School says autistic child is on track, but does this work suggest otherwise?

[AnOldLeodensian]

Ok, school is telling me that my child (diagnosed autistic) is performing at the right academic level so does not need further support.

So can anybody tell me how old/what year group they think he’s in based on this small but typical standard of work?

For context - the instructions were to write a couplet using the words bake and cake, his brother Austin likes to bake, and I showed him videos explaining couplets, explained them to him verbally, and showed him examples. This is the result:

It is meaningless really, isn't it?

FWIW, my ASD DS' writing was always abysmal, we were lucky to be able to move him into a nurturing private school from Y6 (we didn't see any point in him spending the whole of Y6 at state school prepping for SATS that would set him up as a failure).

At nearly 19, his writing is still horrible, but he passed his GCSEs, 3 A Levels and is currently at University (and off to Camp America as a counsellor this summer!).

The point being don't let them keep fobbing you off, he possibly just needs the right support. Unfortunately for us, the fact that he wasn't disruptive at primary school meant they largely ignored him and he learnt very little. I acknowledge going private isn't an available option to all, in which case you need to be all over the school. Best of luck.

Somebody may have said this but I think that they are fobbing you off.

I suspect that on track means making the amount of progress expected of a child who got his year 2 SATS results rather than on track to achieve national expected standard in year 6 SATS and further qualifications like GCSEs. The latter is how a lay person would interpret on track but I’m not in the education and found this kind of code hard to crack. Like a pp I founded “working towards” impossible to understand - a term behind? Years behind? Each time they’d say that they can’t quantify how much behind.

I have a child with dyslexia ADHD and his school decided to invest some time improving his spelling at handwriting in year 5. I suspect it was because of SATS 🙄 but I had been asking for years.

It’s worth my pointing out here, as support in school has been mentioned several times, that schools have a severe lack of funding. Therefore some classes won’t have TAs to support or carry out interventions. I know where I work the TAs are being used to support children with significant behavioural issues and don’t get any time to support others like those quiet ones with needs.

Those of us working in schools would very much like to see funding increase so that interventions and support can be given to ALL children that need it. It’s not great seeing pupils struggling and teachers doing their best in the class with another 29 children to teach and support too. In fact I go home some days feeling utterly dejected over it because my best in the circumstances is falling short.

I think you are right to think he is behind but it could just be the school has not properly bothered with writing.

Writing needs daily practice.

The ‘dake’ is just getting b the wrong way round.

They may not have been read many rhyming couplets either, or learnt any by heart so as to get the feel and rhythm of them, and then do their own version.

What is the school like for others?

very typically (and we're not all typical, are we?) that looks to me like a Y1 or Y2 boy.
That's simply going from the sample. Many other things can be in play.

The writing here does not meet the expected standard for Year 3 so he cannot be on track for Year 4-common words (like) are spelt incorrectly, the sentence is not adequately demarcated (no full stop) and the letters are inconsistent in size.
So the school could be using 'on track' in various ways:

1. To mean progress has been equivalent to others from a previous benchmark (progress not attainment measure)
2. To mean that they have other reasons-e.g. compositional strength or the atypicality of this to assess as 'on track' (attainment measure and this snippet doesn't support the judgement)
3. Talking more generally and not about writing
4. Talking about specific targets on a IEP/MyPlan/EHCP rather than against general standards (attainment but not against national standards)

I'm not sure the overall summative assessment is the point. The question I would be asking as a school leader and Sendco in this case is the same you should be-this is a child with some elements of work clearly below expectation and which may create barriers to other learning, so what support is in place to help my son spell and form letters accurately. If the response to this is it is unneeded because 'he is on track' then this is not OK, if the response is solid and sensible then I wouldn't worry about the assessment.

I’m a year 4 TA, I support several children who write at this standard along with several children with speech and language issues and another few with behavioural issues. I don’t physically have enough time in the day to do all of my interventions plus support children in the classroom but I do the best that I can. It’s generally understood that the level of need in my class would warrant another 2 TAs but there isn’t the money/budget for them. So I do my best and end up worrying about all the things I want to do for them but can’t.

I work with autistic children. Does he have one to one support? I think his level is year one or two. I have worked in year four and they work at a higher level. Definitely see his teacher and SENCO. Good luck OP.

Yr 1 or maybe reception at this time of year.

For year 4 you are correct this work would not meet the expected standard and you need to continue challenging school because they should be doing more for him. That is absolutely not meeting expected standard for year 4.

When they say he's where they expect do they mean where they expect 'for him' rather than for age related expectations?

I would ask school, in writing, not verbally, but in writing, is he meeting the expected standard for year 4
Or even year 3 - as they will almost certainly try and fob you off saying they wouldn't expect him to be yr4 standard yet as we haven't finished the year. Ask them clearly would he meet the expected age related standard for year 3,not for him based on his usual results,but on national expected standard for yr3.

Perhaps magnetic letters will help - try getting him to put them in order, seeing which way they are oriented?

Yep, me too.

OP, my DD is in year 5 and I have had concerns about her writing (handwriting, hand pain, spelling, grammar, sentence structure) for the past few years. I mean, in one piece of recent work, her spellings include 'trd' for tried, 'boken' and 'bokon' for broken, 'wot' for what, 'brorer' for brother, 'awt' for out, 'garger' for garage, 'ficht' for fixed (but then spells fix right), both 'parens' and 'parns' for parents. (There are many more and it isn't that long a piece!)

I have raised it on several occasions with teachers and she's always been at 'expected' levels for writing; they put it down to rushing or "spelling not being the focus of that piece of work" or "she just needs to practice more", or "lots of them are struggling with that" or "we'll keep an eye on it".

My other concern is the huge disparity between her writing and her reading and general intelligence.

I have not pushed it recently with school as we have had other struggles (she's also AuDHD and has had EBSA), however in my appeal for a refusal to issue an EHCP, she's had a private EP assessment and this was one of the things he was concerned about and has looked into.

Haven't got the report yet, but I think it will come back saying there is a big gap between her knowledge and understanding and what she can express. He assessed both her reading comprehension (which he said was very advanced) and spelling (and I also sent him a few pieces of work). He said to her that writing must be very frustrating. I think it's possible he will conclude compensated dyslexia. Fair enough that the schools aren't EPs and can't look into every single child's profile in detail, but at least admit that they don't have the expertise rather than just assume they know everything and categorically deny there's a problem!

Sorry, a long-winded way of suggesting getting an EP assessment if possible!

HT here...I really dislike how schools have this policy of always framing things with a positive spin. Parents don't always understand the nuance. We would never assess based on one 4 word sample but you know this. We need at least 6 independent pieces of writing but if that is typical of his work then in my school we would say he is well behind and would be moving for EHCP if maths and reading are similar level.

There can be a pretty wide spread of ability in mid-primary, they might be thinking he isn't that far behind/is meeting the 'lower' end of the normal spread, but you are (obviously, as most people would be) thinking about a point in the middle or above of 'normal' being the correct standard.

Absolutely not at age related expectations for a year 4 child!!

It looks similar to my DS writing, he is y4 but academically writing at y1 level according to his senco and teacher.

www.westgate-primary.com/year-4-writing-examples/

Thank you for this post. I'm in exactly the same position - same age with autism diagnosis, same standard of writing and spelling. No behaviour issues, quiet in class- school says he's doing fine. I'm going to push harder.

Thank you all, I am reading and digesting, and have asked for a meeting with teacher and SENCO, I’ll be pushing for much more detail, I can see now I’ve been accepting the reassurance when really it was misleading. Tbh he’s had so many struggles with his speech and language, social skills, sensory stuff that maybe we haven’t focused enough on academics.

In my experience schools are likely to have low expectations for your child. They don't have the resources, so certain profiles are 'sacrificed' on the alter of statistics. Your best bet is likely to be tutoring with a tutor who understands children like your son and who will help him develop to his fullest potential.

I agree with this.

You have been focussing on the right areas. Academic achievements rely on communication.

He's on his track.
School would not be saying it's OK if it isn't.
Trust their judgement - they have seen all this before.
The last thing he needs is to feel pressure.