Would you be happy with minimum intervention in class if your child was coping?

[disorganisedmummy]

Hi all,I have posted many times about my ds who is 7 and in year 3 at a mainstream independant school.He has a dx of dyspraxia and social communication disorder.School and Paed think they're may be Aspergers there too but we're waiting for referral
Anyway,he is in a class of 15 kids.It's a very bright class and ds is bright,so we're told.He has a reading age of about 11.We've been told he is performing roughly in the middle of the class which I'm quite happy with but his problem is his "work output",i.e. he struggles to get work done within a timeframe which is down to his dyspraxia.He has extra help twice a week with his motor skills and he has a counselling session once a week to help with his feelings and non-exsistent self esteem and confidence.
Hope you're all still with me!He gets pretty much the same work as everyone else.The only difference is that he is in the lower group for spellings.He seems to be holding his own at the moment and apart from the odd comment from others is very happy.
So my question to you all is:would you be happy to carry on like this if your child seems happy and is learning and improving with very little extra help (different work,help from lsa) or would you ask for more help.He has an IEP by the way.I might add that his teacher has been fantastically supportive but seems to want to include him in as much as possible.I'm just wondering if this is the best way.

Thanks for reading

bump!

Hello, not sure if it's the right thing but we are in a very similar situation here!!! I normally work to this rule: if they are happy and learning then you are on to a winner!!!

If your happy , and he's happy and the school are supportive , and he's making progress , so why change things , not everyone is great at spelling . if he mostly getting them right and they remain with him into his other word than wouldn't worry unduly .
Make sure doors of communication are open if things change at later date . Maybe ask for him to use form of technology to help him improve getting his work done on time . iPad / computer , so he can have this as part of access arrangements for doing test/ exams at later date.

Thanks alot for replying.His handwriting is awful which is obv because of his dyspraxia,however his teacher has said that as he can't type faster than he can write it's a bit pointless at this stage for him to have a laptop.However,he did say that he will most likely have one in Yr4.
I find it all so confusing cos the EP report which was done at the end of Yr2 was quite damning yet he seems to be coping so well,so much so that I'm waiting for the day he has a meltdown which sounds awful.It's like I'm waiting for him to fail.
His biggest issue aside from his writing and social skills is his lack of confidence in himself.
They are doing lots of extra work and lots of positive re-inforcement with him to help with this.
He is very happy but friends in the know about SEN asy he should be getting more support but surely,if he's happy and is progressing without much help then we should let him get on with it??

The only way he'll learn to type faster is by typing more, so your teacher is slightly missing the point, there. With dyspraxia, he'll probably always find large amounts of writing tiring, but he has the potential to learn to type much faster, with practice, and in the long term, typing longer pieces of written work will improve his output and stamina (and free him to think about content rather than worrying about whether his handwriting remains legible all day).

How about him doing something drama wise to improve his confidence , his typing might not be faster at moment but something to work on , as will make his work more legible anyway , so improve his confidence that people can read what he's written , also make sure his work is displayed with rest of class to increase his confidence.
At moment it wouldn't help him to intervention that make him stand out more especially as at moment it sounds like he's coping with the academic side of school mostly .
Also takes time to secure funding for things like laptops ect , so could look at getting this organised , so available for next year , or some lesson this , that can improve his typing skills.
Only you know if he actually needs more help at moment , not because other children have more support every child is different , so requires different things for them .

I agree that his typing speed will not improve without the opportunity to practice, but that is not the only reason to have him typing... Here is an excellent article from an equally excellent website regarding Developmental Coordination Disorder, the Canadian term for dyspraxia, from what I can grasp.

Give the article a read, check out some of the other information on the site - you might find that it is quite helpful.

I have thought about drama.There is an after school drama club but I'm not sure what year group its from.
He plays the violin at school which many would say would be very difficult given the dyspraxia but although he does find it hard to keep time,he loves it.Progress is slow but he has a brilliant music teacher who is aware of his difficulties and is very understanding with him.In fact he has just about to be awarded his musicians badge at Beavers.
I guess I'm finding it very hard to work out what he finds difficult because he does mask very well and to be honest in class (so I'm told) you'd be hard pushed to see anything wrong.
Whenever I ask his teacher how he's doing he replies "he's absolutely fine".
Perhaps I need to take a step back,I get the impression his teacher is trying to get me to do this andI think he's also trying to tell me he's more capable than I think he is.
Hope that all makes sense,sorry for my incessant ramblings.I'm so torn between leaving him to get on with it and helping him so much that he never learns to do it on his own.
Does anyone else get like this?

This is my take on it.
My DS is an aspie. He is academically clever, but like many aspies can't usuually be arsed with stuff that doesn't interest him, though luckily he isn't particularly rigid or fundamentalist and recognises the need to do enough not to get into trouble. Subjects he likes and is good at he flies in.

My DS has never had individual support in class (since he started secondary thye have put a TA in his form 4 hours a week, ostensiby for him though I am not sure what she does. I never asked for this and don't really think he needs it).

What I think my son needs is not a high level of individual academic support. he isn't particularly anxious, he gets the school routines, manages lunches etc. What he needs is teachers who understand him and who make some slight teaching adjustments for him - tell him how much to do and leave him to it, don't stand over him, don't yell at him, do be VERY specific in your language use, do check he has his homework written down. I think all these things are easily managed in a class by a competent teacher. He would absolutely hate to have someone sat beside him 'pecking his head' and he doesn't need that sort of support. I think he would find that sort of relationship maintenance day in day our extremely stressful.

However, that does not mean that he has no needs. He has a LOT of needs, but not for individual in class support. He has therapy needs. He needs extra help to develop his handwriting. He needs to be taught to touch type. He needs social understanding group work. He needs introducing to after school clubs as he would never go alone. He needs communication work (he is selectively mute). Does he have needs? Yes. Does he need school to work with him to develop his skills? yes. Does he need 15 or 20 hours generic in class 1:1 per week ? Absolutely, definitely, not.

Sorry, bit unclear in my second para. The TA is present in those classes but doesn't sit with DS. I think she does general helping and asks DS if he wants help, and he says 'no'. I think school put him there b/c they didn't know what else to do and were panicking a bit after seeing him at his absolute worst (mute/ avoidant) on the pre-visit to school.

Ilike,thanks so much for posting. That is so helpful as it sounds so much like my DS it's scary! He definitely has aspie traits,a lot of them but not sure whether it will be enough for a dx.
He too managed very well at school. Obv he is younger than your DS but the principles of leaving your ds to it,to get on with it is very similar to how my DS is. Even with homework which is a major issue for him I have to try and leave him be. There are times when he needs my help esp if he's feeling anxious about it. What ds needs is understanding,empathetic teachers which he has thank god.
Interestingly his homework tonight was a verbal reasoning paper. My heart sank when I saw it cos I had always maintained that he wouldn't be able to do VR as he's so literal about everything. How wrong was I! He did it,all 30 questions with a bit of help from me which was me explaining to him how to work things out. He didn't kick off,or get distracted,he just did it! I was so pleased and said to him how proud I was of him for trying. His teacher obv thought he could do it.

disorganised the main issue I have is reminding my son's schools that because he doesn't need 'in class support' per se, doesn't mean he is 'fine in school'. He has VERY significant social communication and interaction difficulties and he needs help to develop those, but outside of class in therapeutic interventions. I get guff like 'no educational implications' but this is a needy boy, just needy outside the standard 'stick a TA with him' box that schools often perceive as the measure of whether a child 'needs help' or not. My son doesn't have challenging behaviour or anything, but I work in the autism field and would put his spontaneous communication / interaction skills in the lowest 2 or 3 kids with autism I know (who do have language). Don't tell me he has no educational needs just because he gets on ok in class and manages the dining room and assembly without melting down. Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted he can do those things, but the trouble with this particular presentation is that schools risk losing sight of the 'bigger picture' of the child's whole social communication and interaction needs, and narrow down their remit to 'academic progress' - which isn't the issue with my son, or, by the sound of it, yours!

BTW my DS is very literal because it amuses him to be so. His VR scores are always outstandingly high but he never gets very good scores in English because whilst the quality is excellent the quantity is insufficient to get the higher score.