Should i have my son academically tested before he starts Reception?

[RBBMummy]

I know he's ahead in a lot of academic areas and the additional needs team who were supposed to help him don't seem to want to do their jobs anymore. So now i'm considering having him tested independently to make going in to school easier. Or would it just be a waste of money?

Oh dear, poor boy, that's so unfortunate.

Anyway, whilst assessment of his educational level isn't something he needs right now, there are other things you can do to ensure he's ready to begin school.
If you do Advanced Search, you'll find threads for primary starters, but the main things are:
Recognising his own name, so he can find his jumper when he's taken it off, and his peg, shoes, wellies etc.
Being able to dress himself appropriately for the weather (you could do this with role play at home)
Being able to use cutlery independently
Knowing how to use manners at appropriate times (i.e. please, thank you, waiting his turn, sharing items)
Feeling positive about beginning school
Managing loo visits himself and knowing when he needs to go

None of these are absolute pre-requisites, but they will all make for a smoother start.

I'd just like to add to the list : being able to make a choice - so can choose what food to eat at lunch (hot meal or salad).

But I would also get involved in support groups locally to find the best resources to access when you need them. And the low down on local schools and their SENCOs. You could also build a relationship with the SENCO now, make sure she has any diagnosis etc that she needs. Does your son have speech therapy? Maybe that can be coordinated with the school.

The local private school sounds like it is struggling financially and has a good money making venture on the side.

Do you have your local QTVI involved?
(Qualified teacher of visually impaired)
If not you should be able to find their details on your LEA website. May be with local offer. They may be called sensory team. Some areas also have specialist support for children on the Autistic spectrum.
Have you looked into whether he will need an EHCP. If he does he will have an ed psych review as part of the process.
IPSea, sos sen, blind children uk, NAS, Action for the Blind will all have useful resources

hes Autistic, is tongue tied, and is partially sighted

See, it might have been helpful to give this information in your OP.
People will be able to help you more / make suggestions, etc., if you let them have the information.

So - does he have an EHCP ?
Is he currently at Nursery ?
Is he going into a mainstream Reception class?
Does he have anyone currently involved ?

Services are different in all LAs - everyone does things a bit differently, but a good transition into school helps all little ones with additional needs.

Well I'm going to go against the grain, given the information about his needs, and say yes. I think any evidence you have that there should be high expectations for your DS will be helpful.

I have spent my career in SEN and am a specialist teacher for very able children who are also autistic. It is very often a fight to keep their strengths in the forefront of people's minds. If he can't hold a decent conversation with a peer and needs help cutting up his food, there is a serious danger that building on his maths or science ability will be neglected because he becomes pigeon-holed by his low functioning in some very visible areas.

His curriculum should be built around his strengths just as much as compensating for deficits.

Apply for an EHCP and make sure the reports done are a really good reflection of his strengths and the outcomes he should achieve as well as his needs.

Lowdoorinthewal1 That is exactly the way i was thinking. i would hate for his strengths to be ignored just because his weaknesses are more obvious.

The special needs team he was/is(?) under said i couldn't do the EHCP until i got his confirmed diagnosis in writing? He has it just not in writing. Ive been struggling for months to get it because apparently they forgot about my child.

He has been referred to speech and language by 5 different people since he was little but they still haven't bothered to assess him yet.

The special needs team were supposed to assess his abilities but they are doing their best to drop him right now. The professionals have never been much help.

I would save your money and use it to fight for him to get his EHCP.
He doesn't have to wait for a diagnosis to get one. And it sounds very much like they want to delay until he is at school and the school will then have to pay.
In your sons case waiting is obviously rubbish (sorry) as his partially sightedness and tongue tie are already diagnosed.
This website might be a place to start. The NAS (you don't have to be diagnosed to use their helpline and services) can also help/advise. Or there are specialist groups such as SOS!SEN!

Teachers often ignore "bits of paper" that say how bright a child is, and prefer to rely on their own judgement. And your child will probably need extra resources to learn to read due to their eyesight and speech issues.

Concentrate on getting EHCP. Is he at nursery? If so, he should already be on the radar of the VI team and the inclusion team. Usually the Area IncO (title varies according to postcode) will assess in nursery.
Dd2 had full inclusion services from starting nursery. She has cerebral palsy and was (then) statemented for communication as her speech was severely dysarthric. She wasn’t academically assessed (ed psych) in depth until yr r, although she taught herself to read at around 2 (before she became verbal). She was assessed at working 5-7 years ahead, IQ 142. (Used a walker and a wheelchair until 7). It was not necessary to assess her academically prior to school - what she needed was support for her communication and other additional needs (mobility/ fine motor) and integration/ social.
You will need the VI team for advice on reading/ braille - but EHCP is the absolute essential thing you need to be concentrating on. Once you have a named school, they should be assessing for VI needs - dd2 shared a 1-1 with a friend who was VI - the OT made a lot of recommendations for both children prior to term beginning, including many adaptations for the VI child.
EHCP.
Don’t waste time with wondering how clever he is until his needs are met. He will be assessed as part of year r intake in any case.

What Mamaryllis said.
a) he does have diagnoses, and b) he actually doesn't need specific diagnosis of anything to apply for an EHCP.

No he doesn't have a confirmed diagnosis in writing, just the unconfirmed diagnosis from original paediatric assessment. Hes been seen to confirm it but they still haven't given it to us in writing. He is still going through testing for his eye, he recently had an MRI and now they want to send him for some electrical thing. No diagnosis as they literally said they have no idea. Nothing official on the speech either as like i said the speech and language refuse to see him. He would be nonverbal if his speech therapy was left up to them. He can already read perfectly, the eye he can use reaches acceptable level when he has his glasses on. So the visual stuff won't affect him academically.

Mamaryllis i think you're talking about the special needs team thats doing their best to drop him.

I have decided i am going to have him tested in the summer. I printed him off some old sats papers and it didn't phase him so I definitely don't think im qualified to judge his ability and i cant make sure he actually is learning unless i know what he already knows.

Having been through the whole speech therapy thing twice I would definitely push hard on that. The longer it goes on the harder it is to tackle and the best technique is to do lots of work and this is harder to fit in once they go up the grades at school. Also, really push on the tongue tie - if it stops him being able to push his tongue out forwards and to the sides of his lips it needs dealing with as building the muscles takes time and longer it is left the harder it is.

I have been in a similar position and I really wouldn’t worry about academic testing right now. School will already be more than stretched dealing his social needs, as will he. With a bright child you easily deal with reception and year 1 academics at school, as you clearly already are with his reading, it is the group behaviour stuff which can only be done at school and that needs to be the focus there.

He has loads of time to academically excel - try to get the most out of the first few years on the other fronts as these are all harder to deal with later.

So you've already being doing SATs papers with him, although he's not due to start Reception until next September - is that right? If that is the case, your DS is clearly academically way above age related for his age, as the KS1 papers would be for children of age 7 years. A lot of what is done and assessed in Reception is not academic but more about social skills and learning how to fit in with a group. I suspect from what you say this is where your son will struggle and I am not sure how academic testing will help him.

No

Of you want to do something positive to help him, get yourself over to the IPSEA website and sign up for the online training so you will be well enough acquainted with SEN law not to be easily fobbed off.

www.ipsea.org.uk/training/online-courses

NO!

If he is very advanced over his peers then the school will pick it up and get the ED Pysch to assess him. That’s what happened with DS1 even though he had other things that were ‘weaknesses’ that needed working on. He had his reading age assessed and it was age 14+ when he first started reception.
Knowing he was advance though didn’t help diddly squat with his constant wetting himself, lack of social skills and hypermobility and poor fine motor skills.
The school encouraged his academic ability (was put in groups with year 2s, wouldn’t put him any higher as wouldn’t help socially) but there were also brilliant on all the stuff he needed to work on.
He’s now in year 6 and much more well rounded, will never be mega sociable (ASD) but has some good friends and is still very very intelligent. I’m glad I didn’t push and push on the academic stuff as secondary school will be the time for that and primary has taught ALL the skills he needs to succeed.

I was very intelligent as a child and put up a school year etc, hot housed etc but I never had any help with my social skills and other life skills that are just as critical to overall life success.

Michaelahpurple ive been doing speech therapy with him independently since he was 6 months old so i don't think itll be worth the effort to push for it

chocaholic73 Well i printed out a past paper and he toddled off and did it in his cupboard. He needs to be learning at school

BrieAndChilli the special needs team are the ones who are supposed to do that preks1 though and they keep trying to drop him.