multi disciplinary meeting - confused

[claw3]

Ds has come home with a letter in his book bag stating the school are organising a multi-disciplinary meeting and will inform me of the date.

Im confused!

1. Ds has never had a multi-disciplinary assessment, so who will the school be inviting?

1. Do you need to have a MD assessment before you can have a MD meeting.

The only person who has been into school is senior SALT to assess after Paed requested this.

well I work at a hospital and they have multi-disciplinary meetings for different physical ailments - so say they might have radiologists meeting with the chest consultants to discuss scan findings. So wouldn't have thought you would have to have a MD assessment. I would guess that the MD meeting would involve SALT and some other health pro such as a psychologist or paed or possibly OT. But since everywhere does things differently, you'll have to ask the school who they are inviting to it.

Total, thanks for replying.

So they could invite professionals who have never assessed ds?

The letter states that school SENCO has spoken to the LEA SEN officer and they have decided to organise a multi-disciplinary meeting.

I have tried phoning the school, but SENCO is busy (as usual) she now wont be in until Thursday of next week.

How frustrating. Why not ask the SEN officer at the LEA? Or give the head a ring?

I would imagine they'll try to pull together all those involved in his care

The LEA SEN officer is a good idea. The Head wont have a clue and will just tell me to speak to SENCO!

I was imagining the same thing, getting everyone involved in ds care along to a meeting, thats why im confused.

OT hasnt seen ds since 2008 and he has now been discharged from their service as we have moved boroughs and are on waiting list for new borough.

Dietitian has told us there is nothing she can do and referred us on.

Ds hasnt been seen by CAMHS or feeding clinic yet, we are awaiting appointments.

Paed is new and we have seen him twice. School wont have his details. (obviously i could give these, but the school havent asked)

That leaves SALT, who has done an assessment.

The meeting isnt going to be very multi is it!

it could be that they are inviting everyone who they feel COULD offer some support or input. I would see it as a positive thing & getting people on board with a comittment to help.
If there is anyone YOU feel you want there, invite them.

Starlight, i have become very cynical of the school and well just about everyone else as well!

I am always very suspicious of anything the school does and with good reason too. Your first comment is probably nearer to the truth, the school try to wriggle out of giving any help at all, which is what ds currently gets.

The MD meeting came after i wrote to SEN (she was too busy to talk to me) stated that ds had been just discharged from hospital after self harming and pointed out his self harming is caused by stress and anxiety and that we urgently need to get an IEP in place and the reasonable adjustments i had been suggesting for months made.

Strangely enough after this letter i received a letter from the school about ds's attendance (time off which he spent in hospital) and a further letter making an appointment with the attendance officer!

The letter is a good idea, that seems to be the only form of communication i have with the school.

I want to be prepared for this meeting, as at the last meeting all the concerns they had listed on a draft IEP, disappeared when i asked how they were going to help ds. Apparently all the concerns had now righted themselves without any help and ds wasnt experiencing these problems anymore a week after the IEP being drafted! I was gobsmacked.

No help at all isnt quite accurate actually, he has been given a pass card to go in at playtime as he often gets confused at playtimes. But gets not help to deal with his social skills. (and doesnt use the card, this is seen as a good thing, as he is coping, yeah coping by pulling the skin off of his face)

A card for when he soils himself (he has never used) this is seen as he doesnt soil himself in school, despite me telling them he comes home soiled.

A card to ask for help in class as he will never ask (he hasnt used this either) this is seen as he is coping and doesnt need help.

'involvement' is not 'outcomes'

Starlight....how right you are and I shall use this quote!!

And of course limited and crap involvement is never going to lead to positive outcomes is it?

Claw, I agree though, it is a chance to make a list of all your concerns and put them all to them

Starlight, meeting is on the 25th of this month, he had 13 days off for hospital which i provided evidence for. Other than that he has had 4 days off here and there for usual illness. Im liking your idea, i might just assume that this is the purpose of the meeting, any advance warning and they manage to twist things.

For example ds tried to use his playtime card once, the purpose of the card was for him to use it he was overwhelmed or confused. He was questioned about why he was using it and then sent to the Head teacher for telling lies! I wrote to the school, telling them how disappointed i was and pointed out how the card should be used. In a meeting a week later with an outside agency to discuss ds's self esteem, they had applied the info in my letter to themselves and stated thats how the card was used. I then looked bitter for back tracking!

You have hit the nail on the head, that is all they ever try to do, palm me off with outside agencies.

Ds's IEP 'help given' reads, referred to ASD outreach, referred to TAMHS, referred to Waterside outreach and the bloody cards! All referrals but TAMHS were refused.

I put everything in writing and they dont respond or respond inappropriate avoiding what i have asked.

I will write to them with regard to the MD meeting as you suggested earlier.

I am also going to see if i can get someone to come with me, my own expert on what school can and cannot do, to back me up. I feel like i am on trial, always gathering evidence and having to prove myself.

Hi Debs, i have put my concerns to them, time and time again, verbally and in writing. Its like hitting my head against a brick wall.

I could be wrong, this meeting could be to put into action what i have been suggesting for months. In fact i really hope it is, but given the schools past record, i doubt it.

If they wanted to put into action what i have been suggesting for months, surely they would have done just that and not arranged a meeting?

No worries Starlight, i wont tell him!

Starlight, i have a very strong feeling that when i attend the meeting the school are going to say that they have no concerns about ds whatsoever. They are going to try and make it sound like their card system is working and has helped ds overcome all of his previous problems.

Like before i was seen as negative. Ds doesnt use his cards and the school are saying this is a good thing, as he obviously doesnt feel the need.

Short of telling them they are not being truthful, how do i deal with this?

Just received an email from the SALT as i emailed her yesterday asking about this meeting. As far as she is aware by 'multi' they mean a person outside of the school and are planning on this meeting being with myself, the school and the SALT who works in the school!

She has suggested that i invite people too.

Exactly, by 'multi' they mean the 3 stooges who usually attend the meetings, Learning Mentor who sits there rolling her eyes at my suggestions and clock watching. Old school type Head, who seems to believe ASD doesnt exist 'its all in his head' and SENCO who works one day a week!

Getting any info from ds is like getting blood from a stone, he will tell me someone has hit him in school etc and thats it 'i dont want to talk about it'. Im guessing he doesnt use his cards because of the response he got when he tried to use it. He run to a teacher when another boy was chasing him (the boy was playing, but ds becomes quite frantic when chased) and then claimed that the boy had hit him. The teacher had been watching the whole time and knew that the boy hadnt hit him and started to question him about it. He got very confused and started claiming that other children in the playground had hit him too. She questioned him further and he held up his card, which was supposed to mean im confused, overwhelmed i need to get away from the situation and sit somewhere quietly ie the learning mentors office. It resulted in him being carted off to the Head 'so she could sort it out'! (he didnt tell me this, his teacher wrote it on the back of a smiley face chart!)

Im no expert, but it doesnt take much working out why he doesnt use his cards! Its a good thing

Monitoring his progress seems to be writing on the back of a scrap of paper.

(im on the waiting list for another school btw)

Hi Claw

Am very sorry to read of your problems currently and feel deeply for your son. I also see your DS's problems with the cards.

I would start butt kicking big time with these people, its the only way.

Where is your DS on the waiting list for another school?. This one he is at sounds completely hopeless actually and the whole story of yours is classic "needs not being met" by the school. I don't think even with a Statement they could or even would want to try and help him to meet his full educational potential.

If you have not already applied for a Statutory Assessment/statement of special needs I would suggest you do so asap. IPSEA's website is helpful in that regard and has loads of information on it.

www.ipsea.org.uk

Oh yes sorry, i was getting quite upset writing that last bit, i forgot to answer about applying for a statement!

The only evidence i have to back me up is one SALT report with identifies ds's social and communication problems, problems verbally, sequencing, gets confused etc, etc and 'likely' ASD.

I recently had 2 reports done myself, a bibic report and a Ed Psy report, ds scored very highly in the tests and the word 'gifted learner' is used. A total red herring, all his problems, ie getting dressed is painful, diet is limited etc, etc, i have no evidence of other than 'mum says'.

The school will say ds doesnt have any problems, no doubt. He isnt behind academically, very passive, doesnt cause disruption, so this equals he is doing fine. So i have been trying to gather evidence before applying.