Advice please - not sure what to think

[colliegirl]

Hi, thanks for reading.

This may be longwinded, sorry. My DS now 7, nearly 8, is in Y3. He has always struggled a bit on the accedemic side of things, being more of a practical kid. He also has had trouble keeping foccussed and daydreaming. He had a hearing test in y1 which after clearing out a load of wax was fine. He is having another test this Friday though, as although he can hear fine when concentrating or in a quiet environment, he finds if hard to "tune in" in a noisy enviornment - any ideas?

However, he had a great teacher in y2 and had a great report and everything seemed to be on the up.

Then he went into y3 :( His teacher appears to be good and he appears to be happy. Although I find her incredibly difficult to talk to her as she makes you feel very "small". I have, however, been in on a number of occasions to express my concerns over how he appears to be getting on with things and I am concerned over his progress etc. He has also been put into all the bottom groups - his spellings are easier than my dd in yr1 gets . He is a bright kid and I think quite intelligent - although he works slowly and has this concentration problem. However, I do not think bottom groups are doing him a lot of favours. Anyway, school reports came home yesterday and his is awful. He is behind in numeracy, and english writing and spelling. he is only progressing with support in many other subjects. What the hell is going on!!! I saw the teacher this morning and am hopefully having a meeting in a few days, and she said that she wanted to put him on the SEN so that he could get to work in a small group.

I really don't know what to think about all this, my head is spinning and I can't seem to think logically.

Should I be upset? It's not like he doesn't have support at home and I have been into his teacher and tried to talk to her and then she suddenly says this!! What does it mean?

ANy suggestions on how I should handle this? What I can ask the teacher and how to word it the right way? I honestly don't think he has any special needs, however I do think he has a serious lack of concetraion. Sorry , I'm just can't think straight and wondered if anybody had any experience of this type of situation.

Thanks you so much for listening.

Auditory Processing Disorder??????

Watching with interest as my son has concentration issues (although is younger) and has trouble in loud environments as well.

Thanks Indigo - funnily enough you're the second person today to suggest that! I have looked it up and it certainly fits except he has no behavious issues, so I think I will look into it a bit more.

I saw his teacher after school briefly and asked her if she'd heard of this - she hadn't...

Anyhow, apparantly at the meeting she is going to ask us to give permission to actually get assessed for special needs. I'm gobsmacked - where the hell did all this come from all of a sudden!!!

Help please anyone!

Sorry, me again.

I should have added do you think I should get him assessed? What does it involve? What will happen then?

Thanks x

Hard to tell without knowing him but if he doesn't have any hearing/auditory/processing issues it wll be ruled out , if he does it will be assessed and he would hopefully get help - what is there to lose ?

also watching this with interest, as dd has had similar issues. She had glue ear and now has grommets, but still struggles in school. In yr 2 she had IEPs but hasn't had one in yr 3, despite the teacher saying she would.

Got the meeting after school tonight getting nervous now. Only with the teacher at the moment but be interesting to see what she says - I have my list of questions at the ready!! Will let you know how it goes x

Remember school and a SENCO aren't qualified to diagnose anything.

Any kind of SN (Special Needs) needs to be diagnosed by the right kind of medical professional.

Any kind of SEN (Special Educational Needs) can only be diagnosed by an Ed Psych.

So, while you should listen to the school, do remember that. People often mistakenly think SENCOs know more than they do.....

Sounds like it would be helpful to get his previous teacher involved.

hope the meeting went ok colliegirl x

It might also be worth thinking about ADD. It doesn't always go with hyperactivity and challenging behaviour.

Ok, had the meeting with his teacher and being put ahead for an assessment. Had a meeting this morning with his Numeracy teacher and suspect that she is the one who instigated this. He is behind in numeracy big time - why the hell has noone been listening to me at school before all this!!! Anyway, she is thinking that it's a receptive language problem and is now waiting for the assessment. Anyone any ideass of this latest develoment?

Thanks