Sorry this is long.
My niece had a brain tumour when she was five. She is now eight. Most was removed in an emergency op, but a small part remains and her brain is still mostly squashed up on one side. We were told she was unlikely to make a full recovery, but she has astounded everyone with how well she has done. Walking and talking with just some right-sided weakness. However, she finds school work extremely challenging. She has issues with double-vision and finds concentrating on more than one thing at once impossible e.g. she cannot write the date and title whilst listening for her name in the register. Verbally she is very bright, but can barely read.
School have been less than helpful. She has not been assessed for a statement despite the hospital recommending this (she has 3 monthly scans/assessments) and when challenged by my sister they said they hadn't bothered in the past as they didn't expect her to survive. This was deeply upsetting for my sister as never had anyone even suggested that she might die. Now my niece's reports are stating that she is lazy and the school's only response to her needs is a nurture group once a week.
My sister has a meeting with the SENCO later this week after mentioning complaining to the governors. She has asked me to go along as I am a teacher (but I'm secondary and my school would never be so crap about Special Needs). I think I need to insist on a proper assessment of my niece's needs and threaten with governors and local authority if this doesn't take place.
I would be really grateful if anyone could offer any advice on how to approach this meeting? It breaks my heart to see her being treated by the school as lazy and dare I say 'thick' when she has suffered so much in her short life.