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Original poster

How do I get my son 1/2 a day off school a week?

36 replies

figleaf · 07/01/2006 19:18

Ive put this on the special needs area too as I dont know where the MN expertise lies. My son (in Y3 aged 8) has seen a developmental pedatrician, an Ed Psych, the school nurse and two Occupational therapist for a specific learning difficulty that he has. He is very bright (L3 in last yrs SATs) but cant write. We have been given an exercise prog from the OT lot (for bilateral integration)and told by everyone else that we must teach him to type. This would enable us to take writing out of his education. DS doesnt like school but we wouldnt home educate for social reasons. We thought an afternoon a week would give me some time to concentrate on the more time consuming OT exercises and on his IT skills (I was a secondary Technology Teacher before I had DS).
Any ideas about how to go about getting the time off? Do parents have any sort of rights etc?

OP posts:
hana · 07/01/2006 19:19

could the school not build this into his IEP at school? ( does he have an IEP?)

Twiglett · 07/01/2006 19:20

I would start by approaching the headmaster and just explaining and asking, provide him with experts written reports .. enlist their help in sorting it out rather than assume they won't help

do you have reason to believe it will be refused, or they would stand in the way

(I have no experience here .. it is purely guesswork and I may be way of base)

Original poster
figleaf · 07/01/2006 19:21

We are on his second IEP and the Devel Paed thinks I should go for a statement at Easter when this one is reviewed. One of his targets on this IEP is to type fast enough to do at least half a page in a literecy lesson.

OP posts:
Original poster
figleaf · 07/01/2006 19:22

Sorry Twiglet I was answering hana.

I think they may stand in the way. They tend to want to wait and see.

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Blandmum · 07/01/2006 19:23

First thing that you need to do is to contact the school's SENCO and have a chat.

You son will need an IEP, even it is just kept at School action level.

Seee what they feel about this, before going into the details. You might find that they think this an excellent idea.

Talk to them first

hana · 07/01/2006 19:24

is it the school that sets the IEP? If so and they are stating targets, the school then has to put measures in place to meet the targets...... sounds like they are difficult to work with, sympathies

Blandmum · 07/01/2006 19:24

Sorry Fig leaf, we cross posted.

If this is one of his targets, use that as an 'in' and discuss the issue with the SENCO

Littlefish · 07/01/2006 19:27

I teach a child who has half a day off per week to go riding for the disabled. I also taught a child recently who attended private lessons for half a day a week to help with his dyslexia.

I think everyone is right, that you need to talk to the SENCO and the headteacher. It does not need to affect their attendance figures, as there is a category called something like "educated offsite".

Could you get the EP to talk to the SENCO and back you up?

Original poster
figleaf · 07/01/2006 19:27

May have to get DH to do this martianbishop. I dont have a good relationship with SENCO. She seemed to take the involvement of the external proffessionals and my concern about DS as somehow negative vibes towards her. On top of this I`m a governor at the school so possibly a little threatening - I try not to be though.
I suppose what I wanted to know was does it sound like a totally mad idea?

OP posts:
Original poster
figleaf · 07/01/2006 19:29

crossing with littlefish and hana there - thanks all. You seem to be saying its not unheard of to do this.

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maverick · 07/01/2006 19:45

It's perfectly legal to have time off school for SEN purposes but you do need permission of the school. They shouldn't refuse without good reason

(Circular 10/99. Annexe A: Approved educational activities
off-site

www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/guidanceonthelaw/10-99/register.htm

gigglinggoblin · 07/01/2006 19:55

havent read thread as dp is nattering at me, but i did this with ds1 when he was having major behaviour problems. he went to school in the afternoon, but stayed at home in the morning when the structured work was done. he was getting sent home from school fairly regularly and i just felt it would do him good to be at home half a day as he was getting very stressed by the school environment. he actually did more work at home than at school and i dont think he missed out on anything, i do think it was the best thing to do. he was in yr 1 at the time

i spoke to the head and explained i felt he needed time at home but i didnt want to take him out of school full time. i made sure she knew i wasnt making threats to take him out completely, just that i thought it would help. she agreed with my reasons, and informed the lea that he was only attending school part time. for us it was either do something positive or face his behaviour getting worse and him possibly being excluded anyway. the head agreed with this aswell

as long as they are off school learning and not just dossing around town with their mates, there is very little anyone can do to stop you and the school will be aware of that. the head at our school was eager to keep him in school part of the time but understood why i wanted him at home and was very supportive.

take away has just arrived but will have a look on here later, hope it helps to know its been done and has worked out well

perfumelady · 07/01/2006 20:03

have you seen this program? \link(www.ddat.org) i have enrolled my ds on the program he also is very bright but has terrible reading and writting skills and no confidence, i'm very excited with the progress he has already made in less than a month.

perfumelady · 07/01/2006 20:04

sorry link didn't work website is www.ddat.co.uk

Blandmum · 07/01/2006 20:13

Figleaf, stange woman if the SENCO is upset at external professionals are involved....all sencos have to liase with external agencies once a child is at School Action Plus level.

I would also think that if your assisatnce would help your ds to meet his literacy goal in the IEP , they would be chuffed.

Nowt so strange as folk!

Get your dh to have a chat with her if that would be more helpful. I'd couch it in terms of meerting his IEP targets; she would find it hard to argue with that.

Original poster
figleaf · 07/01/2006 20:28

Senco is only in on Fridays so we have a week to consider our best approach. The IEP target does seem to be a good entry point though. Yes,She is a very funny woman martianbishop. She looked at DS in Y1 and decided he was a bit day dreamy (even lazy)and didnt need any particular help. In Y2 his teacher became quite worried that his writing was L1 when every other measure was L3 so she started the ball rolling above the SENCOs head so to speak. I think the senco is a little embarressed. I have asked if we are school action or action plus but Im never answered. The Peadiatrician said it must be school action plus due to his and the OT/EP involvement- haven`t had a straight answer yet though.

maverick that reference is useful thankyou.
perfumelady I looked at the ddat stuff but ds reads so well. Hope it works for you though.
gigglingoblin - good to hear it worked for you.

OP posts:
Littlefish · 07/01/2006 20:56

As external agencies are involved, he should definitely be School Action Plus. I will check the exact wording in the code of practice at school on Monday, although I'm sure someone else will come up with it more quickly!

swedishmum · 07/01/2006 23:29

Sounds eminently sensible to me - I kept ds home in the mornings for a while to speed up his written work. I know what the time/staffing restrictions are in school as I've worked there, and there just isn't time to teach wp skills. Learning to type is on ds's IEP but I know for a fact the SN provision he gets is poor. It's so irritating when you know you could do better yourself! Insist on it.

juuule · 08/01/2006 11:07

Some information on flexi-schooling which might help

www.home-education.org.uk/articles-flexi-school.htm

Aloha · 08/01/2006 11:27

Do it. Sounds a great idea and other people's posts here are fantastic - really helpful.
What is your son's problem? My ds is dyspraxic and I suspect will also have problems with spacing, legibility etc of his writing (though he is only four and reading really well and can do the writing in his head iyswim, just not get it down on paper coherently.
I like the idea of ds going to school p/t and that might be something I think about when he goes to school if I feel it would benefit him. I am encouraging my ds to use the computer and learn to hit the keys and use the mouse as I am sure using a computer will make things much easier for him.

Aloha · 08/01/2006 11:28

this is supposed to be an excellent programme. Will probably be ordering it myself.

Original poster
figleaf · 08/01/2006 12:51

Aloha,I have seen this programme too. It is supposed to be good. Ds is 8 and in Y3 so we need to do slightly different things. Hope it works for your son though. DS has Dyspraxic and dyslexic tendensies. He has problems with Bilateral integration which apparently means he doesnt pass info terribly well between both sides of his brain- this hits writing very hard.

Thanks all for replies so far. We are thinking about our approach today - possibly a letter to the head followed by a chat.

OP posts:
Aloha · 08/01/2006 13:10

Write from the start has a programme for older kids too. I suppose you've read Lois Addy's book on Dyspraxia? Thought it was quite helpful.

Christie · 08/01/2006 14:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pfer · 08/01/2006 14:56

figleaf, just wanted to say i hope you get this sorted out with the school soon sounds like it'll benefit your son. also have found this thread v interesting as ds1 starts reception in april and tbh i'm not sure how he'll cope when they go full time in sept. he already has an iep set up through the playschool as he's not keen on following 'orders' and they worry he'l carry this into school.

anyway, goodluck.