How to tackle school over handling of support for speech disorder

[halfwayupthehill]

D s will be young four when he starts reception in sept. He has a speech disorder so his speech is very hard to understand and the salt thinks his brain cannot hear the difference between sounds so he will need additional salt support in school plus some adaptation of curriculum.
Transition meeting seemed to go well with all the right things being said including that thought would be given to putting him with the right teacher. Just found out he is with the Nq and the parallel class is with a job share between the asst head and an experienced teacher.
When I queried this, I was told they wanted him to have the same teacher. Ideally, I wd agree but not if that means an Nq over two experienced teachers.
Then the school said the Nq would have support from the sensory teacher. I checked with his salt..he does not have sensory issues and this has never been mentioned in any of the documents we have provided.
I feel like they haven't a clue about how to support him and I want him moved to the class with the more experienced teachers now.
It is an academy. No details on website about governors. Can I complain to the l a?

[YeOldTrout]

Why would the more experienced teachers know more about SLT?

[halfwayupthehill]

They would know more about teaching in general, communication, classroom management, how children are etc etc. so they might be able to better assess and support my son.
An nq will be in at the deep end, untried, untested.

[mrz]

Did they say sensory teacher or Sen teacher? It would be unusual for a mainstream school to employ a sensory teacher

[halfwayupthehill]

The bigger issue is that the school has not done what it said and have completely wrongly labelled my son as having sensory issues

[mrz]

Have they labelled him?

[halfwayupthehill]

Definitely she said sensory..

[halfwayupthehill]

She seems to think d s has sensory issues which he doesn't

[Lottiedoubtie]

I see their point about wanting him to have the continuity of one teacher all week. An NQT who has just come out of uni where he/she will have learnt about supporting pupils with SEN seems like a good idea too. The Assist head will have far less time for your son.

Sorry to repeat another poster but are you sure 'sensory teacher' wasn't 'SenCo'?

I've never come accross a 'sensory teacher' in a mainstream school.

[RandomMess]

I have sent you a pm.

[orangepudding]

My son has verbal dyspraxia, dyspraxia, asd and adhd.
In reception he had two experienced teachers, he then was only known to have a speech sounds disorder. They were ok but didn't really listen to my concerns. In year 1 he had a teacher who was only on her second teaching year. She was fabulous! His year 1 teacher really helped my son and also me by getting the SENCO involved. She really had to push for help and worked hard for my son. His year 2 teacher was an NQT and was lovely. Don't be worry about having an NQT they can be just as good as experienced teachers!

[hazeyjane]

I don't know if I would be too worried about having a nqt, as she will be working with the support of SALT - has he any 1-1 support?

Wrt sensory issues, what did they say about them - how they present and how he will be supported? I have never heard of a sensory teacher, and am not sure what they do - sensory issues would normally be assessed by an ot, who would then give the school strategies to help manage any issues that arise

[OldRoan]

Gosh, I hope the parents in my NQT year didn't feel like that when I fought all year long for a behaviour referral for their child, or when I identified 3 children who needed glasses to be able to see clearly, or when I pushed for speech and language support for another child...

Support from a sensory teacher doesn't necessarily mean they have labelled him. Would saying "the NQT will be supported by the maths specialist in KS2" mean your son has been identified as being advanced in maths? I would interpret it as "this person who is experienced in supporting teachers of children with additional needs is going to be helping the person teaching your child, who has additional needs."

If you feel the school "haven't got a clue how to support him" then you sound like you have a bigger issue than one specific teacher.

[hazeyjane]

Old roan out of interest, what is a sensory teacher? I haven't heard that term before

[DeeWe]

Our infants at one point had a TA who had particular interest (and qualifications) in SALT.
The experienced teachers may be no better than the NQT in that area, plus I would say the continuity will be more important. Also having the ass head tends to be a mixed blessing as they end up with disproportionally supply/other teachers.

My db had a bad speech disorder and I know people that spent longer with him found him easier to understand. Dm would have for that reason alone wanted the full time not the job share.

[halfwayupthehill]

The head said the teacher would be given advice and support from a sensory support teacher. This was not discussed at the transition meeting.
100 percent of the teachers left this year. Last year the n q of dd left halfway through the year. Year before last 80 per cent of the teachers left. Parents are unhappy with head and senco so I don't have much faith.

[cuntycowfacemonkey]

Well it sounds like the whole school is an issue rather than the NQT. I wouldn't be worried about having an NQT (my ds's youngest has ASD have both had NQT's in reception and both were bloody fantastic).

I would prefer the consistency of 1 teacher over a job share.

I've never heard of a sensory support teacher either so I can't comment on that.

[hazeyjane]

It does sound like a school problem.

Aaaaah, have just had a Google and found that some LEAs have sensory support advisors or teachers specifically for children with hearing or visual impairment, nothing to do with sensory issues - when you say your ds's brain has a problem hearing the differences between sounds, is it described as a hearing impairment?

Looking at the service it looks good, and will help the school and work with SALT.

sensorysupportservice.org.uk

[MidniteScribbler]

There is no way I would want my child in a job share when one of those is also doing the role of the asst head. Each time the head is out for anything the asst head has to step up, may be out of the classroom a lot, and spend more time on their administration work.

A NQT is a fully qualified teacher. Most newer teachers will be younger and not have family responsibilities to deal with, will be desperate to do well and impress, have fresh ideas, have studied the latest educational theories, and will have more support than an experienced teacher.

[Lottiedoubtie]

100% of the teachers left?

That's your issue right there. Nothing to do with the poor NQT!

Blimey, that's bad, do you know why? Is it a very small school?

[mrz]

I'm confused if 100% if teachers left how can there be an experienced teacher in the parallel class?

[youarekiddingme]

2 things spring to mind here.

Firstly an NQT will have all the latest information re SEN as they've just had their training. They will have experience of classroom management and a mentor should that have concerns. A teacher whether teaching for 20 years or 2 only has experience of things they've had experienced of. The same way we as parents probably had little idea until we became parents of a child with SN.
My DS has completed 7 years in school so far and has HFA. The worst 2 teachers he's had with regards support have been highly experienced. It's been hard because when I've made suggestions re things that would work better all I get is "she's experienced and knows what she's doing". I've found it a barrier rather than help.

Secondly I also agree maybe it was senco. However I would suggest you don't discount sensory issues straight away. It sounds like the salt is suggesting auditory processing disorder, which is related to ears/brain. Plus the ears and mouth etc are senses. If he's struggling in this area some sensory ideas will be highly beneficial.

The thing that will make the biggest difference to your DS is the relationship of mutual trust you build with his teacher and her willingness to work with you.

[hazeyjane]

I think sensory and sensory are getting mixed up - I know, I know, they are the same words....but the sensory issues I am used to hearing about are to do with touch, taste, smell, swinging, flapping and stimming, having found that website last night, I realise that there is also sensory support specifically dealing with visual and hearing impairment....I think this must be what the op's head is talking about (but you will have to clarify that with head, op)

100% of teachers leaving (yes, Mrz - that doesn't work does it!) and 80% the year before - are ofsted involved? It doesn't sound as though the school should still be open!

[mrz]

Under the new SEND code of practice there are four broad
areas of need

Communication and Interaction
Physical and Sensory
Cognition and Learning
Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

[hazeyjane]

yes, but i wonder if when the op says her ds has no sensory issues, she is thinking of the sort of things i said in my last post - when in fact sensory also deals with hearing and visual impairments - which it sounds as though her ds does have.

In the new sen code of practice, the sensory in physical and sensory needs, means visual and hearing impairments. I am not sure what area, for example, a child with autism who has sensory issues - ie need to chew and bite, tactile defensiveness, or the need for tactile input, would be?

[mrz]

Most children will have more than one area of need but one may be dominant