DS is 5, in year 1. He has SEN but nothing diagnosed and I’d say he’s at the mild end of the spectrum compared to other children who I would argue need specialist provision. He toilet trained at a normal age, they’re still in nappies. One of them is pushed to school in a pushchair. They don’t engage with other children or even adults at all, DS does. They also spend most of their day still in reception which they tried to do with my DS at first but he kept refusing because he recognised he didn’t belong there. One of them just makes noises all day and rocks, it’s very sad to witness but my DS is poles apart in terms of how he presents.
But probably above all of this, DS is academically very bright. He’s in the top group for phonics and arguably ready for the comprehension group, reading age above average, passed the mock phonics screening with flying colours, brilliant at maths etc. He has speech delay so doesn’t always communicate via language, he picks and chooses as and when he wants to speak really but is a very able child.
They offer him extra support in school such as attention autism, a music intervention group and he has a TA with him throughout the day. Due to this, they’ve been pushing for an EHCP since the start of reception. I’ve resisted purely because I don’t feel it’s necessary or that he fits the criteria as such but they argue since he needs the TA (shared with another child with SEN so not 1:1), this warrants the funding. They also keep going into the finances behind the extra interventions they offer him and so I got tired of resisting and gave in. I resisted as well because I don’t want him to be lumped in a box at such a young age when I recognise how vastly different he is from the other children with SEN in terms of needs.
There’s two issues playing on my mind though now. One is that the SENCO lead told me she will lie in the application form and make out that he is worse than he is, purely to make sure they get the funding. But then this morning I was also pulled over by a mum I have never even seen let alone spoken to before who asked what my DS will be doing in year 2. She explained her DS is the child who shares a TA with mine and that she has been told he needs to move to specialist provision. This has now made me think they’re chasing the funding because they’ll lose his?
It doesn’t sit well with me and makes me feel a little queasy. Am I being silly?