Question regarding statements please?

[devilsavacado]

Having just seen the other statement thread I wondered if anyone could tell me once you have a statement and a certain amount of hours per week how much of that allocated time is given to the child?

A friend of mine has a DS with 17 hours a week in school with a LSA and she supports her DS but also seems to be taking on other commitments within the class.

She does a group reading session with my friends DS involved.
Her DS has speech problems so these sessions can be stressful for her DS with the other children reading perfectly.

Does a statement mean that the LSA should be assigned just to her DS as that is what the funds allocated pay for or is it acceptable for her to be used as a TA to help other children as well?

depends what the wording on the statement says.
sometimes it states x hours 1-1 or individual support, ours says x hours 1-1 but also says dd2 should do small group work as well as 1-1 etc, so I would be expecting her LSA to cover the group, not just dd2.
do you think it will help him become more confident in speaking in front of other people? dd2 has speech issues (she is on/off dysarthric and monotone due to fluctuating tone) and i'm sort of expecting her to be encouraged to read etc as part of small group - it might be difficult at first, but i do want her to feel as though she can play a full part in the class and speak in front of her peer group... i think it is also beneficial as it teaches the peer group to give the child with speech difficulties time and space to use their voice, and how best to listen and understand - in the hope that it will overlap into play. dd2 is a confident child but doesn't initiate play/ conversation and tends to get left behind whilst the other kids gabble on, and ends up in a mostly listening role, so for her small group work is beneficial for both her and her peers... if the boy is finding it very difficult then the school should look at whether this is the most appropriate means to an end, but for my dd, a little discomfort along the way would not worry me unduly if it enables her to have a more two-way relationship with her peers in the long term.

another point - maybe the LSA is employed by the school in two roles (ie 17 hours for one dc paid for by LEA and 13 hours for general TA work paid for by school budget?) - i know this sometimes happens in our school, and the overall hours of actual use may vary - ie if the child needs 1-1 during lunch and play times, then that is at least an hour every day durin the school day that he will not be getting 1-1 support, so maybe those are the hours she is doing paid by school?

if she's only in school 17 hours total then obv not the case, but i know round here it can be quite complicated to work out which TA is providing how many hours in which role - some are job-shares and some have two contracts etc...

17 hours is a little odd as well - it may be 15 hours actual 1-1 support and 2 hours non-contact time (ie planning) so without knowing exactly what the statement says, it's difficult to know...