TEACHERS.... how do you set work for secondary school class/homework for LAPTOP users (CD based ?)

[MrsForgetful]

am trying to 'educate' his school so to get him as full access to the curriculam as we can...but am aware that his subject teachers may well not be as keen as me!!! But at the end of the day...if he's not able to take part fully in class etc...then something has to be done...inclusion etc????

he's not statemented as they see him a achademically ahead of his age...but its his ability to record work which is the problem...the ideas are all there...but he cannot get them to paper.

He has Aspergers and ADHD and dypspraxic tendancies...and no specific support in class

oh...i do want to do this in a nice way...as i don't want to upset the school!

The first thing that I would find out about is how well kitted out the school is regarding ICT provision.

I know this seems hard to believe, but the in the (good) school I work in the staff only got laptops last year.....so it was almost impossible to check the work of children who were using laptops or alpha smarts.

this year is the first were we got any provision of laptops/computers for science at all.

They may be unable to indergrate laptops into work schemes because they don't have any themselves.

If they do, you need to talk about what he can usefully do in the lesson on the lap top, and what will still need to be done on paper. For exaple I have had children trying to draw things on a lap top, and TBH it ended up being harder for them than if I'd given them a pencil and paer.

You might also want to explore the school using w/s that minimise his need to write.

Mind mapping software would be an excellent step forward IMHO

thanks for that...just feels that providing the laptop is not the answer...when he did his SATS in yr6 he'd broken his arm so had a full scribe...

i'm just fed up with it all...since he went back in september he has only managed to get 2 pieces of work off the alpha smart dana... and he comes home with screwed up worksheets...he needs help organizing/sticking in worksheets...so just feel out of my depth cos seems that there is no straight forward way of setting his work!

feels like for every positive suggestion...there is a difficulty...- or a reason eh feels he cannot do what is needed...so to be fair on his school...they probably feel fed up too...as cos he has ADHD/AS his social skills are minimal...and i fear he appears ungrateful /unreceptive/unco-operative to attempts to get him recording his work.

b4 half term was parents evening...and his teacher forgot our appt and went home! So the yr head said she'd pass a message to the tutor to call us....so she had 4 days to contact us leading up to half term...and then they only went back today...well .... don't know how much longer to leave it till we chase her up?

just feel such a nagg.

but he is 1 of 1300 pupils....so we have to keep going.

i'm thinking of getting a private educational psychologist to meet him and see what we can reasonably expect school to do without him being statemented...and even whether he would 'qualify' for a statement...as we are continuously being told he is 'too able' etc...yet he currently is 'unable' to do school work to the level he is capable of.

Does the school have a SENCO you can talk to ? I support a pupil with Aspergers & found that suggesting he use a plastic A4 folder to keep all worksheets in decent order worked well (sorry if you've already tried this!). A pen drive is good for taking PC work home - but I agree its hard to find the opportunity to print work off (well its difficult for me, so must be harder for him without a TA).

Does his homework always need to be computer based?
Just wondering if he can speak his work onto tape or something similar?

thanks...

i feel I might as well shadow him at school...he'd love that (NOT!!!!!)

seriously....senco is under impression he is fine....as he masks it well....but after not bothering to do an IEP last year (he is at school action plus)...she has started one this year after we demanded it....our arguemnet is that if somone from SN dept really watched him for a few lessons over a few days..they would see that he is NOT fine.

At his school they had a SN evening last month...we went and all they talked about was dyslexia ...no ASD NO adhd....and when i queried this...and tried to explain how many dyslexia strategies already in place at the school would benefit my son...they just did't get it...as they said "but he's not dyslexic"

so i'm thinking of asking the ed psych (by writting to LEA) top educate the SN team that there is an overlap between ASD and things like Dyslexia etc.....i know that in our area they are only just putting in place training on ASD's...and by 2008 say that at each secondary school there will be one ASD specialist teacher (for 1300 mainstream school!)
so.i.Know.its.not.the.teachers.faults.if.they. are.not.trained.to.recognise.ASD