to helping him to learn effectively or helping to manage his stress levels, hence if he wasn't being disruptive they felt she was free to do other things as required.

 

He has part-time 1:1 support for this current term only at his new school but the 4:1 staffing ratio and the fact that all staff at the school understand autism means he copes a lot better. Getting him out of mainstream and into special school is the best thing we ever did for him.

 

 

 

Simon

Edited September 9, 2005 by mossgrove

[mrs q]

I can understand why you are annoy.....

 

Good Luck with getting the hours

 

T been awarded 25 hours....but only doing morning till after christmas....

 

I personally think if he can manage it he should be there full time....but they said he can not unless their is a TA for him.....

 

I let him settle FOR A FEW WEEKSand then I talk to the SEnCO ABOUT HIS HOURS....

[Lemony]

Thanks for the replies, it turns out that the teaching assistant was given a choice of finishing each day at 3.00pm or one full afternoon off. The problem with 3.00pm is that its in the middle of the last lesson of the day and to leave him midway could be a mega problem five times a week.

 

The afternoon without her is going to vary from week to week due to his teacher not being there on certain days and depending on which lessons are going on such as games/ PE etc.

 

Therefore we haven`t a ###### clue basically but i`ll be grilling his new SENCO next week for sure (this is the same guy i requested to see numerous times before the end of last term but he wasn`t able to see me)

[Lemony]

Sorry to drag this one back up but an update for any interested or in a similar situation.

 

For the last two weeks my son has had no support whatsoever in class due to his 1-on-1 being off ill. In that time not one member of staff has even attempted to approach me or tell me of any events regardless of good or bad. Yesterday the headmistress called and i had to go over to school and ended up bringing my son home (luckily i live facing the school and it only takes 30seconds to get there)

 

When he was home he broke down and told me horrendous tales of how he was left to sit in class crying on his own because he was unable to change himself for PE/ he`s spent numerous days sat outside the headteachers office because nobody was there to look after him etc etc...

 

I went in there today and told several members of staff how i felt and told them my son wouldn`t be attending today for those reasons. I had to make his SENCO give me an appointment for Monday morning after 3 weeks of waiting too.

 

With regards to the 2 and a half hours we are missing for statementing,the education authority are refusing to provide those hours and have said if school needs them they should provide for it out of their budget, and if we insist on these hours then the entire statementing process must start from scratch including various assessments and observations which could take months at least.

 

Nightmare!!!

Edited September 23, 2005 by Lemony

[Tylers-mum]

Lemony, if it's any consolation, you are NOT alone in this. I have had murder with the school over Tyler today also. His 1-2-1 helper usually writes in his homebook for me but his teacher has been wanting to do this recent.ly and has been dropping subtle hints about how I can help him catch a ball, put his socks on, use a knife and fork etc etc. Things came to a head yesterday when it was said that Tyler point blank refused to put his socks on (later told me that the inside stitching where the toes go, that line that goes across the toes and that you see when socks are inside out) was hurting him and he didn't like it. He has co-ordination and sensory issues that the school know about but they left him sitting there crying for 1 hour telling him he HAD to put his own socks on (after PE). Of course, he then went into a temper tantrum and called his LSA all the names under the sun which upset her and she left (she was due to leave at that time anyway). I didn't know about the tantrum til this morning but having to have him try for 1hr when he was clearly having difficulties was beyond and b/c of it, he missed out on going out to play b/c he took so long to put them on. Grrr!!!! I had murder this morning with his teacher and wrote in his homebook for her too stating that he does have co-ordination (and bilateral) issues and that a little patience, help and consideration from them would help Tyler through this and that with kids in his position, practice doesn't always make perfect! She was adament that by yr2, children SHOU>LD be able to put there own socks on!! Geez, he's just conquered clothes and is a bit behind with socks but he may or may not get there given a little more patience on their part!!

I know what you are going through. I rang his OT this morning and had her ring the school, that soon put the teacher and SENCO in there place!! Hehe!!!

 

All the very best to both you and your son! <'>

Edited September 23, 2005 by Tylers-mum

[Lemony]

Thanks Tylers-Mum, i hope your school situation improves asap!

 

I was in contact with my local parent partnership as well today but even they seem unable to help in this situation.

 

I told school that for the 2 and a half hours that my son is missing that i will remove him from school or there are two other alternatives....they either revert to the 1-2-1 finishing at 3.00pm each day or that i am allowed to go into class for that time period.

 

My meeting is on Monday..wish me luck!

[Tensing]

Sorry to drag this one back up but an update for any interested or in a similar situation.

 

For the last two weeks my son has had no support whatsoever in class due to his 1-on-1 being off ill. In that time not one member of staff has even attempted to approach me or tell me of any events regardless of good or bad. Yesterday the headmistress called and i had to go over to school and ended up bringing my son home (luckily i live facing the school and it only takes 30seconds to get there)

 

When he was home he broke down and told me horrendous tales of how he was left to sit in class crying on his own because he was unable to change himself for PE/ he`s spent numerous days sat outside the headteachers office because nobody was there to look after him etc etc...

 

I went in there today and told several members of staff how i felt and told them my son wouldn`t be attending today for those reasons. I had to make his SENCO give me an appointment for Monday morning after 3 weeks of waiting too.

 

With regards to the 2 and a half hours we are missing for statementing,the education authority are refusing to provide those hours and have said if school needs them they should provide for it out of their budget, and if we insist on these hours then the entire statementing process must start from scratch including various assessments and observations which could take months at least.

 

Nightmare!!!

I'm no expert but I would have thought that this would be descrimination and really needs reporting.

[Tylers-mum]

Thanks Tylers-Mum, i hope your school situation improves asap!

 

I was in contact with my local parent partnership as well today but even they seem unable to help in this situation.

 

I told school that for the 2 and a half hours that my son is missing that i will remove him from school or there are two other alternatives....they either revert to the 1-2-1 finishing at 3.00pm each day or that i am allowed to go into class for that time period.

 

My meeting is on Monday..wish me luck!

I wish you all the very best of luck with Monday Lemony!! <'>

 

Tyler's LSA leaves at 2.30pm everyday so he is without support for the last 45mins of each school day. Seems to be managing ok so far though 'touch wood!'.

 

Thinking of you and will look out for an update come Monday!! Go get em Lemony!!

[Lemony]

An update as promised!

 

It was quite an interesting meeting i had this morning which lasted almost 90mins, with the SENCO and 1-2-1 present. Apparently the school sent off the necessary paperwork in Feb/ March this year and the extra hours were denied (first i`ve heard btw). The headmistress is now involved in personally hounding the LEA because she feels so strongly about the issue, this is something i`ve been told she doesn`t normally do.

 

We have agreed (on my insistance!) that my son will be finishing school at 3pm everyday until something is sorted out for the long term future.

 

When i complained again about the complete lack of communication from his teacher i was told (off the record) that the headmistress had ordered his teacher not to speak to me at all during the time his 1-2-1 was off!! Surely that isn`t right?!

 

Plus she had ordered his 1-2-1 not to tell me she was going to be off...i`m absolutely livid with this woman!

 

To cap it all off, when i was trying to sneak out of school without being seen, i saw my son in the main hall with his face down on a pile of PE crash mats physically kicking out and crying/ screaming while his teacher just stood there nervously laughing because she didn`t know what to do.

 

[phasmid]

So much of what they are doing is wrong. You know, we know it and, so do the school!

 

As for this:

 

We have agreed (on my insistance!) that my son will be finishing school at 3pm everyday until something is sorted out for the long term future.

 

No!

 

Even with your agreement this is illegal (see education forum and the thread on illegal exclusions at the top). It is exclusion dur to their inability to cope with his needs, needs caused by his disability.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying your in the wrong with suggesting it. Hell, we did something similar (for very different reasons) with phas jr a few years ago. But by doing this the school have one less 'problem' to deal with - thing is they must still deal with it.

 

Contact the exclusions officer at your LEA, send them a copy of the letter I have posted on the education thread. That'll buck them up!

[Lemony]

Thanks Phasmid, i wasn`t sure about where i stood legally and know plenty of other parents who have done something similar although they haven`t got into trouble. I`ll check out the info on the other forum...thanks in advance

[Lemony]

My son was off school today due to being sick during the night but the secretary has just rang with a message from the headmistress to say that from Monday we have got the two and a half hours i`ve been fighting for....WOOOO HOOOO!!!