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.

you don't sound like you know anything about ND conditions. If you did you'd know that an inappropriate environment causes problem behaviours in autistic children. How ignorant can you get?

@Xaviera

I have autism and my DD has autism and ADHD.

I also work with children with SEND, have dealt with hundreds over the years, wrote many EHCPs as a teacher and now collate them all together from other teachers as an SEND specialist.

So yes I do know what I am talking about and the teacher is not going to lie about his behaviour in class.

We are not some different species that are incapable of being badly behaved or having any independent thoughts and making our own decisions.

You can define a child's needs and you can state that his needs are not being met in mainstream without blaming him for his behaviour.

I don’t know why you keep deleting my posts.

My question is relevant and not offensive.

Why do you not believe he sings in class and why do you think the teacher is lying?

I'm autistic and so are at least 2 of my children. If you really are are autistic, (which I doubt) yourself then you have a bad case of internalised ableism.

If you were one of my colleagues and spoke of ‘bad behaviour’ and medication as the cure for all ills, I’d report you to anyone I could think of. Your attitude to kids with SEN is appalling.

Has she blamed him?

She has described his behaviour.

The inflated sense of worth sentence is the only one i think is a bit odd, and i wonder if she's just really struggled to describe it.

Because you are writing ableist shite. I pity any child who has reports written by you, frankly.

If you were one of my colleagues and spoke of ‘bad behaviour’ and medication as the cure for all ills, I’d report you to anyone I could think of. Your attitude to kids with SEN is appalling.

Where have I said anything about medication?

And it’s incredibly offensive to anyone with SEND to say we’re not capable of bad behaviour like we are so different from ‘the normals’.

Because you are writing ableist shite. I pity any child who has reports written by you, frankly.

@Xaviera

Why because I’m autistic?

I don’t believe for a second you work with SEN kids and think their behaviour is down to ‘badness’.

You can define a child's needs and you can state that his needs are not being met in mainstream without blaming him for his behaviour

Exactly. A poster upthread re-wrote exactly the same information in a neutral, non-judgemental style, without in any way reducing the seriousness of the concern.

However, by focusing on an exhausted, overwhelmed and unsupported teacher’s writing style we are missing the main point - the system, run by this government, is entirely to blame for the classroom situation as described, and its equivalent in thousands of classrooms across the country.

I don’t believe for a second you work with SEN kids and think their behaviour is down to ‘badness’.

@Pumperthepumper

So you’re saying no one with any SEN can ever be badly behaved?

You don’t think they can be spoilt, nasty, a bully etc, all of their behaviour is because of their SEN?

So the teacher is lying about his behaviour for what reason?

Yes well whilst people keep voting the Tories in, nothing will get better.

In any case. Some of the posts on this thread are vile. I'm glad to see them deleted because they make the lives of people like me and my children, and the OP's son harder than they already are.

Its the 'does not want to', 'no care' and 'decide'. It implies a lot more choice over things than he likely has. Its a bit like saying a blind child chose not to read the board, or decided to bump into someone.

So many people do not seem to understand that describing behaviour does not require the teacher to ascribe motivations to that behaviour. The issue is not that the teacher said what happens, the issue is that she spoke complete nonsense about why it is happening

If you really are autistic, then you are the first autistic person I've encountered who appears to know F all about ND conditions. I call BS

Very unprofessional. Totally lacking in empathy and clueless about SEN.

Please put in a complaint.

I think, by the way, that it is entirely possible for a child with SEN to show less than ideal behaviour, in exactly the same way as that is possible for every child.

One if the challenges in teaching in today’s classrooms with their incredible mix of needs is differentiating between ‘behaviour as a result of a diagnosed or undiagnosed SEN or disability’ and ‘behaviour that has been chosen’.

However, what the OP describes seems consistent with the behaviour of a child with her ds’s identified needs where these are not being well managed, and so the ‘default working hypothesis’ should be that this is not ‘chosen’ behaviour.

No, I’m saying that an inability to cope in a classroom that doesn’t support SEN should never, ever be written off as ‘bad behaviour’.

I suspect she’s probably someone like you - ignorant about SEN but on too much of an ego trip to see the problem as societal. Much easier to blame the kid, isn’t it?

Its the 'does not want to', 'no care' and 'decide'. It implies a lot more choice over things than he likely has. Its a bit like saying a blind child chose not to read the board, or decided to bump into someone.

Exactly, what would you say about a child who can't walk 'they need to try harder'?

Literally no one has said that children with sen can't be badly behaved.
my ds is reasonably well behaved tbh he obviously is capable of being naughty but that's not the reason for the vast majority of his behaviours in school- he is completely unable to cope.
she not lying about his behaviours she's interpreting it completely wrong and putting the wrong motivations onto his behaviour.

If a child is having their needs sufficiently well met and then behave badly that might just be bad behaviour.

If they are not having their needs met, that should be deemed the reason for the behaviour, not that they are choosing to behave badly.

She might understand that, but what is she supposed to do about it?
So many posters are saying 'the teacher needs to understand him,' but no-one has yet suggested a practical solution for a teacher who is trying to teach a whole class with a child who is constantly disruptive. I don't believe it the needs of one single child trump th we needs of the other 29.

Autism and ADHD together are a very difficult combination to be able to learn in a MS environment. For a start, the child struggles to concentrate and becomes easily distracted. Then there are all the issues relating to the autism, such as language processing, and sensory issues. And this is just for starters.

No, I’m saying that an inability to cope in a classroom that doesn’t support SEN should never, ever be written off as ‘bad behaviour’.

No absolutely not but OP doesn’t believe that her child is acting like this in the class like singing when he doesn’t do this at home, when as I said it’s very common for children to act completely different at home be at school.

There is no reason for the teacher to lie and the more she puts down her experience, the more help he gets.

But posters implying that a person with SEN can never be badly behaved is incredibly offensive.