Special Educational Needs and IEP

[CrocodileKate]

Ds teacher called me in after school at the end of last week and said that she wanted to let me know that at the moment she was not considering putting him on the special needs register or giving him an IEP because he is making some progress. She will think about it again at Christmas.
I am thinking that this is good news but don't really understand the system. Any advice as to what I should be asking and expecting?
I know he is struggling but it didn't occur to me that the SN register was a possibility.

[Blandmum]

The first 'level' of the SN spectrum is school action. This is where the school thinks that a child may need more help than they would get in the ordinary run of things. It is only done 'in house', and an Individual Education plan is drawn up. This will state the targets your child should be working towards, and what extra help the school is going to give to make sure that the targets are met. It shuld be reviewed regularly.

If all goes well and the tagets are met, the child may stay on SA for a little while for monitoring, and may then be taken off the SN regester.

If SA doesn't meet the needs, then the next level is school action plus ecternal help, may get a county deslexia co-ordinaror involved etc

The last level is full blown statmenting.

In the school I work in around 19-20% are on the SN regester. Most never need more than SA.

I'm having a chat with my ds's SENCO this week to see if he might need to be put on the regester. It isn't uncomon.

HTH

[CrocodileKate]

Thankyou. We have parents evening soon, looks like I may have quite a few questions!

[Blandmum]

First thing I would ask them is where they think the SEN lie....literact, numeracy or whatever.

What targets do they think would be helpful. These should be 3-4 specific things that can be easily monitored and measured...say' Learn the spellings of 5 new words a week' , or 'Read two books by half term' (depending on the age of the child IYSWIM)

You then need to ask them what they will put in to help your ds meet the targets, what you will do, and what your ds will do. Everyone should agree on these things. Ask when the review date will be. Hope things go well.

I'll be doing the same thing on Wednesday

[CrocodileKate]

Thankyou so much for your help.
Am hoping that it's just in the area of literacy, but have to be realistic and can see there are probably other areas.
He would not read with me at all last year but is now trying so hard. He so much wants to do it now which is one huge hurdle over.

[Socci]

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[CrocodileKate]

I am finding it hard to tell. Obviously his teacher knows that he is struggling.
He is in year 1 and has only just gone on to level 2 of the ORT books. I know that his writing is a problem, he can recognise most of the letters of the alphabet but cannot remember what they look like to write them down and he writes backwards a lot.
His attentions span is dreadful and he gets extremely over excited at times and has to be physically stopped before he is able to calm himself.
He has a habit of making silly noises and cannot seem to independantly stop himself.
Apart from that he is a very funny and ordinary little boy.
I am really not sure what school have picked up on so will find out more at parents evening, although he has told me that he attends a communication skills lesson one lunch time a week and he often misses assembly to do some extra reading.

[CrocodileKate]

Got me thinking now and I cannot help at times but compare him to his little sister. He is not at all observant (doesn't notice if something changes at home or if I have a haircut where she will spot it straight off). He doesn't like eye contact and often will appear to be listening to me, stood in front of me in a quiet room, but will not have heard a word I have said until i have said it for the 4th or 5th time.

[Socci]

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[Socci]

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[CrocodileKate]

No, have never been concerned enough til now.
Each thing in isolation is just a very small part of him and he mostly seems like an ordinary boy.

[Socci]

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[CrocodileKate]

Will definately consider what you have said.
Thanks.

[Socci]

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[fizzbuzz]

Hi, hope this helps. I'm a teacher and know how SEN stuff works in schools, and I also have a SEN child. Ask the school to keep him on the register at all costs. Taking thme off register can result in no support. I would recomend any one wih an SEN child to keep them on the register. Hope this helps

[Kittypickle]

Can I just ask what his fine and gross motor skills are like ? And have you had a go at getting some fish oils down him, they can make a difference with attention spans I've found with my DD.

[CrocodileKate]

His fine motor skills are very hit and miss but his gross motor skills have always been pretty good.
He has been on fish oils for the last year, unfortunately they have made no discernable difference to his attention span.

[Kittypickle]

I agree with Socci about the subtle difference. I'd ask to have a meeting with the school SENCO and see what he/she has to say about DS.

[fizzbuzz]

Hi, have just read my last message and it doesn't make sense! If your son is not on the register request that he be put on it. It is better that he is on it if there is any question of a problem. If he is on it, then he may get some support or at least more help than if he wasn't listed.
Also you are entitled to ask for an assessment from your local authority about his educational needs, although this is kept very quiet. I tried my own local authority, who were not keen, although I think it is a legal requirement (ie. you should get one if you request one), but I'm not sure. I took my ds to a private eucational psychologist, which cost a lot but was well worth it.
Sorry if this is a bit over the top, but you need to push for everything, and rather than letting the school decie whether to put him on the register or not, you should request that he is put on it,. He can always be taken off at at later stageif there is nothing wrong.
Hope this helps!