DD struggling with classroom/school behaviour but school says there isn't a problem.

[SpaceInvader321]

DD is struggling in Y7. She's now officially on the waiting list for an autism assessment, so we've been trying to see what school can do for her as a SEN issue. We've met with them several times to discuss her challenges, the main one being difficulty in concentrating in class because of the disruptive behaviour (kids shouting out, throwing things, chatting constantly, etc), plus a lot of sensory issues (the smell of chewing gum, makeup, hairspray; the noise and crowds) and she's always had trouble with social interactions.

School has said they've investigated and not found behaviour to be a problem in the classroom or out of the ordinary for the school. DD is academically very strong and complains less about the top-set class she's in, but the general school experience is proving extremely difficult for her and she's often in tears or melting down about going. She's spent half of half-term agonising about having to go back next week and saying she refuses to go.

So what can we do now? We have her on waiting lists for schools we think would have a better environment for her, but without an EHCP we don't have much chance of getting in (she's in the 40s on their waiting lists). Private school and private assessments are not an option either.

If her school is saying they don't see a behavioural problem and can't offer her any support other than moving to another class (where, we suspect, the behaviour will be similar), could we argue that the school isn't able to meet her needs and somehow have a better chance of moving her?

We're told it will probably be 18 months before she gets her assessment and an official autism diagnosis, which is a very long time to wait. Should we request an EHCNA now?

Thanks for any advice. (Cross-posted to Secondary Ed.)

The school should be providing SEN support, DD doesn’t need a diagnosis and the school has a duty to make their best endeavours to meet her SEN. If the SENCO isn’t helpful escalate it to the member of SLT with responsibility for SEN or the HT, and then the governors if necessary.

Would using ear defenders/noise cancelling headphones help? Also think about seating plans and a time out card. These are very simple things that could be put in place straight away.


Apply for an EHCNA. IPSEA have a model letter you can use.

Did you appeal for a place at the schools DD is on the waiting list for?

Our school doesn't currently have a SENCO. There is a teacher filling in as head of inclusion and I've been to a few school meetings where he and other learning support staff pretty much admit that the school has not been doing enough for SEN kids but they're "working on it". They talk about having a massive backlog of kids who have been flagged as SEN/undiagnosed SEN, but they are clearly struggling to support most of the kids who need help.

We talked to the KS3 head about seating and she said she was going to make sure DD's teachers made adjustments, but after a couple of months, DD says only one teacher moved her -- to a back row where, eventually, a bunch of noisy kids were moved to as well.

They've also suggested a time-out card but DD seems stressed out about the idea of using one (worried about missing lesson time and also about the other kids grilling her about why she's leaving class early). She's also ambivalent about wearing ear defenders in school; she says no one does and I think at this age, no one wants to stand out. Someone told me about some very small, discreet ones that might be less noticeable, so I may try to get her some of those.

This school was the only one we had any chance of getting into as catchments in our part of London are tiny. Primary school never took our concerns about DD seriously, so SEN wasn't really on our minds when we applied to secondaries in Y6 (I now really regret not pushing that school harder about DD's issues, but I assumed they were the professionals so must know more than we did).

Poor DD feels like she's stuck in this situation that is never going to get better.

Even if the school doesn’t have a SENCO they must still make their best endeavours to meet a pupil’s SEN, so I would escalate your concerns to the SLT member responsible for SEN or HT and then governors if needed.

Unfortunately you have to keep pushing the school, so if the adjustments aren’t being made keep emailing and escalate if necessary.

If DD doesn’t want to stand out with the time out card teachers can help by asking DD to do ‘tasks’ (e.g. take a note to the office) when she clearly needs time out.

Have you appealed for a place at other schools that are full? Catchments aren’t relevant to appeals.

@JustKeepBuilding Thanks so much for your input. We're drafting a response to our last meeting with the school and will escalate. Good idea to have the teachers send DD out on an errand when needed. It's hard to know if any of her teachers are properly clued in though and would notice when DD needs a break. I've emailed some of them, but not all, about her pending assessment, areas of difficulty, etc.

Maybe I don't understand the scope of appeals. I thought you could only appeal if you weren't offered a place at you're preferred school. Our current school was our first choice because we were well out of catchment for the others we preferred and we weren't applying with an EHCP. I've spoken with the council about wanting to change schools but they've said without an EHCP, they can only consider us under distance. There are 40 kids ahead of us on the waiting lists.

Appeals are outside the normal admissions criteria and you can appeal for the schools you are on the waiting list for even if they weren’t your preferred school.

If you don’t think the messages are being passed on fully or at all I would email all DD’s teachers directly.

If the teachers aren’t confident they can tell when DD needs a time out they could do one routinely each lesson roughly half way through, then if DD does need an escape she isn’t pushing through a whole lesson, ‘only’ half. Not perfect, but better than struggling through a whole lesson. Or I have seen it work well where a pupil sits at the front and has a signal - in their case they had a red highlighter they took out of their pencil case and put on the desk when they needed a sensory break.