Lack of support from school.

[ThatsGoingToHurt]

I recently had a parents evening where I was informed my Y1 DD was placed on the SEN Register last year and had a support plan in place. I was unaware of this. For context DD had glue ear and unable hear properly for the whole of her Reception year. The waiting list for grommets in my area is huge, but she eventually had surgery over the summer and it has made a huge difference to her hearing.

As it was only a 10 minute parents evening there was maybe 2 minutes available to discuss the support plan and no chance to ask questions. The support plan is pretty poor with no timescales, no reviews and one ambiguously worded target for phonics. It’s states that DD is working below expectations in writing and maths as well but no targets are set for these.

I messaged the teacher back asking for some clarification regarding timescales, when it would be reviewed, what the target to reach X stage for phonics or to complete that stage and would targets and support be provided for maths and writing and could we have a meeting towards the end of the Autumn term. The schools SEN policy states that support plans will be reviewed half termly.

I received a response back tell me we would meet and review at some point in the Spring Term (which could be April!) There were also no plans to offer support for writing or maths! I replied back this was unsatisfactory and I was looking at alternative schools for DD. Suddenly, I had a response that we could have a f2f meeting and the SENco would be involved!

Am I being unreasonable asking for support for DD since couldn’t hear for the whole of her reception year? I would have expected that if a child placed on the SEN register as she had been identified as working below expectation in phonics/writing/maths to receive support to help them catch up?

What should I be asking for during this meeting?

You should definitely have been informed when your daughter was placed on the SEN register, so that's a massive oversight on their part that you were unaware

However, without knowing your DD and her individual needs, I can't say whether she should have maths and writing targets on her IEP. It depends how far behind she is. Many children in her class will currently be 'working towards' without being on the SEN register. A working towards judgement is technically 'below', as they're not working at the expected level, but these children usually have group or individual targets which are worked on in class and don't necessarily need to be reported to parents (although it is best practice to share these geneeal targets with parents at parents evening, so they know how best to help at home).

If she has been assessed as 'working below' in writing and maths, as opposed to 'working towards' I would say she should have targets for these included on her IEP too, as that would mean she is significantly behind. These two terms often get muddled though as both mean 'below', it's just that one is more below than the other.

The fact she doesn't have writing and maths targets on her IEP would suggest to me she is only slightly behind in these areas (ie 'working towards') and therefore her needs in these subjects can be met in class without additional SEN support.

If I was you, I would bypass the class teacher and arrange a meeting with the SENCO to discuss and clarify.

I think that’s the problem is that know my daughter is behind but no one has explained by how little or how much. I was just told she was behind. I’m a hoping that now that she can hear that she is making progress and catching up.

The teacher also said that she had poor learning behaviours but didn’t explain what she meant by this as the parents evening was so rushed. . I’m assuming she meant poor listening and poor attention. However, I have pointed out many times that DD would have struggled to listen and pay attention as she could not hear properly. Therefore, she will need to learn these skills now that she can hear.

The SENCO has made a massive mistake too in not speaking to you!! I despair of some SENCO sometimes 🤦🏻‍♀️

My ds had severe glue ear (he had his first set of grommets aged 20 months) and at times his hearing was down to about 10% of normal hearing.
He wasn't put on the SEN register, so perhaps your first thing is to find out why she is on it. Is because they recognise the glue ear has had a significant impact, or do they suspect more going on?

Now glue ear behaviour can mimic ASD behaviour because they retreat into their own little world. However having one doesn't preclude the other - ds has ASD and ADHD and having glue ear meant that was hidden, because it was assumed that it was just the glue ear. He was finally diagnosed with those two at secondary.
I suspect those behaviours are what they meant by "poor learned behaviours".

I think the meeting with the SENCO is the way to go. Find out how far behind and how they plan on helping her to catch up. I'd also request that they keep her at the front of the class and do check she has heard and understood instructions before assuming anything else. Grommets are great, but they do fall out and glue ear can return.

You should certainly have been informed when she was placed on the SEN register and her targets should have been shared. These should be reviewed regularly (termly in our school) and, as specified in the SEN Code of Practice, you should have additional meetings, on top of parent evenings. Targets should specifically relate to her needs. The targets should be small, achievable and measurable and the provision map should clarify any additional support that may be in place. Hopefully the SENCo will be able to redeem themselves!

Parents evening isn't the place for this. Tell the school you require a meeting with the class teacher and SENDCO to go over your daughter's support plan. There is a service called SENDIASS that will support you but it could take weeks to speak to the right person.

Dd had the same in reception and the support we got was she was put in front of the class :) That was it. She was monitored for the year via the hearing specialist at the hospital and eventually her hearing returned to normal. I would suggest supporting at home if she needs to catch up on things.

That’s exactly the support that my daughter received except I went on a tour of the school recently and my daughter was sat at the back of the class by the door. I’m quite angry as my daughter could have received almost a year of support from a Teacher of the Deaf but the school didn’t contact the county council (as she had a diagnosed hearing impairment the council told me this service is free to school but now they would need to pay as audiology have confirmed her hearing as normal).

@ThatsGoingToHurt that is very frustrating. Did you speak to the teachers to let them know she should be sitting in the front always? I told the teachers, but I was never sure or not. It was years ago and she is now year 7 and doing very well academically. The only reason we figured out she had glue ear was because the teacher told me dd does not seem to listen and its as if she can't hear her. So I got her checked. I let the school know she needs to sit in front (who knows if they actually did put her in front, but I think they would have...). Her learning did not seem to be effected by this. I would try supporting your dd more at home....while you push to get her extra help at school. I believe if you want something done right, you got to do it yourself (the extra support). Hopefully, the school will also be able to assist....but I would not wait as who knows how long that could be.

The teacher repeatedly reassured me that my daughter would be sat at the front of the class (we had a number of conversations during the year). When a teacher of the Deaf did visit the school (after I referred her) she found that she was sat at the back of the class and she told them she should be sat at the front even though she now had grommets.

Disagree with pps that the SENCO has dropped the ball. Communication should be via the class teacher. Senco probably has 2.5 hours release time a week max - absolutely impossible to meet with all parents of children on SEND register. Their job role is to co-ordinate SEND provision in the school, not to provide it for every child.

Update! I had a meeting with the class teacher and SENco last term. I explained that my daughters hearing impairment had crushed her self esteem and that she didn’t want to try at school and she was scared of getting things wrong. I also had a chat about how DD couldn’t hear for 5 terms therefore, she had missed out on lots of vital learning how to learn at the start of reception (e.g. she didn’t know she could put up her hand and ask for help, etc). They made all the right noises during the meeting and they agreed to do some observations on DD and we would meet next term.

I received an email in the first week of term asking if I could attend a meeting in 3 weeks time. I assumed this was to review DD’s support plan. I attended the meeting and it turned out that the SENco had not spoken to the class teacher so could not provide me with an update on my daughters progress or if she had achieved her targets in the support plan (or not) and we didn’t review the plan.

Once I know where my DS has been allocated for primary school next year I can look at moving DD!

Gosh. Definitely look into moving her. That's very poor.

I would email back and ask for a meeting in the next week or so, to review the support plan and progress.

In the email say you want an update on the support she has been receiving and whether it’s having an impact, whether she’s meeting her targets and a general update on her progress.

Politely mention you have been disappointed by the lack of support (not sat at the front, no communication about sen register or how to support at home, no teacher of the deaf) and updates to date (can put in specific examples) but hope you can all work together for the benefit of your daughter from now (blah blah etc I know you’re moving her but she still has months left)

Then address it to the class teacher and senco AND copy in the head.

No response or poor response (meeting not for weeks and weeks or you attend the meeting and they are vague etc) and resend the email copying in the chair of governors.

I’m a primary school teacher and am horrified by your experience.

I emailed the SENCo a few days ago reiterating the points I had raised (DD much more positive about school, seems to be getting more confident, flying through her reading book, etc). I also asked for an update on the support plan, had she achieved the targets, if so are more targets being set and if not what support could be put in place.

I think if I don’t hear within a week then I will follow up with the email you have suggested.

I’m fuming. I’ve have no reply to the email I send the SENco two weeks ago so I managed to nab DC’s class teacher. This is virtually impossible now the Head has instituted a new pick up protocol where teacher and children stand behind one line and parents are made to stand behind another line 15 foot away.

Anyway, I asked her if the SENco had caught up with her as she promised she would and the SENco hadn’t replied to my email. I was told that no the SENco hadn’t caught up with her and she though she might have an unread email, but not to worry as she had rewritten DC support plan and she would send to me tomorrow.

So the SENco didn’t speak to class teach before she met with me. Therefore, we couldn’t review DCs support plan. I provided the SENco with useful and important information which she said she would discuss with class teacher and then provide me with an update on how DC is progressing and her support plan. Class teacher said she hasn’t spoken to the SENco but she might have an an unread email (which May be the email I sent to the SENco). So the support plan has now been reviewed again without having a review meeting or including any involvement from me.

Im at the stage where I’m losing all confidence in the school. I can’t wait until I find out in April where DC2 is going to school as then the plan is to move DC1 as well.

Update. DD received a great end of year report. She is now at ARE for everything except reading and writing where she is working towards. However, in the space of a year she has going from phase two to phase five phonics (I think they have to have completed phase 5 to get ARE). He writing has greatly improved and she is writing lots more but sometimes she forgets to use word endings such as -ed and -ing which is needed for ARE. DD just failed her phonics check. Apparently her learning behaviours have really improved and she is putting in a lot more effort at school. DDs attendance is excellent.
I caught up with DD teacher at the end of term to ask if she was still on the SEN register and she said yes but Y2 teacher will review in Sept. I asked for a copy of her SEN support plan as I hadn’t sent one since Jan.

DD is first on the waitlist for the another school so I am hoping that someone has moved over the Summer holidays so DD is offered a place. DD is quite happy to got to a new school as she still doesn’t like after her awful reception year even thought Y1 was better.