Is it a special need if it is just temporary? & can I get help?

[Katymac]

As DD is having sight problems atm

We have been told they will 'just go' but we don't know when

So what should I be doing about support for her? Does anyone know how I should approach the school?

'Temporary' is such an odd word it could mean a few hours or several months

I put this in the teenagers bit but Lou said to come here

(& to contact the SENCO at school)

what kind of difficulties is she having? visual acuity/visual field etc?

there should be a sensory team in your area with a teacher of pupils with visual impairment. they should be able to come and assess your dd and advise her teachers of any adaptations that will be required to help your dd.

how is she coping with the sight problems? do you think she might want to talk to someone for reassurance too?

I would contact the senco at school or specialist advisory teaching service in your council,
firstly if your daughter was considered to be too ill to go to school then they would have to refer to home/hospital teaching service, you need to find out what the criteria for school absence would be for this service to apply to your daughter

but if a child is excluded for 5 days then they are entitled to some teaching so there must be some policy on a situation for your dd.

have the school carried out a risk assessment for your dd? and are health and safety policies being put into procedure? are all staff aware of your dd's needs atm and how are they going to provide for them?

I would contact ace or ipsea (both charity organisations)for advice or you could try your councils parent partnership service(but be aware these are not completely independent as are run by the lea)

good luck and I really hope your dd is better soon

chatee

Counselling is a bit hard to come by (I have been trying for other issues for a while)

There is a LSA at school but she can only pop in occasionally to see how DD is doing

She can't see any colour everything is shades of gray & there is a lot of blurring - when doing the eye tests she can see curvy letters like O or S but the straight letters go bendy (apparently)

It still counts as a 'SN' even if it is just temporary. She can be taken off the SEN register if she no longer needs to be on it. Approach the SENCO at school, arrange an appointment to see her and take along any Dr letter/ statement of diagnosis. The school has a duty to make sure she receives support she needs to access the curriculum etc. If she is in Secondary school it might give her special access arangements during exams e.g. extra time/ a reader
It also means the SENCO can inform her class teachers of her problems via an IEP and let them know what strategies they can put in place to help her during class.
Has her Dr passed on any recomendations, ideas to help her inevery day life that the school could be using too?
Hope you DD gets well soon.

a visiting specialist teacher should be able to work out which fonts and font sizes would be most useful for your dd. is she sitting exams soon? even if this is a short term problem, she may need to apply for special exam arrangements.

has anyone tried coloured overlays with her? might sound a bit odd if she is not seeing colours at the moment, but sometimes coloured overlays can help when letters seem distorted.

her teachers might need some advice on using the best contrasting colours to ensure that texts and diagrams are as clear as possible.

She hasn't got exams (at least I don't think so as she is yr7)

I will see who I have to talk to tomorrow