TAC meeting. What is it and why?

[ElleC90]

Hi all. Hope Im posting in the right place as Im not 100% sure. Had a call from my 7 year old sons school this morning inviting me to a TAC meeting, with no explanation offered as to why Ive been invited to this. After furious Googling and looking at other threads on MN, it seems related to additional support needs. I have felt for some time my DS potentially has ASD/ADHD or SPD. I mentioned this to the school headteacher a year ago during a meeting as he had several meltdowns during school hours. HT was wholly dismissive and made me feel stupid for even bringing it up. Her exact words were 'we havent seen those types of behaviours in school, and even if you did get a diagnosis we dont have the resource or funding to put support in place'. This threw me totally off and made me feel like it was pointless even bringing it up again or taking him to the GP. He has regular meltdowns, lack of empathy/understanding, various food aversions (wont eat chips/potatoes - even McDs chips!), sensory issues such as loud noises and environments and certain clothing types. Prefers to be as stripped down as possible as soon as he's home. He also has no awareness of danger. He has no social issues and has lots of friends, no issues here though. I am a bit scared of the upcoming meeting and would like to know if anyone has experience with them? Can you tell me what to expect or take with me etc? Thank you

A TAC meeting is a team around the child meeting. The aim is to look at how DS can be best supported. Request the SENCO attends. The school should be providing support even without a diagnosis. Support is based on needs, not diagnosis. If the school needs more funding in order to provide the support required they can request high needs top up funding &/or you can look at requesting an EHCNA.

Do look at a referral. In some areas you can self refer. If you can’t and the school won’t speak to the GP. Don’t let the school put you off.

Thanks so much. I spoke to his teacher about an hour ago and she has given me an idea of the extra support they've put in place, such as a structured routine, mood boards, noise cancelling headphones and fidget toys/quiet corner for him to be if he's overwhelmed. Which all sounds v positive to be honest. I asked about the SENCO attending and she said probably to have the first meeting then invite the SENCO to any subsequent meetings in future. Will definitely go to my GP now too

I would push for the SENCO to attend the first meeting.