I've just been on SENCO training.....

[KatyMac]

....Oh dear

I know thee are good SENCOs around but if that's the training they get, I don't know why

Why were you on the course?

Training for who ? (as in, what profession)
Who was presenting it ? (again, as in what job do they do, not their names!)

I'm a childminder & we need to have a 3 day Early Years SENCO course

The council - Early Years Trainers

Interesting.

The trainer did very well presenting the course, and admittedly I've only attended the fist day (so far)

But we were being told about 'a disabled child' vs 'a child with disabilities' which is so sad that people need to be told this

& that a parent would know their child best - I think I am a bit in shock

Katy, unfortunately, many, many practitioners do need to be told that they should talk about a 'disabled child' rather than a 'child with disabilities'.

I was training last week with some practitioners who believed it would be insulting to use the term 'disabled' with parents at all.

They used the terms 'Special Needs' and 'child with additional needs' (interchangably, it seems, as they couldn't really tell me how they differentiated) with all parents they dealt with. They were a mixture of Portage workers, Sure Start workers and Family Support workers.

I asked why they didn't use the term 'disabled' and they said that it would be insulting to 'their' parents.

I felt sick after that meeting.

It's so sad

People who have presumably 'chosen' to be SENCOs 'needing' such a low level of training

Mind you day 2 & day 3 might be mind blowing; I may be being unfair - but I could have cried

I did cry after mine, katy.

The difficulty is, that if they don't do this basic stuff on training, you end up with people doing the job for years with the sort of attitudes the people I was with have (they are all considered to be 'SEN experts'. God Help Us All!).

Those attitudes go unchecked by others, since they are the 'experts' and must not be challenged.

I attempted a challenge, but they all rounded on me, patronising me and speaking as if I was talking total reactionary shit (for saying that, maybe, they should be using the term disabled and helping 'their' families understand that this is not something to be ashamed of).

They all spoke about having to tell 'My parents' this, that or the other, and how 'My mums think this' or 'My families do that'. Unbelievable that they felt free to use the language of ownership when there were parents in the room!

I do hope your course picks up. Unfortunately, it is the way of LAs at the moment that the cheapest training wil get the commission (or, even worse, they will just get one of their already pushed staff to do it, even though they know nothing about it, because the cuts meant they've got rid of the peoeple who did it well!)

Amistillsexy, didn't you mean you should use 'a child with disabilities' rather than 'a disabled child?' He or she is a child first, and shouldn't be defined by their disability?

It's easy to get the terminology wrong.

It sounds like the course is a basic introduction to childminders who perhaps have no previous experience of SN.

No - we childminders were in the minority; there were people there from schools and nurseries predominantly

So a course aimed at Early Years practitioners to become their in house SENCo? So for childminders, how would that work? Would it mean you would be SENCo for a group of other childminders or that you would then be able to specialise in DC with SEN?

The SENCo at my DS3's nursery was the deputy manager. Anything she had concerns with that she felt the nursery couldn't deal with she'd get the area SENCo (employed by the council) involved. At a Early Years plus sort of level.

It does seem basic, but for the general public with no personal experience of SN or SEN, it probably needs to be basic. Send them to MN!

Ellenjane - I'm with you my ds is a child first and not defined by the disabilities - so I would always say "a child with disabilities"

I uphold anyone's right to use whatever term they wish, but I go with The Disabled People's Movement, which uses the term 'Disabled Person', since the person is disabled by society, not by their impairments so long as their needs are met.

I find the edict to use 'person first' is unhelpful in this instance. It is used when we talk about a person's diagnosis, such as 'a child with autism', rather than 'an autistic child' (which suggests that being autistic is the defining feature of the person).

I say that my son 'has autism', as he also has lots of other things that describe him; he has long hair, blue eyes and a love of classical history .

I say that 'he is disabled' because society disables him. He is only disabled in certain circumstances, though. At home, he is rarely disabled because his needs are met. At his previous school, he was very disabled because they made very few concessions for him. He doesn't 'have a disability' because this would suggest that his impairment is carried around with him, and is 'his' to deal with.

I hope I'm explaining myself here. I think this discussion proves that the training you went on is still necessary, Katy!

Having said which, a (very quick) Google shows up this , which completely supports your views, Ellenjane and Frizzcat, so it just goes to show that there are no 'rules' for this, it is purely down to personal preference.

I don't like my child being described as disabled at all, and I would never use it with any other child. So I would agree with the trainer on that one and don't see why you would get upset by the trainer saying this.
I think terminology is very important and I gauge whether a teacher is aware or not by the way they describe my child, so maybe it is quite important to have sessions on this.
Equally I would never say autistic ds but ds with autism. Not quite sure why you would do it the other way round.
Also prefer the term additional needs to special needs as I think it explains the situation better.

Actually I would probably always say ds has autism but I would put ds first, never autistic ds.

I think I am upset by the trainer saying this because I would have hoped that in 2012, people who have chosen to be SENCOs should not need to be told this

If you want to work with children with additional needs surely basic terminology like this is inherent?

& of course amistillsexy can call her DS whatever she wishes, it's what I call him that matters; & I hope I would use his name and only clarify if any other information became necessary, rather than using it as a description like I would if he had curly hair or a green tshirt. This is Fred, not curly haired Fred, Fred wearing a green tshirt or Fred with Autism.

My parents, my families? Good lord.

Surely my clients/service users etc woukd be more appropriate?

You know what? I don't even mind if the training is terrible. What I mind is that terrible training suddenly equals 'more expert than parents'!

Yes it is good that they say the parent is the expert. I like to start every meeting by reminding the "experts" that I am in fact the only expert in the room in relation to my ds - carried him, gave birth to him, fed him, loved, looked after him, jumped every hurdle with him and helped him over those hurdles, I know him inside out ..... They sometimes look a bit taken aback but they quickly realise I am not going to roll over and blindly follow their lead.
Sorry OP we have hijacked your thread - I would be interested on how the next couple of days go. Also you should have a feedback questionnaire so use it to wisely, also point them to this board so that can see the reality of what they do.

Next dates are weeks/months away; but I will try to remember

Off on a slight tangent but still about terminology. I hate it when proffs write " Mum reports" or "Mum says". Maybe its me but i find it really patronising.

I am an early years senco [ducks for cover] and have made it a rule in any paperwork the passes me by will say ...........'s mum says or ............'s mum reports.

We are often involvde at the very early stages of assessment so have to be very mindful of the langauge we use.

I am really lucky to work in an area which has a great manual written by our early years sen advisors and it guides us through the inclusion process. I call it my bible at work and it helps me with my job everyday.

I am also the Senco for a local childminder, who was caring for a child with disabilities and found the paperwork such a nightmare she asked for my support.

Katy mac, i hope the rest of your course is better.