Not sue if I am reading too much into something said to me by deputy at dd's school

[Foxy800]

Hi there am posting for advice as dont know if I am reading too much into it. I had a meeting at the end of last week with dd's deputy and while we were talking about things she said to me that dd is so willing to take part in class activities and get on with things that deputy thinks sometimes teaching staff forget she has additional needs!!!

For background dd has a statement, and has additional groups during school.

What do you lovely people think?

Thank you in advance.

[Ineedmorepatience]

Sounds to me like her statement is working and her needs are being met! Make sure you tell them how all the wonderful support your Dd gets is helping her to fit in really well and how great it is when inclusion works!!!!

Dont whatever you do allow them to make you think she is fine now and doesnt need her additional provision.

Sorry for being so cynical but I suspect you may have already been feeling a bit like me

[Foxy800]

Thanks for the reply but part of the reason for the meeting was because she still is struggling with aspects of the homework etc and when we had paretns evening the other week she is obviously still miles below the rest of the class.

I did at parents evening tell them I appreciated the extra support.

But that is exactly it, she will not cope without the extra help especially the higher up the school she goes!!!

Thanks for your reply.x

[Ineedmorepatience]

My Dd3 11 who has Asd but no statement has had terrible trouble with homework over the years it has been horrible

On tuesday last week the school finally decided not to send homework home anymore !!

Sorry I wasnt being flippant in my last reply I am sure you Dd does have significant difficulties. I was trying to say dont get sucked in by schools pretending that our children dont need additional support.

Good luck

[Foxy800]

Its ok I got what you were saying.

The problem with the homework is they expect her to do the homework the same as the others, so they have a spelling test every week which she does ok in after talking to the teacher and having more time than one night to learn the spellings but they also have a timetable test every week, and she has been on the same times table since september!!! When we do it at home she knows the answers but she says she doesnt have time at school to answer them all as she is expected to do it in the same time as the other children.

Like I say it sent alarms ringing as Im worried if she loses the support she wont cope in school.xx

[StarlightMcKingsThree]

Schools have a habbit of downplaying our children's needs as a way of demonstrating how wonderful they are and how there is no justification for anything that cost more.

It's embedded in the culture and probably means nothing more than 'ain't we great - don't ask for more'.

I'm cynical but if someone told me that teaching staff forget about my child's additional needs I would want to know whether they have been adequately trained because the nature of my son's disability is that it is 'hidden' and they have no business 'forgetting' as that could end up disastrous for him.

[Foxy800]

That is what I worry about too Starlight.x

[moosemama]

I would second Star and want to know how much training the staff have had and when, not if, the school is planning a staff training day on SEN and inclusion - particularly hidden disabilities. There is no excuse for 'forgetting' they have her statement and know she has additional support and extra sessions.

My ds had similar issues with homework, particularly tests. He has a slow processing speed and in primary was in top set for everything, as he could demonstrate his level of understanding, but still failed all the timed tests.

I spoke to the school and inclusion team and explained that by not differentiating in some way for all these tests (and there were a lot) they were actually discriminating against ds and setting him up to fail, which was having a really negative knock on effect on his self-esteem and confidence.

The school suggested he could be given extra time for tests, but as they are always done at the end of lessons, this meant he would lose some playtime on each test day - again discrimination and not a solution he would have gone for.

In the end I got them to agree to work out ds's results against the number of questions he'd answered, rather than the total number of questions asked.

In lessons where he wouldn't lose playtime if he continued the test after the others, he drew a line under the question he was on when time was up and then finished the other questions.

When we were finalising his statement I made sure it included extra time for all tests and assessments, not just official exams, as otherwise his predicted results were always underestimated. The school SENCO tried to tell me he would have to be tested by her before every test/assessment/exam to ascertain whether he was entitled to extra time - that was rubbish, he's entitled to extra time just by virtue of having a statement and so is your dd. On top of that, in ds's case the EP had included his processing issues in his statement and said that he should be allowed extra time for all tests, exams and assessments - which double underlined his right.

The school gave him the extra time, but moved him down a set for maths in y7, as they wanted to hothouse the rest of the group through level 6's. He gave up and didn't bother trying in maths for the rest of the year - end result was that he got a 5c. If he'd been kept in the top group I'm pretty sure he'd have got a 5a, but I was more angry about the damage to his self-esteem than his test results.

He is now in an indie ms secondary - funded by the LA - this school is all about individual targets and working with individual's strengths rather than focussing on their weaknesses and as a result he gained two levels in maths in the first term and reached the level he should have been at for his SATs with very little effort.

[Foxy800]

Thank you so much for all the replies. Am glad that people dont think I am overplaying it in my mind.x

[MariaNotChristmas]

In the end I got them to agree to work out ds's results against the number of questions he'd answered, rather than the total number of questions asked

FFS. You had to make a big fuss for that? It's not rocket science. clearly wasn't the kids that needed hothousing through level 6s

[moosemama]

My thoughts exactly Maria. They acted like they would be giving him some sort of unfair advantage if they did it and it took ages for the penny to drop.

[MariaNotChristmas]

[moosemama]

Exactly

[Foxy800]

AM going to arrange a meeting today with the class teachers to find out exactly what support is in place and what they are doing to differentiate tests etc for her.xx

[Foxy800]

Thanks zzzzz. She is beginning to get that way. She has a game we play at home and as long as she is given time to think of the answer she can do it.x

[Foxy800]

Had meeting today and the two teachers were shocked at what the deputy had said and really did reassure me. And we discussed the timestable and they are going to get her to do it with the other children so she doesnt feel different but then do it again during one of her intervention sessions allowing time to process and answer the questions.

Feeling a lot more positive now.