Can I whinge re. school and Senco and lack of communication and feeling let down?

[earthtomummy]

Hope this is the right MN place to get this off my chest. DS has been struggling at his pre-school attached to the school. In Nov. we had a meeting with the nursery manager, who was concerned re. his social and fine motor skills and wanted to refer him to Inclusion Support. She also wanted to put an IEP i place. The query is whether DS might be dyspraxic. We referred him to the Child Development Team paed. for assessment. In the meantime IEP was writtenup, Inclusion Support observed DS at hiome and spoke to us and said they'd recommend that they got involved with DS at school.
Y'day I was collecting son and a teacher was talking to him. She said who she was, that she was the Senco, but had just been observing DS' group as they are soon to move to reception. I asked her if there was any news from Inclsuion Support re. DS and she looked at me blankly. She had no idea DS had an IEP in place, that Inclsuion Support had been called in etc. Not a bloomin' thing. I felt cross and let down and surprised that the nursery head hadn't even mentioned it her, as the SENCO. I keep getting annoyed too that the nursery head has v=been concerned enough to do IEP etc. but keeps going on about how other children have more problems. That isn't of any relevance to me - or comfort. DS has needs whcih are impacting on his ability to learn and with which he needs support. My DH is a family therapist in this field and he warned me that it might all sound fine in meetings and on paper, but in his experience schools aren't good at putting things into practice and sharing info. What should I expect. At the least, should the Senco be aware of my son's IEP and needs. Am I expectoing to much. This is all new to me. Sorry to go on.

They definitely shouldn't be going on about how other children have greater needs etc. As you say, it is completely irrelevant to your situation.

It sounds strange that the SENCO doesn't know. Does she specifically deal with the pre-school? I only ask because ds2's SENCO deals only with pre-schools but then this may be because his pre-school isn't specifically attached to a school.

There should definitely be a SENCO involved in writing up IEP targets so should presumably know what is going on.

I guess the thing to do is to try to find out whether your ds comes under the 'jurisdiction' of the Early Years Inclusion Service's area SENCO or whether it's the primary school's SENCO' responsibility.

You should ask the nursery who the SENCo involved in your ds's IEP is, and have tehy had any news re the inclusion support. If they start talkign about other children and their greater needs, well you just need ot politley tell tehm that you have every sympathy for the other children, but you are primarily concerned about your childs education and welfare and want to know whats what.

My ds is ASD and has an IEP meeting in 2 weeks, here i will learn of ll teh targets they're setting and which ones he's meeting, and pre school will give examples of how they are supportign ds in the setting etc... then a fewdays later once its all typed ou and the SENCo has OKed it, it will all get put in his file and I'll be stumped as to what work tehy are actually doing...

In theory the use of IEPS etc is great... in practice you need ot press onwith teh Child development cente assessments and push for a Dx, hten you an wor on getting your DS a statement of special needs, which takes about 6 months.... we're waiting on that one

With my Dyspraxic DS (Y3) I get really impressed with the IEPs then very dissappointed as they are rarely implemented. The developmental pead told me that after this one is reviewed in March, we should go for a statement. I know from reading posts on here that this is likely to be a hard slog but emmalou78 is right, it is probably the only way to get some schools to notice a special need. I was hoping that having a developmental pead that was so keen should help me.

Thanks for your thoughts. I find it deeply depressing that things just generally don't seem to be implemented. I worked in the public sector in mental health untill our 2nd baby was born and wouldn't have dreamt of working this way. I'm waiting on the Inclusion Support response and the paed. assessment. Figleaf, when did your Ds get a dx. - what age?

Is the pre-school run by the school or just geographically attached (if you see what I mean!)

It's part of the school and Ds has been there since he was 3.5 and is due to enter reception after Easter.

I'd go for a Statement and write to your LEA in question asking for DS to be assessed.

To my mind no statement equals no real support of any kind. A statement is a legally binding document outlining the child's difficulties along with how to help with same. It will give the child a set number of hours of support per week.

They have no right at all to say to you that there are others with greater needs, that;s irrelevant and also designed to put you off.

IEP's in my humble experience of same are not worth the paper they're written on because the money is not there to back them up. They're more style than substance.

Oh I keep getting the old "we have other children with greater needs, and their parents are not concerned" line, It realy winds me up.

Contact your local parent partnership, write to LEA for an assessment, Have a look at the IPSEA Website (www.ipsea.org.uk).

Good luck

earthtomummy - I didn`t see your question till now but he was 7 when we got a dx and in Y2. I had known somthing was wrong since reception though - cant beat those gut feelings can you.