As a teacher to be surprised at how many in my class have SEN?

[Floatingcactus]

I teach a reception class of 26. 4 of them have an EHCP plan, 6 are waiting assessment and at least another 4 are showing possible signs of SEN including speech delay.

I’ve been teaching for 10 years and I personally believe there is an increase.
I don’t know if lockdown plays a part or whether it’s down to other factors.

A lot of parents/teachers/TAs talk about children having SEN. They have not all taken the legal definition and applied it to those children. And even if they had, it’s not an exact science.

The PP was not talking about the legal definition of SEN. They were talking about the range of behaviours which are now attributed to SEN when in the past they wouldn’t have been. In my view there’s no doubt that range has widened significantly.

That’s not to say that improved awareness and other external factors haven’t also had an impact as they probably have. It is a combination of factors and very complex.

And I do think funding is a huge issue - cost of special speech and language school for my son via LA £22,000 cost for a TA in the school 15 minutes 1-2-1 literally nothing for county. They were keen to push him to main stream asap

OP
Heres some stats from the Govn

It probably reflects that your school has a better reputation for SEN support than others in the area so parents who know their child has difficulties are more likely to choose your school. Certainly what happens in our town.

The PP was talking about what SEN is. The original post stated “The bar has massively lowered as to what SEN is.” Well SEN is defined in law, so it is fact that it hasn’t been “massively lowered.”

Yes, but the reality is that it’s not as simple as taking a legal definition and then deciding who does and doesn’t have SEN.

We seem to be going round in circles now and I don’t think either of us is going to convince the other one so perhaps best we just leave it.

I never said it was simple, that was your language, but ultimately the buck does stop with the legal definition and case law. The fact LAs and some schools act unlawfully is a separate point.

Far more babies born with difficulties or born prematurely are now saved. Many of these will have some developmental delays. There is also a much greater awareness of possible diagnosis, ADHD and OD, and even dyslexia just weren’t heard of years ago.

So how do you know that any of the children in the OP actually do have SEN? Unless she’s consulted a lawyer how do you know she has applied the definition correctly?

How do you know any of the children on this thread described as SEN actually have it?

Until every single one of us is assessed against the legal definition by an independent body and given a yes/no answer, in a completely objective way which does not lead to any dispute (which would be impossible) there won’t be a clear cut group of “people with SEN” and “people without”. It is all about interpretation.

I own a nursery which has a higher than average intake of funded 2 year olds. I would say the majority are 10-12 months delayed when they start nursery. A lot have parents whose health visitors have encouraged them to take up nursery places. When we contact the health visitors to ask if they are aware that the children appear to have significant needs, the answer is always that we think the parents need help and that the children need to be in nursery. In most cases, they are right and the children do much better when away from the parents. The children who attend full time really thrive.

There is an issue with modern parenting, and it’s dishonest to pretend there isn’t. Children need clear boundaries, routine and structure - to eat at regular times, to go to bed at a decent time and get 12 hours uninterrupted sleep. You only have to read some of the comments on here to understand that modern parents think it is normal for children not to sleep properly until they are primary school age. They don’t believe it’s right to enforce any type of structure or discipline, so the children’s lives are chaotic. A child who doesn’t sleep or eat properly is going to have behavioural issues - that’s just common sense.

So poor parenting is definitely a contributing factor. But the biggest issue (and I bet in 20 years, it’s found to be the cause of SEN in the majority of cases) for me is/are screens. I think they scramble children’s brains and destroy their attention spans. I also think that children thrive when they are at nursery full time not just because they have structure and routine, which they don’t have at home, but because they don’t have access to screens.

You think the 4 DC with EHCPs might not have SEN? Or the the DC with speech delay?

Parents don’t need a lawyer. Many parents successfully navigate the SEN system without.

However, that wasn’t the point of my posts. The thing I was rebutting was the pp’s claim the threshold for what SEN is has been massively lowered. It hasn’t.

It's called awareness. And thankfully these kids are getting help they need in their younger years these days instead of struggling or being made to look stupid or naughty.

Hi all - thanks for the reports. We've removed posts that break our guidelines but we wanted to make a wider point about comments relating to diagnosis of SEN. A cursory look at the SN children board will illustrate just how difficult, stressful and disheartening it is for parents to navigate the system in order to get the necessary support in place for their child. Suggesting it's easy to get a diagnosis or that it's the parent's fault for too much screen time would be pretty hurtful to say the least if you're actually in that situation and all too aware of the realities.

We're going to close this thread now while we go through it.

The PP wasn’t talking about the legal definition because deciding who does and doesn’t have SEN is not as simple as that.

Poor eating and sleeping are pretty common in young children, parent blaming isn’t particularly helpful. And it’s always been the same. And there’s been poor parents throughout time. You can’t force a child to eat or sleep, it’s usually people without children or lucky enough to have easy children who do the whole parent blaming thing. Some children just have more difficulties inbuilt

Class of 30.
11 SEND
7 EAL - 5 of which had no spoken English when they first started.
5- severe behavioural issues
87% Pupil premium.
No support. 🙄😔 LKS2

@MeMyCatsAndMyBooks we had a similar situation with my 9 year old. His teacher called us in for a meeting and suggested he might have sensory issues as he kept repeatedly doing things like banging drawers and rolling pencils across the table. I pointed out that as he was deaf and just got hearing aids he was probably discovering things that he didn't realise made a noise.

I personally think it's because teachers are so ridiculously overworked and classes so big that the only way for kids to get the individual attention they need is to have an EHCP.

In schools at least in England, kids are not individuals. Everyone is working on the same thing at the same time regardless of what knowledge they already have. This was not the case where I grew up - we were all given slightly different work to do dependent on our knowledge, and what we personally needed to work on. If I was behind in maths I got maths homework whereas my friend who was behind in English was told to focus on that.

We need more teachers per classroom so the children get the academic help they need, which will in turn help them emotionally as they won't be considered behind their peers already in KS1 🙃

Rant over

@Choconut

@Cocobutt everything you said goes agaisnt all sense with regards to sen. That "label" is actually the code, the key to help a child through their barriers with support to learn.