ASD - not achieving at school

[rasmus]

We have a son who is nearly 8 yrs old. He has a statement for social and communication skills (30 hours) and is somewhere on the ASD. We have employed a 1:1 tutor who visits once a week. Even with all the support and encouragement our son does not show much interest nachieving at school and is far behind the standard expected of yr 3.

Can anyone suggest any techniques that woudl encourage hime to want to achieve?

are you Home education him yourself and he has a tutor at home once a week do you mean?

sorry doh re read that , is the school MS or SS and have you spoken to the school about this, does he get on well with the tutor and built up a relationship with her , i and as your paying the tutor are they trained in ASD i can recommend a home tutor if you inbox me , where as the school i think it depends on wether they are MS or SS and is he actually getting the 1-1 as intended or are they using the person as an etra classroom assistant for everyone

In what areas is he behind and how was he assessed?

Thanks the school is mainstream and the tutor is coming to our home once a week covering lit and num. we actually have a meeting this week regardign the statement and the use of the resources. I suspect that not all the 1:1 is 1:1 and is being pulled in to help others. Also my concern is that the 1:1 is with a TA and not with a LSA.

Depends on your LA, the terminology for a TA or an LSA. Ours calls all them all TAs but there are 3 levels, unqualified, qualified and SEN School qualified. Your DSs statement should specify what level the 1 to 1 must be. Check its wording and ask the school if your DSs 1 to 1 is at the correct level.

I'm a 'qualified TA' in my LA and the DC I support has it written in that I must be qualified. (mind you the qualification is only NVQ2, my experience with my own DS2 with SEN qualifies me more I think.) My DS2s TA is also 'qualified'.

Don't get too hung up on the qualifications, it's more important that the TA or LSA is the right person for your DC.

HTH

My son is not at school at the moment & it's giving me the opportunity to review his learning style. This is not worded in a professional way -just as a mothers obsevravtions iykwim. My son's proposed statement describes him in a similar way.

He needs:-
Consistency of presentation + clarity of what the learning he's supposed to do is.
Baby steps building blocks - I think of lego blocks of knowledge building on each other in a consistent manner.
Peace and quiet so he can concentrate
Not too much "social" interaction when he's trying to grasp a concept - facts not chatting around a subject, it irritates him. Old fashioned "drill" works better than modern group work as does independent investigation to extend what he's learnt during "drill".

He really makes leaps and bounds with 2 IT programmes: - mathswhizz and clicknread (google them). Have a really good look at the trial lessons on their websites and you'll see excactly what I mean by consistency of presentation. My son is only 6 so I'm not reccing these specific programmes for your child to help him - just that I think if you have a look at the WAY they present info it may help. The trial lessons will clarify what I mean re potential learning style far better than I can ever describe. Clicknread in particular is perfect to explain what I mean.

For us mathswhizz is better than a physical tutor and it's more convenient as he can do the excercises whenever he asks.

He also learns a lot from very structured games with simple rules - scrabble and monopoly are his favourites at the moment. Although these are social, they incorporate learning and he loves them as he can interact socially as the rules are so clear. I'm looking for other games that incorporate learning like this for family time as it makes visits from family and friends fun instead of confusing for everyone. My Mum bless (ex SEN teacher) is great at devising new games for us to play based on the national curriculum.

I'm going to ask for revisions to be made to his statement to put what I've learnt above into professional lingo.

Thank you i have just purchased a year of mathswhizz and looking at the clicknread. I will also have a go at monopoly as this could also help.

I think as your child is older clicknread's content may be too easy for your child. However it's worth searching for more advanced literacy stuff presented in a similar predictable, structured yet child friendly way.

Use his obsessions or interests to your advantage.

Gardening - grow the tallest sunflower - he's trying to read a book from the library on how to do this, and of course I'll incorporate some maths into the activity.
Reading - he's been promised Dr Who & Star Wars (his obsession) books for his birthday to motivate him to keep trying to read. I'll have a bill with amazon when he hits lesson 100!
Writing - he produces "instructions" for his lego inventions. I don't criticise these efforts as it's the TRYING that counts. (I also have to look up how to spell General Grevious asap.)