What do you do if your child doesn't like their TA?

[bigbobble]

DS has a statement (AS) and a TA working with him. I think she definitely 'bigged' herself up for interview as school were raving about her when she was appointed. She said she is an artist, that she has a child with AS herself and that she has worked with disaffected youths although she had never been a TA before.

However, she clearly does not have a child on the spectrum as she knows absolutely nothing about ASD (she knew nothing about sensory issues or social communication ) and she now says that although he is very difficult to manage and probably is on the spectrum somewhere but she has never gone through diagnosis. I think this is a bit deceitful.

She is always saying how 'overwhelmed' she is by DS's statement. She's never worked with young children in small groups before, she shows no initiative, she has to be spoon fed everything to the extent that school are writing down his programme sessions step by step for her to deliver.

But none of this would matter so much if DS liked her but he doesn't.

I have spoken to school about his reticence to work with her and they are aware of the problem and of her lack of skills.

I think they have been trying very hard to organise his statement provision and have been very flexible but I do feel like she is a very poor choice.

I will have to see how it goes but has anyone had any similar experiences?

Does the statement say anything about 'ASD Training and expereance'? dd2's statement states that the TA sould have training and expereance (not sure of the exact wording). I would keep complaining to the head (go in every day if you have too).

thats interesting marne, can you request for ASD training/experience to be put on a statement easily?

There is a bit in the S&LT section which mentions suitable ASD training for the provision of S&LT and I think school are trying to arrange this.

I think the problem is that you could her send her on all the courses in the world but she shows no initiative and just wants to do her own thing - which seems to be to moan!

I think it depends on the LA but in ours you can only put 'qualified TA' or not on the statement and qualified means either NVQ2 or equivalent or 4 years relevant experience, up to the school to decide. IMO the experience is more useful than the pretty basic qualification (which I have, BTW.) I have been on ASD training courses for TAs but they were less detailed than (but very similar to) the earlybird course I went on as a parent. But certainly better than nothing.

Thanks Ellen. But what do you do if the woman isn't up to it irrespective of training? I have worked so hard to get school into a 'good place' where they are onside and we are working together and I think the whole thing is being undermined by her.

She may get training and she may get better but I do feel angry that DS ends up as the guinea pig for her training needs.

I'm not sure Brandy, we did'nt really ask for it to be put on there, her sn nursery reccomended that the school should have expereance in ASD and staff should be trained. Dd's TA worked with a child with ASD/ADHD before she worked with dd2 (the school chose her for this reason), she has also been sent on a few courses including a sensory training course, the SENCO also went on a course before dd2 started the school. Dd2 is moving schools in September and we are taking her TA with us, she will be going to a school that has no other children with ASD so i am slightly worried, hopfully the staff will have some kind of training before she starts and luckily we already have a great TA with ASD expereance.

We also had a TA at nursery with no ASD expereance (before we had a statement) and i have to say 'she was great', i think it depends on the person as well as expereance.

Sorry, crossed. Difficult situation, bigbobble. The school would have to dismiss her and re-interview, or more likely, find her a different TA role within the school and swap with another TA. You are between a rock and a hard place. I'd mention your reservations to the SENCo, but I'm afraid they will probably just suggest training. Hopefully someone will have more knowledge.

Marne I think that is the problem. I wouldn't care about qualifications etc if she'd bonded with DS but she hasn't and she sees her own perspective and not his, her own needs and not his. But she disguises her inadequacies by hiding behind his difficulties e.g. she doesn't know how to do group sessions so she says we shouldn't do them as it will 'overwhelm' DS.

Ellen SENCO knows of my reservations and I think school share them but know they have chosen her without experience etc and are offering training etc.

I think we're stuck with her.

I had this from the other side, a child in my class with SN and a TA who really didn't work well with him, and was supposed to give him 2 hours of time for three days of the week. Neither of them were happy.
It took a lot of subtle negotiation and sneaky work to swap the time she was supposed to work with him with another TA who was very willing and receptive to his needs, and so the TAs split their time between two classes.
There was no blame assigned, which meant I was able to finesse the move without friction.
So I'd talk to whoever was the most able to see your POV, the SENCO or the class teacher. Try and keep it neutral and avoid saying 'She's crap' but be clear that you feel your son's needs are not being met as well as they might be, and look to them to work something out.
It is hard, some TAs are just not up to working 1:1 with a challenge of any sort and so she might be best used in a different role. If her mindset is wrong, training won't change that.

Thanks Goblin. I think the situation is made worse by the fact DS has a second TA working with him for a few hours (3 hours - the other TA does 17) a week. She has known him a little while and is experienced, positive, helpful and really connects with him.

She is very busy though doing lots of other things for the school - she is central to all their S&LT, numeracy and literacy support so there is no way the school would reassign her to DS for more hours unless it goes really badly wrong.

I suppose I will just have to keep an eye on the situation and hope it improves but be ready to ask for more experienced help if it doesn't.

My suggestion would be when you next have a review with SENCO/Headteacher to mention that you feel your DS is not bonding/does not seem to have built up a good relationship with his TA. Say you are concerned that this is affecting his learning. It may not change anything but you should tell them of your concerns.
DD has 1:1 who luckily she gets on well with. When Paed did his medical report as part of DD's statement he did state that DD should be supported by somebody with experience of ASD. DD's TA has worked with ASD pupils before but whether DD's school recruited someone with experience because of Paeds recommendation I am not sure.
I honestly feel that a LSA can have all the training in the world but more than anything else they have to have a good rapport with the child they are supporting otherwise how can they encourage or motivate the child to learn.

"I honestly feel that a LSA can have all the training in the world but more than anything else they have to have a good rapport with the child they are supporting otherwise how can they encourage or motivate the child to learn".

You are absolutely right. Unfortunately, we seem to have the worst of both worlds - no training and no rapport!!

I have mentioned it to SENCO and she is aware of the problem and I think school agree (as much as they can indicate this without seeming unprofessional).

I have tried to be supportive of the TA but I think she feels entirely undermined by me which doesn't help.

And I thought a statement would make it all better!!

Oh dear it does seem a bit of a mess. Maybe you could just ask SENCO straight out if there is any possibility of a swap of TA's within the school based on the fact that there is no rapport between your DS and TA (rather than focussing on the fact that she is a bit rubbish and lacks experience!).

That's a good approach. She is starting some of the therapy progs this week and I'll see if things improve. If not, I will have to say something again!

I had TA problem last year, very difficult to tackle as ds didn't want me to go public on it. Got so bad that he didn't want to go to school. Did take him to see class teacher to see if she could address without TA knowing we had issues. The trouble is she was undermining his confidence in her mannerisms some of which I had experienced myself. Problem is she is upstanding member of community and nobody seemed to believe us. I think if this happened again would be more direct as my ds really suffered and he has negative memories of his last year at primary school. I too was too worried about souring my relationship with everyone, but the person I let down was my ds. I did approach TA directly about her mannerisms and she denied then confessed on last day of term (maybe to absolve guilt) because he got so fed up with her that he refused to come into school one day.
It's critical to your child that the TA relationship works and I don't think it's unreasonable for you to point out your mis-givings. After all wouldn't they do the same if they were in your shoes? Trust your gut instinct I have always been advised. Try softly softly approach first, but don't settle for something you don't think is working. Get parent partnership involved if needbe, consider governor if you are not being listened too. Go as high up as you need to.

TA is not happy and your DS and you are not either. She also lied about her qualifications. It does not seem fair to your son. Good luck!

its a very tricky situation my son also dislikes his TA shes snappy and miserable and clearly doesnt understand my childs needs,my son went for a few months of really hating school because of her attitude very hard when past previous ta s have always been fantastic.i have complained a number of times and suggested she needs more training but the school seem to back her to the hilt and kept threatening me with a emergancy review saying the LA would remove my child from the school in the end i phoned the LA and was told that wasnt going to happen and told me to turn the tables and ask for a emergancy review it was quite funny to see the schools response they were totally panicked.since then things have got alot better but i still think if a TA and child dont bond they should be changed at the end of the year.

Thanks. I spoke to the head this morning and mentioned my fears as constructively and politely as I could.

She is aware of the situation but thinks that training and support may change the situation. DS's S&LT programme is now due to start next week and I think they've basically written everything out for her.

I said we'll see how it goes and that I wasn't pre-empting things, but, I did think it was important to be aware this might not work out long term

It's a shame that the other, wonderful TA is also wonderful to other children and needed throughout the school.

It sounds to me (from a having-been-a-TA-for-a-while point of view) like she doesn't actually hit the "essential criteria" on her job description - stuff like being able to work independently, build strong relationships with children and young people, communicate effectively...

www.teaching-assistants.co.uk/job_roles_of_teaching_assistants.pdf

Hi,

Sorry to hear its not working out with your TA, but as you may know they are not qualified teachers, SEN is a specialist field as to the childs needs/learning, so perhaps check that this TA is qualified in your child's needs. e.g what her level of qualification/experience and any specialised qualification.

Hope this helps

Thanks FBJ. My difficulties are not based on the fact I have expectations of her being a teacher which is just as well as most teachers know jack shit about SEN anyway!

I am fully aware of her lack of her experience/qualifications already but specialist qualifications will only take you so far and I think the main problem is her inability to connect. I'm not sure what course can teach you to do that?