To think this isn't an acceptable way to talk about a child with sen?

[Hattymealy]

this was written by my sons class teacher for his ehcp annual review- ds is 9 and has adhd combined type and autism.

"Social/emotional/behavioural Development-

Behaviour during lessons - complete refusal if he does not want to be involved, this can lead to him exiting, singing over the top of the adults, starting a very different activity of his own choosing Etc.
He will get up and walk in front of an adult making an input- he has no care for the learning of others. Often, he will decide whether he believes a lesson is worth his time based on the initial input, if not then he leaves. Unless it is Art or something based around line drawing, in which case he is all in. If it is a lesson that he believes is "worth it' then he will focus and engage for a period and contribute but at the expense of others. He has a very inflated sense of worth. "

to me this reads like he's choosing to have the difficulties he does and that he basically just thinks he's better than everyone and above school work, and like she is making completely unfounded assumptions about his motivations. Baring in mind the opinion of professionals that have assessed him is that he has very low self esteem which is a large part of his struggles with engaging. He also cries about school almost every single night because he can't cope with the environment at all and it and it makes him feel stupid. I've asked him why he doesn't go in the class much and his answer was "nerves kick in and I can't" So to see him being described as having an inflated sense of worth is very upsetting that they can misunderstand him so much.

I think other than he inflated sense of self worth it sounds factual. It would have been more polite to say engaged rather than worth it.

I think it shows that she doesn't know much about SEN and doesn't know your son very well. Somebody on here once wrote that teachers spend half a day covering SEN during teacher training which shocked me.

I think the entire tone of the report reads as irritated and as if they're describing personality or defiance rather than a diagnosed neurodivergence. Especially he 'inflated sense of self worth'. I'd also be concerned by this OP.

The inflated sense of self worth would piss me off because it shows no understanding of the reason for his behaviour.

He has a very inflated sense of worth.

Completely unprofessional. As is the line 'at the expense of others.'

Are all the teachers at this school like this?

Is it true that he stands in front of adults trying to talk to the class and sings loudly if he doesn’t feel a class is interesting? Have any of the professionals you’ve spoken to advised why his low self esteem causes him to sing loudly if he doesn’t think a class is interesting?

Either way it sounds like the teacher is frustrated that his behaviours/challenges are disrupting the other children and the class environment. It might be best that it’s been stated plainly and then they might be more likely to offer him support.

She obviously has little awareness knowledge of sen, nor what an EHCP is actually supposed to be about.

That report is vindictive and deeply unprofessional. I would be very concerned indeed about that teacher being around my child - she doesn't have a clue what she's doing and sounds rather unpleasant to boot.

If I had received that when my DC with ASD was that age, I would have withdrawn him from school immediately and requested a meeting with the Head, Senco and class teacher to discuss it. Copies of the letter would have been sent to the ASD contact at the LA (there was one, then - not sure now) as well as the Head and Senco.

It's non-u to say so on MN, but there ARE bad apples, bullies etc among the nation's teachers, and sometimes our children have the misfortune to land on one. I say that as an EY/KS1 teacher. You need to protect your DS, because the atmosphere for him in that classroom is going to be damaging.

Sounds very subjective and like this teacher actually doesn’t like your child. I wouldn’t be pleased with this and would probably complain.

He is not able for mainstream school and it seems this teacher can do nothing to help.

While I understand its upsetting to read that, she is not a medical professional and is just saying what she sees, even if she is clumsy or slightly clueless in how she says it.

This.
What would you suggest the teacher does? She has a whole class to teach and your son's behaviour is disrupting the education of the rest of the class.

The teachers probably been asked to make it as simplistic and factual as possible.

It's not nice to read but, other than the last paragraph, I think it'll be very clear to whoever reviews it that DS struggles in lessons without 1:1 support.

Its not a great way to describe his behaviour and I agree with others that it shows a lack of understanding of SEN. That said, clearly some of those behaviours are problematic and disruptive to the class. So my next question would be what measures do the school have in place to support your son and in turn, minimise disruption to his
classmates and maximise his potential for learning. Clearly the environment isn’t working for him. I’d turn it back into the teacher and ask what’s being done to address all these issues. As if these of a consequence of SEN then they need to focus on that rather than blame.

Autism training can literally be a tick box exercise.

If I were the OP, I'd be writing a letter to the school, reminding them of the disability discrimination act.

The inflated sense of worth is not acceptable. Is your son able to explain why he sings loudly over teachers? This sounds very frustrating for the teacher. However, she has not worded her report well at all. What have school put in place for your sons needs?

Wow. That is rather revealing of their views anyway.
Whilst its fine to be factual about the behaviours, the interpretation of why the behaviours have occured is not very likely to be accurate and isnt professional.

I think the last line is unprofessional, and overall it reads as a class teacher ‘wearing their two hats’ - of a teacher responsible for ensuring the progress if every child in a class AND the teacher responsible for tge delivery of the additional / different provision detailed in your child’s EHCP.

EHCP reviews should generally be written from the point of view of the ‘second hat’ only, and so should be focusing on the child themselves not on any other impact on the class. That can be really hard, though, for a stressed under-resourced teacher at the very end of the longest term, who will be only too aware not only of this EHCP review, but also any others, the 25%+ of the class on other stages of the SEN register and the stringent data on progress required for every child.

It’s not right. The focus of this document should be on your child’s needs. But it is perhaps human. In the review, you could reasonably ask it to be re-written on a totally factual basis focusing solely on your child.

This.
What would you suggest the teacher does? She has a whole class to teach and your son's behaviour is disrupting the education of the rest of the class.

How is that the OP's sons fault? If your knowledge of SEN is this ignorant then you should really keep your offensive posts to yourself.

If a child was using a wheelchair, would you berate them for not being able to run up the stairs? Of course not!

Children with ASD are often egotistical though and their need to control means they want to control the environment around them to regularise themselves - I can see how that could be interpreted as “inflated sense of self
worth” I think OP should get to the bottom of the issues rather than focus on re-writing the teacher’s experience.

because the lack of provision for sen children is so woefully lacking that doesn't mean the blame can be placed on a 9 year old. She's clearly frustrated with him and it shows.
we are in the process of moving him to a specialist school but it is a long process and he currently only attends mainstream school 3 times a week the other days he's at an alternative provision.
she could have written all of that without the air of judgement and blame tbh and it would have been equally effective for for the paperwork.

If he's doing these things, the school clearly aren't meeting his needs.

Does he have an EHCP?

i work in information and advice for people with extra needs. I personally would put in a formal complaint about this language.

I just dont see how the teacher can do more. Should she just let him sing over her and walk around the class? Is it solely up to this teacher to make sure ops son is comfortable and allowed to do what he likes?

She must be extremely frustrated. Some of her words weren't great no, but that's probably through ignorance/lack of understanding/sheer frustration and lack of support in her classroom.

This.

Honestly I'd take him out until he's at the specialist if you can.

Does he have full-time 1:1 while in the classroom, given the level of his needs? If not, getting this written into - and fully funded - as part of this EHCP round is critical.