School don't seem to be able to deal with my son

[marie81]

Hi my son is 6 years old and in year 2 at a mainstream school. 2 years ago he was diagnosed with dyspraxia and has been diagnosed with ADHD a couple of months ago. He is also awaiting a diagnosis for ASD.
He has been on equasym for 6 weeks now and the difference at home is noticeable but at school thay say he is worse than ever. He is not settling down to his work and is being aggressive to other pupils. He doesn't seem to listen to his class teacher but the minute the head comes in and sits with him he works great. Apparently the school have started the statementing process befor the summer holidays but i havent heard a thing from them and its been about 10-12 weeks. The teachers just don't seem to understand my little boy and to be honest i think they expect too much from him. He gets frustrated and bored so quickly that i think the only thing he can do to get his feelings out is act how he does.He deals with his feelings by spinning around-this really calms him but there is no where he can safely do this as his classroom is so small. He is a highly intelligent boy who is reading well above his peer group but he cant write things down and this is were the school seem to be focussing-on what he cant do. surely they should be putting emphasis on the good things and not trying to meet their targets.
Sorry for rambling but i dont know what to do next. He has been back at school a week and ive been called in 4 times.

Not going to be much help really, but you need to talk to the school about the statement.

If they had put in a request for him to be assessed you should have heard from the Student Assessment Services by now asking for your permission to contact other agencies.

Might be worth getting back to the Consultant who prescribed the Equasym and seeking advice. Could be the dose isn't right, or it is the wrong drug for him.
Poor little boy. I can sympathise.

I'd ask for more info about the statementing process too. What stage are they at? Have they requested a statutory assessment yet? If so, when will the LEA make the decision whether to assess (there is often a regular monthly panel which decides). Bear in mind that they could call putting him on school action part of the statementing process if they really wanted to fob you off.

Does he have an IEP? If so did you have an input into chossing his targets? If not, have they given you a copy? When will it be reviewed and how will they decide if he is meeting his targets? Good practice would be to include you and your son in this process.

If he would be able to concentrate better when he's had the opportunity to spin could he be allowed a few moments outside or in the hall to do it?

It might not help, but I wish now I had tried giving the meds at dif times of day. For some kids, it works better giving it at night. If he is calm at home, perhaps go back and discuss dosage, timing etc. My boy got terrible side effects, which did include aggression, so we stopped them all, but on the other hand they did give him a few calm hrs at schl.