URGENT! 2nd appt with paed today...wwyd????

[Becaroooo]

Meant to post this last night but fell asleep

Got ds1's 2nd appt with the child dev paed this afternoon.

Am not happy.....after his first appt he asked the school to arrange for the spld team and EP to see ds1 (suspected dyslexia/dyspraxia, APD and asd).

The HT then rang the paed and talked to him and lo and behold now they are saying that he will only see an EP if he deteriorates further over the next academic year.

Apparently the paed "did not know how the system works" ????

Should I just give up and tell the paed to dc us? They obviously dont think ds1 is "bad enough" to warrant further investigation.

Am really angry and fed up.

wwyd?

You know your Ds better than anyone . The problem is I think schools have to pay for EP to come in unless the child gets a certain amount of funding. Ep's are not cheap this however is no excuse fight for your child how old is he.

He is 8.

He made - very limited - progress last term (he has been at the school since Nov last year)

I know its all about the funding...which makes me more angry!!!

Not even sure what we are going for today tbh....

I hope that you can channel your anger into being able to convince the paed to assess your DS1 properly :(

Have you spoken to the EP's dept at the LA? When I did that I found that they were actually very helpful and advised me what the school needed to do to get the EP in. That meant that I could go in and ask whether DS had been discussed at the "in school review" which is the process here. Of course he hadn't but he soon was after that and the EP did visit and assess him finally.....still waiting for the results of course but at least he went in.

Me too ben but I am feeling so angry and fed up about it all and dh is worse than useless.

Basically, the school so not think ds1 has asd so therefore will not ask an EP to assess him. He is supposed to be being seen by the spld team next term.

HT told me very patronisingly "EPs dont assess for dyslexia"

Erm, thats not what they are being asked to do!

I think my only option is to apply for SA but, realistically, without the school's support he wont get one.

Wish I could come up there with you :(

The paed doesn't know how the school system works - that's fine. All he has to do is his job.

If he thinks your DS might have ASD (which he does) he needs the EP to assess him. He needs to stand up to school and tell school that DS needs to be seen by the EP. You need to tell the paed that :(

The school doesn't pay for the EP. They get so many hours free per term. And in fact almost never pay for extra hours. So what you and the paed have to do is convince school to use those hours they get on your DS. Otherwise they'll always use them on the kid who is the most disruptive....

Wish any of this was any help to you :(

So be assertive with the paed. Tell him DS really needs to see the EP, and you really need the paed to tell school that. It's neither yours nor the paeds problem how school does that....

Take a long list of your concerns with you. All the reasons why you think DS might have ASD. Paint a strong picture of his problems - and then when the paed agrees with you that 'there is cause for concern' tell him how much you need his help to get the EP to assess DS, and you were really devastated when he changed his mind last time after talking to the HT :( :( :(

I guess just keep focussed on getting the paed to dx ASD. IE keep asking him what are the next steps so that ASD can be properly investigated...... Seeing as you've already had a 'wait and see' appointment - you don't need another one of those.

Good luck. Feel free to ring me or PM me.

Thanks indigo

Am going to write a document and take it with me...he did at least read the last one!

Hi becaroooo,

re your comment:-
"I think my only option is to apply for SA but, realistically, without the school's support he wont get one".

No, no, no; it does not work like that. The LEA solely will decide whether to statement or otherwise and if they do not you can appeal their crass decision.

I had school's tacit approval to apply for a statement but I made the application myself (they would have taken an age and time was really of the essense). You do not need their backing to apply for such a document.

Is there another school in your area that is worth considering; this current school of his sounds like they don't want to help him.

sigh...yes and no atilla

He is happy there, but they are a very small school and I am not sure there is adequate staff for SEN provision.

Can I apply out of term time?

I was in a similar position to yourself. in a CAF meeting one of the proffesionals said that ds would need to be seen by the EP. I presumed it was being arranged. Fast forward six months in a meeting with HT I asked when the EP was observing ds and nothing had been arranged.

HT said "well do you think he actually needs to be seen?" I just said that I thought it was part of the process and if he was being assessed by SALT, Physio and OT that EP observation was a given in this situation.

They brought the EP in but it wasn't what I thought. I presumed she would be doing tests with him but she just observed him, spoke to him and did a few puzzles. The report was invaluable though and school have implemented her recommendations.

Good Luck

Would you give it the once over for me? Please feel free to point out where its crap (sigh...most of it probably!)

DOC:

Since our last appointment (May 2011) I have been told by Head Teacher that, after a discussion with her and despite your recommendation that be assessed by an EP, that is not now going to happen ? at least not until falls even further behind his peers.

To say I am disappointed is a gross understatement......I am devastated that our sons problems are not being taken seriously.

To state that a child may have ?asd traits? and request an assessment by an EP and then backtrack completely when dealing with a teacher is questionable practise in my opinion.

I believe the paediatrician in question that the HT spoke to has not even met !

problems continue;

1. The prancing , tip toe walking, hands at chest level (he began prancing and tip toe walking as soon as we left clinic last time on the way back to the car!)
2. The sleep issues....he does not sleep well and needs one of us with him which is becoming harder for us to deal with now we have moved house into a smaller property.
3. His academic performance is still far less than his peers and his ability.
4. He made some progress last term (after completing a course of AIT) but in my opinion is still not making ?adequate progress? as defined by the SENCOP.
5. He is still struggling with some self care/basic skills.
6. He now hides when upset....he has taken to hiding under tables when very upset/distressed which he has not done before.

The school has told me that if has not made ?adequate progress? in the next academic year then they will get him assessed by an EP. My concern is that, by then will be even further behind his peers and he will have had one more year of feeling ?stupid? and not able to do what is asked of him in class.

The school seem to have completely ignored my concerns and yours re; subtle asd traits and this worries me. I realise may not be badly affected by asd, but surely he still needs help with the degree to which he is affected??????

is very bright and he understands that some of the behaviours he exhibits at home would cause him to be made fun of at school ? in fact this happened at his old school - and therefore he tries not to exhibit those behaviours at school. He is pretty successful at this most of the time although the HT has noticed tip toe walking/prancing)

I would very much like your support with regards to getting assessed by an EP, but will apply for SA myself if I have to.

Have taken ds1's name out, obv!!!

Paed doesn't care about school stuff.

So don't mention SA or 'adequate progress' or SENCOP in a letter to a paed. They don't even know what those terms mean......

Overstate his asd traits

• Tiptoe walking
• Hiding when upset
• sleep issues
• Struggling with self care

You can mention his academic problems - but they are not part of his ASD, and so mention them less........

You need to convince the paed he has the triad of impairments. Which I'm not very good at understanding (hopefully someone else will come along to correct me soon)

Here's and article about the triad. Does he display any more traits from that list? If he does make it bleeding obvious to the paed.

ie

1. SOCIAL INTERACTION

* DSs problems....

1. LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

* DSs problems.....

1. BEHAVIOUR AND IMAGINATION

* DSs problems......

I also wouldn't accuse him of 'questionable practice' - unlikely to help :)

I know, I know....but it made me feel better typing it!!

I agree with indigo, I'd also leave all the school stuff out, use those bits for a seperate letter to the school, stick to what you need from him which is the dx. Unfortunately there's nothing that says a school has to do what the paeds say so you may be best to treat as 2 seperate areas, get your concerns in writing to the school about where your ds needs support there and try ringing the ep directly yourself.

Will do ninja

Ninja's right,

the medical and educational aspects to this issue are quite separate, though there should be some sense of joined up thinking and working - doesn't always happen though!

The Paed is the person who will make a diagnosis (either alone or as part of some sort of specialist ASD diagnostic team - at least this is the case in my LA/PCT).

The EP will do some assessment, might say dc has 'features consistent with...' and will make suggestions for advice and next steps for the school to implement. None of this may result in any additional funding or support (which may or may not be necessary if school implement advice appropriately and dc make's progress). It's then up to school to do something...

Ultimately school have a responsibility to meet dc's needs whether EP is involved or not and whether there is a dx or not. If progress is limited then dc should be on SA at least and have IEP or provision map of what 'support' (not necessarily a person) is in place.

If Paed has concerns that dc has SENs I believe he/she still has a duty to bring the child to the attention of the LA (scetion 10:25 SEN Code of Practice) not that means anything but might be useful further down the line if school are still being naff!

BAG He is on SA but thats only been since April - so in effect not many academic weeks.

I think he should be on SA+ but school dont agree.

Sigh.

Not sure what more I can do other than get a private assessment.

how'd it go becaroo?

hi ninja got to go out this am but will post later on x

Whew! Sorry been a bit of a day!

Anyway, paed worse than useless (diff one from last time) so am getting a private paed referral and go from there.

He did say that ds1 has some asd traits but not others. He was also a bit surprised that he hadnt heard from the school (but he had as he spoke to the HT in May!!)

School hadnt sent the GARS questionairre back (since May) so it was just all pretty pointless tbh.

Oh well, at least I have a plan now........

oh no, how frustrating, school need a good kick up the backside as well!

Yes, it is but at least now I know that the school are definately being obstructive and that the paed is crap on a stick so I can put into action plan b IYSWIM?

Need a polite way of telling the school to do what they are bloody asked to do!!!

Sorry to hear it was a bit of a waste of time!

Perhaps you need to arrange a meeting with new class teacher and SENCO after first few weeks back at school (def by half term). What you want to know is what's on his IEP and how targets and strategies on that that fit with paeds thoughts about possible ASD. You would also like a copy of the CARS that they were sent by the paed for your private assessment and next paed appointment.

blue Got an appt on 3rd Oct with HT and teacher.

Hasnt had a new IEP since April.

Schools usually do termly IEPs - though personally I think half termly is better (more focused - smaller steps towards objectives - and keeps targets fresh in everyone's minds if they gonna be reviewed and 'accountble' for progress in half a term).

Maybe go with some areas that are a priority for you to work on and see if some of those can be built in to IEP - remembereing not all of what you might want ds to achieve will be 'do-able' in a school context. Perhaps you could also say that you would like to be involved in future target setting meetings (assuming you are not already) rather than just getting a copy of a done-and-dusted IEP.

Hope it goes well. :)