Sensory diet in secondary school. Teachers, please can you help?

[TowelTopia]

DD12 (Year 8) is waiting for an asd assessment. She has been prescribed a ‘sensory diet’ for school which has to be done in one ten minute and one twenty minute block, every day. She will need someone to help her with this at school.

I asked my teacher friend and she laughed telling me teachers barely have time for a tea break and DD has no chance of getting this support.

Can any teachers help whether I should ask the school to do this or is it too much?

It’s a normal bog standard secondary school.

TIA

I agree they should be advising clients, and therefore schools, what that client would benefit from but in saying the school HAS to provide 2 sessions a day for OT when a student doesn’t have an EHCP isn’t appropriate. They are the experts on what they do, schools are the experts on what we do. Years ago, therapists would come into school to carry out therapy sessions but due to NHS funding cuts that no longer happens. Now we are supposed to provide the therapy, but we don’t have the funding either.

It's not about what a child will benefit from, it's what they NEED. The fact they write this gives excellent evidence as to why an EHCP may be necessary. They should be stating how often it needs doing, how long for, who by and the training/qualifications/experience required by that person. That's how proper reports should be written. Whether the child has an EHCP already is irrelevant. If you have no nhs Pt to come in and do it, again, evidence an EHCP is necessary.

Just thinking about the logistics of providing this support, one ten minute and one twenty minute session every day, will be difficult to fit into the day, aside from any other consideration.

If a lunch break is thirty minutes, which many are, that wouldn’t leave time for eating and going to the toilet, let alone some down time. Ten minutes might be possible during tutor time, depending on how the school arranges that, but otherwise school days are very prescriptive. Maybe a TA could do something at the end of the school day. But who will pay for the extra working time.

I think it’s unlikely that a T A would have training and experience in sensory therapy. If it’s required, are OT going to provide the training for it?

Education, Health and Social Services should be able to work collaboratively in theory. In practice, the expectation of what the services can offer, is frequently unrealistic.

Schools have a duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. That would include organising this support. If they don't do it, they're liable to find themselves in front of the tribunal and/or the subject of a court order.

If they haven't got the resources to enable them to do this, that is cast iron evidence that the child needs special educational provision that goes beyond what is normally available through normal mainstream school resources, which is the main criterion for issuing an EHC Plan. So that is what the school should apply for if it is in difficulty, as well as interim funding.

Absolutely

Realistically at my school there just wouldn’t be a staff member available. It wouldn’t be that we don’t want to do it but we are already understaffed. We’ve had several TAs leave the last couple of years that we haven’t been able to replace so we are already short.

Magic solutions could include schools supporting parents to appeal refusal to assess (and school placements where inappropriate), requesting EHCPs are specific and quantified so the school can obtain the correct amount of funding to secure the provision and when the above is done, taking legal action when the required funding is not provided (or helping parents to do so).

I know all of that!
But my experience is that LEA simply do not always (often) award this mythical funding.
No one on this thread has yet come up with a solution to this.
We apply for all the funding. We’re not idiots and we do want to do the best for our children.
We just don’t get given the funding very often.

I agree with @Smartiepants79

Op, you need to push for an EHCP.
All of the posters implying schools can't be bothered to support children who need it are insulting and have no understanding of what life is like in schools now.

There is no slack. No spare staff, no spare money. We used to use goodwill to give up our lunchtimes and breaktimes to support children who needed support such as this but I don't get a break and lunchtime any more so it is impossible to support all of the children who need it.

That's the reality. Op, schools will want to help. Go private if you can and gain funding to support the school to support your child.

Schools and teachers aren't SEND experts. You seem to speak in a very derogatory way about schools. What experience do you have of teaching? You say you work in SEND law? Of course you will have more information and don't have to consider things like teaching large classes and meeting everyone's needs with no money and no time.

Many think they are. Look, I am probably harsh, some schools genuinely do everything they can but the crap ones 'outshine' you. So many refuse to make even basic reasonable adjustments (uniform adjustments would be a prime example), refuse to put in place support that could be done without an EHCP, refuse to utilise LA services that would help, refuse to make referrals etc. They refuse to support parents with ehcna requests, put them off, claim all is great when a child is struggling. Exclude or offroll rather than support. It's way too common. Unfortunately.

You can apply for the EHCP yourself but I would be extremely surprised if you get one based on this alone. If it really is just 2.5 hours per week then arguably the LA have already funded it in the notional funding.

At the end of the day, no-one on this thread knows what the school can do. Please arrange a time to talk to the SENCO before you apply for an EHCP. They may well have the resources to put this in place and be happy to support. Then you can see the impact it has and decide at that point if further support is needed.

I’m thankful for all of the responses. I will think about applying for an ehcp.

Can a school refuse to do something because a child will miss lesson time? In year 7 DD needed some time out of the classroom for some support but the school said no because she would miss too much lesson time. The school said that even with an EHCP they would not allow this. Can they do that ?

it makes me think they will not allow the occupational health support .

No. If it's in the EHCP they must do it. Lots of children miss lesson time for various interventions. It's not ideal but happens. Sometimes it's more appropriate for them to be in a different setting where such things are built into the curriculum instead if a lot of lesson time would be missed.

Is the pulling and squeezing hands on rather than equipment based?

I think it would be an idea to look at the websites previously suggested for SOSSEN and IPSEA so that you have the information you need to decide whether you want to request a needs assessment for DD. You need to speak to the SENCo at the beginning of term and ask how the plan from the OT can be implemented. Then you’ll have a clearer idea about what the school feels it can do.

If they don’t feel they can support the plan, you could carry on with the request for an assessment and if that goes ahead, there should be the funding for extra support. If the school is resistant, you might want to think about whether it’s a suitable place for her.

@DaisyDreaming It is using equipment .

TYSM for all of the replies so far . I have lots of things to think about. I am going to speak to the senco after the holidays.

In which case the squashing is probably a big roller thing like they have in soft plays? That's only going to be available in a special school. Unless your EHCP provides some very expensive equipment to a mainstream

This is why you need the EHCP. Right now school can argue can't miss lessons. But an EHCP is a legal document school have to follow it. It they can't meet need then LA should find a school that look at the EHCP and say they can meet need.

No chance that will be done in a mainstream secondary without an EHCP and a one to one. Where would the school get the equipment from? Where will they get the staff member from?

Maybe have a look at special schools if your therapist is so adamant DD would benefit from that sort of intervention.

If the school cannot meet your child's needs you may need to consider whether there is a other school within a reasonable distance which would be better suited?

Children with additional needs should never feel they are a burden and should always know they can fulfill their potential with reasonable adjustments. Reasonable adjustments must be provided by law.

Unfortunately very few HCPs and education professionals actually know much about Neurodiversity, what it looks like, how different brains process differently and how to be inclusive of these differences. It's very sad but there are good schools and good teachers and good HCPs. So please keep the faith.

And yes. I would email the SENco and your child's new form teacher over the holiday to flag this and to ask for a meeting / their guidance.

You are your child's advocate. Keep the faith and good luck!!

Reasonable adjustments must be provided by law.

The key word is reasonable. The equipment that my specialist school had for sensory circuits was expensive. It's unlikely that this school will have the funds to buy it for one child, who doesn't have an EHCP and the funds that come with it. It also needs somewhere to store it, a room for the integration to take place, and the time for a TA to set up the equipment, lead the intervention, and pack the stuff away again. Twice a day. For one child. Even with finding it might not be possible.

Of course I want children like OP's to get the help they need. It's been my lifetime career teaching these children ( though the more severely affected). But doing so in a mainstream school is vastly more difficult than in my setting. The money, the staffing and the space simply aren't there. Blame government funding, not the staff.

Exactly this!
if the education system had been more proactive to my dds needs, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now. She’s been out of school for 2 years now due to an autistic burnout/mental health crisis which was caused by unmet needs at school. Putting in reasonable adjustments back then when I was asking for help repeatedly would have saved our family going through hell for the past two years. We are now on benefits as I can’t do paid work as I’m my dc carer, our child is still not receiving a proper education, her needs are now far more complex than they were before, she has been on the verge of mental health hospital admission several times, is now also developing an eating disorder and our family life is in tatters. The financial amount she is costing the system now is far more than it would have cost if we had received timely support and help for her and that doesn’t even compare to the emotional cost to our family.
it’s so frustrating when I read about other children being denied what they need. When will those in power realise that funding early intervention and putting in reasonable adjustments would save so much money in the long term?

i know that an ehcp prior to our issues becoming so big wouldn’t have fully stopped the situation, but it might have stopped the crash being so catastrophic and I always advise others to apply. The criteria for an ehcp needs assessment are so low and I can tell you now the excuses the LA will give for refusing the first time, so I would suggest not wasting any time and doing a parental request and then appealing if they go against you the first time. I would also email the SENCO over the holidays to start communication about what your child needs. My friend is a SENCO and is on call for part of the holidays (SLT are taking it in turns for any issues that crop up), but is also checking and responding to any emails that come through to her directly.

Apologies for the lack of paragraphs and capital letters in my last post! I didn’t realise until I pressed ‘post’.

Realistically this isn't going to happen without an ehcp. You need equipment, somewhere to store it and a staff member trained in how to use it the way DD needs. You are going to struggle to gain and ehcp for this alone. The criteria for assessment is low however I think if this is the only need being granted one is going to be extremely difficult. Be prepared if it does get granted that the school needs to agree that they can meet the needs in section F (provision) of the ehcp.

Those who are saying DD won’t get an EHCP just for the sensory things. How does it work if the school can’t provide the sensory so she needs an EHCP?

Someone above mentioned that if school can’t or won’t deliver the sensory things then DD would need an EHCP as it would be necessary. But someone else has said if it’s only 2.5hrs per week then she won’t get an EHCP.

Does that mean DD just won’t get her support ?