Not bashing, school have not been in contact at all, what should we do?

[drspouse]

Highly aware that teachers are under masses of pressure.
DH is KW and currently he's quarantining in the spare room (due to upcoming hospital appointment not symptoms), DS has SEN and his school have been great, loads of work packs, calling every day.
DD has been in on average one day a week but will do next to nothing at home. She's in Y1 and has an IEP.
Today she screamed for 10 minutes then read four pages, took 45 minutes to find 3 words in a word search, did crafts (she'd happily do only crafts, ever),

I emailed her teacher 10 days ago to say she was not coping. No reply. Not a single phone call the whole time she's been off. No emails.

We can't read some of the work set on the school website and the rest is too hard for her e.g. phonics way ahead of where she is, she's only just doing one more/one less. School said they were going to give the class the same choice boards in class, we asked the class teacher to let us know what she had done (she never tells us) on days she's in. No answer to that either.
What can we do now? I'm trying to work, she's learning nothing and just getting upset, DH can't help but she won't do anything for him normally anyway, she was already really behind!

You said on some of your posts that she is in some days but just not all days.
You also said that you may up her days after the biopsy. (I missed that one but can see that now)

You are obviously upset and worried but you also sound like hard work! Every suggestion that has been made is quickly dispatched as pointless and anyone who dares to question you is given the same kind of reaction you gave to me.

Anyway, I get that it is difficult to engage children with SEN at home. I understand that it is time consuming and often thankless and at times appears to cause more stress than it helps educationally. having said that there isn't a magical solution. The teacher should have replied to you, but I suppose you could always phone or could email the SLT instead. I don't really see how the teacher phoning and making videos would help nor how it would be practical for her to do this when she is teaching in school anyway.

Honestly, I'm not sure what you want, realistically. I remember this head banging feeling from your previous threads, you want what you want regardless of the feasibility...or want something that doesn't exist.

You have the option of sending her to school. Your DH is self isolating in the house anyway, I'd send her to school. Or not do anything right now, as she is very young.

I'm really not sure why it's so wrong to want for my DC what other DC have?
Obviously my DC are completely unable to understand that DH is self isolating. They keep barging in the bathroom, barging in his room, coming down to the kitchen when he's there etc etc. I have to minimise risk to him while also minimising risk to me and DD of DS who has ADHD and needs routine and exercise or he becomes aggressive (first two weeks of lockdown were appalling). Her school has 80 children in.
I would really like it if people actually read the thread.
I won't be answering any more questions or suggestions that have already been answered.
I'm sorry I ever thought that Mumsnet was a place where people whose children have SEN could expect their children to get the same as other children.

You want the teacher to teach your dd individually every day. you don't want to hear that this isn't available because the teacher is in school teaching Y1 all day and is also setting work for the children whose parents have decided not to send them. This isn't going to happen. The more that you post, the more I understand why the teacher maybe hasn't responded. You just don't want to hear it. You have the option of sending her in. You have the option or working with her yourself. You have the option of simply doing the stuff she enjoys and taking the pressure off. None of these options work for you because you have decided that you want the individual lessons. You are being ridiculous.

What do yoy mean you want for her what other children have? She is getting what other children are getting.....remote learning. You have bitesize and oak national academy available to you like everyone else too.

You are being utterly unrealistic. Other schools are offering things yours is not. Unless you can get your child into those schools now (impossible) what other schools are doing is irrelevant.

My niece has been taught via zoom for last 8 weeks work submitted and marked individual teacher attention. My same age dd gets a single work sheet and nothing else whatsoever. It’s shit but what to do?!

@drspouse, I'm afraid that raising SEN issues on general threads does tend to bring out people who have little or no understanding of your situation, and a worrying large proportion of disablist types who think that all SEN is largely to be blamed on parents. You would be better off going on one of the SN boards.

@LadyConstanceDeCoverlet
I find that very offensive and also inaccurate. I have two children with SEN; one who has very severe ASD and learning difficulties and another with quite severe ASD. I am very sympathetic and have fought hard for my children to have access to education. Just because the OP's child has SEN does not automatically make her right or reasonable!

@Cansu, where exactly did I say that you were one of the people who turns up on these threads who have little or no understanding of dealing with SEN? If you choose to feel offended, that is no-one's fault but yours.

One of the generally recognised problems around lockdown has been the issue of children on SEN Support - which means that they will probably struggle with school work but don't have the enforceable support that an EHCP gives.. Whilst many teachers have done a fantastic job, inevitably it's been difficult for them to give children on SEN support the help and differentiated work they would normally get in school. However, there are some schools which undoubtedly aren't doing such a good job, and failing to communicate with the parents of a pupil who is known to be struggling does come into that category.

You have suggested that the OP posts on SN as clearly people on here disagree with her and this must be because they are disabilist and unable to understand the point of view of someone with a child with SEN. I disagree with you. The OP has been given huge amounts of advice and ideas for how to support her child. She disregards everything and dismisses it because she has decided her child should have individual teaching each day. It has absolutely nothing to do with EHCP's and everything to do with her attitude. She could send her child to school every day rather than just some days. She could use some of the suggestions on here. She chooses not to do any of these options. My child has weekly SALT and OT on her EHCP. She has 1:1 support in a small class. She didn't get that during lockdown for obvious reasons. She got a pack of resources and lots of suggestionsof things we could do that would help her such as planting seeds, baking etc. We did what we could. It wasn't perfect and we muddled along.

Gosh. There's a lot of words being put in my mouth by people who can't even RTFT.

I asked our Senco to provide me with a transition social story as mine aren't going back this term, this was over a week ago and I haven't even had an acknowledgement email

You child responds in exactly the same way as you do, ‘everything too hard or not possible.’ I understand you are stressed. But right now everyone is struggling with many different things. If you aren’t will to try why should she. If you do not have the time or the patience, then right now you only have to keep her and the rest of your family safe, that’s your only commitment. She’s year 1 she will catch up. I say that as someone who has been through it mine was behind throughout KS1, but up to standard by KS2.

I'm sorry to hear you are going through the stress and anxiety of your DH having cancer tests. My DH had a cancer scare a year ago, luckily he got the all clear but I well remember the anxious time waiting for tests, then results. I hope your DH also gets reassuring news from his tests.
I am pretty sure that personally I would not handle cancer tests plus lockdown home learning plus keeping up with the job that pays the bills right now. In your shoes I would soft pedal on the home learning and focus on just getting through the next couple weeks and keeping the DCs safe and on as much of an even keel as possible.
I know you said you do not want to let the learning slide and you are worried as she is already behind, but sometimes you just have to choose your battles and priorities, and put your own and your family's emotional wellbeing first. Also I imagine she will be picking up on the stress and strangeness with your DH isolating and awaiting tests, which will make engaging and focussing on learning even more of an uphill struggle.

You could always do more in the holidays, all being good.
(Also, is it possible that anger with the school's limited offer at the moment and its unfairness, is acting as somewhere to vent other anxieties?)
I have a Yr1 child who is not easy to engage with set learning tasks and is behind with at least his writing, (and I have reason to suspect a specific learning difficulty) so I hope I can at least try to understand the concerns about falling behind and am saying ease up for a bit from a place of compassionate realism.

I think ditch the learning and work on her engagement.

So you do craft but its on your agenda. Have a sand timer (you can get an app on your phone). 10 minutes, 5 if thats where she is.Start with something she likes. If you get push back you just say "we are painting" or "the timer is not finished" in a fairly flat tone.

Then you do this for Maths Factor or bbc bitesize or whatever. Increase the time as it gets better. Lots of breaks.

5 productive minutes is better than 30 unproductive ones.

For your son bbc bitesize has a touch typing course "dance mat typing" its highly annoying but it works. Then a free subscription to nitrotype for practice.

dismisses it because she has decided her child should have individual teaching each day.

And yet she literally says that absolutely nowhere. I'm now worrying about the reading comprehension levels of someone claiming to be a teacher.

What she says she wants is something similar to what has been provided for her son, e.g. "Regular phone calls, work packs, well made video explanations and differentiated work from his school". I know from personal experience that at least some mainstream teachers are managing to provide similar support to children with SEN, with or without an EHCP. How does that equate to a demand for individual teaching every day?

Sorry I haven't read all the responses so people may have e already mentioned these but

• On the BBC bite size are you getting her to watch the daily TV programmes as they may help a bit, no prep or work needed just watch.
• numberblocks on the BBC iPlayer is great, some of the earlier ones are fairly basic but the later ones go into more detail and have helped my Y1 DC.
• alphablocks on YouTube, will help a little with phonics.
• the teach your monster to read app from ubourne is free. Start her on the lowest level which ie reception level but will hopefully build up her confidence and she can move through the levels. This is a phonics game but doesn't seem like school work.
• I'm sure you are already but read as much as you can, any books, even if she read a couple of lines from a page or you read a page each.

I know that's not actual school work but might help in terms of keeping up. You can sign up to Twinkl (free for 30 days) and get great worksheet but it does take a bit of time to work though.

Good Luck

I'm disappointed with my daughters primary school. She's in year 5. I was understanding at the beginning, I appreciate teachers were put under immense pressure but for the last few weeks our school has gone radio silent. Teacher uploads the work on Teams on Monday Morning for the week and that's it. No feedback, no interaction. We have received a few messages from the head teacher on the school facebook group regarding year 6 returning to school - which really should be sent via email. Now year 6 has returned our school is only providing work for three days for the rest of the school but that hasn't gone too well as our teacher hasn't been uploading the work. We've not received any work online at all this week so far! Other's schools in the area have provided virtual lesson, or recorded lessons, our school have uploaded some work for the week and waved us off. Our Head Teacher had been due to leave this term so I wonder if her mind has been elsewhere!

Well, we did get a response after I happened to see both the SENCO and the KS1 head at the school gate.
They are only just now (12 weeks in?) doing a few video lessons but this may be helpful as she is, and both of the other teachers agreed with me, suffering from the "I don't have to do what mummy tells me because she's not my teacher" syndrome.
The school say "other parents are emailing in work" but with no communication for the first 10 weeks, and seeing work go up on school YouTube videos, no formal communication to indicate how to opt out of this, we were not aware this was the official means to communicate and get feedback - it's only now we're being told "other parents are doing this" rather than, you know, a formal policy.
The class teacher didn't address that the Y1 work is too hard but the SENCO agrees with us - she's working around start of Y1 but she needs something to say "Miss X wants you to do this and she'll know when you do it really well". SENCO and I agreed that some brief individual pieces of work to start DD off on the concept that "yes you do have to do school work at home and Miss X will know" might help lead into "and this stuff from Twinkl is also from Miss X and she told me to show you how to count your Lego blocks".
School say they have had far more children in than other schools (DH points out we are the closest school to a large hospital) but some policies and procedures wouldn't go amiss (and now is way too late!). And not telling parents all the details via live video would also be helpful.

Sorry, that last sentence means that "all communication has been via Facebook Live/YouTube videos", this has included vital information that hasn't been on letters/the website.

Class teacher said that all the worksheets have been in a zip file as well as the impossible oddly-formatted files but neither DH nor I spotted those till this week - again no communication to tell us things had changed or where to find the new files.