School don’t get it when I say I can’t

[NeverEndingFight]

DD is on PP due to my low income.

I’m a single parent.

I do work part time but have no childcare so literally work 4.5 hours a day. There’s no school wrap around and the childminders and external wrap arounds that go to DDs school are full with closed waiting lists.

DD is 7 nearly 8. Is suspected dyslexic and suspected dyspraxia/dcd. She also has hypermobility and vision and hearing issues – she can hear but struggles with subtle differences. I get that she’s complex.

She’s generally well managed at school, behaves well and has friends. She’s working at around Reception level in Literacy and Year 1 level in Maths. She can only read 3 letter words, can’t blend, can’t spell, struggles to hear the difference between sounds due to her hearing, and due to her vision issues struggles to see the differences between letters. She can write but her arm tires quickly and due to spelling ability most of her writing is nonscense.

In the assessment reports we’ve had so far they recommend some apps for DD, I keep being told by school I have to buy them. I can’t afford them; some of them are subscriptions costing £5/month there’s 4 of them and 3 of them want the subscription, the other is a one off cost of £60.

I’m told I should stop DDs out of school activities if it’s a problem as these apps are needed – there’s no guarantee they will work and I only let DD go onto her tablet for a few hours on my weekends, her dad doesn’t let her on at all – they’re apps like Nessy and Reading Eggs but more geared to dyslexia.

Her activities are the love of her life, she doesn’t really enjoy school so she lives for activity nights, and I do think they help her overall. She has gained confidence, and learnt her own abilities. She’s also made friends outside of the classroom.

School then say I should ask her dad for help as he sees her regularly, EOWend only and he doesn’t pay maintenance, if I ask him for money he tells me I’ve got more than him and see her more so it’s my job to pay for things – the CMS can’t find an income for him.

I get told without these apps she will fall further behind, I’m told to work more hours, I asked for them to guarantee her a spot at the wrap around at one of the two external companies so I can work more and got told that’s not their job or up to them.

I asked if school had these apps that DD could try to see if they’ll be suitable but I’m told school can’t afford them either and it’s the parents job to help her progress. School keep saying “If she can crack this we’ll have her reading”

I’m terrified for her future as I know she will struggle for the rest of her primary years. We’ve been rejected for an EHCNA so taking the council to tribunal over that, school are saying we won’t get any more assessments as she’s “Not badly behaved enough”. She behaves in class, but then lets it all out at home, gets very upset over every little thing.

I despair and don’t know what to do. This is the second primary school she’s been to and her last one said the same “She’s not badly behaved enough for an EHCP or 1-1”. I don’t want to move her again as she hates this school slightly less than her previous one.

Just ranting really. I’m sick of fighting. This has come after yet another email last night (that I've only just read) from her teacher saying she needs these apps. I think they think I can't be bothered or expect school to do everything - I read with her daily, I battle her to do homework, I always go to parent workshops, I go to parents evening, I do every medical appointment alone.

@Whinge

I've never had to pay for a school trip so I assume that's what the PP is spent on.

She's in year 3, having missed a lot of school due to lockdowns. How many trips has she actually been on?

She does so small group work outside of class and has 1-1 reading sessions twice a week

Who is this with?

@Whinge

She's in year 3, having missed a lot of school due to lockdowns. How many trips has she actually been on?

2 in Reception, 1 so far in Year 3 and we've been told about 2 more.

Who is this with?

The Head does the group work and the 1-1 reading is with the TA who works in KS1.

Also absolute bollocks she doesn't qualify for an EHCP because of her behaviour. She will be lower down the list because she isn't disruptive.

I could go off on a tangent about what a disgrace the education support network is for little girls (who tend to be less disruptive, therefore receive less support) but that's for another day.

Request in writing that she is put forward for an EHCP and if they deny this IN WRITING, request why. I would also reach out to Scope who are a disability support charity and may be able to point you in the right direction of people who can help.

Well done on advocating for her, she'd be lost without you.

Sorry to hear that. Well done for taking them to tribunal and I hope it goes your way. It’s so wrong that parents have to fight in this way to support their children.

My son uses a Roger pen, which is a microphone that the teacher wears, looks like a pen and he has an ear receiver, he has some hearing loss but not very severe this is used to cut out all the background noise, so he can concentrate on what the teacher says. It’s been very useful, this might be good for your daughter, he’s been using it since year 4. It’s expensive but the teacher of the deaf recommended it and they paid for it, approx £1000. It might be worth enquiring about talking to the teacher of the deaf allocated to the school and if she recommends it they might fund it or recommend school use some of the pp on it. He,s still using it 6 years later.

@Bootothegoose

Also absolute bollocks she doesn't qualify for an EHCP because of her behaviour. She will be lower down the list because she isn't disruptive.

I could go off on a tangent about what a disgrace the education support network is for little girls (who tend to be less disruptive, therefore receive less support) but that's for another day.

Request in writing that she is put forward for an EHCP and if they deny this IN WRITING, request why. I would also reach out to Scope who are a disability support charity and may be able to point you in the right direction of people who can help.

Well done on advocating for her, she'd be lost without you.

@Bootothegoose I've been trying to get an EHCP but can't get the council to assess her, I'm waiting on a tribunal date for it, but it's school saying she won't get even an assessment even at tribunal.

Change schools.
I’m amazed that a school would tell any parent they have to buy an app, let alone a parent they know to be on PP.

Apply yourself for an ehcp. It's nothing to do with behaviour. It's to do with needing resources not normally available in mainstream school.

If they are saying she needs these apps they are also saying she needs a tablet these are educational needs. The school needs to fund them from their send budget or it's more than is available and needs to be funded via an ehcp.

It's easy to apply but you have to strong and factual and arm yourself with the facts and law.

The original application should be easy.

State her diagnosis. Her year on year progress and how much support she's having.

State that the threshold is has or may have send and may need more than is usually available. State you have given evidence of all of the above and how dd meets the threshold and you look forward to hearing from them with dates for the assessment. List the assessments you want (salt, OT, Ed psych, specialist teacher advisors or HI and VI).

If they say they won't assess because she hasn't seen these people you state clearly that that is breaking the law as seeing these people form the assessment process.

IPSea and sendcop are amazing at supporting you through this.

@itsgettingweird

Apply yourself for an ehcp. It's nothing to do with behaviour. It's to do with needing resources not normally available in mainstream school.

If they are saying she needs these apps they are also saying she needs a tablet these are educational needs. The school needs to fund them from their send budget or it's more than is available and needs to be funded via an ehcp.

It's easy to apply but you have to strong and factual and arm yourself with the facts and law.

The original application should be easy.

State her diagnosis. Her year on year progress and how much support she's having.

State that the threshold is has or may have send and may need more than is usually available. State you have given evidence of all of the above and how dd meets the threshold and you look forward to hearing from them with dates for the assessment. List the assessments you want (salt, OT, Ed psych, specialist teacher advisors or HI and VI).

If they say they won't assess because she hasn't seen these people you state clearly that that is breaking the law as seeing these people form the assessment process.

IPSea and sendcop are amazing at supporting you through this.

@itsgettingweird I've applied for the EHCP but can't get the council to assess her, I'm waiting for a tribunal date to get her assessed. School are saying even at tribunal she won't get an assessment.

You should start putting everything in writing. Everytime someone says something unreasonable, send an email as a record that the conversation took place, quoting what you were told.

They’ve got an absolutely no thank you spectacularly told where to shove active somebody tried to tell me how to spend my spare income.

The school receives £1345 pupil premium per year for your daughter.
In your shoes I would be blunt.

Dear teacher,
I am a single parent and unable to afford the apps you suggest for DD. Please stop sending me emails suggesting I buy items I have previously stated I cannot afford.
I know that the school receives £1345 pa PP to support disadvantaged students such as my daughter. Can you please let me know what you are spending her PP allowance on to support her education and why you are not buying these apps which you have, repeatedly, told me will benefit DD.

If you don't get a satisfactory response, and school buying the apps, escalate to the governors. There will be a governor responsible for PP and another for SEND. Contact both.

I'm sorry your daughters school is so unsupportive of her.

I would write to the local MP and explain everything you've managed to explain so clearly here. İt's so obvious that the school are being disrespectful to yours and your child's situation. My best friend from uni had dislexia and dispraxia and really really struggled because of how the words jumped around the page and forming her ideas into coherent sentences, but she got her politics degree in the end and just got a masters after a couple of years of decent work experience. The uni helped her with some speech to text resources, extensions for everything and a mentor. Actually I got the same resources because I had really bad anxiety and we used to joke about being the only two special needs kids at university. Both of us had been overlooked throughout school and told to get on with it. Don't ever listen to anyone who tells you that activities aren't as important. Her mind, ideas and logic will develop, regardless of how long it will take her to read and all of her life experiences will help to form this.

And again English I meant they have a spectacular cheek

• @itsgettingweird I've applied for the EHCP but can't get the council to assess her, I'm waiting for a tribunal date to get her assessed. School are saying even at tribunal she won't get an assessment.*

I got told the same by ds secondary academy.

He got 1 at tribunal. The judge even asked the la if they wanted to concede beforehand based on the evidence I had. They didn't!

I won, we are now 7 years down the line and ds finishes college in a few months and they've just agreed to maintain it still.

You can use all the arguments I've said above in tribunal as well.

But stick to the same repetitive boring facts.

She has x y and z inputs.
She's made x progress

She may need more than is available in mainstream school to reach her best possible potential.

My La tried all sorts of tactics to get me to say things like "the school won't do that" by asking why he didn't have x y and z. My reply always was "you'd have to ask the school why that isn't available". It's never they don't - always it's not available.

School are saying even at tribunal she won't get an assessment

It might be worth pointing out to them that the success rate for appeals against refusal to assess is over 90%. Also suggest to them that it's in their interests to support you with the appeal - after all, if you get an EHC Plan that means there is adequate funding to support your daughter, that will help the school.

@NeverEndingFight if you are challenging the LA on refusing to assess, contact IPSEA for support. Their Refusal to Assess Pack is an absolute godsend in this situation, as it helps you word things just right.

Most refusal to assess tribunals are conceded before the tribunal date, it’s just time-wasting by the LA, as the threshold for assessment is actually pretty low and they know they won’t win. From what you’ve written, your dd more than qualifies for assessment.

Do you have support from SENDIASS? I know some people don’t like them as they are affiliated with LA’s, but ours have been fantastic and I wouldn’t have got ds2’s placement and plan sorted without them.

It is your LA’s responsibility to fund your dd’s education, you should not have to pay for resources yourself. Sadly so many schools and LA’s fail children like this and far too many Senco’s are not properly trained or supported and don’t have a clue about the school’s legal responsibilities or correct process. Both of my older two dc have EHC Plans, which have been hard fought and won, from game-playing, incompetent LA’s and clueless schools. It shouldn’t be like this, parent’s shouldn’t need to learn the law and government guidelines just to make sure their children are properly educated. Parents of non SEN pupils don’t. Unfortunately for the rest of us, spending year after year fighting a system that isn’t fit for purpose, it can have a devastating effect on our families and the child involved in particular, especially as many of us are also fighting for appropriate healthcare and disability support.

Don't blame the school.

The target for your anger and frustration and demands for help should be DD's feckless useless father who refuses financial support. Tell all his family, all his friends, his boss, shout from the rooftops that he's refusing to pay for the support his child needs. Make his life hell until he pays up.

OP, definitely push for the PP money to spent on it. Ask in email so it's in writing.

My kids are PP. The school use my DD's PP money to pay for her school trips, a new logo PE kit that got introduced, and drama lessons that take place outside of school for her speech/confidence. We also had no devices in our house except for my phone, which wasn't suitable for my kids to do school work on during lockdown, so they gave us a laptop.

100% ask the school what the PP money is being spent on, and suggest that if these apps are essential, can the PP money be allocated to this.

@NeverEndingFight

This is absolutely outrageous. School should not be pressurising you to pay for anything to meet your child's needs at school. If the school cannot afford them they should be asking the LA for extra funding.

How long ago did you apply for the EHCNA? Did the school support your application? If not they absolutely should have done. The school has a legal duty to use their best endeavours to meet your daughter's SEN and this includes obtaining specialist help.

www.ipsea.org.uk/the-best-endeavours-duty

It is absolute nonsense that a child has to be badly behaved to get an EHCP. If a local authority is requested to carry out an EHC needs assessment by a parent, young person, school or college, they must consider:

• whether the child or young person has or may have special educational needs (“SEN”); and
• whether they may need special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

If the answer to both of these questions is yes, they must carry out an EHC needs assessment.
This test is set out in the law (Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014).

From what you say that threshold has already been reached and the LA was wrong to refuse. 90% of parents win refusal to assess appeals.

Has there been input from a specialist teacher for the hearing or visually impaired?

I have a child who is dyslexic and severely hearing impaired and I had to battle the school for any support.

I could not get any help for the dyslexia. Hearing impairment and dyslexia have similar traits and the equipment used for hearing impairment can help the dyslexia. For example the dyslexia impacted my child's processing skills so she needed an app to help her break information down. I could not afford it and there was no help. However, her hearing impairment also impacted her processing skills. This meant I was able to get the app that was required from the sensory team.

I would suggest:
Contact your areas sensory services department. They advise schools on what is required for sight and hearing issues and they will provide equipment for free while your child is in education. They will also make sure the school is meeting your childs needs.
Contact the National Deaf Children's Association. They are excellent at providing advice. They can only focus on the hearing side but as a lot of the traits are similar. Their advice helped my daughter get all the equipment she needed.
You could contact the Dyslexic Association but I found them to be useless.
Contact IPSEA. They provide helpful advice.
The EHCNA is not based on behaviour. It is based on needs. An EHCNA must be carried out if a child has special needs and they may need special provision to be made through a plan. If the council feel the answer to one of these points is no then they need to explain why they have come to that conclusion. As your child is clearly working below her educational level they should not be refusing. I would suggest getting the paperwork from the school as it sounds like the application has not been properly filled out.
As others have said the pupil premium could be spent on getting the equipment your child needs.
Contact your local sight and hearing charities. They sometimes offer grants for equipment. Once again you will need to focus the request on the sight/hearing impairment.

I was about to ask where her PP money is going but, honestly, if she has a scribe and 1:1/small group sessions - it's there.

I still think you should do as PP have suggested, and try the BDA. There must be other, effective Apps which are free or low-cost.

OP, you say that your child has suspected dyslexia but isn’t diagnosed. Can I ask what these assessment reports are that have said you must buy particular apps? Who wrote them?

Reports by an EP or specialist teacher often give suggestions but I have never seen one written as a you ‘must’ buy xyz.

You should claim dla, that is what dla is for.

Can you get dla for dyslexia?