School grrrrrrr

[TheMaleyDale]

ds' 1:1 is rubbish, she isn't particularly bright, she has no idea what she is doing, but does it in the most caring way. She has had no training, no input from the SENCo or from any outside agencies. She is doing her best but she is failing my child.

Finally, the SENCo got to read the damning report from the private Ed Pscyh and she called me into her office today and blamed EVERYTHING they were getting wrong on his 1:1

I didn't know how to react. If I'm honest, I was amazed and immensley grateful that the SENCo was making any time for me at all.

I am now livid, but stuck in a situation where the SENCo is motivated to do somethings now to help my ds (namely let in one of our tutors). I don't want to put her back up now, and of course my ds' support comes way way before the feelings of an adult who can take care of herself, but blaming this poor girl just seems so so wrong and I feel awful for her and don't know how to make it better.

Remember it was the school that employed her we had same problem ds last lsa was one the school used last year for another child who was useless for ds .where reality is they should employed someone with reverlent experiance or least given the lsa proper training

I think that however caring this girl is, if she's useless then your DS's needs must come first at this crucial stage in his education. It is a top result that the school will let in one of your tutors - let the girl down gently, and tell her you'll personally give her a good reference for future childcare jobs but that you need a different expertise in the LSA at this stage. It is nice that you care, and it is of course wrong of the SENCO to blame her for everything without giving her any training - but a brighter person would have picked up on what to do with your DS, or would have asked you for tips - if she's useless then she needs to go, sorry to sound harsh.

You're both right, but she wouldn't have BEEN useless if they had given her some sensible direction, but until the EP report they were insisting that she should ensure ds's experience was 'child-led' to fit in with their ethos. Now the EP said that is very wrong, they are blaming her for not using her initiative and directing DS more.

It was THEM, not her, that told me they don't do 'adult-directed' because it doesn't fit their Philosophy.

It really isn't her fault. But, she is from an agency, so I suppose it is easy to blame her agency for not training her properly. In reality, she came in and tried to fit in with them as much as she could, - now they are blaming her for it.

I KNOW this isn't my problem, and certainly not worth risking my ds' provision for, but it feels terribly terribly wrong what they are doing, and I feel dreadful. They set her up as the scapegoat.

I have no idea whether they are 'letting her go', but they shouldn't do really because the LA are funding her, wheras the tutor is going in at my expense. Even so, she is redundant. Perhaps they will use DS' money to keep her for a while, - I don't know.

God this is awful. Tis Starlight btw.

You should get the funding though ? The way it worked for me was that the school agreed to interview my tutors, then when they approved them, took them on as LEA-funded LSAs. Worth a try? The school does sound shit - that f-ing child-led stuff drives me spare. The whole point is that children need teaching, nf as well as SN! It's like the stupid people who think following my DS round the room copying his stims is going to somehow contribute to his learning. Load of fucking shit, imho. I agree they've been unfair, but it is not on you and you are the only one in this whole mess who has your DS's interests solidly at heart. Grab the chance to get your tutor in with both hands, I say. My DS would never have got as far as he has in mainstream with a non-ABA, non-trained, useless LSA, even if it were not her fault.

No, I won't get the funding. They really don't want my tutor in and are only doing it reluctantly to try to show the tribunal that they tried something we wanted, and no doubt are going to try hard to find ways of finding fault with the programme.

It has taken since September with me harping on to get them to agree to my tutor going in.
Even now they are saying that she can only go to observe what ds is doing in preschool to inform what she is doing at home. It is a start though, - a very very slow start!

God, what a pain for you. It just makes me feel so angry/hopeless that they make us fight for all this stuff. After all, why on earth would we be recommending something that is not actually effective for our own child??? They seem to think that all us mums have just been brainwashed by the ABA crowd, it couldn't possibly be that there's something in it. Mind you, as a wise mum pointed out to me, the establishment simply cannot afford to admit that ABA is effective, as they haven't got the funds to give it to everyone. Actually they have got the funds, it would just take a MASSIVE redirection of existing funds currently being spent on TEACCH and a load of old bollocks "training" courses. And the truth is that they can't be arsed to make such a major change.
You have your foot in the door at least, now they will get to see that your tutor does not have 2 heads, and may even have something good to offer.

Yes Starlight I'm sure that's how they justify it in their little heads. But the sad truth is that the state's (woefully inadequate for all but the most HF ) provision for autistic kids will turn out adults who will need far more expensive care than might have been possible with some early intervention/behavioural training. I fear too that the "system" is churning out a lot of kids for whom aggression is unchecked - and that's nf kids as well as SN.