Hi everyone,
I've been told by a good friend of mine who posts here that this is place to come for all things SEN related so wondered if you'd be able to offer me some advice...
I will try to keep this brief but it's hard to know where to start.
My little boy, aged 7 was diagnosed last year with ASD. He is HF (Asperger's) and generally achieving above average academically at school.
He's just been referred for an assessment for Dyspraxia also.
Since dx, school have put some support into place for him which includes a home/school link book and 1 hour of support each week (initially 1-2-1 and now in small groups) to look at social stories.
He is on School Action Plus but does not have an IEP (despite us requesting one). At our last meeting with the senco and sendis where the IEP was brought up again but we were told he didn't need one... the lady from Sendis noted some clear targets on the minutes but these have not been transferred to an IEP and I have no idea of who is responsible and how they will be measured.
Socially and emotionally he's years behind his peers and is becoming more and more isolated. His self-esteem is on the floor. He plays by his self or will (due to pressure from school) will find random children to attempt to 'play' with but as he usually will pick year 5/6 girls and combined with his short attention span/needing to be in control of games/rules this is always short-lived.
I decided to apply for SA without school's say-so and yesterday was 'summoned' to our HT. The meeting was awful. I was accused of 'bad mouthing' the school (quote " a friend of a friend of an ex TA who once worked at school told another teacher that you've been saying you're not happy with our support for your son"....
The truth is I am not! They refuse to see the extent of his anxieties and how far behind he is emotionally & socially. He will 'cope' throughout the school day.. perhaps the meltdowns only occur at school once a week but most evenings at home, and feeling 'safe', he will be anxious and stressed about school.
The HT clearly had NO CLUE about my son. Telling me that she was pleased with his 'social progress'.. how she could possibly come to this conclusion, I have no idea. Although not specifically telling me she disagreed with our application for SA she did tell me she didn't think he needed any more help than he's currently getting (1 hour of social stories a week). She also told me, not in these words precisely but more or less, that it was a mistake telling him about his diagnosis as they feel it's made him 'worse' and he uses having ASD (apparently writing it on his work) Erm, may he feels like he doesn't fit in?
I have been awake since 03.30 going over and over yesterday's meeting. It was awful. I will not 'win' against our HT who is well known within the LA and I fear my only option is to move my little boy to a different school - which scares the life out of me. I felt some of the 'curve balls' she threw yesterday about the gossip and the implication that his problems were 'at home' because they don't see them at school has severed communication. How do I send him there knowing he is not understood?
I am sure I have missed loads out I hope that this makes sense to somebody and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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19 replies
Simone007 · 22/03/2013 10:30
OP posts:
LeonieDelt ·
22/03/2013 11:08
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PolterGoose ·
22/03/2013 12:03
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