Parental Views (SA)

[lottiemungo]

Am v stressed and could do with some advice. I am drafting the parental advice bit for my DS's (9yo, AS) SA. Have written 5 pages (2,500 words). I know it's not just about the quantity but how much do people 'normally' write. I am pretty much re-hashing what I wrote for my appeal against the refusal to assess and grouping things under the 4 areas of difficulty as outlined in the SENCOP rather than the suggested headings from LA. It's due next week but only have today and tomorrow, and am freaking out that I'm doing a terrible job and not 'doing right' by DS.

Also, I have no idea what to do about the bit about the child's views. DS knows his diagnosis but I try not to make him worried about how he's doing at school as I think it would make his anxiety worse than it is. I don't want to discuss how certain provision might help him 'do better' as he is so sensitive to criticism he'll probably get even more down on himself than he is already.

Any advice or thoughts welcome!

Sounds about right to me - I think mine went on for nearly 10 pages but I did use sub-headings so it was easy for them to skip any bits if they felt was irrelevant. I think the main thing is to point out what problems your ds faces and include all the home stuff as well as the school issues. It was only when ds1 changed school (a forced move due to permanent exclusion) that we realised how much inappropriate support at school led to problem behaviour at home. We have very few issues now he is well supported. Sadly, only three weeks left before he has to move on but hopefully his new school will be equally as good.

Neither ds1 and ds2 did the child's views. ds2's would have just said I want to be a hermit and never go to school at best and more likely would have been just unprintable. Strangely enough nobody pushed it.

Mine was very long. I can't remember the exact number of pages but it was probably more than 5. I was given a list of sections to write about so just followed that.

I don't think I included ds' views at all. The first time he had any input was at the Annual Review.

Thanks both. Interesting that neither of you included your dc's views. Think I will skip that bit then!

I am including my daughters views in mine but only because she wrote them for the tribunal last month. Her views were very powerful and the panel in the judgement commented on them so I want them in. I took the yesterday to a meeting and showed them and her views reduced some adults to tears because of how powerful they were. Have to say for her two brothers, I didn't include their views but as this assessment has come out of a tribunal ordering it then I will send in my daughters views. I'm seriously considering sending her views to Michael gove as well so he can see what damage is caused to children when they are left unsupported and how his excellent education system let my daughter fail

Thanks bjk. Wow it sound like your Dd's words had a huge impact. Sadly I think my DS would just say he'd rather play minecraft all day...

Pupil views are collected by both the parents and the school. The school pupil views will be the only ones submitted if you don't collect them yourself. DS1 and DS2 dictated there's to me. The views of the child are seen to be very important.

I did two lots of my DS's views - one when he was being assessed, and the other time when I appealed parts 2, 3 and 4. Both times they were very important.

The last one powerfully showed up that even though aged 9 and with average cognitive ability, my DS's dyslexia/dysprexia was so bad that he could just about make "pen scratchings" on the paper. His writing was totally illegible and so bad that it made me cry. It also showed up that he didn't understand simple concepts such as "being unhappy" or "worrying". Although by this time, his anxiety was so high that I was home schooling him.

Child's views are very powerful, even if your child (like mine) can't articulate his views or understand what was being asked of him.

If you don't collect them, then you might find that the school will collect them for you and twist them to their own purposes. The LA has a duty to collect them (it's somewhere in the Ed Act and/or the SEN CoP) so if you don't get them, you run the risk of someone else, who isn't looking after your child's best interests, getting them.

Okay thanks, maybe I'm giving up too soon on the 'child's views'. I just have not got the foggiest how to elicit them and get any kind of sensible response...

my daughter also drew a very powerful picture of her classroom and how the other children made her feel because she cant read - maybe you could get your son to do that. the views are more important if you are on a tribunal path as the panel read them - I wouldn't worry too much - if he did open up to you you could always write them for him. with my daughters I also did a second copy where I transcribed the views as you could not read them due to her appalling handwriting and spelling - she is dyslexic so her written views were even more important to show exactly how she struggled.

My LA provided me with a simple Child's View's "questionnaire" with some simple questions ("who helps you at school", "how can you be helped", "what makes you happy" etc). It was the only decent thing they did in my 2 year battle with them.

For the first View, my son couldn't read or write independently, so a teacher sat with him and discussed with him each question and then she wrote down his answers.

With the 2nd questionnaire a year later, he was by then out of school and older, so he and I sat and discussed each question. After we had discussed which question, he independently "wrote" his answers down (which were illegible pen scratchings) and I wrote a transcription alongside his scratchings. For any questions he couldn't/wouldn't answer, we still discussed the question, and then I wrote down that he was unable to understand that question, and why.

It was a very slow and painful process but was used during by Tribunal to show how severe my son's needs were/are.

Just had my ds review...senco didn't even open my contribution until we were in the meeting then VERY briefly summarised. Yes I did stand up for myself and clarify the points but I really wanted them to have a chance to consider my views in relation to provision. Sorry to butt into this thread but could do with someone sharing their experience of what a really good senco is!