Worried about the LSA

[lars]

I know this sounds silly i've got the statement at long last for ds but am really worried about who they might employ.

The school have had lots of applicants some from far away , which i thought was a bit strange but i didn't think the advert didn't stressed ds needs enough. I know one of the mum's applied who has a dd in my ds class. Not too sure about this as might be a difficult situation.
The job has been advertised in newspaper, job centre etc.

Am I just being silly? but I know they can't just employ anyone but i do wish I could do the interviewing and not them. Sounds silly I know, but you do worry about getting the right person and it appears that experience is not needed as much as I thought, as the school have offered to train the person larsxx

[maddiemo]

No, you are not being silly I would feel the same.

Is it possible that you could ask the school if they could ask some questions on your behalf?

I don't understand why parents are not involved more in the selection process after all you know your child the best.

I would want to know if they were prepared to find out about my childs needs and go on courses. I would want them to be committed and realise that the childs needs are likely to be complex and that the job is not going to be simple. It is a shame that ISAs don't get paid more then schools could expect more ewxperienced staff to apply.

My son is in sn provision at the moment but may move into mainstream at some point so I share your concerns.

I do hope it goes well.

[macwoozy]

Lars, that doesn't sound silly at all. I would be just as concerned about the person employed to look solely after my ds. God help them
Maybe it might help if you could offer plenty of advice once the person had been selected.

[coppertop]

If the school won't let you have any input (they usually don't) then I think that the best thing you can do is try to meet the person asap. Ds1's teacher was pretty involved during ds1's last few months of pre-school so she was able to tell his LSA quite a lot about him. The LSA also asks me regularly if there's anything she needs to know, eg what he's been doing during the holidays, weekends etc that she could perhaps incorporate into role play sessions etc. We also discuss any new likes and dislikes during ds1's IEP meetings so that the teacher and LSA can have as much information as possible.