Role of primary school SENCO when would struggling child see them?

[Mizzeldrizzle]

I'm confused as to the role of primary school SENCO.

A child is struggling, 3 years into school ie year 2 and the child is not thriving really. School after meeting with worried dp says they will put child in sen register but nothing about the SENCO?

In my mind, surely SENCO would meet the child, worked with them, look at their work and try and see what's going wrong? Then decide a plan of action with the teachers and dp and go from there?

Ie it could be try x y and z and if in 6 months the child is not getting it, consider Ep?

I get your frustration OP. Im a teacher but can imagine from the outside, school systems must be difficult to wrap your head around.

SENCO stands for Special Educational Needs Coordinator. The role is to coordinate, so, no, they often don't specifically work directly with children (although some do). They coordinate the support that children are given or that families have access to. For example who gets 1:1 support, what extra resources might be needed in class, who needs dyslexia assessment. Usually, and for your daughter it seems, this will be school based.

Very slim budgets means that usually only children with very severe/extreme needs, or children about to take SATs (y5/6) can access external services. Say the school can afford therapist for 2 days a week. The therapist may need 2-3 hours per child, that's appx 5-6 children they can see. From what you've said, I wouldn't expect your daughter to be having any external support. I suggest you focus on the teacher. Ask for a meeting to discuss your concerns and put an action plan in place. I'd be surprised if she were on the SEN register, without a special educational need.

What are her issues at school?

Early Years Senco here. The job title is Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. So at the bottom line a Senco coordinates the additional support and professional help your child should receive but probably won't now as PPs have said there is literally no spare cash in any schools.

I wonder if you are missing the point of the “CO” bit in Senco. They coordinate the SEN, it doesn’t mean they deliver any of it. The class teacher may well have had many conversations about your DD with her and will certainly be discussing with the TA team (who are likely to have more knowledge and training on how to support your DD than the class teacher. )

Press on though. Keep asking, ask for a formal meeting and be very blunt with the senco, or you may feel frustrated for a while.

Be assured though that she is clearly already on the radar, and a plan of some sort is in place. Ask what their hopes and targets are though. And then keep asking how progress is going (not too often though - maybe termly!).

They don't test for dyslexia (although someone up thread said they do and are one),

No, they didn’t. We can screen for dyslexia-that is very different and notoriously unreliable.

Queen, thanks for '' specific'' spelling issue, phonic to strengthen that's the sort of thing I mean.

Mr g, I'm not sure they did anything prior to me asking for a meeting! This is why I feel slightly unsure.

It might also be worth you seeing if there are any support groups for the SEN your child has - either local or online. There are some really good ones, usually run by charities or parents. I have found them really helpful for getting practical knowledge from other parents - particularly good if you can find one specifically for your local area ( obviously be careful when looking at them!).

I have found the more I have looked into it the more I have started to understand the language, acronyms, the many different specialists and the process should you decide you would like to seek a diagnosis. It feels overwhelming at first ( still does tbh!) and also as a parent I felt very vulnerable and frightened for my child’s future, plus that I had to be a bit ‘pushier’ than cane naturally to me. To give you an idea I’d say it has taken 18 months from when I first asked for a meeting to get to a place where I feel like I have some hope that my DC is receiving some support consistently.

This is sunrise, again thank you.
That makes more sense. I'm trying to piece the jigsaw together to help my dd and whose supposed to be doing that, how and when etc.

Big mouse

The thing that's also worrying me is maybe I have not done enough to support her.
She's been a very reluctant learner up until now, but she does seem to be in more of a swing of things now. Eg she wouldn't read before. Now she's happy to read a school book each night.

We got a white board recently and started to practise spellings and again she seems to enjoy using the wb and for the first time got 5 /10 for spelling (previously 0)so maybe.. She's ready to learn now?

I don't know. She's a gorgeous child but she's not easy. It's so hard isn't it. Maybe she's just getting into now and will be fine, but maybe there is an underlying issue.

I think it’s good the school are doing something. And she is still very young and is now getting support so I wouldn’t worry about whether you should have done more! Also I think it is often only as children get older that any differences start to become apparent. It may very well be that she just needs a bit of extra support now.

Thank you big. This is what worries me, does she need more parental input or is there a brain issue that we can't help.
The small progress we have made is encouraging though so I won't worry too much yet.

I’m in a different situation - my twins are 3, both diagnosed with autism age 2 amongst other things. We are going through the EHCP process for them both at the moment which is an awful process and a real baptism of fire when you have zero knowledge of the education system. I’m saddened that you’ve been made to feel bad for not understanding what you should expect in terms of support and honestly saying schools have no money so nothing much will happen is simply not good enough.

The charity IPSEA have lots of information on SEN in general, what schools legally must but also should do, and so on. Start here and then look through the Get Support section.
www.ipsea.org.uk/what-are-special-educational-needs

I don’t know how severe your daughters needs are, so I’m not sure whether an EHCP assessment would be carried out at this stage - based on the law it should be, but you may have to jump through some hoops first with the school. You can apply for one yourself but without the support of school you will struggle to get an assessment.

I would read up on what an EHCP is, and if it seems like your daughter should be assessed for one I would start to discuss this with her teacher now. It’s a long process and it can take time for schools to implement strategies and trial them before then saying they haven’t worked and an assessment is needed.

Unfortunately to get anywhere most of us have to really inform ourselves, apply constant pressure and make it clear that we won’t take any shit. This isn’t me at all but I’ve had to be this way, and my children have extensive and very obvious needs. Where it’s less obvious it can be a real struggle.

Thanks fed up, surely there must be a basic bottom line job somewhere?

Soontobe60 gave you a run down of what she does, (and some other posters have added to that since you asked the question), but the ojb varies so much from one school to the next. At a SENCo meeting once, I sat next next to a SENCo from a highly selective grammar school - what a completely different job from a SENCo in a socially deprived housing estate, dealing with families with all kinds of social needs, many of whom come from families with literacy issues themselves.
Some SENCos also wear other hats - co-ordinating the needs of dc who arrive at school with no English; or dealing with Pastoral Care; or dealing with Behaviour Issues and so on and so forth.
Some SENCos have their own class 4 days a week and are somehow expected to do all their SENCo work on one day a week. Some SENCos are full time Some schools have a handful of dc under the SENCo's care, others have dozens or even into 100+.
No-one here can tell you how things are organised in your dd's school.
Those saying to take note of the fact they 'co-ordinate' the specialist provision make a good point. Not many SENCos have the time/ capacity to work individually with specific children on a regular basis anymore.
The fact that your dd is 'on the register' means the SENCo is already involved. Your best bet is to speak to her class teacher and ask for a meeting to help you understand what the school is doing to support her, and what you can do to support her. There should be a written plan, which you can have a copy of this is called different things in different schools, but it ought to be clear a) what your child's 'targets' are b) how the school is helping her reach those targets.

Sink girl and everyone thank you.

Yes people have told me what the or role is, I suppose I should have been more specific as to their role in the relation to my dd.

I guess what puzzles me is, without understanding what's going on with her how can they even 'Co ordinate' support.

Eg if she has dyslexia but they don't know, how can she do certain things like copy off the board?

What about dd emotional needs and her confidence. Eg being made ti read out work, books that she can't?

Given spellings she can't do?

What if she has dyspraxia? Dyslexia... Or auditory processing issues or adhd etc...

How can the SENCO Co ordinate anything without understanding what the issue is?

If they can't officially diagnose dyslexia will they suspect it and try strategys for that?

I get they are very busy, probably have a class to teach, have to see salt and so on... Can't see my daughter... Too busy, not severe enough.... But where does that leave me! And dd.

My dd hasn't been prepared to work before and she does now, so maybe that's the issue. Maybe now she's prepared to learn spellings, read her books and listen to me, she will catch up. I know it's a tricky age but I just feel like I'm rummaging around in the dark.

My DD's have both been through the school system with additional needs. The senco never worked with my kids, what they did was the paperwork and behind the scenes stuff. Later on they coordinated dyslexia testing but in year 2 it was more about paperwork for funding

In my school, the SENCO mostly talks to the teacher. They ask questions about the child, give advice, suggest and provide any assessments that they think would help. They have a good awareness of all the children on the SEN register, and their particular needs. They also like to get to know the parents, and hold coffee mornings every half term or term to help with this. They also drop in and out of classrooms and will observe SEN chn in lessons, as well as coordinating outside expertise such as specialist teachers or Speech and Language therapists.

In your case, I would ask for a quick meeting with the SENCo, just to express your concerns and discuss what provision they are making for your DD. You should also be given a copy of your child's SEN plan.

In year 2 it's a case of identifying kids who are a bit behind but they won't be worried because kids learn at different paces, not all kids are as advanced at 6/7 but will catch up in the next 2-3 years when they become ready, the U.K. system starts very young remember. Please try not to worry and not to be "that" parent, they are on the case if she's listed. My dd2 was listed in the March of year 1, even in year 6 she was only at level 3 so behind where is ideal - she has straight A's at a level. She is dyslexic and auditory processing issues

In my school, the SENCO mostly talks to the teacher. They ask questions about the child, give advice, suggest and provide any assessments that they think would help. They have a good awareness of all the children on the SEN register, and their particular needs. ................ They also drop in and out of classrooms and will observe SEN chn in lessons, as well as coordinating outside expertise such as specialist teachers or Speech and Language therapists.

This ^

But as has been said, you need to ask for an appointment with the class teacher. See if this can include the SENCo too, but even if it doesn't, the class teacher can let you know what the issues may be and what is being put in place to meet those needs.

I'm a Senco as well. It depends on what she has been put on the register for. If it's for slow acquisition of basic literacy skills then there are general strategies that can be used in class such as appropriate differentiation, regular opportunities to read on the correct level, multi sensory activities for learning phonics and key words. An extra phonics group would be doing some of that. You mention copying from the board - has there been an eye test recently. You also say that she hasn't been ready to learn up until now. Are there issues around behaviour? The Senco will be aware of a child that has been placed on the register, you need some clarification on what the needs are. A diagnosis of dyslexia won't necessarily change the interventions / support that are available. You need to speak to the staff in your own school really. Knowing how other schools operate isn't really going to help you and as a final point , parental support at home can only be a good thing.

o I’m glad that the coordinating aspect has been emphasised. Quite often, people think that a SENCo is someone who is responsible for all the children who have an additional need single handedly. In fact, all teachers are teachers of SEND because they all have children of varying ability in their classes, some of whom will need more support and some less. Children with SEND need something that is ‘additional to, or different from’ what is offered to the majority and the SENCo will be suggesting strategies to the class teacher, in the first instance, maybe with support from a TA too. Depending on whether they have a class themselves, work part time, or a hundred other reasons, they may do some more specialised individual or small group work.