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SN children

So, what kind of support should this child in a mainstream school get?

13 replies

expatinscotland · 31/05/2008 22:52

Just got ed psych report in today for DD1.

Meeting with headmistress, ed psych, SALT and OT on 16 June to discuss DD1's needs for her to start P1 in August.

She will be 5 in on 19 June and so far has d/x of dyspraxia although am cetain other d/x will be forthcoming with regards to her learning.

I'll just highlight a few points that are in the Assessment and Conclusions and Recommendations section of her report.

-DD1 has awkward pencil grip and no established hand. Will swap hands frequently, even in the middle of a task

-some difficulty following verbal instructions

-not able to follow sequence of instructions and verbal comprehension below average for her age.

-marked difficulties on spatial tasks

-visual motor difficulties in copying tasks and in particular pattern construction

-difficulty with 1:1 correspondence in number

-drawing extremely rudimentary and undifferentiated

The conclusions:
-degree of developmental delay particularly in visual/spacial skills, fine and gross motor skills and balance and coordination

-profile consistent with dyspraxia and a developmental coordination disorder

-in many areas functioning around 3-3.5 year level

on the upside, no social problems.

Am totally in the dark about what kind of support we should be seeking for her in school.

I already feel like I've cocked up so much on her already, I just want to get this part right.

Her hearing and vision have been tested recently and are normal.

She has no chromosomal abnormalities.

ANY help appreciated!

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Romy7 · 01/06/2008 08:54

School will probably start her on school action plus and draw up an individual education plan (just a list of targets and how to achieve them) whilst they work out whether to statement or not. (I am assuming ed psych report did not say that statementing was nec at this point?) Or is she already on SAP and this was the 'shall we statement or not' discussion? Has she been seen and assessed by OT? That will probably be the next stage and OT will come up with recommendations.

It will potentially be school that decides whether they are able to provide support from within their SEN budget or whether they need to push for additional funding for additional support - but you always have the right to request statementing yourself if you believe it necessary. Make an appointment to go through the ed psych report with the SENCo and the head and ask them what they are going to do to help dd. School are obviously on side as they have requested ep assessment, so at this stage I would listen to what they have to say... then make up your mind.

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allytjd · 01/06/2008 09:24

Hopefully the school will have some money available to provide some help for her but whatever you do don't rely on the school to be very on the ball or proactive, if your child does not disrupt the class with behavioural problems they often get left to muddle along unless a parent is constantly prodding. The classroom assistants are often very patient and experienced but have not necessarily had specialist training and might not be as up to date as a well read parent so don't assume that any school staff knows what you know!
The type of help my son's have had so far are
DS1(when in infants)attended a movement group once a week that was run by an OT as his coordination was deemed dodgy. Incidentally he has been on a STage1 intervention for years due to a pot pourri of mild dyslexia/dyspraxia/attention problems but a wait and see approach has been taken and he has grown out or learned to cope with his difficulties by the age of 9 1/2.
DS2(verbal DX of Aspergers) who is seven also attended the movement group and has a session with the Special needs teacher once a week to work on spelling. The school has recently managed to provide one to one for him three afternoon a week but before this I came in two times a week to help him catch up. Ithink the success of this made them realise that he would benefit from one to one as successfully completing work has made a real difference to his attitude!
IME the school may start off with doing the minimum to see how things go, so be patient but pushy and don't underesstimate the part your child will play in this; she will probably push herself and bring herself on more than any school staff (or even you!) could, give her time and space and you will be amazed.
PS. I am in Scotland too.

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expatinscotland · 01/06/2008 20:18

It's all sort of hitting the fan now that it's actually come time for her to enter school.

She's very excited about going and is very compliant with teachers and sociable in school.

There are only 7 children in her P1 class and she knows 2 of the others so she'll not be unfamiliar with things.

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TotalChaos · 01/06/2008 20:22

I'm possibly the complete wrong person to advise you as DS is also compliant and sociable so gets very little help at nursery and will get very little when he starts reception. (NB DS delay is speech/language related, so there isn't the issues with motor and other skills). In terms of the language issues - visual timetables, visual cues to encourage speech, and SALT to hopefully do some school visits and develop a programme of work with teacher/TA to bring her language on. Hopefully the various professionals involved will make sensible recommendations so all should be relatively straightforward.

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Romy7 · 01/06/2008 20:40

oops - sorry expat - should have read a bit more detail! P1 Scotland so no statement, is it still a record of needs? DD1 started school north of the border so I should have realised
I'd still make an appointment with the new head and go through the report - that will give them a chance to decide whether they have appropriate funding and how to implement the recommendations.
Hope school are on the ball.

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expatinscotland · 01/06/2008 20:42

They're so on the ball, they made the appointment with the headmistress for us!

It's a team meeting with the head, us, the SALT, the OT, the ed psych and DD1's head nursery teacher (got any good end of year gift ideas, folks? ).

It's just always tough to see it in writing, even though it's obvious, her delays.

Sort of like when it came time to complete the DLA form.

Had to be done, but not the most pleasant of experiences.

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Romy7 · 01/06/2008 20:47

That's great - like you say, not really what you want in black and white, but at least you're all working it out together. I much prefer it that way!
Hopefully your meeting is before the end of term to give them time to put plans together by Aug? Will she needs additional rails in the toilets or anything? Those are the bits that seem to take the longest tbh... which reminds me, I must check ours have been done when I'm in on thurs!!!
and how lovely that it is such a small year group - you sound as though you are in the right place... (ponders moving back north...)

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expatinscotland · 01/06/2008 20:53

She needs personal care support as she is not toilet-trained - we're trying, though!

She has a lot of trouble with dressing, however, because of her coordination problems and motor skills delays.

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Romy7 · 01/06/2008 21:02

dd2 can sort of manage until it gets to the wiping bit (tmi!!!), but we have the same issues with dressing. If you are hoping to toilet train the OT will need to get school organised though if she is likely to need additional support with balance etc - don't leave it until she starts using the toilet or it'll take too long for school to get the eqt in place...
what's the score with 1-1 in school where you are? DD2 was still in nursery when we left so we didn't really get involved in the education process save ed psych getting us the space in the first place!

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aefondkiss · 01/06/2008 21:03

I know how you feel about the dla forms Expat, I really struggled filling that in for my ds..

have you got early years learning support teacher?

I ask because my ds (who is 4, no dx yet) has one coming in weekly to nursery, she spends time with him and is very involved with his IEP if that is what it is called... she is part of the team of professionals that work together to help children with sn... she is really good.

my ds gets one to one support, since the beginning of the year, he is at ms nursery 3 days a week... the school got him the support, because they thought he needed it....

good luck with the meeting, it sounds like you have pretty good support in place for your dd and the class size sounds really good too.

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expatinscotland · 01/06/2008 21:05

IIRC there is an early learning support teacher attached to a couple of schools in the area - these primary schools are all pretty small, DD1's has only 60 pupils in total.

the P1s, P2s and P3s all share a classroom and teacher, but again, there are only 18 pupils in these classes.

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coppertop · 01/06/2008 21:56

Some of those difficulties sound similar to how ds1 was in Reception and Yr1. He had some 1:1 for a couple of hours a day in reception.

Ds1 still had no established hand and could barely grip a pencil. For this the school did regular exercises where ds1 had to roll playdough and make shapes with it. It was only for a few minutes each day but made a big difference. The TA did this with him.

The school also experimented with different pencil grips and triangular pencils to see if these helped.

The lack of drawing skills will also be related to this. Ds1 could barely manage to draw a circle in Reception. His drawings were barely recognisable until around Yr2. Part of the problem was the fine motor skills issues but there was also an element of him just not understanding what drawing was for, ie how could lines and squiggles on a piece of paper possibly have anything to do with real objects IYSWIM.

The school will probably be getting specific advice about your dd from the OT. They should show the staff how to help.

Ds2 is the one who has difficulties with instructions. The SALT goes into the school and gives the staff activities for them to work on with him. Again I think it's the TA who does this with him.

Ds1 has problems with sequencing. They incorporated the help with this into the lessons IIRC as it was a skill that they work on in Reception anyway. They do things like putting a sequence of pictures together to tell a story. IIRC it was the LSA who helped him in Reception and then later on it was a TA.

Ds1 also had regular OT exercises to help with his poor balance and gross motor skills. Again it was only a few minutes a day but it's really made a big difference. The exercises are simple ones (things like using a trampoline, catching a beanbag, walking in a figure-of-8 etc) so should be easy to set up once an OT has shown staff what to do.

Good luck with the meeting.

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expatinscotland · 01/06/2008 22:51

thank you all so much, and thank you, too, coppertop!

yes, sounds a lot like DD1.

she's had delays first noted at her 8-month-checkup.

am so worried aobut her at school because she is sooo excited about going and it's a wonderful wee school.

there are other children with needs like hers there, however, so i'll see what they're doing with those children.

in particular, there's a boy going into P2 with similar learning difficulties - i know his mother.

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