School an their lack of help!

[giraffesandelephants]

Back to you wonderful mumsnetters as you have given such great advice before.

DS diagnosed last sept with aspergers. He is now 5 and just finished receptio. In the paed report sent to the school it suggested an ed psych become involved.

I have been keeping on top of things with the senco who keeps saying there is no problem with him at school. I understand that he is really good at school and never melts down (he saves those for when he's at home), but I do understand that he lacks confidence in working independently and needs a lot of encouragement and guidance. There is another boy in his class who also has asd, but he is the angry type. He currently has a TA who helps him all day, although I know he doesn't have a statement.

Received DS school report And in most areas he is "emerging" and not achieving the EYFS goals. This to me is a concern as he is bright but I feel he has been treated in the same way as all te other kids who do not have SEN. NO changes have been made to teaching styles or for additional help in supporting his learning. I have seen the senco and head who all say he is fine. There is no Iep in place, they say he doesn't need to be seen by an ed psych and that basically he is fine! I do not think he is and feel as if the school are just pushing us aside as he is not giving them "problems" during school time.

My question is, what do I do, who do I speak to! I am confused and just want to help my boy so that he can succeed in life with all the correct tools and strategies in place!

Aaaagh. Sorry it's so long....can't wait to hear from you wise and experienced mums. X

I'm sorry you've not had any support in school. If you feel your son needs a statement to receive help, you are legally able to request an assessment through your AEN department at the council, the school will then be forced to assess etc. HOWEVER, unless there has been extensive intervention in school, you are unlikely to get one.

I would suggest going into school (again) and speaking to the senco about statutory assessment.

The whole process takes a long time. My ds(7) has a statement now, we started the whole process at the start of year 1 and he's going into yr3 in September. He has an ASD /HFA/Aspergers diagnosis.

Good luck... Any questions, just ask!

This board doesn't get much traffic.

Try reposting here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs

as this is where the majority of experienced people hang out!

If he is not working at NC level by end of Year 1 they need to score him on P scales or PIVATS by then. We asked the school to start using PIVATS / P scales at the start of year 1 so we could use the same measure to track progress throughout and build evidence.

Have school given you the detailed EYFS sheets or just a summary. You can download and score the scale yourself which can help show gaps. EYFS is also a bit broad brush and it can be hard to score a child with ASD on it accurately as the profile is so spiky. So DS will score above age range on reading letter sounds etc but his comprehension of language is 3 -4 years behind. The EYFS score will just be an average of the low and high scores for literacy so it wont look so bad. What we have found more helpful is highlighting the gaps in each column so if there is a column of 7 skills necessary DS may have 1,4 & 5 but not 2,3, 6 or 7. Often 2 & 3 are skills other children will have mastered as toddlers so its important to show those skills are missing not just let school average him out to a 4 iyswim.

Just apply for SA yourself. You dont need schools permission. The first thing the LA will do is ask school for the IEPs so school will have to start doing them (so put in writing first that there is no IEP and you would like one to be drawn up as its amazing how IEPS suddenly appear when the LA gets involved which you have never seen before!)

You can also self refer to the EP and SLT. Its more difficult in school as schools have set days for EP time but if the school have not referred your child you are entitled to ring the EP direct and ask to see your child. Ditto for SLT.

Parent partnership can also sometimes help. They are supposed to be independent of LA (but often aren't) but are usually ok at supporting parents with schools who are not putting in support eg will come to a meeting with you with SENCO.