Advice needed about primary school education and special needs

[bee169]

Hi,

I am about to have a meeting with the headteachers of some local schools about my son(ASD) possibly starting in reception. I am a little unsure about what to ask apart from

1. how do you cater for SEN children in your school &
2. what do you have in place to recognise their needs.

Please could you give me some advise??

i would also ask how many other children in the school have special needs. In my ds's school there is quite a few and therefore they have hands on experience and not just a theory of what they will do. i know what they say they can do and what they really do are the same thing. An advantage i have found of having a mainstream school with a lot of special needs children is that they have a lot of outside specialist going in and they tend to ask them their opinions about other children. for example, there is a OT centre nearby where you have to pay to be assessed. a parent, school or GP can make a referral, whoever makes the referral pays for it. anyway, when they were visiting another boy in the school the SENCO raised a query with them about my ds which they were happy to assist with which meant the school got the information for free to help my son!

i would also ask to meet with the SENCO to see how you "feel" about him/her

If you ask for a meeting, it's a good idea to try to get everyone involved to attend including the class teacher and nursery nurse. Ask whether any staff have done any training in ASC and whether the Local Authority can support you all in any way. It's very important that people try to appreciate how differently children with ASC perceive the world and to try to understand the function of their behaviour if it seems unusual.

I wish you well.