Parent refusing to have their child assessed

[StrongCoffeeAvalanche]

Hi, I don't want to give too many details for obvious reasons.

I am a teacher. A student I teach has many signs of SEN. We realistically cannot cater for their needs as things are. We need to put extra support in place. However due to their strong beliefs the parent is refusing to allow any assessments or help to be offered. They say their child is lazy and just isn't working hard enough. The parent does no believe in neurological differences.

I have spoken to SENCO. For reasons I cannot disclose I also want to look into this myself.

Is this parent breaking any policies? I am wondering if it falls under being a form of child neglect? Is there anything we can do or does parent opinion mean we can't do anything?

The child is desperate for assessment. It is crushing them and their mental health.

Thanks.

"You are a teacher and posting this on AIBU?
surely between you and the SENCO ,you can get some more professional advice ,rather than the thoughts of random,s on mumsnet🙄"

To be clear. My question was; can a parent block assessments and intervention.

It's actually been really easy to pick out the randoms who know what they are talking about and are in the field, from the rest.

We've already established that I am clearly a terrible teacher. Water, ducks back. I will just ignore these posts. I stated in my original post I will not ask the SENCO this question and will not disclose on Mumsnet the reason for this. If that annoys you, I frankly do not care.

Thanks, this sounds like a similar case to mine. My heart breaks for these kids.

A child who is year 12 can do their own EHCNA request you technically don't need parental consent as long as they have mental capacity to give consent. If they don't, then yes you need parental consent to gather reports from professionals.

At age 16 it would be up to the pupil not the parents.

It is not about assessment as such but a failure to seek support or allow dc to do so. By year 12 they should be able to request it themselves in confidence. The denial of this and pressure on student to cope regardless is a safeguarding issue and there should be a DSO involved.

Unfortunately this is a grey area regarding whether parents should seek a diagnosis. There can be downsides to seeking a diagnosis as there is still a lot of prejudice in some areas regarding neurodivergence. A lot of autistic mothers, for example, are forced to take personality tests by social services when they have children. It's not free from stigma. So it is very much the parents choice whether to pursue diagnosis. Schools are meant to support the child's needs whether diagnosed or not, and if necessary can initiate their own needs assessment/ IEP and EHCP processes.

The fact the child is terrified of their parent and talking to teachers is a separate safeguarding concern. Whether the child is neurodivergent or not, they should not be being coerced out of seeking help and support from school. You have done the right thing referring this on.

My sister is a teacher and over the years when my nephew was in school they asked to have him assessed for autism. Each time she declined the assessment it was never raised as a safe guarding issue.

My sons school asked to have him assessed for autism which I agreed to and after waiting 3 years he was thrown off the list over missing an appointment I never knew we had, I have chosen not to pursue it again as was told we would need to start again from the beginning, never been flagged as a safeguarding concern.

Aged 16 they can go to the GP themselves. I have found this situation before. Often I can win mothers round but fathers are more tricky. The worst won't accept any hint of a diagnosis and then demand to know what you are putting in place for children with x diagnosis and get very angsty when tons of support does not magically materialise.

They're 16/17? I assume they can visit their gp alone and access support that way? If not they'll have to battle through Til they're 18 and access it then. Sad times, I hope they're able to leave the family home ASAP once 18.

A teacher would already know the answer to this question and if they didn't, they would know exactly who within their school would be able to answer it. If I was your boss I would have very serious concerns about your use of social media for practice advice.

If the child is actually 16+ then i don't see any reason why the parents need to be informed because they are above the age of medical consent. Tread carefully and don't dismiss the parents out of hand as they do know their child (blaming sen when actually the main reason for struggling is staying up late playing computer games does happen, we have had this) but ultimately your only priority is the child

Why did you and your sister choose to take this view? Wouldn’t their lives be easier if their needs were clearly identified and met?

Your SLT and SENCO will have procedures and policies for escalating this to social work - if its warranted.

You've done what you need to do. Follow it up internally at work.

At age 16 and in year 12, the child is technically a young person under the Children and Families Act 2014 (which governs SEN provision) which means that the right to make decisions has passed over to the child. They can make their own request for assessment, and they can consent to an assessment request made by the school. The norm would be to involve parents closely in the process, but given all the circumstances I believe that if they were to ask that their parents are kept right out of it the LA would have to accept that request. However, I assume they would have to make an arrangement for post to come to them through the school or a PO Box address.

All of that needs to be done in conjunction with safeguarding action given their fears of their parents. I'd suggest chasing up with the safeguarding leads what they have done about that referral.

I didn’t, I agreed with the assessment until he was thrown off the list and told to wait another 3 years. So I decided against it, they obviously aren’t bothered with it being a “safeguarding” thing if they can deny assessing people because they missed ONE appointment that they never received a letter for.

As for my sister her son is very intelligent and she didn’t want it “holding him back”, she said he would be judged for it even though people aren’t meant to it will be used against him, that was her opinion and her words, not saying I agree with it…. But he is an adult now.

It depends on the individual child, the support at home and how well the child copes with school, relationships etc. It also depends on whether the child or the family ever want to live in another country or the child wishes to join the military. Most decent schools can identify needs and meet them without an actual diagnosis.

Informed consent of parent and child is central. Not everyone would agree that a diagnosis is desirable or beneficial. In many cases there is no subsequent support and it's not your decision to make anyway.
Your role is to educate yourself how best to teach all your students, and to differentiate and teach all as best you can.

A lot of autistic mothers, for example, are forced to take personality tests by social services when they have children.

So as not to frighten anyone, I just want to clarify that this would absolutely not happen.

If there were evidenced welfare concerns about the care of the children which reached the significant threshold for care proceedings, it’s possible that a parent would have a psychological assessment, but there needs to be clear, serious concerns before this would happen.

www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/education/extra-help-at-school/northern-ireland/statutory-assessment

you don’t need parental consent.

You can put in a concern yourself to MASH but because of the child’s age I doubt they will do anything apart from talk to the parent. Then it would look like you are bullying the parents into agreeing which will not help the child in the long run. She will be 18 soon so she can make her decisions and plans.

This is one of those times as a teacher that you have to step back. You’ve reported it to the necessary people (SENCo and DSL) and they are responsible for dealing with it. All you can do is to control the bit you can control - ensuring a good learning environment in your classroom.

Nothing helpful to add but as a parent thank you for looking out for this child

Why are you asking for parental consent. The young person can consent

We get this all the time with dentists, schools, school trips, clubs etc asking for parental consent, sometimes the parent with PR is not even engaging, child might not even be in contact with them and no one else holds PR, the child is able to consent.

If the child is 16 they can seek medical diagnosis for themselves through their GP who will signpost to the correct places. They don’t need their parents permission at that age. A child as young as 13 can request GP services so long as they understand what they’re asking for.

@StrongCoffeeAvalanche when you say “report” does that mean you only talked to the SENCO etc? Conversations disappear into the ether - they can’t be verified afterwards. You need to put everything in writing to cover your own ass and summarise what you have done so far stating who you talked to, what you said and when, and state your concerns. Send that to the SENCO, head of year and head teacher.