How much help would you expect teachers to give with brace?

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DS has just got a removable brace. He's getting used to it, and I hope will be slightly more confident when they go back in 3 weeks.
How much help or guidance would you think is reasonable to ask the teacher for? Thinking hygiene e.g. washing hands before removing/replacing in PE or break tunes. Especially with the current situation. Making sure he's wearing it. At the moment his speech is very unclear (and it is anyway, under SLT) and he's quite self conscious about it. We're having trouble understanding him, will this get better? I'm a bit worried how this will affect him at school. But not sure what to expect from staff, if I should warn them or not mention it before he goes back.

His old is he?

How old is he? I wouldn’t have expected any help at all.

How old is he? If the brace is speech and language related then I think it's probably ok to ask for some reminders. Does depend on age though!

None tbh!

None.

He's 10, but has SN (less reliable and less responsible than my 7 year old). Brace is to correct very squashed and crooked teeth. He has a TA for 6 lessons.

None

Teacher here. I'd appreciate a heads up that he's self conscious about talking. But no, I want no part of the practicalities!

I don't think you could really expect any at all in this time of covid. Ask your dentist for advice.

You would need to speak to school and see what their risk assessment says about it - especially under the new Covid guidelines in school. Guidance on helping him may need adding to his additional needs plan if he has one for his TA to assist.

I think reminders about handwashing and not putting his fingers in his mouth and so on would be fine

If he’s secondary age and there aren’t any special needs or developmental delays you haven’t mentioned then I’d expect him to manage the brace himself.

I probably would tell them about the speech issues though, especially if he’s self conscious about it.

I really wouldn’t expect any practical help at all in normal circumstances, and absolutely none in terms of current situation. What are you imagining them helping with?

I wouldn’t expect any but if he has an appointed TA that might alter it a bit in that they could remind him to wash hands etc .

None whatsoever. You also realise this is the school holidays right?

You need to teach him how to remove and replace it himself.

The teacher or ta can remind him to wash his hands and prompt him if he's not wearing it (if they notice - if he's not speaking they may not notice because the teacher is busy teaching and dealing with other DC) Teachers didn't always notice if DS wasn't wearing his glasses.

None

Ah ok I see he does have SN. If he’s less reliable than an average 7 year old then yes I’d definitely speak to to school. Good point by PP about COVID maybe affecting risk assessments too.

So he is still in primary?

I wouldn’t expect teachers to have any role in this to be honest. As a secondary teacher I have never had anything to do with any child’s braces or how they manage them. Excepting occasions when I have had to help unpicking ill-advises chewing gum or working out where it skittered to when they took it out their mouth lesson and it jumped out their hands.

Maybe making up some sort of reminder card for him would be helpful for him and the TA?

So something A5 ish and laminated which can sit on his desk or in his pocket. Little picture reminders of when to take it out, clean it or whatever else needs to be done. You can then provide a copy for the teacher for info along with a letter advising that he is anxious and may need some support

None DD wore one from age 9-10 (she’s 15 1/2 now).

Looking back although it was recommended by the dentist she hated wearing it and blamed me. Her speech did get a little bit better wearing it but not much (and she didn’t wear it as much as she should have so the process took longer. She hated wearing it and it really affected her confidence at a time when other darling girls were making nasty comments. Think in Dd’s case it was just another thing to hate me for as a teenager. Although looking back at old photo’s its made a massive difference with her teeth (which weren’t crooked just stuck out too much).

I wouldn't expect an NT child to have any help, but if he has SN then I would hope that the school could be helpful. He may need painkillers too but you have done the right thing starting him in the summer holidays.
My DD's speech with her removable brace did get better over 3 weeks but was never perfect tbh. It is worth it in the end though.

None, really.
If you let them know, then the teacher will probably do her best to remind a pupil about things, but can't really be expected to remember everything for every child, and held liable for forgetting.
In these times, I would expect everyone to be quite diligent about reminding dc to wash hands well, but in truth there won't be anyone standing over them and making sure they all spend 20 seconds washing their hands every time they need to.

I appreciate that he may find it a little more challenging than normal to get used to if he has SN and already has trouble speaking without a brace on a palate thrown into the mix, OP!

I remember my sister getting a brace on a palate and it was hard to talk with, we had her repeating words with S in first. He's got a few weeks before he is back at school yet so he's got time to get used to taking it in and out for meals (if he has to do that, does he have a box to put it in?). If he does have to remove it for eating, I'd get him into a routine at mealtimes now (brace out, in box, box placed in front of plate/lunchbox, eat, replace brace).

I don't know if the staff would physically help him with the brace, but perhaps they could check after every break time that he's wearing it (or has the box on him, if he takes it out for eating).

My DD has a fixed brace and got hers early in secondary school - I was a bit nervous in case it made her a target but as braces seem to be more common now, a lot of her classmates were interested as they knew it was coming their way in the future! I hope it's the same for your son.

Try and keep him talking a bit more than usual, especially if he's finding any particular words or sounds more difficult to pronounce at the moment.

Some prompting and monitoring but if he can physically do it himself then he should at age 10 (or 7 for that matter). Lots of time to practice with him over the summer.

None, yuck.

Why does he need to remove it for PE. The only lesson dd ever removed hers for was singing.