Advice needed for SEN child

[aworriedmummy21]

Hi all. I have received ASD diagnosis for my daughter (7 yo) which also includes an assessment of her General Cognitive Ability. It shows that her Working Memory and Processing Speed index are Very Low and her Verbal comprehension is Low average. I want to arrange a meeting with school SENCO to discuss how she will get help in these areas but before that need to prepare for the meeting. I don't have any idea of what help I should expect from school. I would be grateful and appreciate as many response from you all. Thanks

I would really appreciate any response asap please, so I could be ready for the meeting with SENCO.

@aworriedmummy21

My son has poor working memory and slow processing, which meant basically the lessons were being delivered too fast for him to process, and most of it went over his head, which is probably the same problem your daughter has in lessons.

So you need to know how they are going to make the lessons accessible for your daughter and what support they are going to put in place.

You could ask for an EP assessment as they will be able to give the school advice on how to meet your daughter's needs, although they don't have to agree to do this.

Basically my son had a TA or other adult with him in class most of the time who repeated what the teacher said, explained things in more simple terms, broke down instructions one at a time and allowed him time to process questions before expecting an answer from him.

He also had written instructions taped to his desk so he knew what he had to do each morning, and the (good) teachers included visual stuff in lessons which helped understanding and learning.

I suspect the school will tell you they won't be able afford a TA in which case you could ask them to support you in applying for an EHC Needs Assessment.

www.ipsea.org.uk/ehc-needs-assessments

What sort of progress has your DD made so far? Is she behind the rest of the class?

Does she have speech and language therapy?

@Ellie56
First of all thank you so much for the reply!
You have clearly understood my DD's problem. She has had received Speech and language therapy since nursery but it was stopped last year. SENCO said dd has made much progress and was saying something about not enough school funding but the number of kids who need SLT is large.
Now she can do the easiest level work in her class with the help of a TA. But the thing which has disappointed me is that class teachers are not bothered to understand what a child is struggling with in lessons. Her school books were used to be empty, not much work done by her. And on my request the learning material they provide me in year 2 was like for a nursery child. So in year 2, I started putting my maximum effort with dd in English and Maths and noticed she can do the basic work of her age but she needs a lot of repetition to understand anything. I have to CRY and BEG to school to give her right support (they have caused me extreme distress) and finally for last couple of months of year 2 she was getting support from a TA (4 other kids are in that group). I requested them for Cognitive assessment by EP, they clearly said NO.
I'm not from UK and never knew the rights here for a Parent of SEN child (which I am still not very clear about) and what support school is legally obliged to give. I always trust the school and thought whatever they are doing is good for my child.

From the Cognitive assessment by CAMHS, I now got to know what her real difficulties are. So I want to try my best that now school should be providing her right support without making me beg them and causing any distress. As dd is now diagnosed with autism so may be school will apply for funding for her extra support - do you have any idea for that ?

The diagnosis should not make any difference. The school has a legal duty to use their "best endeavours" to meet her needs. See here:

www.ipsea.org.uk/the-best-endeavours-duty

👍 I will read through this link. It feels like I myself is on a learning journey.
Sometimes the school bluntly say No and it made me think that may be I have asked them something wrong and I don't try to argue with them. Any link where I can get more information about my rights as a parent?
Can't thank you enough... 💐

If they have done everything they can and she is still struggling, they need to apply to the LA for top up funding to put in place whatever else she needs. If this doesn't work, they can apply for an EHCNA -link above.

If school is not being helpful, you can apply for an EHCNA yourself

More information here:

www.ipsea.org.uk/how-your-nursery-school-or-college-should-help

🤗