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.

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

But does the pupil know that? If they have controlling/unsupportive/over protective parents they may not know that they can contact the GP themselves.

Your role is to educate yourself how best to teach all your students, and to differentiate and teach all as best you can.

The OP has already stated that they cannot meet this pupil’s needs right now, which is why she came on here asking for advice.

@StrongCoffeeAvalanche are you able to say what kind of religion forbids mental health assesments?

It depends on the area you live the schools and college where I live is shocking.

Safeguarding issue and should be reported to social services or linked social worker. Is there a guidance teacher who can support. I'd think this to be urgent and demand a follow up in the first instance from your SLT. In some parts of the UK not getting an immediate response to confirm some action has started would be considered a failure of duty of care. This child sounds terrified. You don't need to go through school, you can report this today to social services as a private individual with confidentiality. You are doing the right thing to take actions.

Thanks to all concerned, I don't want to give more specifics about the child and parent as I fear it is outing. However please be reassured my reporting was hand written in pen, uploaded (scanned in) and submitted through the correct digital channel, to the correct members of staff.

You sound a lovely teacher wanting to help this boy.

My last post was genuine, a thanks. Then just an update incase people were worried

It's extraordinary in my opinion and experience that any teacher would expect a neuro diverse 16/17 year old to be assessed or even diagnosed. At that stage camhs won't want to know, they won't reach the top of the waiting list and will end up at the back of the queue for adult services the minute they reach 18.

We fought for dd to get help and ended up paying for it because camhs weren't interested and she was harming by cutting, overdosing and withholding food. It was horrendous and had we not had the funds to support her she would have gone on a downward spiral.

She was formally diagnosed with adhd privately. That was the root of the problem. Camhs only wanted to look for family issues and had a disproportionate tendency to parent blame.

In my experience most schools know camhs will do nothing so are reluctant to refer in all but the most serious cases. Not that identifying and supporting a child's or young person's mental health should ever have been cascaded to schools in the first place. Teachers are educators. HCPs are health provider.

Surely there are gudelines on what to do next if there is concern for a pupil.

I think specifying the religion isn’t helpful and could take the thread off in an unpleasant direction.
Not saying you are in anyway like that @RampantIvy , I know you’ve been around for a while and I’ve never seen those views from you but I have from plenty of others.

When my daughter was in year 12 I left it to her what she did but I did tell her off for doubting herself in the first couple of weeks of starting Psychology which she got an A* for in the end. It is a shame when a child is held back at no fault of their own from their full potential.

Fair point @Hoppinggreen. It was never my intention to stir up trouble.

OP, didn't your SENCO advise that the parents' consent isn't needed for a request for assessment for a young person this age? If not, they need some retraining themselves.

I agree. You have supported the child, they are aware of your support, you have acted appropriately with regard to the safeguarding issues and followed your schools procedures. To be frank you have done all you can do in your professional role and if you start trying to push for things to happen on your own you are going outside your remit and could make things a lot harder for the child, eg his parents could remove him from the school and he could disappear into the abyss.

Keep supporting the child, they need to know there is an adult they can trust, keep talking to the SENCO/ Safeguarding team, make contemporaneous and accurate notes.

@viques and @LostAtTheCrossRoad thank you both, incredibly insightful and helpful!

You have done what you can, and taken care to do it in a correct manner; sadly, I think this is as far as you can go.
One small point, I notice that the pupil is new to your school; do you have any means of contacting the previous school? A 16-year old is perfectly capable of giving you some of the details you need. Of course, even when the change of school is a completely straightforward matter, documents can take some time to catch up.
Admittedly I taught younger pupils, but on more than one occasion, I have seen pupils mysteriously change schools when we began to ask more inconvenient questions. On child, notably, ended up back with us after circulating round several other schools which served the large housing estate where I worked; their pre-existing problems exacerbated by each "fresh start".
If you can avoid the label, there isn't anything wrong, seems to be the mindset.
Lockdown must have made matters worse for these vulnerable children, I fear.

They would be considered a young person in terms of education , which means they can make decisions about their education.

In terms of health care they are 16 so parental consent is not required . They would need to give consent for them to be involved. Perhaps reassure them of this?

Op if the child is on sixth form then they are probably old enough to refer themselves - is this a possibility?

The law states that a diagnosis is not required for appropriate support to be pu t in place - I would be concerned that you have not already done this to support the child in question

Some people don’t feel a diagnosis will help their child and will instead hinder their life chances. They might have a point.
As you are the teacher OP I think you will have more knowledge about these things than randoms on MN. It’s not really appropriate or professional to be asking this on MN.

I was going to say similar. Although obviously in an ideal world the parents would want to support their dc in whatever way they can.

At least the child has you on their side op.

I don’t understand why you are pushing so hard for diagnosis? Support is based on need not dx and there may be genuine reasons the parents don’t want a formal diagnosis. If you are unable to support this young person in school, why is that? What does your school have in place that is gatekeeping support from children that need it?

Have you spoken to sendiass? They're very busy (you'll probably have to leave a voicemail) but you're better asking for advice there, or the staff room board

my opinion won't be popular

my son is not verbal, its quite obvious he is "autistic"
I don't need to lock him in a room to be watched for hours to tell me this - nor do I need someone ushering him into a school with other kids who don't speak or behave typically, that will be of no benefit to him. I would feel really disturbed if folk ran around claiming there was neglect or safeguarding issues.

he gets speech, aba & everything privately paid by us. His paediatrician isn't bothered about the diagnosis either. Medically he receives excellent care, and is healthy. services can be accessed without diagnosis in the uk.

sometimes kids don't like school. People do things in their own time.
what difference does the diagnosis make? I really don't understand the fight for diagnosis mentality, specifically in the uk. It sounds like he wants support with a diagnosis or not, for something. Teenagers get to sticky patches in school, a new school at 16? That's a massive change and its not for everyone.

Perhaps he needs to speak to a GP or the school medic and discuss what his concerns are. It will be confidential, although I don't recommend the use of ADHD meds or other chemical medications in children (can have serious adverse effects long term) they will give it to him if that's what he needs, without a diagnosis for something.

Very aware that others have criticised and to be honest I am concerned that you haven't approached your safeguarding lead. They should help you to navigate this.
Good luck.