What to do when school tells you your child has SEN but you know different?

[chalkbored]

Sorry for rather meandering title!

My DS is 5.6 and in Reception. He has fitted in well, lots of friends, popular etc. However, since his second day in this school I have been told he has SEN. It started when they asked me if his hearing was OK on day 2. I was a little surprised and confirmed it was fine and asked why they were concerned. They said he sometimes didn't appear to follow an instruction properly and would I get it checked out. I did - he was fine.

Next they asked me to get his sight checked 'just in case.' I did. He was fine.

And then I had a meeting with the teacher and she said she had 'concerns' as he wasn't too interested in reading and was struggling to 'blend' words and she wanted to place him on the SEN register. I agreed to this as was told he would receive lots of one to one support. Which he did.

Next up - she tells me she is concerned about his speech and comprehension and they wanted to place him on School Action Plus and refer him to a speech therapist. I agreed although I laughed and said the reason he said 'pwease' as opposed to 'please' was because he was 5 and he would grow out of it [ which he certainly did so, just a fortnight later. ] We went to the appointment and as I predicted, he was completely within the normal range with a good vocabulary and good understanding. The teacher was taken aback when I told her he was just fine and there would be no follow up appointment.

So, I have had his sight, hearing and speech checked. Normal. He is on school action plus still and I am told he still struggles to blend words and read. His maths/science/logic etc is very good and he is above average in these 'topics' - he has a wide vocabulary, he speaks perfectly normally, he can tell you all about what he has done/is looking forward to doing and he has lots of interests in general. There are no concerns about his behaviour.

My take is that he is 5, in Reception and yes, of COURSE he will become bored or distracted when being made to read. He doesn't want to read and yes, he struggles with it. He wants to be building a rocket or running outside. Does this automatically mean he has SEN? My gut feeling is NO...and I KNOW instinctively that he doesn't. My view is quite simple... he has to learn to read so he needs encouragement and a boot up the arse more than likely - and, given time, he will get there.

They won't take him off the register and I am getting fed up with being taken to one side around 3 times a week after school for ' a quick word ' in which they tell me he couldn't blend the word 'fizz' or ' are you actually reading with him every night because you haven't completed the book ? ' and so on and so forth. I can feel myself becoming exasperated with the whole thing and sooner or later, DS will notice that he is being treated differently.

I suppose it could sound like I'm in denial but I'm pretty sure I'm not.

So - WWYD? Insist he is taken off the register? Keep going along with these daft requests for hearing tests and speech therapy appointments?

Thank you for reading.

Thanks for all your comments and posts. Very useful and helpful.

they also encourage him too... he recently received a special award in assembly for 'trying so hard with reading' which he was very proud of and I am often told that he is a lovely, well behaved boy etc etc who is often 'star of the day. '

I should probably take this more seriously then instead of inwardly sighing and trying to look like I care that he can't blend the word ' buzz' or something. I just work on the assumption that he'll get there - and sight, hearing and speech experts seem to agree with me.

It sounds to me like it could be mild dyslexia. It's really good that they are acknowledging it and trying to help. My son was left to drift and didn't get any help. It wasn't a high achieving school and many other kids in the class were equally as behind so nothing got flagged up. School may be reluctant to actually use the "label" dyslexia but it might be worth your while doing a bit of research on it. Perhaps you have others in the family with it. I would be really glad that they are giving your child extra support - it can be very hard to come by.

Yes, I have looked into dyslexia myself already and dyspraxia when I was told he couldn't hop. I know a diagnosis of dyslexia is just not possible until around 8 or so but I don't think he has it.

Ah well, I shall re post again at some point in the future and thanks all for your wise words

I got this book out of the library and found it quite useful:

Dyslexia: A parents' guide to dyslexia, dyspraxia and other learning difficulties by Dr Valerie Muter and Dr Helen Likierman

Me too leonie,

Ime, OP schools do not cause themselves extra paperwork by putting dc's on the sen reg if they dont think they need support!!.

I am currently working with 2 dc's who desperately need assessing but whos parents dont see anything. It makes my job and the dc's time at preschool so much harder.

I think you need to think very carefully about refusing to have your child assessed when someone at school has obviously seen something in your ds which worries them a great deal.

Also worth remembering that some of us on here have had to fight tooth and nail to get support for our dc's at school, even having to move schools.

You might get the kind of answers you want on the education boards.

Not meaning to upset but this thread has wound me up

Anarchist - I agree, of course. A watertight definition is completely beyond me, but I was only thinking of the subset which might be applicable to the OP. My point is more that increasingly the terms SN and SEN in school are confused, for dodgy political reasons (ie the govt can slash budgets for extra help with reading if they claim all the poor readers have been "misdiagnosed with SN by bad teachers") and this is not helping either the OP or the teacher, who clearly feels that to be "on the register" equates to "needs a diagnosis" and is anxious without one.

Fwiw, I have to agree with posters who think there is probably something. But if the SALT can't see anything at this age I doubt it'll be diagnosable in Reception. If there's still a problem next year, there will be more to work with - and if not, well then hooray! for the SEN register, which will have done its job.

Agreeing with r3dh3d - I have a DS in reception and he is on SA+ due to SNs where he is at GOSH i.e. outside agency support. He will not be 5 until the summer hols - and can read and blend the word fizz - but spends all his free flow play outside on a scooter!
It might be worth posting on primary ed board. Some children just do not get phonics - and his unwillingness to read maybe because he finds it so difficult. Maybe he is a 'sight reader' and has a different learning style, and as others have said, potentially dyslexia.
Trouble is, as a previous post said, reading underpins all subjects. If they don't nip it in the bud ASAP it could cause confidence issues further down the line. The ante is upped next year as he goes into yr1 and the National Curriculum. The work will be more focussed.
Accept the schools internal support, as trust me, if heaven forbid anything were to be dx, you'll find support when you ask for it quite rarified.

ineed - I have not refused anything. And I am sorry if this thread has offended you but surely I am entitled to ask what is a reasonably relevant question, to me at least? I understand that a lot of people have to fight tooth and nail for support for their children- my questions were not about that. And I also understand that I am possibly being seen as some idiot who thinks her son is perfect and cannot possibly have SN in any way shape or form...this, however, is not true.

Again, many thanks for the useful info. I'm grateful to everyone who posted

Oh and to answer Give ... yes, they lied to get him on SAP. I know this because they told me so! They said in order for him to be seen by a speech therapist he had to be on SAP and not just SA so I needed to sign something. The teacher gave an embarrassed sort of laugh/shrug and I questioned why a speech therapist for him saying 'pwease' instead of 'please' and surely this would just stop in time? She said it was a difficult thing for a child to correct.

Not that difficult - within weeks he was saying 'please' correctly.

I suppose the question is also how much experience you have of other children the same age, and what they should or shouldn't be able to do that is age appropriate.
The school are matching him not just against his peers in class, but against their experience of previous years and national expectations for EY.
You may be right, there may be nothing at all to worry about and everything could fall into place beautifully as he matures.
OTOH, you could be back here in 12 months saying that he still can't read CVC words.

A fair amount of experience with other children of the same age, yes. Plus lots of relevant experience with children who have autism and aspergers. I am, however, not a teacher.

"OTOH, you could be back here in 12 months saying that he still can't read CVC words."

Exactly, school seem to be acting very caringly, doing their best to avoid a scenario two or three years down the line where he hasn't progressed with his reading. Bottom line - none of this extra support with reading etc is going to do him any harm if he suddenly starts to "get" reading next academic year.

One thing I would say - a clean bill of health from the audiology/optometry people doesn't mean they are vouching that he will be able to read just fine. Just that from their pov there are no obvious physical barriers to reading.

I took my DS for a number of hearing tests when he was 5 or 6. Turned out he had excellent hearing. Just very selective attention!

Just to let you know, children dont need to be on sap or eyap to be referred to salt. We have referred dc's on initial concerns and in many areas parents can self refer.
Once a child is being assessed by outside agencies they are usually moved on to sap or eyap but is not necessary the other way round.

I rarely post if i have been offended tbh, because i am aware of my talent for being rather harsh but i really feel that this was not the right place to air your feelings about a school which actually seems to be trying to do the right thing by your child.

No, I think it's great that she's posted here.
It's good for everyone to see the other side sometimes, and that not all schools are indifferent sausage factories with heartless robots staffing them.

Lol Fallen!

I have just accepted a nursery place for dd in an outstanding state nursery, and looking around it, well, it is fine, but actually I can appreciate how excellent Ds' was, and why they were so surprised at my dissatisfaction, which WAS justified, but I didn't appreciate that despite them STILL being wrong they were closer to being right than many.

Was that even coherent?

"A fair amount of experience with other children of the same age, yes. Plus lots of relevant experience with children who have autism and aspergers. I am, however, not a teacher."
Then you would know that a December born child that is struggling with CVC words and blending with only 6/7 weeks left in Reception would be flagged as needing attention.
I can't remember the exact figures, but expectations would be that less than 10% of the year would be at that level by Easter (Primary Ed board would give you the exact figures) - and this is from a poorer, less high achieving City school, with plenty of EAL and disadvantaged children.
What makes me sad is that I'm sitting here writing an assessment on a group of children I have worked with where poor reading ability is affecting all their other subjects. Its a mixed group, some SEN, some behavioural and 1 lad in particular that no-one can pin point why, but he just doesn't 'get it'.

I think I am just fine to post here - hence why I did so. Or is this section only for very specific queries? It isn't. I have in no way meant any offence and am heartened that posters have seen this and advised me accordingly.

You can be harsh as you like As a long term poster of years standing I've more or less heard it all