When should new school do something?

[AdelaofBlois]

DS1 starts MS school in a few weeks. He has verbal dyspraxia, which has been improving enormously over the last half year, and its been especially lovely to see that improvement alter the way he interacts with others.

SaLTs advised nursery on IEP. The supportive techniques in the IEP needed to be taught to nursery practitioners. The actual IEP was forwarded to school at the start of this month, and he has been placed on Schools Action Plus to ensure this is noted and progress continued. So far so good.

I am a little concerned that neither we nor the SaLT have heard anything from the school about this, especially since maintaining progress in communication is going to be so critical to the judgments he makes of school and others make of him.

As a teacher I ran through SN provision as soon as I knew who I'd be teaching, but that was handover in an institution. How long do you reckon it is acceptable to wait for contact in these circumstances?

Hello Adela schools are out now until early September. I would speak with the SENCO and arrange a meeting asap then. Schools' first priority is to enable your DS to separate happily and settle into his new environment. Opportunities for IEP targets should be fed into planning to find appropriate times to support targets. Targets should be SMART, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound - they should also be enjoyable SMARTY - no more than 3. If targets are written using this formula they should be easy enough to implement. Always a good idea to have activities modelled by SALT but they should be straightforward enough however activities must be highly motivating to your DS and therefore delivered based upon his current interests. These interests may well have changed over the Summer so when you meet with SENCO, sharing this information will be really useful.

Adela - I've seen your posts on the primary board, and you're obviously a good and caring teacher.

Do you realise how ironic it is that you have to ask us, a bunch of parents, when and how you should approach your DSs teacher?

Good luck with getting great provsion for your DS.

I would def be talking to school in the first week.

@Inindigo

Thanks. Actually being a teacher makes it very hard to approach another teacher, especially if what you might want for your DC is what you would do professionally but not what the other teacher is doing. Suspect I'm going to find this really hard...

Will speak to school in first week.

Adela - it is very hard. For all of us.

I think your faith in the school system is going to be sorely tested in the next few years. Provision for SN children frequently sux.

Generally the only way to get any provision for your child is to be a huge PITA. Don't know how you'll do that while holding down a full time job yourself.....

Welcome to the world of trying to get an education for your child.

"I am a little concerned that neither we nor the SaLT have heard anything from the school about this, especially since maintaining progress in communication is going to be so critical to the judgments he makes of school and others make of him".

And you likely won't either unless you kick up a fuss and soon to boot (I would suggest during the first week of term). You will have to keep close watch on them because no-one else is better placed than you to fight his battles re education for him. Also no-one else will.

SA plus can be truly not worth the paper its written on as its not legally binding and the support offered on it is limited in scope.

Good luck with speaking to them during the first week, let us know how you get on.

I think my partner will have to be the PITA, for both professional and other reasons. But we will get on to them in the first week, thank you for your advice. It is a scary time.

Thanks for the cautions about SA Plus. What alternatives would you recommend? I do feel it is appropriate for him now. He has worked really hard and developed amazingly over the past few months, and in particular has finally got to that place speechwise where he can be understood, and so get feedback, and so talk. We're also lucky enough to be able to access a decent private SaLT at the weekend, and she works well with the NHS SaLT, who in turn works very well with the school (both professionally and from parents I know their record is very good indeed).

What bothers me most is that what he really needs is not so much separate support sessions but good basic child-centred teaching. He needs to be seated so he can see faces and hear easily, to ensure he gets a chance to speak in group sessions, a chance for regular one-on-one sessions where quickness of speech is less critical than what he is saying. He will also need letters and sounds work to be done a certain way (he can now recognise sounds, can read, and-we think-blend in his head, but he will fall apart if asked to do c-a-t and then says hrad). It's this that really bothers me, because I can see him falling through the gaps and regressing or falling further behind if there is not some awareness of the particular dangers of failing him in these ways. This should impact of everything he does in the classroom if it's done right (and, having taught verbally dyspraxic and SM kids, I know it can be...)

And lurking in my mind is the fact that I have an almost deaf child in my class next year, and the need to provide an entire classroom experience appropriate to all children in the group, including him, has affected what I plan to teach and how to deliver it. The first week of school is not the time to start thinking about this stuff, IMhumbleO.