To want to speak to the school SENCO

[Thequeenhascovid]

DS is 4 and at primary school where the teachers flagged up some concerns. He’s referred to the CDC and we’re on the waiting list. I’ve called his school twice to speak to the senco. The first time I was told she would call but no one has. The second time I emailed they said you need to speak to the class teacher. I emailed back saying I’ve already spoken to her and she cannot answer my questions. They’ve said to put it in an email and the senco will get back. It’s been a week and I haven’t heard from them. I know things are busy in schools but I would really like to speak to the senco to see what I could do for him and what they are providing as we wait for a diagnosis.

I’d send another email. In many schools, small ones in particular, sencos have a woefully inadequate time available to them to do their job-lots teach as well and many get no additional money for the job-it’s a huge role. The one at my DCs school went off sick and the head tried to cover it-she said herself that she had no idea how much paperwork it involved. That doesn’t excuse it, but may go some way to explain. I have never seen as many senco jobs advertised as there are at the moment, people just don’t want to do the job as there is insufficient time, staffing, resources and funding to be able to do it justice :(

@strrawberriesandcream yes this.

It's absolutely ridiculous that they've flagged up concerns to you, but won't speak to you properly about those concerns. That's really bad form.

Put it in writing - that they've flagged these things up (list them so it's noted that these were their concerns) and that you'd like a meeting to discuss their concerns so that you can all play your part in helping your DS as best you can.

If they don't reply then put it in writing again that you requested a discussion on X date about their concerns of a, b, c and d and you'd like to know their timescale for organising that discussion so that you can all work together to address your DS's needs.

Schools are busy. Very busy. But flagging a list of concerns to a parent and then not making time to discuss it with them not on.

This 100%.

Go to your GP and ask for the referrals.

The Occupational Therapist opens doors to SALT, and Physiotherapy. They can give you specific advice, and worksheets to support your dc. The pediatric team can get you onto various pathways for neurodiversity, which you may or not need, but as the wait time can be up to 18 months in some areas I'd suggest getting on it now, whilst your are looking at the other support.

It's shocking that the senco hasn't responded. Ours is off, with a serious illness, but the head teacher happily called me back to discuss a concern I had within hours. Its not acceptable to leave you worried and not sure where to turn for the right help and support.

I hope you get the help you need x

I would speak to your GP and tell them all that you've said here.
Your GP will refer to Community Paediatricians and you'll get a faster response, hopefully.
Once CPs are involved then the school will comply.

You need to know the diagnostic pathway in your area - here, in an ordinary part of England, a GP is absolutely nothing to do with it and cannot refer for assessment for autism - the only way a referral is accepted by community paediatric team is if it comes from a school senco. (And that referral is no small amount of paperwork.) So “go to your GP” or implying that might speed anything up is not necessarily helpful!

Not unreasonable OP, though I know some sencos are completely snowed under and unfortunately a non disruptive four year old is not going to be a priority at this time of year. Completely unfair to give you a list of issues and then go to radio silence though. If you don’t get a response I think it’s perfectly reasonable to write to the headteacher. You shouldn’t have to corner a teacher in the car park to get a conversation about your child within a reasonable time frame, especially given they clearly have concerns too.

In this part of England we have the CDC. I’ve been in contact with the GP and he has been referred. He is on the waiting list

Lots of schools follow- every teacher is a teacher of SEN and so they would talk to parents - not the Senco.

YANBU to want to speak to her, but YABU to expect to be able to see her within a week.
It’s an incredibly busy time of year. They’ll need a few weeks at least, I expect, to find the slot to give you the time you need. It’s not just about the meeting, the SENCO and teacher will want to discuss together beforehand too and discuss his work, so they are up to speed before talking to you.

Has the referral been accepted by the CDC? That will be multi disciplinary and will give you a better idea of next steps.

5 weeks is incredibly poor communication from a SENCo. I would email again to say you have had no response and would like to request a meeting and copy the Head in. If still no response, a formal complaint might be the next step. Early intervention is incredibly important. What you can do in the meantime is contact your local authority to see if you can get a referral for intervention, contact SLT and get the ball rolling. The school will need to respond to any requests for information from the local authority too.

these are wonderful suggestions but now I’m slightly confused. He has been referred to CDC and I’ve been told he might have an initial consultation by the end of July but we haven’t got an official date.
we are in london so not sure who else we could contact as they might just end up saying we need to wait for our appointment

In terms of what you can do?
Sounds like they are maybe looking at an autism pathway. Do some reading and see if that fits.

Many areas of the UK have completely different pathways/contacts for referrals, so you could try asking your GP how to get a referral, local health visitor, local authority website, etc. It is a shame the SENCo can't give you more information - hopefully you will get a meeting very soon. Try looking at the IPSEA website for next steps too. Wishing you all the best.

The OP has been waiting five weeks in total and it doesn't take a minute to reply to an email, give some reassurance and get a date in the diary.

A SENCO should have some empathy and understanding for what parents are going through when they are given the news that their child might have SEN. It's not on being so flaky and uncontactable.

The school have already compiled a list of concerns and told the OP, so they should be more than prepared for a meeting to discuss them in detail and explain next steps.

What the OP is experiencing really isn't an acceptable level of communication or support.

It sounds like they are looking at assessing for autism.

I went through this process when my son was age 3 and in primary school nursery. He was subsequently diagnosed with autism.

I was pulled in for a chat after his first few days in school and they explained their concerns; lack of eye contact, not answering to his name, limited social skills, very delayed speech...

They applied for an EHCP immediately which was approved. This outlines the child's additional needs and what the school (by law) must do to support them. It also has targets for the child and what the teachers must do to help them achieve them. It is reviewed annually. My son has 1-1 support and interventions, small group work, sensory room time, that kind of thing.

He was referred to CLASS and MAAT and had an educational psychologist observe him.

He was then assessed for autism. This was a four part assessment.
-Parent interview.
-Teacher interview.
-Classroom and playground observations.
-One to one assessment with me present. For this they had a number of activities planned and I sat in the corner to support him but didn't get involved unless they requested.

Once everything was completed they complied a report with their findings and gave a diagnosis. I think some kind of scoring system was used.

I believe NHS is waiting lists are atrocious at the moment, my friend has been waiting for 2 years since concerns were raised in school and is still waiting for initial assessments. This isn't too important though in the grand scheme of things because a diagnosis isn't necessary for school to be providing appropriate support and a diagnosis isn't vital for an ehcp to be issued.

Hope this helps feel free to DM me if you have any questions.

Maybe they're off sick?

In that case, it’s now just a waiting game until he’s seen by the CDC team.

Follow up on your email again today, so it's documented and you have a paper trail. If no response, Then go into school and ask to speak to the Head.

No. Please listen. You need to go to GP and get him referred, if you want ASD referral for example. Going private it's absolutely fine if you need something done speedily, but you must all also do the NHS aspect as well at the same time because it's better, once you finish with private you will then need to be referred back into the NHS.

You seem naieve and not knowledgeable. Please get yourself onto the SN boards so people can properly advise you on what to do, in what order.

You are being quite rude and patronising. The OP is new to this and looking for advice.

Ive never seen my GP about my sons autism.

School completed all of the referrals and the assessments took place in school.

It sounds like he is already on the diagnostic pathway. He will be seen at the CDC (probably by a Community Paediatrician for a developmental assessment) and referred on for an Autism assessment if needed. Going to the GP won't help with this, as the process has started.

I would ask the school:

• Does he need Speech Therapy? Or do they feel they can manage his needs with what they are already offering? Often the SLT only sees the most needy children and trains the school staff to support others in small groups, so this could be what is happening.
• What do they advise re. Spatial Awareness?

It may be they are doing all they need to currently and monitoring but it would be good if they communicated this to you so you could also support at home. There also may be more they could do.

(I'm an SLT in London btw).

If you haven't heard for months then I'd be looking to email again and copy in the chair of governors.

I'd simply say you are a very concerned parent - the school has raised concerns and a referral has been made and you want a meeting to discuss a) what they are doing and b) how you can support that at home.

I'd end the email politely asking that as this is likely an ongoing issue if they could let you know the timescales you can expect for a response I future because if months is normal then you won't feel forgotten with no response.

Emailing the chair of Governors is not the right thing. They will rightly tell you to look at the schools complaints policy, they only kick in once you have been through the Head.

Phone and ask to speak to the Headteacher.

It's not good that you have had no response (I work in a primary school and had overall charge for the SATs this week) and I understand your frustration.

The reality though is that, although you need to know more, nothing much is likely to happen for a while beyond the school implementing their own strategies, which it sounds like they are doing. Usually children are monitored over time and many will never get more than in school interventions. Some will be referred eg to an Educational psychologist but the school will prioritise which children receive these referrals.

So your child is not missing out from this lack of contact with the Senco. But I would write an email outlining (politely) the lack of response and copy it to the head teacher. (I have children with needs too so I know how you feel about wanting to know more. )