To ask you not to buy fidget spinners or any other shit and let your DCs take them to school?

[StrongerThanIThought76]

I'm a teacher. The current fad for Things To Piss The Teacher Off In Class is fidget spinners.

Before anyone jumps on me I recognise and accept that for some SEN kids they are a godsend. I know that. I really really do.

But there are so many kids that are now telling anyone in their vicinity that they are to help them focus etc etc.

NO THEY FUCKING DON'T!

They're a distraction not only to the kid in question, to the kids around you and to the poor sod at the front of the room trying to teach.

If your kid has SEN speak to the SENCO at school who will advise you if your kid would be allowed to have one. Even then (as it is in my school) they should only be used when appropriate.

If your kid is 'normal' then please don't send the damn TOYS into school. The only thing most kids should have in their hand during lessons is a pen or pencil!

And don't call in demanding that your kid gets their TOY back immediately - they've had it confiscated because they're pissing about in class. We wouldn't be happy with them playing with an Action Man or remote control car in class, and neither would you be.

Rant over. We have a hard enough time as it is in schools, keep the extra distraction out of the classroom please?

Thankyou

I just want to add that teachers like Trifle who take their job as a vocation, are worth their weight in gold, as you can tell she sees children as individuals if that makes sense. Where at school myself and having DC at school, you get teachers where you wonder why they opted for such a profession.

There are certain jobs that you have to do for the love of the job, teaching is one, crazy crazy hours, Nursing and Health Care is another. You're not there for the money, but because you want to make a difference.

Fanjothat doesn't sound good is there alternative provision? Ds was 16 but had twice weekly sessions with SALT and OT and saw psych regularly and more often when issues arose. It was like a different universe moving from unit in mainstream to there tbh as you were lucky if the psych showed up to an annual review much less actually assessing or advising.

Fanjo - if there's anything specific DC struggles with and if there's specific techniques you know that help. I don't mind making resources that could assist. Be it 1 subject or several.

It's a shame they shut down the independent school. I think we must be really lucky, with parents having a choice of tiers.

In our LA there is one maintained ASD specific school but there has to be a co morbid of MLD or SLD. There are generic special schools which work for the children with ASD who are below expected levels academically, then there are a few units attached to mainstream schools for the children with ASD who achieve expected levels academically. There is nothing for children like my ds who have moderate to severe autism without learning difficulties and so initially he travelled 30 miles each way to the best unit available and then 30 miles each way to the specialist school in a different county.
It's really poor for provision here as well and the LA fight all the way to provide the cheapest option even if it doesn't meet needs.

I think it's the case everywhere now tbh. Services are much more stretched than they were. Ds got specialist SALT and SSSEN provision in Primary alongside his 1 to 1 TA. Dd,eight years younger had none of that because the services had been disbanded by then.
Dd is in mainstream secondary (no unit) with the autism specialist TA as support. It works some of the time and some of the time it doesn't (although it's been better since I let them see I'm a nightmare if I'm crossed ).I didn't ask for a unit place this time because I don't think they are the better option tbh. If her place at this school fails then I'd fight again for independent specialist I suppose and have a fund I add to for that purpose.

YADNBU & I dispute how good they are for SN kids anyway.

DD has SPD as a symptom of other conditions & she finds that they drive her nuts & hates that other kids in class use them & she does need to use fidget gadgets to help her concentrate

Rockin you could always ask the teacher to consider you dd's needs in the seating plan. It is written into dd's statement that her sensory needs have to be considered with regards to environment/ seating etc so she wouldn't be seated near another child whose own needs meant they used an aid dd found distracting/uncomfortable etc

Thanks Insanity I will mention that to DD.

No statement, though I think that was phased out here, at least that's what I was told in the beginning. Though I have come to realise over the years that DD hasn't been considered for help she would have benefited from as she does so well academically. So not sure if thats something I should have fought for earlier on. Her current school are excellent though, so I'm confident they will help if needed, though DD wishes they would hurry up & ban the things.

Rockin dd is a top grade student expected to achieve A A* equivalents across the board it doesn't mean that she doesn't have needs as well. It's because the school has to consider her needs that she is able to remain on target academically tbh. Our LA are so slow so she still has a statement because they haven't got round to changing it to EHCP just yet,it will be done eventually just not on the two occasions I was led to believe it would happen. But then again it's not a surprise it's par for the course here tbh.

Dixie I would definitely get the ball rolling with the EHCP you have nothing to lose. I applied for ds and dd's statements at the time they began assessment for autism so aged 2 and 2 and a half so they had them in place before starting nursery. It was so much easier not having to have a school's observation and input and evidence tbh.

I'm hoping for a school ban. We didn't have any until eldest ds friend gave him one and now all my children are clamoring for them gah

Some entrepreneurial little sod has worked out how to turn them into knuckle dusters and apparently it's all over YouTube...

The nearest special schools to here are either for children with ASD or moderate - severe learning disabilities (ds has no diagnosis of ASD and has an average non verbal IQ).

The unit he is in is supposed to be the best fit for a child like him, but it isn't as they have been woeful in supporting him with Makaton or the use of his AAC device, and the few places in the unit have ended up being for children who haven't got a place at the special schools.

God knows what we will do at secondary.

enterthedragon

Thank you but I am not actually asking for advice so I won't start another thread. I was responding to a pp but exemplifying my point using my experience in the classroom. I won't go into what his 1:1 is doing (she is brilliant and is doing her job). The point is that I think this boy's needs are impossible to meet in a standard classroom, not that I don't know how to do my job.

Sorry did I miss the heartfelt apology from OP for using the incredibly upsetting word normal because what I read was this -

Apologies again. I have worked closely with many students of all ages with additional needs; sometimes parents of kids who are not affected in this way do refer to their own kids as 'normal' rather than neuro typical Well they bloody well shouldn't.

This is very much a "sorry...but" kind of apology. Shame on MNHQ for not recognising this and for belittling the upset and anger that the use of this word (particularly by a teacher) causes. I overheard a class teacher roaring at a child who was messing about in line - "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE LIKE A NORMAL PERSON". Implying normal =good abnormal=bad.

The previous poster who said that telling us not to be upset about this is like mansplaining is right. Or it's like telling a black person not to get upset about racist language.

Me neither, mine are strictly the two with autism and the three without. I and all the dc would be hugely offended if anyone referred to them as normal which would imply that their siblings and two of my dc were abnormal

There's obviously a huge gap in the education system. At the moment its either you are neuro-typical and go to mainstream school or you have such needs they can only be met in a special school. Unfortunately the special schools don't seem to have the same focus of academics but focus more or getting day to day living skills and eventually living independently.
There are a lot of children in the middle like DS who has two neurological conditions but is very academically able and very sociable but has mild ADHD. But bad enough to be a challenge at school.

Where do these children fit? whats their provision. Mainstream usually don't want them and special schools find them too able.