Rant alert!

[Monkey7373]

Hi there, I think I am literally going crazy! My son is 5, nearly six and is struggling at school. He is in yr 1 and the whole thing is a very long story but basically it was picked up in reception that he was struggling. Since then we have seen gp, and two paediatricians over the space of a year and have got no further. We just keep getting asked the same questions and given questionnaires to fill out...The school don't seem overly worried so maybe I shouldn't? But everything I read is about early intervention and if you wait until the problem is really serious then it's too late! Does the school need an official diagnosis to offer more support? Or should they be pursuing their internal resources and assessing through senco? Or should I consider that if they are not concerned then maybe his development is not being hindered by his traits? Really stuck with who I should be chasing and what I should be leaving to the school?

What did the pead say? Why was th school worri d and not worried anymore? Is he still struggling at school? In what way? Academic or socially? Shouldn't he be assessed by an educational psychologist?

Neither of the peads we have seen said anything really, the first asked us a bunch of questions, drew a couple of dinosaurs with DS and made a paper aeroplane for him then sent us off with a questionnaire which they also sent to the school, that was in October. We then had what we thought was going to be a follow up to the first appointment but it seemed to be the same thing, a load of questions then giving us two questionnaires which also went to the school with another follow up in a few months...my husband actually got quiet angry with the guy at one point as we expressed concern about his hearing, the pead then did a very unscientific test and said there was no problem...the whole appointment threw us a bit and we probably weren't forceful enough in asking the right questions. I am sure he should have been observed at school by now? Who refers to an ed psyc, the pead or the school?

DS has changed class since the first concerns were raised by the school and has also become more confident in himself. He didn't voluntarily speak to a single teacher in the first 10 months of reception but will now as he is more comfortable. We are not getting much from his current teacher about whether he is concerned or not, they seem so afraid to compare to the other children these days but they are surely best placed to assess. As he is not disruptive in class it feels a bit like 'well there is only one more term left in this class now anyway so not much will change now' without us really knowing if he is achieving to the best of his ability or not and what support could help him, if any.

My best description of him is that he is a bright lad who is socially awkward, a big daydreamer and has co-ordination and slight pronunciation difficulties. The list goes on but the focus and speed of his work would be the main things he is struggling with at school. 'Come on XXXX, hurry up' is the most used phrase at home and I suspect at school too!