What's reasonable to ask?

[RubiaPTA]

My kid starts reception in September and I've been asked to write what provisions I think would be needed for him before I meet with them. I know what for the areas he's behind in or needs help in. But I don't know what to put for the areas he's ahead in. He's beyond what they teach in the core subjects and could easily go straight in to an older school so I don't know what to ask of them in that respect. But I need to ask for it as he is SM so can't for himself. I think I've worded this terribly but can anyone advise or been through it before

I don't know, they may, or may not. But you say he can't demonstrate his ability on demand, so that's one of the possibility to show what he can do. My ds was selective mute to children, not to the teachers, so didn't have any problem for the assessment, and quite happily followed teacher's instructions.

My ds did summer diary during holidays before starting school. Teacher was very interested to see it. He did some workbooks at nursery, and it was sent to school by the nursery along with his file.

I don't think the teacher will just take what you say, no. And neither should they. They need to see evidence for themselves of what a child can do. I've seen so many parents talk about what their child can do only to discover that it's wildly optimistic at best. And of course the other way too where parents are dubious about their child's abilities and surprised by what they do in school.

Should I try to film him reading then? I have folders worth of paper he's done maths on and quite a few notes he's written to me. But he does alot on whiteboards so it gets lost. That's usually the stuff he's less confident with

To be honest I wouldn't at this point. I would speak to them and outline your concerns and what you feel he can and can't do then let them build a relationship with him and facilitate his learning in all the normal areas. As he settles they will hopefully begin to see what you see and if not at that point I would go in with more evidence. In the meantime focus on both him and you building a positive relationship with the school.

I agree with ToDuk to an extent.

Do give school a chance to get it right. You don't need much in the way of evidence when you first talk to them. Just enough so they understand what you mean when you say 'he can read and write and is good at maths' as some parents would say that and mean 'he can decode CVC words and form letters half-way legibly and find 'one more' of a number

I don't know if school would accept it or not, but I would do anything it may help. It's an evidence. Also bring in the maths papers he has done, and take the photo(or film) of what he has written on the whiteboard?
Anything that would help him with his assessment or making them understand his ability, I would hand it in. You have whole summer to make lots of evidence for him before he starts. You can ask at the meeting what sort of things can be helpful for them too. Good luck.

brilliotic, I think it can be quite complicated with SM child. My ds never had problem with adults generally, but never spoke to certain doctors at the hospital. When one of the doctor saw him happily chatting to me and doing quite complicated puzzle in the room, he told me he assumed my ds was developmentally behind and had some sort of learning difficulty as well as mutism.

That's what I mean irvine. I suppose every child with SM is different so if you have a child that e.g. won't talk but will happily complete a worksheet with comprehension questions (in the right circumstances; perhaps only when they feel unobserved) then the teacher needs to know that they will not be able to assess the child's reading comprehension by chatting about the text, but that they can assess it by creating the right circumstances in which the child will happily complete said worksheet.
Thus allowing the teacher to assess the child's comprehension, and set future work at a level that is appropriate.
Whereas if the teacher does not know that the child is likely to complete that comprehension sheet whilst feeling unobserved, they might sit with the child encouraging them to complete the worksheet, resulting in nothing, causing the teacher to struggle to know at what level to plan future work. They will have the parent's word but not see any evidence themselves and thus will be likely to go too low.

So any hint and suggestions at all that can help the teachers assess the child's abilities can only be good, no?
Any info such as 'child will talk to other children but not to grown-ups' (just an example) helps because teachers can then try to find ways to assess the child's abilities from observing (perhaps even filming) the child's conversations with other children.

But yes, with outlier abilities I'm sure that evidence from home helps too, as the teachers can start at a more reasonable level when attempting to assess abilities. Rather than wasting time on trying to establish if the child can decode CVC words, they can go straight to trying to establish how good the child's inference is.

Absolutely, brilliotic. You are right, as always!

OP, this site has lots of collections of maths questions covering from yr1 to GCSE and UKMT.
It maybe easier for your ds since it's all computer based and self marking. The white rose mastery collection covers years 1-8.

diagnosticquestions.com/Quizzes/Collections

I think I will give them a little file of his stuff, see if he'll do the sats, and see if I can sneak a recording of his reading. Sometimes he reads really dramatically when hes on his own with really adorable voices. Something he's never done with other people around.
What even are CVC words? I know they are easy soundoutable words but what does it actually mean.

ConsonantVowelConsonant ie. Cat, dog

Just because a child has complex needs does not mean their academics should be ignored This is a very important thing to remember and a very easy thing to forget.

CVC means consonant vowel consonant, like cat, dog etc.

Please don't push him to do SATs, if he wants to great but they are really boring and quite limited in what they show, seeing stories he has written and random number sentences, maths worksheets and stuff would mean far more, plus it sounds like he is way beyond KS1 SATs levels anyway so it wouldn't reflect his abilities.

The term used in the UK for high ability coexisting with educational/medical/developmental issues which impede learning is "Dual and Multiple Exceptionality". The more common name used internationally is twice-exceptionality.
Here is the <a class="break-all" href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130323073730/www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/00052-2008BKT-EN.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DCSF's 2008 guidance on dual and multiple exceptionality.
The 2e newsletter is a good resource.
There is also PEGY's guidance on twice exceptionality., a paper on masking and compensation, and this book is very good. The authors advocate an educational approach that puts the primary focus on strengths rather than remediation in order to promote engagement and self-esteem.

Two points from the the PEGY guidance seem worth repeating: "The ideal placement for a twice exceptional child is almost always that which is appropriate for their intellectual level", and "It is absolutely essential that the child receives adequate challenge whilst help is given for their difficulty. Unfortunately it is not unusual for a gifted child diagnosed with, for instance, Asperger’s Syndrome, ADHD, dysgraphia or social and emotional difficulties to be given no accommodations for their giftedness at all. The school takes the position that the child will be “OK” academically, but that what they really need to work on is their deficit in social skills, attention regulation, handwriting, and so on. The child’s giftedness is neglected, a disastrous policy for many twice exceptional children who become depressed and disaffected"

And just to refute one piece of nonsense posted earlier "Moving children into much higher age classes can be very harmful for their emotional development" - this is a myth which has been debunked repeatedly by empirical research.