How much, and what sort of help does your child get at school?

[Runoutofideas]

Hi,
Apologies for the rather vague question, but I'm currently doing a course to be a teaching assistant in school. I have no experience of children with SEN and am trying to get a clearer understanding of the range of their needs. Apart from 1:1 with a TA/LSA what other help is available? Is your child able to get everything they need within a mainstream school? If not, what else would help?

I'm really sorry if the questions sound insensitive or intrusive but all I can find online are general bits about statements detailing what should be provided, but not what the provision actually is....

If anyone has the time to educate me I'd be very grateful - thanks

DS has language delay and subtle social communication difficulties, and probably isn't on the spectrum. I'ld say he's a year at least behind his peers in conversational ability/social skills. Apart from the odd SALT visit and small group session with a TA he gets bog all help in school. The vast majority of kids with SEN are not statemented.

what would help? some sort of outreach access from one of the city's language units (my city has 4 language units for kids with language problems).

It varies hugely from area to area. In my area you get bog all help without a statement, and statements are very hard to get. I've not applied for a statement for him, as private SALT (who I trust for an independent opinion) doesn't think he needs one, and without any sort of professional backup, I am not inclined to apply.

so to make it crystal clear - don't even assume that most children with SEN get 1:1 time with TA/LSA.

Thanks TC
Is he on School Action or School Action Plus? Is this in any way effective or just putting a name to dealing with a range of issues not considered serious enough for a statement? Is his small group session with the TA with other children with language delay, or just a general group session? Who does get to use the language units? Purely statemented children? Sorry for all the questions but you are giving me a clearer picture...

He should be on SA+ as an outside agency is involved, but if he is in then no-one has told me! Problem with SA and SA+ is that you have v little recourse if support is cut or withdrawn, by comparison to a statement.

Small group sessions were working on phonological awareness last year, I wasn't told if the other children he was with had SEN. Yes - would be statemented children in a language unit - head of SALT and the ed psych would have to deem a child suitable for the placement.

Difficulty is that DS has tested within normal range on some of the SALT formal testing (NB which involves being asked questions about a picture in front of him, rather than his ability of deal with purely aural information and converse), and is very compliant in the structured school setting, and copes very well - so there is no great incentive for anyone to do anything that might cost money iyswim.

Ds1 is deaf, on school action plus, has 3 hours support a week, the majority of this is taken with checking his equipment is working at the start of each day. The rest is 1:1 with TA when rest of the class are at assembly working on his speech therapy targets and reinforcing new subject specific vocabulary. He also has visits about once a half term from a teacher of the deaf but this is mostly advising the teacher and TA rather than working with him direct.

In Reception, my DS initially had 5 hours 1:1 support on SA+ when he started school. This was to provide support at the start of the day when he was showing school refusal. He now has full-time 1:1 provided through a statement. The 1:1 assists him 1:1 for table work, but she also takes small social groups and guided reading groups ( of which my DS is one member). She has to make the visual resources and social stories that he requires. She is actively involved in planning and providing a differentiated curriculum, and takes DS for frequent sensory play both for reward and also to help develop fine motor skills (sensory balls, ribbons, football, etc). We have occasional visits from an Inclusion service (should be once oa term but never is), and yearly assessments from EP and SALT, or sooner if necessary.
We have a second SEN TA who is available on ther playground to support social and play skills.
Needs are met reasonably well in MS. This is very much due to the skill and experience of the TA though. DS is in Yr 1, nearly 6, with ASD and epilepsy.

J is 7, with ADHD, autism and sensory processing difficulties. He is academically very able but severe in terms of social skills and behaviour. He is in mainstream but this is constantly under threat as his behaviour is so extreme.

It's been a long battle, but he now has a full-time TA, including breaks and lunchtimes, and there is also an extra 5 funded hours for the TA to liaise and prepare resources and also to acknowledge that J needs 2:1 support when on trips or needing restraining. So 37.5 hours of 1:1 funding altogether.

He also has a laptop and gets intermittent Speech and Language therapy (though largely just monitoring visits and therapy plans rather than direct therapy) and used to get weekly Occupational Therapy, initially for fine motor skills and then for gross motor skills and prioperceptive issues, but this is now again intermittent.

He gets weekly social skills groups and used to get weekly 1:1 behaviour support from a local service but this has now been withdrawn, partly, I suspect, because we have made complaints about the head of service who tried to block J's Statement from being full time and then made an agreement with J's current HT that they would take him in at the local EBD school!

He also gets weekly support from the local autism outreach team and half-termly visits from another autism outreach team and inclusion team.

It's quite good now! But it used to be a shitey Statement and we were even turned down twice before being granted one

As a teacher myself, I can tell you that Statements that actually meet the needs of the child are like gold dust and are largely only achieved due to the blood, sweat and tears of parents, taking many months or years and possibly via a Tribunal. I know many kids almost as severe as J who aren't even Statemented and don't get any support. They are therefore unable to cope, labelled as naughty and fail and fail .

It's a crap system and not getting any better.

Thank you for your replies - I'm angry on your behalf that it seems to be so difficult to get the help your children need. The course I've been doing implies that it's all so straight forward. I did have an inkling that might not be the case!

I'm worried that so much comes down to the TA, as personally I don't feel yet very equipped to help, and would hate to be part of the system failing yet more children.... I guess there's no substitute for experience

IME children with additional needs in MS also spend far too much time having their work set by the TA and being taught by the TA almost exclusively. This may just be my daughter's school which is shit not that good!

ds1 has a statement. In mainsream he had full time 1:1. It wasn't enough- he can't learn in classrooms full of children with unlocked doors and an LSA stapled next to him.

He has thrived since moving to and SLD/PMLD school where he can be taught independence in a safe environment with properly trained staff.

Wow - thanks for taking the time to give me such involved replies. I'm definitely getting the picture that the whole SEN provision varies hugely depending on the area and also the nature of the need. Would I be correct in thinking that for children who are clearly severely disabled help is quite forthcoming but that if the problem is less specific or more subtle then it becomes a fight?
I'm shocked at tclanger having to pay for an independent SALT which is clearly helping. Is this commonplace and so therefore a child from a low income family who could not pay is further disadvantaged?
Riven - do you feel your daughter enjoys school and benefits from it? Can I ask how she communicates?
Mrsturnip - I'm very glad your child is now thriving. Are you disappointed that his needs could not be met in MS school or feel he is better suited now?
Really grateful for all your input. Thanks

IME it is very common for children to get no or inadequate SALT provision. My daughter has 1 visit each half term yet an independent SALT said she should have 2 visits each week (one individual and one to run a group). We can't afford the private route and are hoping the LEA will fund her place and transport to a special school outside of area where she will get this.

As LEAs try to avoid giving statements all these problems will be much harder for parents and children.

Not remotely disappointed he isn't in mainstream. He should never have been in in the first place (we weren't given a choice- were told he 'had' to go to mainstream which is utter rubbish of course but we didn't know). Over my dead body will he ever go near a mainstream school again.

I don't think its any easier to get needs met with more severe/complex children. My son is non-verbal- we still had a battle on our hands to get SALT in part 2 and 3 of the statement. In many areas there's no suitable education at all for children like my son so parents end up in tribunals just to get any sort of educational provision.

I think it does vary according to where you are and the nature of the child's need. But there are (imo) 2 common issues: firstly the numbers game with "invisible" conditions such as ADHD or ASD. Lots of kids have it, if the LEA actually provided what is necessary for every child with one of these diagnoses, they would go bust. So the game is to deny the condition, delay the statement, fight the parents, grind you down. Which is what SA and SAP are for; if you are being taught about these as if they were a proper and functioning part of the SN process ... well they are being economical with the truth. They are a proper and functioning part of the LEA's budget management process because they allow them to delay the expensive step of statementing. That's all. The fight for provision is incredibly hard and slow and stacked against the family. Meanwhile the child gets little or no meaningful education because they are in an environment they aren't equipped to cope with.

The second issue is for children with more "severe" conditions. (My italics - I'm not sure they are more severe than eg low functioning ASD but ykwim) There are much fewer of them and so it's financially viable to provide an SLD/PMLD school and admit these children rather than struggle with their needs in mainstream. A statement can be almost optional once you are in one of these schools because the staff ratios are good and the children get a highly differentiated curriculum. The issue is with therapy which is in a legal grey area in terms of the statement. These children will not be doing Latin A level or whatever. Most of their "education" is learning to deal with everyday life or to acquire the basic skills which come before formal education which other kids come ready equipped with. A lot of that is to do with life skills or managing equipment or whatever and comes under the heading of therapy provided by the NHS in the school environment. Paediatric SALT, OT, Physio etc are services often in complete collapse and there is little or nothing the school can do to enforce provision of these services which ought to be the cornerstone of the child's education. There is no point whatsoever in doing a literacy class with a bunch of SLD kids if there is no SALT input to monitor the best communication method for each child, for instance.

Re:private SALT. I ended up going down the private SALT route too. my problems with accessing help started in the pre-school years - at 2.3 I realised that DS's language development had ground to a halt - got fobbed off as a middle class neurotic competitive mother by GP and HV, and encouraged to believe all would magically right itself by 3. It didn't. At 3 DS finally made it onto an 8 month SALT waiting list. (nb. the first NHS SALT he saw was pretty useless anyway tbh as she wasn't used to dealing with receptive language problems).So as soon as I learnt the likely wait for NHS SALT, I arranged a few private appointments with financial help from family. THe private appointments have made a huge difference. He didnt get to see a paediatrician for ASD assessment until he was 4.1, so 5 months prior to starting reception.

I realise you are asking about school not pre-school, but I think it's useful for you to see how pre-school services can vary from area to area, so some unlucky children can end up slipping through the net and getting little support before they start school, leaving school to pick up the pieces.

yep i was lucky that o i shouted very loud might be nearer the truth
,we had 1-1 in place for nursery though i not for mums netters I would not known so much about statementing

And the lack of properly trained Lsa in main stream school is the reason I am opting for Sn school for my ds ,where least there i know that the staff do have the experainceand skills to assist him

oh and i second the quick fix issue with salts we do have good one atm but shes told me unoffically that she has been told to concertrate on the kids that can be fixed quick ,so cutting down waiting lists but not really helping those that needit

oh for my ideal Lsa they would have to be makton trained , pecs trained know about laungage problems ,understand ds sensory issues ,some physio experaince ot go amiss as ds will need help to get arund,oh and have some experaince of dealing with a child that will not co play,oh and most of all sense of humour when ds refuses to do whatever asks and scream blue murder

Thanks again for all your replies - it really is very useful and proving to be a bit of an eye-opener. I'm getting frustrated for you so I can only begin to imagine the fights you've been through. I'm going to start searching for more relevant courses before attempting to get a job - I have a basic grasp of Makaton already but obviously I have a lot more learning to do myself before I can be effective in helping children who need it. Please keep telling me about your situations - you are doing a great job of educating me! Thanks again.