Caught the school lying to us and GOSH about son's progress

[LolafromA]

Hi everyone. Posting it here as I need an advice. Thanks in advance.
Long story short… My son who is now in Year 4 had speech delay. While still in Nursery we were told by SENCO to sort out the funding and apply for an EHCP. Which we did. Didn’t get the place in the same school so we got accepted to another one. Of course, the new school did not need our ‘funding’ and supported our son using their SEN budget. Now we understand how SEN budgets work so I know we got tricked. During Reception year my son’s speech was developing rapidly. He was a sweet boy, very compliant, had friends, loved going to school and enjoyed learning despite speech problems. The teacher described him to me as having a ‘math head’. Which made sense since my brother is Physicist and my husband Cambridge Uni graduate (Astrophysics).
We got a place eventually at the school that we wanted (that advised us to get an EHCP) and my son started Year 1. He settled well and we received positive feedback about his academic progress. The teacher said he just needs to be more independent but they will work on it.
Now a month later during Parent Teacher meeting I mention to the teacher that my son is being assessed by GOSH (2nd opinion) for High Functioning ASD and I will be bringing forms to fill out about his behaviours etc. The teacher seemed surprised that our son has been diagnosed with ASD (my son is in Year 4 now and I am still not 100% sure but at the same time I realise that I am probably surrounded by aspies in my family (math gene is strong). My brother reminds me of Elon Musk a lot - very inteligent, based in Silicon Valley, studied Physics, Optical Engineer, geeky etc.
Now since I mention ASD, things change at school. All of the sudden I am invited for a meeting with SENCO, teachers and S&L Therapist and told my son needs one on one in Math and English lessons four times a week, lego therapy, of course S&L therapy. The amount of funding needed I was shown £12k costs.
At the same time my son (Year 1, has just turned 6) was assessed by GOSH professionals and the tests showed my son’s spelling is as a 9yo, Math - 8 yo and Early Reading Skills - 7 yo.
Because of Covid lockdown I found out these results only at the beginning of Year 2. It all made sense to me because I could not understand how this clever boy needs so much support. Remember I had to teach him during lockdown myself.
Year 2 started and I would ask my child if he has a TA. He would say that no and he is learning together with the whole class. I started questioning TA arrangements with the school and was told that my son has TA now. Later turned out TA was spending only 20 min twice a week with my son. Smoke and mirrors I know… Then another lockdown started from around Xmas. Again I got to witness my boy how easy he is to work with, how amazing memory he has, reads a text - answer questions correctly, comprehends etc So after the lockdown I started calling Local Authority as I felt we are being exploited. His EHCP was bringing the school extra 3k (top up funding). I ceased EHCP at the end of Year 2. Speech Therapist was giving him identical English lessons that I had to teach my son during lockdown myself. So I realised it’s another ‘smoke & mirrors’. The school tried hard to pursue us to keep an ECHP however I followed my gut feeling and told them to stop all the support as my child doesn’t need it. And guess what? My son had a good Year 3.
Meantime GOSH sent Educational Psychologist to observe my son (beginning of Year 3). Around Xmas I get a report from
Gosh and I can’t believe what I am reading. See below.

Cognitive and Academic Development
L cannot maintain independent learning without support and prompting. Mr X reported that L is reading at approximately a year 2 level (1 year behind). However, comprehension is a significant struggle; L struggles with inference and even simple retrieval of information he has read. Even with modelling, he struggles to answer basic questions.
Friendships and Relationships
Mr X reported that L had one friend, and that if that child were absent one day L would probably be on his own (e.g. during breaks), as he would struggle to join in socially with the other children. Mr X said that L does not have good social skills and only has one friend.
Mr X informed me that L previously had 1:1 support most of the time but now does not. Mr X feels that Lukas does need 1:1 support as he is unable to work independently without support.

Meantime a month before that above feedback to GOSH, SENCO’s reply to us:

In terms of verbal interaction, we would be looking closely at how he is doing so in the classroom.
There is no dispute that he is interacting well with his close friends in the playground. I also added into the annual review report about vour observations of him in the playground with other children.
Indeed, LA may feel that the TA support that L requires can be met by the class TA. I have made it clear that he does not need full time 1:1 in the classroom. It is quite normal to prompt other children from time to time, L just needs a little more than this. Mr P (Year 2 teacher) said that L is a lovely child to have in the class and easy to work with.

So after reading the GOSH report I go and speak to Mr X and ask how come my son’s reading is a year behind. Mr X replies ‘Don’t worry about L’s reading. His reading is fine!’ I said ‘Well I have just read Gosh report and it said this and this. Mr X suggests to speak about it all via Zoom when Parent Teacher meeting happens.
PS My son always had a group of friends and is a popular, soft spoken boy, polite and its all written in the End of Year Reports.
So during Parent/ Teacher meeting Mr X tells me my son scored above average in comprehension tests, has a group of friends, very good in mental math, has good vocabulary etc
I contacted GOSH and emailed all the correspondence (evidence) from SENCO regarding my son. Emailed all the evidence of how my son scored top mark 40/40 in Phonics and what Mr X said about his comprehension, friendships etc
GOSH right away arranged joint Zoom meeting with Mr X, SENCO and me. And all lies have been exposed. Complete silence from SENCO! They did not even try to defend their previous feedback.
GOSH said kids like L fly under the radar, his ASD case is subtle, he will do well academically and when he is a teen he may find it harder to fit in, may get depressed.
By the way GOSH Educational Psychologist in his report said he doesn’t see any anxiety in my son and that L is a very happy child from what he observed during PE lesson. Also at the end of Year 3 Mr X (Year 3 teacher) reported my child as very confident.
So Year 4 starts (this school year) and during Parent/ Teacher meeting Mrs F starts throwing hints at me how L has ADHD. I know.. lol I explained to her that he definitely does not. I studied and educated myself on both - Asd (subtle cases) and ADHD. SENCO gets called in. Complete silence from her. I leave the meeting saying how it’s time for us to have a meeting with the Headteacher which we did. I was furious! We had a meeting, brought up conflicting feedback to GOSH and was told it was Mr X’s opinion at the time about my son’s comprehension. Basically they had an answer for everything eg it was teacher’s opinion.
So I ended up requesting Subject Access Request (all educational records of my child since Year 1). Have a look at the image attached. My son never had comprehension problems!!!! In fact he scored high average!
My question here on Mumsnet would be - what do I do now? Report the school to Local Authority, Ofsted, Dept of Education? I complained to the Chair of Governors but received a reply with little answers. Mainly he advised to contact LA and was opologetic.
Every time my son has assessments now I ask the teacher Mrs F to email me his results. My son is excelling academically, she said he is mixing with the boys and girls, has a close group of friends which obviously I always knew since I organise playdates, meet with his friends/ parents in the playgrounds. I see how he interacts. You would not even know he has ASD but as I mentioned earlier, lets see how his teenage years go. Maybe that’s when I will see the symptoms.
As of now I need a realistic advice on what can be done to expose / stop the school doing this to another family.
Thank you.

Also to add that Year 2 assessment results I found out only now. The school obviously didn’t want us to know how well our child was doing. I don’t know how Year 2 Reading is judged but as I mentioned above he scored 40/40 in Phonics Screening, Comprehension assessments show score 103 and 109. My son was on a White book band at a time. Maybe there are teacher who could advice on this. However on the Year 2 End of Year Report Reading was marked as ‘Working Towards’ which at a time I found a bit weird thinking how come??!

Sounds like one teacher got your son a bit wrong or didn't understand him. You are imagining a conspiracy where I doubt there is one. I'd step away from this and if you have lost trust in the school consider your options for secondary carefully. I wouldn't move him not as he is obviously flourishing.

Is there a tl;dr?

Do you think the school are saying he is worse than he is to get funding?

I’m sorry, I don’t really understand.

You are angry because your son was getting support you didn’t think he needed / he didn’t need?

And he is doing fine in school?

I would just be pleased he was doing ok.

It is SO difficult to get support these days, this seems almost incredible. I can not imagine a school going to all this effort to support a child who didn’t need it.

I’m glad your son is doing ok.

This is very difficult to make head or tail of

So confused... I have been through issues with school with my autistic child but honestly, this post is extremely difficult to comprehend. What is the main, overriding issue please?

I think OP is saying her DS was used to secure funding that wasn't used for him, and that he doesn't need extra support anyway so she doesn't want him to be eligible for funding.

This is confusing to follow. But basically you're saying the school lied and said he was worse than he was to get funding. But didn't you think there was a problem to pursue the funding in the first place? And didn't the other school have to give him extra support too? Has your son suffered through any of this if, as a result of this support, he's performing at higher levels than everyone else?
I guess I'm struggling to see what you're so angry about. Maybe I missed something.

You do realise that it's actually quite difficult to get an echp and several professionals will have provided evidence to inform the final plan?

I can't understand your thought process at all!

You don't see any impact of ASD, but want a diagnosis?

You want the school to be punished for providing him with extra support you don't think he needs?

You believe there is some big conspiracy theory to claim money for you child, that he isn't benefitting from, but that you also don't think he needs?

It feels like you're just looking for things to be angry about.

Sorry OP, I struggled with the length and the back and forth of timelines in this. For a while I thought there were 2 ds's buy now think there is just the one, who seems to have ASD which runs in the family, but who copes well in school academically and socially. Is your concern that there has been conflicting information from the SENCO, the class teacher(s) and the GOSH assessment? What is your overriding concern - that the school have misused your child's EHCP funding? Or that they are not giving your child support that he needs? What do you want to happen now? If you think your child needs additional support, focus on that and let the rest go.

You need to summarise your post with a TL;DR.

Is your goal to find out if your son is getting what his Ehcp says?
Or is it wanting to know how your son is coping at school academically and socially?
Or are you wanting to know if he as ASD or something else?

Of course, the new school did not need our ‘funding’ and supported our son using their SEN budget. Now we understand how SEN budgets work so I know we got tricked.

I thought I had replies to this already; have you posted multiple times?

Who has tricked you?

Are you saying you have got an EHC plan but then went to another school and they didn’t need/use/want the money?

I think the OP is saying that the school inflated her DS's SEN to secure extra funding, then didn't use the funding as specified in the EHCP, but instead used it elsewhere.

The school said he had severe needs in maths and English, and found social situations very hard. The OP feels that the evidence shows that he is above average and has lots of friends.

I am mainly upset that the school lied to GOSH (Year 3 feedback). GOSH realised that. I am not the only one accusing the school. Even to them the school feedback did not make sense. Because in GOSH’s opinion our son will do well academically. They arranged a joint meeting and afterwards amended my sons academical progress feedback on their reports. I recently said to my son’s teacher that I feel like the school is exploiting my son. She replied - Not me!
I agree with some of you that my child may struggle in the future once social demands increase but at the moment I believe it’s 50/50. It does feel very easy as of now to raise him.
Yes, the trust is broken with the school.
My son is not behind academically. I don’t mind sharing his results.
I agree maybe it is best to just drop this case against the school and move on.
During our recent meeting with the Head and Senco, both looked freaked out once I said ‘my son knows he has Aspbergers’. It felt as almost I told my son something he should not have been told. Senco looked at the Head and said ‘He already has been told..’ Head meantime just kept staring at me. I wish I asked more about what they meant. The headteacher said to us (my husband and me) ‘But you can’t really tell that there is something, you know… different about your child. She said ‘We went on a school trip last year and I got to know him better, I talked to him, we laughed’. I personally didn’t know what to comment since GOSH told us, kids like my son fly under the radar until they get depressed, get brought to the Psychologist and then they get diagnosed later in teen years. I know it’s confusing.
My son’s S&L therapist thought my son has Language disorder not Asd. She cross examined him with all kind of tests. Like eg the wind blows the man’s £5 note to the sea, oh no! What will he do. My son goes ‘It’s not a problem because he has more money in the wallet in his pocket!’ Again interesting. Who do I listen? So many symptoms of speech delay can be mistaken for Asd. And, yes, maybe I should get 3rd opinion so I know for sure.
PS My son’s latest academic progress attached so he is not behind academically. As of now he is very easy to teach. Other parents (who saw him in bday parties said how confident he was, joking, laughing etc) incl last year teacher reported the same. I realise it may change once he starts secondary school. He might be bullied, he may get depressed etc. We will go with the flow when it comes to getting an EHCP. I need to see my child ‘struggling’ to be convinced he needs it.

Apologies for so much misunderstanding and not being clear enough. It’s a lot to tell!!
These below assessment results (NFER) are recent (Autumn and Spring term) Year 4.
My understanding is that kids like him should not be with the EHCP. Maybe I am wrong and life will teach me a lesson and I will be begging for support for my child.

I understand that schools are desperate for funding and do struggle (it’s all over the news).

Has your son been given an actual diagnosis of Asperger’s?

You can have an EHCP be academically able. No child gets an EHCP if it isn’t required.

You say DS doesn’t struggle with reading comprehension but the end of Y2 assessment was “Year 2 developing” and the KS1 teacher assessment “working towards Year 2 standard (not met expectations). Then the standardised scores in your last post of 98 and 97.

I don’t think OP’s DS would have been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome because even before the switch to encompassing all under ASD Asperger Syndrome wouldn’t have been given as a diagnosis in those with a speech delay.

I still don't understand what the problem is. You wanted him to be assessed by GOSH because you clearly felt there was a problem. GOSH assessed him. And then later they sent in an education psychologist. Whatever support your son did or didn't get, he's doing well and thriving. If GOSH aren't happy with what the school have said/done, surely that's up to them to pursue, not you. Why are you causing yourself all this stress and worry when your child is happy and doing well at school?

Yes, he got diagnosed first at the end of Reception after being kept on ASD pathway (can’t remember how it’s called) for 2 years since there were no other concerns. The speach therapist did that locally. I then requested for the 2nd opinion and GOSH cross-examined my son - IQ tests, all kind of subtests etc. They watched his childhood videos that I shared with them. GOSH were not sure and suggested to wait a year. Then they sent Ed Psychologist to observe my son at school. And that is when the school gave them conflicting feedback about my son’s comprehension, saying he has only 1 friend (my son made a number of friends since joining Year 1 and they are still friends until this day). I understand ASD is a spectrum and you can be autistic and be very social. But let’s say if I drop him off at his friends birthday party, all kids start calling his name with excitement’ Like look, L is here!’ So he very likeable and popular as of now.

I don't understand what you want?

It's so difficult to get and EHCP, I'm baffled you then rejected the funding.

None of your post really makes sense.

So DS didn’t get a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, but rather ASD?

Children can have EHCPs for all sorts of reasons. My d has had hers since she was three, she has never been behind academically, all the top sets and has no behavioural difficulties and an IQ of 162. She has ASD and anxiety and the EHCP supports those needs. At times she has needed more support than at others, I would never have given up her EHCP not least because of how long it would take to go through the process again. Dd would often dismiss her TA to go and help somebody else if she was happy and confident in what she needed to do. It didn't bother me that the TA helped others if dd didn't need her.
You lapsed the EHCP because you somehow think it's beneath a child with your son's abilities but they don't hand them out like sweeties and they should be written from reports from professionals so obviously some professionals recognised that your son had needs that you now don't believe he has.
Why didn't you speak with the school first? Did you speak to SOSSEN or IPSEA about whether the EHCP was enforceable and a good fit for your child? If your child starts to struggle in the current climate with appeal waiting times being a year now it could be a long wait to secure any help for your child.

I’m sure I’m right that there is no longer a diagnosis of Aspergers, just ASD.

If you truly believe they have exadurated your son's SEN needs to gain more funding, then you report it to OFSTED and the local authority with the support documents. It is for them to make a fair, impartial judgment on it.

EHCPs are extremely hard to get issues and a lot of SEN students won't get one. Many parents and schools fight hard to get one issues by the LA.
I don't think you quite understand what EHCPs are. Whilst it may bring in additional funding, it's actually a sets out what you and your child would want to achieve and what additional support the school would provide to do this. It would be legally binding and the school would get pulled if they weren't using it correctly.

GOSH recommend he is supported by the class TA. I suspect he is at times supported by the class TA to reach his current goals(ask the school how much the class TA steps in to help him at the moment ). I think you're presuming that they are always going to be available. However, TAs can be pulled off to do other things. And EHCP would produce the funding to ensure your child got those additional sessions. It may be still with the class TA but they will 100% happen. Without EHCP the school could decide they need to use that class TA elsewhere and suddenly your son may start struggling.

It seems the school were providing his TA support through the class TA when he was younger. I think you presumed that his funding entitled him to specifically hired TA. I'd also caution believing exactly how much your son says he was getting each week. Sometimes a TA will support in the background and step on when needed. Most children wouldn't even notice this.

Regarding comprehension, it's very common for children with ASD to start struggling at this age. They have to understand inference to a much higher level. A lot of ASD (especially hyperlexics) have very advanced reading earlier and then struggling around age 8 with the comprehension.

Personally, I'd persure an EHCP if the school are offering to pursue this and then hold them accountable to it.

Tldr: get the EHCP because the class TA may not be around support your son if there's no funding.