Is it disability discrimination to punish a child suspected of having ADHD for not paying attention?

[KOKOagainandagain]

I have a meeting with DS2's CT and the senco this pm. He is being investigated (ASD/ADHD/dual exceptionality). New CT had meet the teacher the other week and went on about children taking responsibility for concentration and attention. Observation last week by specialist adhd nurse recommended medication (no) and 1:1 in class.

However, class teacher is punishing DS2 by removing golden time. I had a dressing down in the playground yesterday where I think she expected me to join in being cross with DS2. She was taken aback when I told her she must stop punishing him and that I was not going to drug a 7 year old child when there was more that could be done to motivate him in class (we do not have the same problems at home because we use a token reward system). I said they must use a token reward system because the specialist nurse believes this is the right thing to do regardless of diagnosis (she said he does not clearly fit adhd, is quite 'quirky' and was talking about the ADOS and that he will be referred up to the consultant as he was complex) and because this was what we did at home with success.

Her position was 'there have to be consequences'.

He has no diagnosis yet. He is being punished for the existence of diagnostic criteria which he needs to display to get a diagnosis ffs.
Is this disability discrimination?

The law (the Equality Act) requires reasonable adjustments to be made to prevent a disabled person being placed at a substantial disadvantage.

So behaviour policies should take into account the need for modification to accommodate disability so as not to place a child at a disadvantage by being punished for behaviour they cannot control.

Disability would cover ADHD, ASD etc and a diagnosis is not required. The issue is whether the behaviour is the result of the disability or not. In this case, it would clearly seem to be the case that it is.

The correct response, before punishing, would be to make reasonable adjustments to supoort a child's concentration.

The school should be asking for specific advice on this from professionals and following it if they don't understand such disabilities. Has your son seen the EP? Does he have a statement?

Should add the is also an issue relating to indirect discrimination in the grounds of disability if you apply a policy in a blanket fashion and it has an unfair impact on people with disabilities.

Are her strategies effecting the change that she wants?
Is removing Golden time working as a sanction?
Can he modify his behaviour as a consequence and win time back?

You want her to take onboard what the specialist ADHD nurse recommended, but you will not take onboard the same specialist's recommendation for medication?
You need to create a more positive dialogue with the school, and the CT and work in partnership. Telling the teacher how she should be dealing with an undx child and cherry picking the bits you like from the advice given is unlikely to be effective. Will the SENCO support you?

IE, I understand what you are saying, but if the interactions between the parent and school are hostile and confrontational from the outset, the danger is that it will be seen as a crap parenting issue instead of a disability.
Pushing for a dx will be the key to getting the school implementing effective strategies.

Who has suggested the interactions need to be hostile??

The question asked was: is this disability discrimination? The answer is, yes, it could be.

What you then do with that information is a different matter entirely but to be honest whether a sanction forces compliance is not the question that was asked.

Neither would I choose to comment on a parents's decision not to medicate their child or try and link that in some way to the question of punishment policy! Not accepting from a nurse (not even a doctor) that a very young child needs to be medicated has nothing to do with whether school should be following what seems like rudimentary advice in behaviour management.

support is supposed to be based on need and not diagnosis.
The fact that he isn't dxed yet shouldn't be a barrier to putting support into place.

Removing golden time is a lazy strategy. It sounds like the teacher wants to teach ds a lesson. What other strategies have been tried?

Specialist ADHD nurse can't prescribe medication surely?
What has the paed said?

The teacher will be looking for strategies that work to modify his behaviour so that he and others can learn. She will begin by using the current ones in use within the school, and if they are ineffective, she will look further, ask colleagues and the SENCO. None of them will use language like 'you must...'
The key is how he responds to different rewards and sanctions within the school environment.
Meetings and discussions will not be taking place in the playground.
I always prefer to start off positive and in a spirit of mutual collaboration with the happiness and achievement of my child as the focus before getting to the point where I'm nailing their feet to the floor and getting very detailed.
I've found it works better if I save my ammunition for when it is needed.

How many of us have had the 'It's not a disability, it's your parenting skills' talk?
How many of us have been asked whether the child has a diagnosis, and asked to produce the evidence, or if we have just self-diagnosed to excuse the behaviour?

'The teacher will be looking for strategies that work to modify his behaviour so that he and others can learn. She will begin by using the current ones in use within the school, and if they are ineffective, she will look further, ask colleagues and the SENCO.'

Colleagues and the SENCO are not the best people to ask for advice on how to support a child with possible ADHD/ASD but that's a different argument.

The ADHD nurse has recommended a strategy and the CT isn't using it. The OP is right to insist that this is implemented. The question of whether medication is necessary is not the school's concern.

I'm no sure anyone is suggesting that meetings shouldn't be positive and that we shouldn't work collaboratively but I really can't see how asking for info about the law and getting it means you are suddenly going to be all adversarial about it

You think sanctions should be applied to see how they work but the OP's concern is clearly that they won't work or aren't working.

But then you also describe a parent who won't medicate on the recommendation of a nurse as one who is cherry picking.

I take a different approach and one which is supported by the law - if a child can't manage their behaviour (which the OP suggests they can't) but there are strategies which can be put in place to help, those strategies should be used.

This is does not mean you have to be adversarial or threatening. There's still a positive, non-adversarial, collaborative discussion to be had where the focus is very much on the child

You know your child if DS1 school had done this, he would not only feel embarrassed by his action (generally out of his control) but this would then be confirmed by the teacher as yes you are naughty and different (weird in his mind). The aim for ds1 was so stop triggers and reward him when he learnt to control his own triggers.

So, would a positive approach, accepting the fact that he's struggling and working together to help be more effective than using imperatives and telling the teacher what she should and shouldn't be doing?
Suggesting that he's more motivated by a token reward system, rather than one based on sanctions?
'There have to be consequences' makes me feel that the teacher is seeing the parent as part of the problem rather than the solution already, and it's only been a few weeks since term started. How helpful is that for the child?

The use of Golden Time has been common practice in school for decades, so to dismiss it as lazy is a knee-jerk response.

'You think sanctions should be applied to see how they work'

That's not what I said.

If he's 7, then presumably the input of previous teachers on managing his behaviour has been given?
What did they use in KS1?

Thanks IE

He has had masses of SALT, OT and EP assessment. The EP is crap. She isn't even qualified yet. Her last involvement at the end of last year was to pretend that all issues of inattentiveness at school had magically disappeared now that DS1 had been placed in OOC indi ss.

DS2 is on SA+ with about 12 hours support 1:1 and small group. Nurse was quite clear that he needs 1:1 in lessons to keep him on task with a LSA who will stay with him as he stops working the second they turn their back. They need to put the resources in now and so he will need a statement. I would prefer the school to apply (ime parental applications are all initially refused) but we live in a different LA to the neighbouring school LA. Can the school still apply or should it be a parental application for SA?

Silver - the strategies are not working and are not only making the situation in the classroom much worse (the specialist nurse reports that the CT is struggling and lacks appropriate knowledge). The school are ignoring the advice given to them by external experts who are concerned that the school seem to think that ADHD = a naughty child who won't (rather than cant) appropriately engage and must be punished. He does not understand why he lost golden time in the first place, is unable to generalise to a similar but different situation and so is unable to modify his behaviour. He is given a chance to earn back golden time but according to his CT 'chooses' not to do so.

There is absolutely no way that I would even consider medication as an alternative to adequate educational provision. He cannot be diagnosed with ADHD at the moment because he does not display the same behaviour in two settings. The nurse has done home and school observations. The same manifestation of inattention is consistent with ADHD, ASD and also high cognitive ability. The cause is not clear. Medicating a child should be based upon diagnosis not given experimentally in the absence of a diagnosis. Even if he were diagnosed with ADHD, parents have a right to refuse medication - this is not cherry picking.

The suggestion of a trial of medication is also intended to make the school sit up and pay attention as an expert with experience of visiting DC in schools is telling them that this is serious and that other schools manage better.

I freely admit that maintaining a relationship with the school following their many mistakes with DS1 (resulting in failed transition to secondary, 2 terms out of school and the stress and expense of tribunal hearing - even though the LA conceded before lunch and the witnesses had given evidence) has been difficult. The school manage using the ostrich approach and avoidance where possible as they personally find it difficult to meet my eye. I would hope that the school have learned from their mistakes but am realistic.

The person with the most power and who made the worse mistakes was the head/senco who had just been appointed to the post. tbh I think that despite this he would act the same way if DS2 presented in the same was as DS1 as he is a two-faced incompetent bastard. Luckily, DS2 is a pita to them (adorable and a doddle at home) but not aggressive and so they have no legal grounds to exclude and we are going nowhere at this stage.

The OP isn't telling the teacher what she should be doing.
The ADHD specialist nurse has seen ds and has suggested strategies. The teacher isn't implementing the strategies but is suggesting removing golden time instead.
Yes that is lazy IMO.
It's more effort to implement a new token system than to say to the child 'No golden time.'

Yes golden time has been used for years, that doesn't mean that it's always used appropriately. In this case it's being misused.

'I would prefer the school to apply (ime parental applications are all initially refused)'

not true..although I was told the same thing...

Apply for the statement yourself right now - don't wait for the school.

Thank you for that incredibly detailed response, it definitely sounds as if the school have enough advice and expertise to draw on, and have been recommended very clear strategies. It looks as if statementing is definitely the way to go.
Apologies for not understanding the full scenario.

That's OK silver

I started off casually suggesting a token reward system last year but it has been knocked back on several occasions. So, we go around in circles, SALT have even written a new IEP target with provision detailing how to implement a token reward system. The reason the school don't want to implement it and would rather punish is because an effective system is resource hungry whereas it costs nothing to remove golden time. Now when the CT complains that he won't work I must admit to running out of patience. The school have spent thousands in assessment but ignore the recommendations. What do they expect?

It is crazy - DS2 will do anything for a token but is not able to be sufficiently motivated to do anything that he has not himself chosen to do without a token system. So the school 'aim' is essentially to demonstrate that DS2 does not need a reward system to motivate him and this will be 'proven' by not using a reward system and attempting to use punishment as a motivator. No success data relating to token reward system but perhaps subjective comments about the effectiveness of merits or golden time for the rest of the DC.

I did a data protection request on the run-up to tribunal with DS1 so I am aware that the school report is crucial to being granted SA. My initial 2 refusals were based on a cut and paste sentence of school report despite their pretending to be supportive.

Keep on: I'm going through a very similar thing right now, and it took me ages for anyone to understand and accept what I was saying. I lodged the DDA, so far so good it it all going ahead but I was lucky to have a sensible judge looking over the papers as I know it could have easily gone the other way, as half the battle is showing your child is disabled as not all SEN children are disabled ( according to what I have seen in the EHRC website, and also what my solicitor told me)

If you want to probe further PM me :-)

Hoxton - I'm a regular here (part of the campaign group). Do you mind if I pm you as I'm in a similar situation (disability tribunal looming) ? Thanks

that's fine.. Im always badgering folk on here about my issues so about time I gave back, lol

Thanks - I'll message you shortly.