ADVICE for primary school admission for son with stutter.

[KIS5]

Hi there peeps,

My 3.5 year old son has a stutter that over the Christmas period has actually got quite bad. It wasn't really very noticeable before. My husband also had quite a bad stutter when he was younger, but he had speech therapy and did eventually grow out of it. Although he still has a very slight stutter which is hardly noticeable.

I took my son to the GP yesterday, and he is being referred to a speech therapist. My insurance company has also advised that he have a hearing test, which I'm going to speak to the GP about next week.

Anyway as my son is due to start reception school this September the deadline for school admission applications is 15th Jan 2013. I'm concerned about my son going to a school that would be able to deal effectively with stuttering. I do have experience of schools dealing with Dyslexia (my eldest daughter is dyslexic but she is now 20 years old) and in my experience schools are pretty terrible at dealing with that.

I telephoned the LEA Croydon about putting the stuttering issue in the school admission application and they said that I definitely should include this and get a GP letter.

Looking at the preferred school which is Ridgeway, Sandestead. Their ofsted report says "The school works very effectively with families of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities" and "Excellent partnerships have been forged with a range of agencies that contribute effectively to pupils personal development and well being, especially those with special educational needs and/or disabilities".

So my questions are: is this enough to support my application (I doubt that is)? Also can anyone give any advice as to what I could say in support of my sons application?

Any help would much much appreciated!

The supporting statement for Primary applications is, unfortunately, not considered at all and will make no difference to a decision. Places will be allocated strictly using LEA criteria which usually means Looked After children, statements of SEN, siblings and distance. Having a stutter will not be considered, in fact no specific learning or development issue will be, unless the child has a statement of SEN that names the school.

However, having a ds with a bad stutter (now 9) and having had on going speech therapy for years, schools are usually really good at supporting this. My ds had has his speech therapy sessions in school, and the class TA sits in on them, then carries on supporting the strategies in the classroom. Brilliant.

The ofsted report of the school mentioned seems to indicate that the school would work in a similar way, but getting a place there will be entirely down to normal procedures. Is it your nearest school?

Is this a school that you are unlikely to get into under the usual admissions criteria?

What are your other school options like? Have you looked round and spoken to this school, and the others you could apply to?

What is it that makes this school your first choice? I hope it's not just the quote from the OFSTED report, because other schools nearby might be equally as good at dealing with problems like this but just haven't had the chance to show it during inspection because they haven't had a child with special educational needs.

Does the school have an "exceptional social or medical need" criterion in addition to SEN? if so, then you may be able to make a case to be placed in at category. You will need supporting documentation form relevant HCPs, which must say why (in their professional opinion) only that school will meet his needs.

What are the admission criteria for this school?

Is it your local / catchment school?

Like InTheory said, unless your DS has a statement then his place will be allocated based upon the admission criteria.

This school is a community school and as such has an admission criteria which is fairly standard, which does give some priority to medical conditions. What it says in the notes is

"The medical reasons must be verified by a doctor or consultant and declared at the time of application if known at the time. Claims for priority of admission on medical grounds will not be considered if submitted after a decision on the original applications has been made.
Decisions on priority of admission on medical grounds will be made on the basis of recommendations of the LA's medical advisor. The application must be supported by a letter from a hospital consultant and/or the family's GP. "Parent" is defined as the father, mother, foster father, foster mother, legal guardian or the person who has full parental responsibility for the child."

So a letter from your GP is the minimum and you could really do with a consultant's letter. I would refer to the issue of the stuttering on the form and say that further documentation will be submitted. However you do have limited time to do that and I would suggest that you speak to the LA admission office about this, but I would assume that you really only have till the end of January to submit what evidence you can.

To be brutally honest, in my LA stuttering on its own would not be considered sufficient medical condition to warrant a specific school, they would argue that any school could and should be able to manage such a special need with appropriate outside specialist help. I have no idea how strict Croydon are on this medical criteria, but know it does vary a lot between different LAs.

I did also note that the admission number for the school is 90, so hopefully it is your local school and you will have a good chance of getting a place based on the distance criteria.

My son has had a stammer on and off since he was two and it was at it's worse when he started reception in September. In fact he could hardly speak it was so bad. I was so worried and anxious about it.

However about two weeks prior to him starting school he got his first SALT appt. She has been brilliant and did a report for his new teacher so she was aware of the situation before he started. The teacher has been very good with him, for instance not making him speak in front of the class etc.

His stammer has almost completely disappeared for now and I'm amazed by his progress.

I think most schools are really geared up with regard to speech and language difficulties with very young children arn't they?