Auties transition to Year 1 - thread 3

[LightTripper]

This is the continuation of the thread for parents and carers of autistic children in reception year at school, going into Year 1 in the autumn. All welcome (also parents with older or younger children who want to ask questions or share their wisdom!)

Welcome!

open I did think about mentioning the course to the Senco! They have made some adjustments for DD (tent, etc) but I need to think about what else they can do to help reduce anxiety levels. They don't think she needs a 1:1 as they see her as very independent (she probably does need one but that will be a fight to achieve I suspect!). Class teacher did ask for copies of any SALT, Pead reports etc so she could read up on DD. Apparently she had received no information on DD at all! This despite there being a transition meeting before the summer and (I think) nursery passed on some of their information to the Senco as well. The class teacher is lovely and she did make DD a social story book on starting school, which was personalised with pictures from DD's favourite film - Frozen! She hasn't however attended either the transition meeting or the follow on meeting we had last week. A. Hoping that the Senco is passing on information but can't be sure this is happening

I work for the county council teaching children who are out of school due to medical reasons (used to be known as hospital teachers). It's only a few hours a week though!

That sounds like a satisfying job Little. Hopefully you can come up with some ideas for the school to try if they are not being very proactive. I do think the class teacher should be attending these meetings.

dimples how are you getting on teaching ds spelling, any tips? I downloaded the Squeebles app but ds hasn’t used it yet, I need to try and persuade him. I figured it was a good way to start but if he won’t use it...

Ds is still blending quite well the phase 2 words I’m reviewing with him but he’s not yet reading. I’m hoping it will come soon.

Agghhh Open the spellings list has driven me crazy this week. The first two weeks we had success (he could spell them all to me and then when checked at school he got 4 out of 5) - first reading the words and then writing with magnetic letters (DS can only handwrite 1 or 2 letters). This week though the list is way too hard for him. It is numbers 1-5 which obviously all follow different spelling 'rules' but also I don't understand why they are prioritised - wouldn't it be better to learn more of the high frequency words? Any way they are tested on Monday and there's no chance of him getting 'one' and 'two' by then.

Stressful week coming up as we have meetings to hear the outcome of my nephews' EHC assessments (after successfully appealing to the SEND tribunal against the LA's refusals to assess). The Ed Psych's reports make pretty depressing reading so hopefully they'll agree they need plans, if not I feel at high risk of losing my temper!

Apparently DS was happy before the SN bowling trip but he certainly wasn't afterwards.

Hope that you're having good weekends. We have a playdate tomorrow with a new friend/obsession at our house tomorrow which I'm dreading.

dimples I hope the play date goes ok. It sounds like EHCPs will be a no brainer, fingers crossed for that. I hope your sister (?) is not too down after the EP reports. We all know how crushing those things can be.

I totally agree about the spelling lists. We have lists to learn for the term (though I haven’t attempted any yet) and most of it is words I wouldn’t expect. It doesn’t have the easy cvc words or the simpler HF words which I would have expected. Is it assumed they know these? Their assessments should prove otherwise.

They are supposed to be able to write the number words as part of maths so I expect it’s a crossover from that.

I spoke about it to a mum who also has a dd in yr3. She agreed it was odd but said she tries to concentrate most on the reading because so much comes directly from that.

Thanks Open my sister had a bit of a cry earlier (I think we've all been there) and we just have to hope the support is put in place - if not, we'll be appealling again.

I'm hoping that we get more differentiated homework. First time this week we had an additional sheet from school with symbols on (greater than, less than etc) which we cut up and glued rather than writing in the book. I have done this with Maths homework before because he gets most of the concepts but can't record his answers. I have just bought a printer for home - I'm planning to get DS typing a bit more then printing answers off rather than stressing about hand writing.

I’ve definitely been there

I have been doing similar with ds’ homework. Last week we had a maths worksheet and I scribed his answers, noting that I had. I’ll do the same for the addition sheet this week. I think the important thing is the maths concepts themselves rather than worrying about the writing. That bit will come when it comes.

Hello everyone hope your all well.

I hope you have all had a good weekend. Inhope you have all jad good sleep and dd's and ds's all slept well. I haven't been on for abit so abit behind i will catch up soon.

I have decided with dh that ds won't be going back to school till something gets done. This week i have been pulled in the street by older children i dont even know about how upset ds gets in school, found out when ds is struggling to keep on task and not finish his work hes been kept in a break, dinner times and that when he goes into school with non unifom on hes made to change into his school uniform on the corridor that is access for 10 classes and that the school now only change ds if hes soiled alot if hes only soiled abit he gets told they will change him later when hes soiled more. I have sent emails to the head, senco, sendiass and the la sendo. Thats just a little bit of what i ahve been told this week and i am gutted a 5 year old little boy is being treated so badly.

@Harleyisme, that is awful to hear. Your poor lad. Good for you for coming to such a strong decision. Hopefully you’ll soon get him settled in a caring environment.

Harley I have just read your update. How awful - seems like a wise decision on your part. I hope that you can sort out something better soon. It's nice that the older kids are looking out for him.

@FurryCat1978 and @dimples76 i just hope it does something.

I have already had a reply from the head teacher.

@Harleyisme that just sounds awful. I am sure that there will be another school that is right for him. I work in a lot of schools for my job and I’m sorry to say that there are some that I wouldn’t send my kids to, but there are so many that are kind, nurturing and loving towards all kids but especially those with SEN. I really hope you manage to find one that is right for DS.

Harley what did the head say.
It’s absolutely appalling and I would be doing the same

Thank you @jeb86

The heads trying to say that the only issues my ds has is soiling.
They seem to even disagree with his diagnosis.

@openupmyeagereyes the head as said hes a happy little boy us settled. They reckon he has no education or scoial needs just the soiling.

Oh and me not sending ds in to school is going to make him go backwards.

Oh Harley that's awful! Your poor ds. It must really be affecting his self confidence. I hope that sendiass can help you.
You do need to be aware that they can prosecute you for keeping him off school. It's not right that parents get punished for the school behaving badly but the school can seem to get away with whatever they want.
I would definitely not want to send my child into school if he was being treated that way. I would think quite strongly about a disability discrimination case too.

Dimples I hope this week goes well for you all. Finger's crossed that your LA doesn't mess you around.

That course sounds great littleswede. Hope your dd is less anxious this week.

Hope the weekend went ok after the head bump light!

Great video open. Hope you've had some better night's sleep.

We had quite an early start this morning 5.30. Hoping for a better week with ds this week. He had a really good day on Friday apparently.

Morning everyone!

Just popping on to say Harley you have done the absolutely right thing for your DS. I don't know exactly how this works but before you take your DS 'officially' out of school, see if your GP can sign him off sick (with anxiety/soiling etc all due to school not supporting). That way you should be able to apply for home tuition through your LA on medical grounds. That way he us still on 'roll' at his old school until LA can sort a better placement/EHCP etc, and you could
possibly get your DS a little bit of schooling whilst he is out.

Hopefully someone who knows how thus all works will be able to guide you but it sounds like you have made the right decision

@livpotter i am aware they can prosecute but i know under these circumstances they are very unlikely to do so.

@littleswede thank you i have book ds an appointment at gp earliest we can get is wednesday but they have told me to call at 1pm when this afternoons emergency appointments reopen.

Harley great you can see the GP soon. Hopefully they will be supportive, I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t be. Good luck.

I have spoken to sendiass this morning who have said we have done the right thing and they are fully behind us.

I really hope the GP has a slot this afternoon and is helpful Harley. Do you know any of the kids well enough that you could ask their parents to write you an e-mail with details (maybe they don't want to put themselves in a tricky position with the school - but if they just say they've seen him upset and worried about him it's hard to see there could be any fallout for them?)

I would think your MP really should be interested at this point now too. Can you get to a constituency surgery and bring all your correspondence and DS's Dx and tell them about what the other children have told you? Honestly if you are at the point of keeping him out of school (and I completely agree that I don't see what option you have in the circumstances!) then I would chuck everything at it you possibly can. Maybe some of the other parents would talk to your MP if that helped, even if they didn't want their names used with the school?

We saw some friends at the weekend whose daughter is (to me) obviously autistic (they acknowledge she has very strong sensory issues, I don't think they think she is autistic) and they are having a shit time from their school (e-mails from the head daily complaining that she won't eat school meals and that letting her eat something plain like toast as she did in Reception would not be "fair on the other children" - it did give me some flashbacks to some of your previous posts Harley). Some schools Just Do Not Get It. It's scary.

We had a good weekend though DD managed to get herself in a pickle about homework (or maybe I just messed it up... not sure). She was struggling with the maths after lunch yesterday, so I said let's leave that for the morning when you're less tired and just do your spellings (which usually she just writes out the first couple of times, so she finds it reasonably easy/fine) and she got completely stuck on that too, but then got herself in a cycle where she wouldn't stop trying but also couldn't manage to do it. I thought bedtime went OK but then she got up at 1am and insisted on doing them (OH dealt with it and tried to put her off but gave up in the end so they could both get some sleep!) She is a bit pale this morning and I thought she seemed warm last night, but no temperature .... so I'm hoping she'd just a bit under the weather and this isn't some new hang-up about homework! Luckily they don't have any on Mondays, so hopefully it will just blow over.

On the plus side DS slept through and didn't come into my room until he needed the potty in the morning .... yay!!!!

@Lightripper Yes i have asked and they are willing to do so. I have several parents who have children who love ds who have told me that they are 100% behind me and will do anything to support us.

That is brilliant Harley - great that you have their support.

That all sounds really positive Harley. Hope it will be sorted out for you soon. Is he feeling better being home today?

Light ds does that thing of getting himself stuck in a cycle and not letting it go until it's done. More often with Lego than homework though! I can see how frustrating it is for him but he also gets upset if I try to help.

I took ds doctor. The doctor was clueless. He said as hes fine apart from school and that from speaking to him it is very clear that school is the problem that i have ti continue to make ds go in as his education is more important and that i have to get the school to support him correctly or move him school becuase its just that simple isn't it.
The go asked me if ds had a ta at school and ds butted in with no am in year one am not allowed any help.