Really upset with my sons' primary school.

[Snowwhite83]

I found out today that DS (5) primary school are no longer letting his speech and language therapy into school for sessions because of space issues. I have been told previously my son who has low muscle tone affecting his speech is not bad enough for an ECHP but there is no NHS provision for SALT so we have been paying this ourselves. For information it is quite a large school and his therapist has offered to be extremely flexible about the times she sees him (was visiting in the afternoon when the school is less busy). Myself and my husband work fulltime so this means he won't be able to access therapy. I do not know of any therapists that work evenings or weekend and it was hard enough finding ond as most have long weight lists. Is this fair? They didn't even contact me and just told the therapist which I thought was poor. Is there anything I can do?
Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Write to the chair of governors and ask to meet with him/ her
Governors do not have control over the day to day running of the school but even so it’s your next step
It seems strange to say they don’t have space - it need a better / fuller explanation

You need to apply for an EHCP and whomever told you that he won’t get one, is a million miles wrong. It made me angry on your behalf. to read your post.

please please apply yourself, using the info pack on the IPSEA website.

what this will mean is that any therapies MUST be delivered, and his needs reviewed annually, with provision tweaked.

Ta dah

https://www.ipsea.org.uk/making-a-request-for-an-ehc-needs-assessment

This is your life now.

Very questionable! Get that EHC needs assessment request in and if the council say no appeal. Personally I think what they're saying could be discriminatory. Surely they can find space somewhere?

I would do two things:

Complain to the school. Their complaints policy should be on their website. Follow this to the letter, if you go straight to the govs they are likely to knock you back if you haven't followed the policy.

Apply for an EHCP yourself. The process can be a nightmare (I've just come through it!) but it is absolutely worth doing.

Good luck op!

You don’t need a diagnosis for an ECHP. You can refer yourself.

you can do it tor any reason. Just be aware that getting ‘out’ of them can be difficult. But if you’re planning on school for their life there’s no issue.

do refer him yourself lovely ♥️

Can the therapist come after school, or can you or your DH take him for his private therapy yourself?
I can understand it would be disruptive to his learning in school - the teacher is going to have to re-teach what he missed when he was out of the lesson and that might not be possible given the realities of classroom life.

Thank you so much for your replies, I feel v let down by the school..i will look into applying for an EHCP but very much aware it is not an easy option and have been to we don't meet threshold. To apply will I need to pay for private assessments? Think a report from SALT is hundreds doesn't seem fair.
Thanks

Therapist can't come after school and doesnt have an office, took months to find a private SALT. Waiting lists are high because no NHS.

I presume that the SaLT therapy requires a quiet individual room with a door to be available for a period of time at a fixed time every week?

In many primaries, such spaces, if they exist, are gold dust. Instrument lessons take place in corridors. Small group intervention work takes place in corners of the hall. Children with very high levels of SEN (increasingly numerous in mainstream primary) who have full time 1:1 support shuttle round different areas when having the therapies set out in their EHCPs. Children who show explosive behaviour (also increasingly numerous) have ‘safe spaces’ set up in ad hoc corners of cloakrooms or classrooms. Heads vacate their offices to allow child protection conferences to take place.

It may be genuinely extremely hard to identify a space where this therapy can take place. If you know the school layout well, you could ask for the timetabled uses of any and all suitable rooms, to see whether you can work with the school to find a slot in one of them.

The other thing to think about is precedent - is it reasonable for any and all children who have any kind of therapy / additional help paid for by parents to expect this to be accommodated within school time and space due to parental working patterns (which, if I understand it correctly, is why they cannot simply come to your hone after school)? It could easily become unmanageable. What setting does your child go to between the end of school and the end of normal working hours? What about before school (school may be willing for your child to arrive slightly later to allow eg a session just before school)? Can you adjust your working patterns or wfh into the evening for one day per week / fortnight to allow the therapy to take place at home?

(We have had music teachers work with children in school just before and just after the school day for room availability- would that be a possibility? Obviously the SaLT, or you, would have to take full responsibility for your child during those periods as the school would not)

It's disgusting that you and others have to fight for something your child desperately needs. Terrible.

So if school can't fit them in, can they give a room at the end of the school day? Can your salt book a room somewhere?

In my LA, Salts no longer deliver therapy in any schools, they visit and work with TAs to support them to deliver therapy, and the children see them in clinic.
A private therapist would be expected to see a child off site.

Also had a pupil needing regular physio who was picked up just before lunch by a parent and returned just at the start if the afternoon - could you accommodate that by flexing your / your OH’s / a caregiver’s lunchtimes, again to allow therapy at home if the SaLT has no workplace available? Just trying to think flexibly.

Obviously in an ideal world, every school would have space for every therapy to be delivered in an appropriate room by a qualified practitioner, free and rapidly available. I’m trying to think of practicable alternatives in our very imperfect system.

I'd suggest you contact your local health clinic, health centre or GP surgery. He will be able to have sessions there during the school day.

As with other medical appointments, you or his Dad will need to take time off work and take him to the appointment.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398815/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf

Does your DS have a diagnosis from a recognised clinician/ professional?
If so, he will be covered under the Eq Act ‘10 & The SEND Code of Practice.

School are required by law (see the statutory guidance) to ensure that he has an IEP - this can cover educational & social needs & access to medical adjustments.
The school cannot refuse this - the SEND code is very clear.

If the school refuse to budge - refer them to the Eq Act & The Send Guidance. They are breaking the law.

• Guidance means in this context a set of rules to follow, rather than ‘wouldn’t it be nice to…’

Schools must justify why they cannot do something.
Private diagnosis is not a reason to refuse.

The very fact school won't let the therapist in means an EHCP is necessary.

The school is not obliged to provide a space for a private therapist to see a child so if they’ve said they can no longer accommodate it then it’s probably for a fair and valid reason. They won’t want to deny support their children need for no reason.

I think if you want private therapy then the onus is on you to facilitate it outside of school hours. You being at work after school isn’t the schools problem.

You could do a 2x per week for the 6 week holiday then do top ups x2 per week if any other hols. Would probably work for speech sounds as well as regular input if you practice with him too. I’m a speech therapist and there are lots of studies into efficacy and once a week isn’t always more effective than short blocks.
However, you shouldn’t have to change the arrangement if it was working for you. The school sound but they aren’t very inclusive.

However, you shouldn’t have to change the arrangement if it was working for you. The school sound but they aren’t very inclusive.

I’m not sure that you can conclude that they aren’t inclusive. It may be that in the new school year they have a child or group of children with particular needs who will use the room full time that the SaLT has been able to use this year.

That's extremely poor. I work in a school and I can't imagine refusing a visiting professional the opportunity to work with or see a child. Surely there must be an office or work space that can be made available.

If the school don’t have an available space-I’m not sure what else they can do. We are a tiny school with open plan classrooms and no staff room. The deputy doesn’t have an office and the books are in a corridor. The head is in what can best be described as a cupboard to the side of the reception. We have a hall but that is in use virtually all the time for assemblies, PE, music and lunchtime. We can’t facilitate external sessions like this.

Exactly. Of the schools I have worked in, only 1 would have a space suitable for this that would have availability within the school day. And even that one would only be able to offer the space for very limited times so might reasonably say that if 5 pupils have different private therapists coming in, not all of them can be accommodated within school hours.

(A private SaLT relying on schools to provide their workplace free of charge for them is not an ideal scenario or business model, either. It relies on schools bending over backwards within extremely limited facilities while the SaLT incurs no premises costs despite charging parents a lot)