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.

Honestly sounds like a teacher who is seriously struggling with trying to teach a class and dealing with those behaviours. She is saying what she sees. It is factual for her, in her classroom and her experience. You might not see it as the way she describes it but it does sound very disruptive to the her and the rest of the class which is not your fault, nor your sons but it is not her fault either and she has 29 other children to teach.

YANBU

A lot of teachers aren’t adequately trained in supporting children with additional needs.

He goes to an alternative provision (but it's a temporary intervention thing so not somewhere children can go long term or full time)
he has support most of the time from floating TA's there's usually 2 in his class
1:1 is like gold dust here, I don't know of any child who has one and none in his school do or have in the 6 years he's been there, the only people who I've heard of getting a full time 1:1 in local sen groups have paid thousands in lawyer fees and private reports to win at tribunal.

@MBappse - i agree with simply asking it is reworded.

An SEN report is not the place to make that known though. There’s absolutely nothing factual about ‘he seems to…’ whatever.

Your poor child. Reading this is so depressing. His teacher is very ignorant of what it means to be autistic. I wouldn't accept this at all and would ask for a meeting asap. Your son's needs are being woefully ignored.

Agree with this. The teacher needs to know how she’s written it is not ok, but a formal complaint would be a bit combative

Apart from last sentence it does ok. Teacher has to be factual. Are you saying your child does not exist activities he chooses not to engage with and does not sing when an adult it giving class input? I have 2 children with ADHD, both now adults and I can recall my son's being very difficult at school and only engaging in lessons they enjoyed. To get the EHCP behaviour has to be extreme. Teacher seems to be making sure others are aware of how your son behaves. And yes, the learning of the whole class is more important than you having hurt feelings because the teacher spelled out how bad your son's behaviour is. Did you expect her to sweep it under the carpet? He might be more suited to a special unit or special school. He would be on auch smaller class with less going on around him.

I would suggest the teacher educates herself about what it means to be autistic. The child's behaviour is screaming "someone help me make sense of being in this classroom".

Perhaps she's too busy trying to educate 29 other dc at the same time

Christ. Your poor son.

The teacher is spiteful, ignorant and stupid. And I say that as a primary school teacher.

He has adhd and autism.
no it's not factual because he doesn't CHOOSE to not engage he can't engage because he isn't given adequate support (but his teachers fault, not the other childrens fault and not my DS's fault)
I know that other childrens learning is important but thats pretty irrelevant to his teacher making up random motivations for his behaviour and say he is inflated sense of worth.
I know that he should be in a special school but I can't magically find him a place.
you don't know my DS at all, so you don't really have any reason to say his behaviour is "bad" actually when he's in an environment where his needs are met his behaviour is fantastic, he is very caring kind and empathetic. The behaviour isn't of a 'bad' child's it's if a child who is as the absolute end of his ability to cope.

I haven’t read the entire thread but I have a physically disabled, non verbal DD. I’d absolutely complain about the language used but I’d also use that report to put pressure on the council to get him placed in a school with proper provisions for his needs.

*not his teachers fault, I meant.

This is so fucking ignorant. He’s struggling in a mainstream classroom - believe me when I say there are no other options. He’s hugely unlikely to get EHP and there are so few specialist schools that a kid with ASD and ADHD won’t even get a look in. He doesn’t have ‘bad behaviour’, he’s an unsupported kid in an education system determined to prioritise money over anything else.

She is guessing at the motivation behind his behaviour. That isn't factual and just demonstrates her ignorance around ASD. She sounds like an asshole to me.

I would expect though that whoever reads the report has a bit more understanding of SEN and will be able to read between the lines that this is a teacher way out of her depth that has no understanding or idea about how to support him. It's clearly a child that isn't coping at all in that environment and I think that is the important message that needs to come across even though she clearly has no idea.

With her attitude I would imagine this is a terrible environment for a child with low self esteem to be in. I hope you are able to get him out of there soon.

Right, at 9 he us in Y5? Or an old Year 4? If in Year 5, then your fight must be for a suitable secondary special school
place, as with only 5 terms to go it will take all of that time at least achieve it - ‘transfer’ EHCPs for secondary school entry are usually done in Y5 so as to be ready for secondary application in Y6. It is quite normal for the secondary special school
placement to be refused first time round, so starting now and allowing time for appeals, etc etc would be most likely to get you a place for the start if Y7 if you are lucky.

In parallel, you need to fight for expert, allocated and fully funded 1:1 in the class for the remainder of primary. There us a poster on mn who says they specialise in this - reach out for their support as well as SENDIASS etc to get a proper watertight EGCP with allocated funding.

Can't believe there's people on this thread defending a teacher saying a 9-year-old (SEN or not!) has an "inflated sense of worth". There's definitely people on here who just love any opportunity to stick the boot in.

It could be that she's trying to emphasise his worst behaviours so that you are successful in your EHCP review but I agree with you she shouldn't have worded it like that. She could have made the same points about his needs without using such negative language. I hope you're successful in moving him to a better school.

@thatsnotmycar was the poster on another thread who had experience of, and supported other parents in, drawing up watertight EHCPs including full funding. May be worth reaching out to them to see whether you can get full time 1:1 with particular expertise specified to support your child to have their needs met better in class.

What a disgusting thing to think, let alone say.

This is a disabled child we are talking about here.

As a mum of a boy with ASD I can totally relate to all of this as this would have described him to a T at tye age of 9, if you change art to anything computer related.

Rather than get upset think about if it is true. If it is then use this to get him into a specialist school. Just think carefully if that is right for him long term, as even though my son got into one about 13 it probably wasn't right for him, it just made the main stream teachers life easier.

Wow how horrible.
He also wants to learn, for what it's worth. he loves learning things.he'd like to be able to engage in class the way others can.

The system is wrong, in that we have here a child with high needs who is being failed through lack of support, around 7 other children with SEN in the same class (typical value) and around 22 other children of varying ability who are being failed through lack of support, and a teacher who is being failed through lack of support. It is not right that a child is disruptive through unmet need, nor that the rest of the class is disrupted through unmet need.

We should have sympathy for everyone who is being failed - every child and every adult - and burning with fury at the system that is allowing this to happen.