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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be furious with teacher for keeping son in at lunch time

122 replies

23balloons · 01/05/2012 17:28

Hi I have posted in SEN education but haven't had a reply.

I am feeling furious right now & plan to approach his teacher tomorrow. Briefly, I have always suspected he was dyslexic, cannot read fluently, very slow, very messy writing bad spelling etc. I recently paid for a diagnostic assessment and the assessor verbally confirmed dyslexia, said he had slow processing and trouble with long term recall, he had a vision test last year and this showed his tracking and processing problems. I have told the school and written a letter and asked for a meeting before his SATS (in a couple of weeks, he is in y6).

At parents' evening recently his teacher was implying he was lazy and would struggle to keep up at secondary school which was one of the reasons I finally went ahead with the diagnosis. She said she had been keeping him in at lunch to catch up on his work. Afterwards I felt I should have protested at this but I didn't at the time. Since I told her he was dyslexic and I would have a report soon I assumed she would realise why he wasn't keeping up. Today he has told me he has been kept in at lunch this week and will have to spend tomorrow lunch break doing work in the Heads office. I am toatlly furious as he is a very energetic boy who loves sport and I feel he needs to run around at lunch time to burn off energy.

Sould I go in all guns blazing tomorrow or wait for the report and complain?

OP posts:
Original poster
23balloons · 02/05/2012 16:52

Actually, looktoshinford the teacher is not giving up her lunch break she is leaving him in the class with instructions to finish his work without help. She is taking her own lunchbreak.

OP posts:
Original poster
23balloons · 02/05/2012 16:56

seeker I definitely plan to go in but I want to go in with definite proof of his difficulties. I want them to explain why they have not picked up any of his difficulties and how they are going to help him in the future. I cannot do this properly without the report as I don't know the level of his problems and I don't want to loose my opportunity to make them listen going in without proof.

As I am typing an email has come in with the report which I am now going to read thoroughly & then go in armed with the facts!

OP posts:
Original poster
23balloons · 02/05/2012 18:16

I have nowread the report which clearly states my son should be on the SEN register, on school action plus and have 25% extra time in tests. Due to the school not giving my son any additonal help or understanding he has none of this and it is too late to get him extra time now. I am confident though that this report will help him be treated more fairly in secondary school.

Turns out he managed to finish off today so didn't kept in at lunch but has detention with the Head on Friday for not finishing other work. I will certainly be emailing the school about this before then.

OP posts:
FeakAndWeeble · 02/05/2012 18:24

Good luck 23.

I certainly hope that the report does make a difference for your son's secondary education. I am dyscalculic (however it's spelt; SN in numbers) which wasn't diagnosed until I was 15, but it made a huge difference from then on. Pressure was off. I didn't feel like an idiot. And I stopped being punished for being 'lazy'.

ragged · 02/05/2012 18:31

I guess give 'em Hell if it will give you satisfaction, but I can't see that it's the best use of your energy, otherwise. He leaves the school in 11 weeks, no?

gafhyb · 02/05/2012 18:50

Chandon. That is true. Our school buys in a computer-based screening test. They do not use an Ed Psych as it is so expensive.

gafhyb · 02/05/2012 18:52

I think that he has been badly let down.

I'd agree that this should be the impetus to get stuff in place with the Secondary School. Good luck

exoticfruits · 02/05/2012 19:08

I would go in for a friendly chat- all guns blazing never helps get what you want.

Original poster
23balloons · 02/05/2012 19:10

Thanks. It is not about satisfaction I want answers as to why he has been treated the way he has and I need to make sure the school passes the correct information to the secondary school.

Also I have another son in Y4 who I suspect is dyslexic. He has today told me he will be getting kept in at break on Friday to finish work. Surely this isn't the way to educate children who can't write quickly.

OP posts:
ClaireAll · 02/05/2012 19:11

Wait for the report.

Do you think it is possible to be dyslexic and lazy?

I think most teachers will recognise when a dyslexic child is struggling, ie by getting very tired and weary. If this was not the case with your DS, perhaps the teacher treated him the same way as she would any child she suspected of slacking?

Can you honestly imagine that a teacher would want to give up their breaks and lunchtimes to punish a dyslexic child? I don't.

gafhyb · 02/05/2012 19:12

She's got the report

Rhinosaurus · 02/05/2012 19:14

It might be an idea to ask for a referral to a speech and language therapist as they can assess his communication and processing capabilities.

And following that report he should surely be assessed by the

Has your school got a parent support adviser? I would say a CAF might be useful to set some actions such as referrals and plans for transition to secondary school which will have to be accounted for in meetings, and if you get a psa involved they can initiate it.

gafhyb · 02/05/2012 19:14

Claire
Since the teachers are seemingly unaware of the dyslexia, they have no way of distinguishing between problems caused by the dyslexia, (including lack of confidence, leading to possible lack of motivation), and laziness,

Rhinosaurus · 02/05/2012 19:15

Whoop sorry
Following that report surely he should be referred to edpsych for assessment?

Original poster
23balloons · 02/05/2012 19:15

Claire if you read above the teacher hasn't been giving up her lunch break, she has been going to lunch and has not offered any additional help since I informed her he is dyslexic.

The report shows his reading speed is on the 5th centile, yet they measure reading via comprehension in his school and he is level 5 in comprehension.

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tethersend · 02/05/2012 19:19

It doesn't matter if he's dyslexic or lazy or both; the consequence isn't working.

If it were an effective strategy, there would be an improvement in his work/speed and he would not continue to lose his lunchtimes.

It's a very poorly thought out strategy to deal with the issue, regardless of the cause of his difficulties.

ClaireAll · 02/05/2012 19:20

What would your strategy be, tethersend?

Hebiegebies · 02/05/2012 19:22

We know as adults that we do not continue to do productive work if we don't take a break, we also know children perform much better if they have been physically active (walking to school, running round at break time, doing PE)

Therefore Dx or no Dx, he should not be missing his play time.

I'm glad you have a Dx of dyslexia now, are there specialist schools near you? We have a secondary that has a special dyslexia department.

spg1983 · 02/05/2012 19:24

23 - why can't he have extra time? I'm a secondary teacher and we've had assessments done on pupils which have, on occasion, generated reports that only arrived a day or two before an exam and we've made arrangements for those pupils including 25% extra time.

If he's entitled to it, the only provision the school needs to make is finding a different room with an invigilator so that he's not disturbed when the others finish after the standard time limit. You'll probably find that there's already arrangements in place for other SEN pupils who either get the extra time or need a quieter/less scary environment for a different reason. I also don't see why he can't take overlays in - ours do and that's perfectly ok. Seriously - the change in arrangements from a school's point of view is minimal but it may make a difference for your son.

gafhyb · 02/05/2012 19:26

tether - I agree, but I'd add that you can't think out a strategy unless you know what the contributory causal factors are

Original poster
23balloons · 02/05/2012 19:26

I am fairly confident his secondary will be supportive as they do have a good understanding of SEN and promote themselves as being very inclusive. They have a thourough and positive policy on their website.

His current school dont have the SEN or Equality policy on their website & when I asked for copies they said they haven't finalised the Equality policy yet.

OP posts:
gafhyb · 02/05/2012 19:28

23 - if I were in your shoes, I'd consider moving the other son to a school that does have effective SEN policies

Original poster
23balloons · 02/05/2012 19:30

spg1983 the head told me it was too late for the SATS. I have read the Testing Standards Agency guidelines for access arrangements and the deadline to apply was 27 Feb. However there is a clause about exceptional circumstances which include 'a significant change in needs'. I dont know whether to push for this as it will take a lot of effort with a totally resistant head. The writing tests are 20 & 45 mins so I don't know if it is worth the fight?

OP posts:
ClaireAll · 02/05/2012 19:30

spg, I agree that extra time assessments can be last minute - right up to the day of a public exam.

However, I think they now need to have evidence of regular practice as well as an expert assessment. For example, at my DD's school, those lower school pupils who have been identified as having processing issues or dyslexia are given extra time in their regular tests and end of year exams. When the normal time expires and they switch to extra time, they also have to change from a black pen to a blue one. This provides evidence to the exam boards that extra time is definitely needed. A lot of students who would qualify for extra time based on SEN issues may not actually have the academic ability to need the extra time, so the exam boards are trying to filter out these students and retain extra time for those who will actually use it.

tethersend · 02/05/2012 19:33

ClaireAll; I would refer him to the SENCo, test his reading age and writing speed, test his processing speed using something like the CTOPP and flag up possible dyslexia to the parents. I would ensure he was assessed correctly for access arrangements in order to remove any disadvantage he may have in the SATs

I would ensure all work set is sufficiently challenging, but allow him to be successful and finish during a lesson- I may break tasks up into chunks, so he can be successful each time he completes one chunk before moving on to another if appropriate.

I would do all of the above even if I thought he was just lazy- I would want to rule out any SEN before I decided he was lazy, and then I would use the same strategy of differentiating his work. Children tend to be lazy when they are bored.