What can school do while waiting for special needs assessment for child with very difficult behaviour

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Morning all - I'm hoping for some voices of experience.

ds1 (4) started school in September in a class of 28 children - all who were summer born 4 yo. There is a boy in the class- lets call him K - who hits indicrimantely. Unfortunatley this behaviour has now caught on and some other children are also doing it. Ds1 is getting hit nearly every day.

Teacher wants 1-1 help for K and he they have started assessment process. But I know this can take a long long time.

I'm meeting with head teacher tomorrow because I'm not happy with the progress being made with improving the behaviour of the whole class and really think there will be a serious injury if this isn't stopped soon.

I'd like to be very armed information because this headteacher is very focussed on rules and money - bit low on flexibility and common sense. So anything you can tell me about what schools can/should do to support a child and his class mates while waiting for assessment. Seems a bit crazy that everyone can see K needs help, and he might get it eventually, but there's going to be a lot of hurt and disruption before then.

Well it depends on what you mean by "assessment". There is school educational assessment (which usually involves Ed Psych from the LEA). There is also NHS assessment, to see if the child has a "condition" - though that would have to be initiated by the parents which can be painful depending on how far they have their heads around this. But it's possible that if they initiated this in tandem he might get diagnosed with something which would give the school some clues on managing him.

Children don't often "hit indiscriminately". It's possible (for instance) that the child has for whatever reason major issues with personal space and panics in crowded noisy situations. Giving him space and stopping the other children from winding him up might make a HUGE difference. But it might be something else entirely.

Absolutely basic first step would be for school to keep a log of this behaviour, using the ABC method: ie noting Antecedant (what triggers it) Behaviour (what he does) and Consequence (what happens next). Just writing it down like this may mean they find a trigger. Or they may realise that the consequence (eg time out in a quiet place) is something he craves. That won't get a diagnosis or a proper plan to tackle it, but they may be able to make some very basic adjustments to be able to keep him in school in the meantime.

The other thing - sod the head's attitude, the school must by law have a SENCO, who is responsible for making sure Special Ed needs are met. And there must also be a governor on the GB with responsibility for SN, who should also be looking out for this child and his classmates. The Governing Body has the whip hand of the head, so if you need to escalate that's where I'd go next.

Agree about what you mean by assessment. A statement,with resulting 1-1 if awarded (notalwys...) can be obtained without a dx though it can be ahrder to get,both my boys with Sn got their statements before diagnosis was given, with ds1 due toresons such as in the OP.

School can do plenty; making sure child hs options (egds1 uses a timeout room staffed on a rota at rbeak times),the parents are included and up to date (school link books all the way), adviceis taken frombehabviour teams and that the SENCO is well resourced and trained to help.

They alsocan'tallowchild topalce others at risk- and should be shouting and shouting for help.

Welldone in being proactive:when we werein this position the aprents went at merather than tackle the Head,and what you aredoing is far more productive.

how is Mumc oping? its aterrible timeforthe parents and sometimesasmile in the playground makes real differneces as well.

Thanks for the info.

I haven't spoken with the mum - she scares the hell out of me. One day K did a fake punch right into ds1's face and she grabbed K's jacket and cuffed him round the face. School are aware of potential problems at home because of previous children.

Really interesting to hear about all the thigs the school can do because I can give the Head the 3rd degree to check they are.

By 'indiscriminantly' (spell?) I didn't mean without reason, I meant there were no favourite victims, it was just whoever is at hand - hence thinking that there is something going on in his head that he needs help with, rather than it being an issue of friends falling out. I am chatting to 2 other mum's who see it the same way as I do, keeping them informed, and trying to get them involved - but pretty much everyone else has gone down the route of 'exclude, suspend etc etc' which I don't think will help.

School can also approach the LEA for emergency funding to provide support to the child (a little boy in ds's class needed emergency support when his mum left and his behaviour went wild).
There will be an outreach behavioual support service available to the school as well in our area it is called Positive Play so you could google if it's under the same name in your area. They will work individually with the child and offer advice on strategies to the teacher.
Maybe this knowledge will help you get the school to be more pro active.

Firstly - the head has an absolute duty of care to each & every pupil in the school- Keeping the child safe is the no1 priority.

Assessment or not the head also holds the budget & CAN allocate money (if that is what is needed) to provide supervision & support int eh classroom from another adult.

She can make these decisions whilst any other processes are ongoing.
She can also make these interim changes while applying for emergency funding from the LEA (AS ASD SAYS).

Oureach services often are based at special schools or pupil referal units.

Don't forget the governers are there to support both the head & the parents/children so getting their opinion may beuseful as they will ahve an input in to the schools behaviour management policy.

Please don't allow the head to fob you off with policy & procedure she is in a position of authority & should have the ability to make decisions without waiting for lengthy assessment processes.

Thanks for all your information it has been really helpful. When I was booking the meeting with the Head I was quite worried he would just say something like boys will be boys, or ds needs to toughen up. But in 10 days off attendance he has been: headbutted, face scratched, face cut with a pen, pushed hard to the ground, had a toy car thrown at his head which left a cut, bump & bruise, been slapped round the face. A number of mum's say similar things ahppen to their children in that class every day. I feel that class is out of control but since it is my first child I wasn;t sure if this was normal. It is so sad for this little boy because the other kids learnt some choice words and behaviour and now he is getting the blame for everything and I really feel for him. And I really feel for the teached because she has been given Mission Impossible - big class, young kids, couple of special needs, not enough support. If she's still there after Easter I'll eat my keyboard.

Thanks again.