Actually, no, I don't think my son has ADHD, or sensory integration issues, or conduct disorder or behavioural 'problems'...

[WilfShelf]

...or any thing else that can be labelled and which individualises and medicalises the issue.

And the REAL issue is that there is a class of 30 children, and he is a little person who is different and he won't sit quietly like the girls (who are, after all, the 'model' for good behaviour in primary schools).

And the friendship dynamic with one particular group of children is dysfunctional and actually he is simply SAD because he can't feel like he has real friends and the school is not helping that.

And the recognition that he is a physical, creative person doesn't seem to fit the model of what a school child should be. The school seems to be becoming more rigid, more over-reactive: what to me seem quite 'normal' behaviour blips are being pursued with 'intervention'. I don't want it, and he doesn't need it.

Argh.

I live in a cultural desert: there is NO hope of finding a suitable alternative school, I need to work so can't home ed, so what do I do?

We have 3 children with Statements and employ 1.8 SEN support assistants

No it isn't Tidey

((hugs)) wilf

I have to echo what other teachers have said.
getting a proper diagnosis is really tough and tougher still can be getting the correct level of funding to support it.

I've never seen it as a cash cow in anyway for the school. rather the opposite, funding the special requirements that an individual child needs can be really hard to secure!

Schools may get additional funding if a child has a statement of SEN but a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD doesn't automatically mean a child will get a statement.
We have 5 pupils with ASD - no statements and 2 more with ADHD - no statement.
My own son has ASD & ADHD as a comorbidity _ no statement.

Horrible situation WIlf.
I think brokeoven's idea of blue tack is great, why not give your DS a piece to take to school in his pocket so he can distract himself when he is bored/restless, no need to leave it to the teacher.

DS2 will be 4.4 when he starts school and I am dreading it, I think we expect far too much from 4-5 year olds, in Scandinavia children dont start school until they are 7.

Ds1 has ADHD, ASD and sensory processing disorder - statement - but only WRT what the teachers should be doing.

Trust me, those statements do NOT make the teacher's life easier or better. I can see the teacher womanfully trying to keep a stiff upper lip whilst trying to tackle Ds1's statement, which is complex without offering any advice like "Employ someone else to deal with him" which she could use to insist on some help.

If a child is statemented, then there should be the individual support for that child.

There is also a newer system (2006) for consideration of SEN beyond statemented individuals. As pointed out above, this has a direct impact on the school's CVA score in league tables, and it may have an effect on the budget (the LA would need to decide scale of extra resource, then senior management team how it was spent in the school. What it looks lime in practice varies hugely between different LAs and individual schools. But it's not something an individual teacher can influence into his own classroom). CVA is up for revision, especially as the unintended consequences of the new policy are only now beginning to show.

Whatever the policy for SEN and its management in schools, that won't help the question in OP. But without examples of the behaviour in question, it's hard to know where the balance of reasonableness lies. I read the post about parental "blindness" with interest.

Is there no other school - even near your work?

Even if you have a statement you don't necessarily get any extra fundingn - there are apparently, 2 levels of statement and only one comes with extra money and they, as you can imagine, are rare. Money is not a motivating factor for labelling children.

Are people confusing the fact that the individual(s) taking responsibility for managing special needs within a school may receive extra payment for that extra skills they'll need and work that entails, with the myth that teachers are paid more to have a special needs child in their class?

onimolap SEN is one of eleven factors that are used to calculate CVA so the claims that schools are using SEN to influence figures are frankly laughable.

I think Octavia might have got the wrong end of the stick about teachers being paid more. I think she might be referring to SEN points on the salary scale but those are only for special needs teachers where all their pupils have statements.

I work with hearing impaired children in an enhanced provision and I have SEN 2 on my salary. My pupils have a higher band of statement where the school is given more through enhanced provision funding.

Class teachers do not get this even if some of their pupils have statements. It's specifically for specialist SEN teachers where the large majority of their pupils are statmented.

'Class teachers do not get this even if some of their pupils have statements'

Bother, Bother, Bother.

And apparently the new government are taking away SEN points BrigitBigKnickers?

I have heard this from a few other parents. That it. I am very glad it is not true as my DS does not sit still all the time.

The OP hasn't actually said how old her son is (don't think I've missed it)
If he is very young it isn't appropriate to expect him to sit still for prolonged periods.

totally with Colditz - parental blindness is a horrific truth that prevents people from working together to help the individual child

the new government are taking away sen points mrz?

I've deleted the email from the SENCO group cornsilk (as I don't get a SEN allowance) but I'm sure that's what it said.

ooohhhh
wonder if it's just your LEA making cuts?

The new government is reviewing CVA in its entirety.

If any of the issues within the ratings have unintended consequences, or could be wrongfully manipulated, then it undermines the integrity of whole system, regardless of whether there is a) intent or b) major difference.

Not enough yet known about any putative new system to say whether it will be an improvement or otherwise.

I'm not sure if I get an update I will let you know cornsilk