Support in school

[NeedAdvice12345]

My dd6 has asd, adhd and stress. She was giving a school one to one support assistant at the start of the school year. We have been informed that this will be changing again next term. This will be her 5th support assistant this school year. Is this the usual as my dd can’t deal with change and this just seems excessive. I have approached the school to say I am unhappy about all the change but they have said as long as she has 1-2-1 that’s the only requirement they need to meet.
Does anyone have any advice as I don’t want to upset my dd anymore and haven’t told her it’s changing after Xmas.

I would definitely get a meeting organised at the start of term. Five support assistant is shocking especially for an asd child. Most schools try and keep change to a minimum for asd children. I would send an email detailing your concerns and how it’s affecting your dd. What happened in reception?

My DC primary must be an anomaly as most of the TA's have been there 10+ years.

Does the school have some kind of SEN resource where she goes instead of class? It's really not sounding great. I'm assuming the head is aware of DD's background. I'd write with the request for a rota system instead, I think having a paper trail is going to be in your best interests, and I'd be following up all conversations with an email/letter.

Do you have a home/school communication book? If you do, I highly recommend taking photos on your phone of the entries. Just in case it goes missing (DS1's did after an incident, fortunately I'd been keeping my phone copies).

I really hope CAHMS can help too. The clinical psychologist we saw was more than willing to get involved with the school.

Instead of the class she goes to the nurture room but this isn’t staffed it’s just with her 1:1.
Yes the headteacher is aware we had a meeting at the start of the year where everything was explained to her and she was keen to follow on from the progress made in reception but she seems to be doing the opposite of everything that’s been recommended.
Yes we do and I do photograph it every day as we needed it at meeting one time and the school couldn’t locate it.

1:1 is high stress and high burn out. Especially if its the same 1:1 all the time.

Try being the parent!!!

I do get the idea that a child should not get over-reliant on a particular TA. But in our experience it is not so much the individual that is relied on but rather the support that is given. What you can do,therefore, is try and tighten up the EHCP so that the sort of support your dd needs is given regardless of the person giving it.

We have also found it useful to write a one page "passport" for new staff working with my ds's to list potential problems / triggers and strategies that are proven to work under different circumstances. The key is to make it short and succinct so, unlike the EHCP, it actually gets read by the actual person doing the support.

OneInEight

Try being the parent!!!

Pretty much knew that this would be the response.

I agree with tightening up the EHCP. LAs can not have a blanket policy to refuse to do this. As a PP said, they got it done at tribunal.

You could also ask the school to help to prepare your DD in advance of a staff change. For example, a week or so before a new TA, they could inform your DD, use visuals etc to explain who will be working with her, use a calendar to prepare her etc. There is more they could be doing to help her to cope, although I generally agree with the idea that a child should not become too attached to one member of staff. I've seen the issues that can cause several times unfortunately.

I'd say the headteacher is not looking at this from a person centred point of view (ie DD's), but rather from a staff management point of view!

DD had two TAs in a job share for 2 years. I think one did Monday to Wednesday midday; and the other did Wednesday midday to Friday. DD was fine with that. Next year, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to give her a classroom TA every lesson - so a different one for each subject. They did not understand her particular needs - so for instance, one was very "loud"; when DD can't cope with "loud"! She needs quiet and calm (for a comprehension point of view, apart from anything - she can't keep up with people, who talk fast). DD needs routine and predictability. She took to running out of the classroom, because she could not cope, and ended up refusing to go back regularly.

We have found DD does get attached to people; but that is only human - however, if they said goodbye to her at the end of the year, she could cope with it, even though she was upset. People disappearing for no reason, as far as she knew, was worse!

I suspect your DD needs routine and predictability too - she could cope with a few TAs in a regular timetable (using a visual timetable for her, so she knows on Monday she gets X, Tuesday Y, etc); and they could get used to her and how she thinks. I would have thought if the TA changes every few weeks (if you are on the 5th change already), they are just getting to know what makes her tick, and they get moved on?

I was talking about staff changes with DD's clinical psychologist. He said we all need external cues like clocks, routines, etc to keep us orientated. With frequent, unpredictable staff changes, children and young people get disorientated. Solitary confinement is an extreme punishment, because people get very disorientated with it.

I wouldn't take any notice of LA policies like they never do......They are not supposed to adopt blanket policies; they have to consider the needs of the individual - I'd be asking for two or three TAs trained and experienced in ASD, in a job share, so at least DD has some routine and predictability.

After ds 1-1 was off sick for a month and the disruption it caused him we made the decision that he has two different 1-1s (one morning one afternoon) because it actually provides more consistency.

I would sit and have a meeting with the senco, I would also talk to the CAMHs worked about it as she may contact the scjool to help

The school has a new headteacher and she says she doesn’t want the children getting attached to the staff that is why she is changing it so often, but this doesn’t work for my dd.

I don't agree. It's a good idea to mix it up a bit, but to keep the same one or two with others occasionally.

Most children thrive with consistency and it certainly sounds like your DD needs it more than most.

It takes a while to get to know each other so keep swapping doesn't help anyone.

How old is your DD?

She’s 6. I totally agree that isn’t good to get too attached to the one person. But I don’t think it been changed every few weeks is helping the situation. I will contacting the school and lea after the break and asking for an urgent meeting to discuss how we can get the right support.

I think you should also focus on the attachment issue your DD has due to adoption history whereas the school seem to be focusing on the ASD aspect. In my experience as a LSA, ASD kids can become fixated on particular people and then find it hard to adapt to any change, so I agree with having a certain number of TAs on rotation so there is consistency with support. The way the school works things at the moment this is affecting your DD due to attachment, so I'd suggest the TA rotation to the SENCO and see what they say.

Good luck.