We have an IEP - what now? ( a bit long, sorry)

[Icanseethesea]

I have posted before about ds(7.6), though not for a while now. He has a hearing impairment, fine and gross motor skill and coordination difficulties, although he can ride a bike. He is quite clumsy and still a messy eater. (Bear with me here!) He is sensitive to loud noises and noisy environments, hates wearing new clothes and entering new environments, and has problems processing information and following more than one instruction at a time. His handwriting is illegible, he is unable to form letters correctly. He has been on the Every Child a Reader scheme, which has improved his ability to read words, although he still struggles with comprehension and frequently misses out words and entire lines and guesses a lot of words. However, I know I'm his mum and am biased but he is a delightful and loving little boy with a very inquiring mind and a vivid imagination.

In Class 1 (YR and Y1) ds had a lovely teacher who recognised and encouraged his strengths and tried to help him work on his weaker areas. When he moved up into Class 2 (Y2 and Y3) he 'did not make the transition well'. His new teacher labelled him as lazy and regularly kept him in at break to finish work. It is only in the last few months, coinciding with the help from a specialist centre we managed to get ds through the paediatrician, that the school have begun to recognise that there are problems and have at last written an IEP - yay! It says School Action Plus on it so I am assuming that refers to the extra help we have managed to get ds outside of the school system - am I right?

Now I am 99% convinced that ds has dyspraxia and fairly sure that he has dyslexia as well. What I am asking is, how do I get a diagnosis, because this seems to be the only way to get the school to recognise and provide the help ds needs. He is now so disillusioned with school that he is very reluctant to attend, refuses to wear his hearing aids and indeed will not do or use anything that makes him stand out as different from his peers in any way - he has been picked on in the past. Should I push for an ed pysch assessment or do I need the paediatrician to diagnose? Help! Anyone!

I just want to do the right thing. I am fed up with all the faffing around. Ds is Y3 now and we seem to be no further forward that we were when he first moved into Y2.

Sorry this is so long..

can't help re who should diagnose - I'd try pushing everyone if I were you!

School Action Plus - the plus bit does mean that outside agencies apart from school are involved.

having an IEP will also mean that you have a regular review (at least once a term) this should be with teacher, SENCo, and anyone else external involved with him.

THis should give you a good chance to air your concerns with other professionals present who can put forward their opinions too and if needed back you up.

Thanks Panda.

I had a long talk with ds's OT today which helped a lot, and she said much the same as you, push all the doors! So I have an appointment with his teacher on Friday, and I think I am going to push again for an ed pysch assessment. He has been signed up by the OT for another course of fine motors skills therapy at a specialist centre, which does I think have some clout! If the school still aren't keen I shall have to get back to the paediatrician I suppose.

Why is it all such hard work?

Hi there, just thought I would respond to your post, as this is where my speciality and interests lie.
I can entirely sense your understandable frustration with this situation, as you do not want your DS to fall through the cracks of the system.
I am a KS1 teacher but am a specialist in working with children with special needs. School action plus can mean a range of things, it can mean that outside agencies are involved in your childs education, however it can also mean that your child is getting extra support within the school. There are three levels of IEP's, school action (child is working with their IEP with only the help of the teacher/TA), school action plus which is what I mentioned above, and statement which means that your childs IEP would have a certian amount of hours attached to it and would have a one to one support system in place for those hours from a learning support assistant.
Does your childs school have a learning support manager? If so, they should be your first port of call, if not, then there has to be a staff memeber responsible for Special Needs (usually tends to be the Deputy Head, but could be any staff member) so speak to them about your concerns. An Educational Psychologist is the person that does the testing for any learning needs (dyspraxia etc..)
Unfortunately this all comes down to money, some boroughs have 10 Ed Psychs and some only have one! These individuals have to cater to all the schools in the borough and as you can imagine, since the children are only in school a certain amount of hours in a day, it is sometimes a long waiting list.
I do not know your DS obviously, and am only going by what you have written above, but a lot of the behaviours you have written about are displayed by children on the Autistic Spectrum. PLEASE do not get me wrong, I am NOT saying this is the situation, but many children with Aspergers Syndrome display a lot of the challenges that you have described. I do not mean to confuse you or cause any upset, I am just giving information based on my own personal experience.
I think if I were in your shoes, and with the limited information I have read, I would contact the school and see who is in charge of special needs. Make an appointment to meet with this staff member face to face and take in a list of your concerns (I find a list helps as it makes sure you do not forget anything!) Depending on the response from the school, take the situation from there. I think it is important to go in with a level head and put whatever issues you may have had with the school (if you have had any) aside and start a fresh slate. It is the schools responsiblity to provide the best education possible for your son, it may not happened instantaneously with having an assessment done, but the ball needs to start rolling. When you meet with the staff member, make sure to have a list of exactly what your concerns are in terms of his behaviours he is exhibiting, and if possible go in well educated yourself with information, look up info on dyspraxia and dyslexia to make comparisons to. Speaking from experience, it is much easier to speak to a parent who has knowledge of what they are talking about, and who knows what it is they want to have as the final outcome!

Anyway, if I can be of any further help, please contact me. Sorry my post is so long!

I would ask your GP to refer your son to a developmental peadiatrician. Ed Pyschs cannot make any diagnosis - what they do is make recommendations re support with schooling.

The IEP should be reviewed termly with you present - it certainly should not be presented to you already written out (as some schools do).

You may also want to contact the Dyscovery Centre.

Thank you, melissa and Attila for your replies.

First, melissa, please don't think you have caused any upset. I am very grateful for the advice in your post and it makes a lot of sense. You obviously are very knowledgeable - I wish you had been ds's teacher in KS1 - I think we would have gone a lot further along the line. I hear what you are saying about ASD, but I do think that if you were to meet ds, you would agree that, whereas some of his behaviours and tendencies can look like ASD, he does not really fall into that category. It was something that crossed our minds fairly early on in this process - I also work with a lot of ASD youngsters, so have a bit of an idea what to look for - but we are fairly certain that it is not the case. All the knowledge and info we do have seems to point to dyspraxia/DCD/dyslexia. I have met again with ds's teacher this week, who is now accepting reluctantly that he has issues, but is still throwing in the lazy card and also reckons that once he learns to write all his troubles will be over! I will be talking to the Senco and head again soon I think..... As for ed psychs - we only seem to have one in Devon!

Attila thank you for your contribution as well - my meeting with the teacher this week was to review the IEP, so we are getting there with that. Ds does see a paediatrician - he was referred when his hearing impairment first became apparent and she has kept him on - is a developmental paediatrician different?

hiya, thank you for the compliment. Great news that the teacher is starting to recgnise that their is an obvious concern. What came of the meeting of review for the IEP?
Thats the issue with the ed psychs, they are so much in demand, it is so frustrating for those outside of the big cities, where they seem to be more readily available.
Its great that you have experience with kids with ASD, in order to know what the signs are, and be able to spot them if they were the case.
Do you know what your next step to do is now? Is the Senco supportive?
It might be worth contacting the dyslexia association to find out what support they can offer, and might be able to help you with getting a diagnosis.
I would be interested in knowing the outcome of the situation.

In the last week or so we have gone two steps forward, one step back.
The IEP meeting was OK, we now have an additional incentive scheme involving smiley faces (just like this one )for concentration and getting work done in school, and getting ready for school in the mornings. At the moment this is just about working.
However, the specialist group ds was attending will not be running this half term due to staff shortages (!), something I only found out when I rang to check something else. Ds is very disappointed, cos he loves that group.
Also, the OT at the last assessment recommended a sit-fit cushion for use in school. The school will not buy one as they think it is too expensive and might not work . I have tried to borrow one from the specialist centre, but they do not have a spare. I checked out the price nd they come out at about £20 -£25. Not sure if I shold buy one for him, or whether I should (or even can)insist that the school buy one as it is for use in school.

We do have another paed appointment in a couple of weeks, so I am hoping that it may be an opportunity to push for a diagnosis/more practical help for ds.

Any advice gratefully received!

would the school senco be prepared to come to the paed appointment? THat well the paed can back up what you are saying with what he needs in school. Once I got the senco and paed together much more help was forthcoming!

If you suspect dyspraxia, that is something that your OT should be able to test for. My son was diagnosed followign movement asessment battery tested by his OT.

I'd also point out that there can be a lot of overlap between dyspraxia and ASD disorders. Ds1 was orignially suspected of autism, but diagnosed with dyspraxia and social and communication difficulties. If you look on the dyspraxia foundation website it does list a lot of asd type symptoms as also being common to dyspraxia.

Regarding the hearing aids, is it possible to go back to the unit and see if he could be fitted for more discreet models? I'm hearing impaired too, and refused to wear mine as a child until I was given some that were less obvious. Not that I even wear those now!

Icanseethesea...how frustrating. I can only speak to what I have been told by the learning support manager at my school, as I have a child in my class who has severe sight needs, and requires a lot of extra equipment to help him to access the curriculum like the other children, and she told me that if there is a medical need for a device for the pupil, in order to help them to access the curriculum, then it is the schools responsiblility to provide this for the child. She said it comes under the government policy of Every Child Matters. In my experience though, there is a difference between the OT(or any other specialist) recommending it and the OT requiring it? It has to be written as a requirement as opposed to just a recommendation which makes it seem more like it might be optional. Could you speak to the OT to see what could be done about this? The only thing with the school providing it, then it is obviously their property, and he would not have the cushion at anytime that he is not in school (holidays etc..) so if you feel it would be worthwhile to have at home in the holidays, then you could get it for him, and then it is your own property and you can take it home if and when you please.

Great news about the incentive scheme, fingers crossed it continues to be a positive experience.