Teaching a child with sen

[KateGrey]

I was wondering if someone might be able to help.

I have a five year old who has autism. Currently in a mainstream school. Dc has a 1:1. What should we be expecting from the teacher? As School say they don’t share planning with parents so we don’t know what input the teacher has though it doesn’t feel like any, we don’t see her and she never fills in our communication log. We’ve not seen any progress reports and the teacher has not attended any of our meetings.

Outside support says my dc is isolated for 2 of the 3 hours she’s in school.

I teach a child with autism who has a 1:1. The support person is not a teacher so has no responsibility for planning, teaching or assessment. She is there to support the child's access to mainstream education - re-explaining work, helping with toileting, supporting them to play outside etc. I am responsible for the child's education and therefore do all reporting, assessment, planning, parental communication (including diary and regular meetings). We only do written reports once a year though so the parents have never seen a report for their child from me and won't until just before the summer. What you have in place doesn't sound right but it's possible the teacher is more involved than you think, just not good at communicating. Ask for a meeting after school and find out.

Hiya I'm an experienced primary school teacher. Not sharing planning is totally normal and I wouldn't expect them too. I would expect then to come to review meets unless there was a reason not to i.e couldn't get cover or as sometimes happens has 2 at the same time. I would also expect them to share DC's targets along with a plan of how they are going to meet them. I probably would expect a daily communication diary as I would expect the 1:1 to fill that in but I would write in one if there was a particular issue or if I had done some specific work with them so maybe teacher once a week 1:1 rest of the time. Hope that helps.

Just to add. I would detail the child's work etc on my planning and would give appropriate taks but would share all planning with parents as it would also include detail of rest of class!

Do you mean your DC is only in school 3hrs a day- or is that the period the outside support is in school?

She’s only allowed in school three hours a day.

Okay that sounds normal then regarding planning. Her journal is mostly filled with stuff like playing with the dolls house and doing puzzles. Her teacher never writes in it. The specialist teacher from the council seems to be deciding a lot of her learning.

The other thing is the school have given me two one plans from Feb to June. Neither are signed by anyone, nor dated and we haven’t been involved at all. The information within the plan has come from speech therapy, specialist teacher and our OT. There’s no school input.

Who has decided that she is only allowed in school for 3 hours a day?

Do you want her to stay in MS or would you prefer a specialist setting?

The head teacher. I’ve also had to write an integration plan for her. We’ve also been told by outside sources she’s alone for 2 out of the 3 hours she’s there. It’s “not beneficial for the other child to play pop up pirate with her” says the head so she’s left on her own a lot. Lunch is on her own with 2 1:1s and her teacher in her class. We once turned up and they’d all gone on a school trip that they hadn’t told us about.

She’s moving schools. We’ve opted for a specialist setting as I can’t put her through a mainstream again after this experience.

I suppose I’m just wondering how much input her teacher has. The four professionals who’ve been in have said they teacher has not introduced herself or spoken to them. And she doesn’t attend our meetings.

Well no, not ideal. The class teacher of the class she is assigned to is responsible and accountable for her education, so she should be involved.

However, if you are moving on to Specialist and that is all sorted, it's probably best that your DD's anxiety is kept as low as possible and the focus of her curriculum in the short term is a successful transition between settings.

Seems odd that the teacher isn't working with the professionals or contributing to the single plan. I would expect to do both those and give a report at a review meeting. Are they a supply teacher or a employed by the school or maybe they are am nqt and need support in this area? If she is moving though I'd try not to worry too much

I don’t think head teachers are allowed to decide that children have to be part time. I suspect it isn’t legal, but I’m not an expert. Isn’t excluding her from a school trip also disability discrimination?

The teacher is fully accountable for your child and should be planning, assessing and working with your child. They are not allowed to just put a child with Sen with a 1:1 and ignore, that is why the most recent Sen code of practice was brought in.

Also your teacher should be involved in all professional meetings and you should be involved in IEP meetings and reviews.

How long until your dc moves school?

Have you visited some special schools. You will hopefully be pleasantly surprised at how well they’ll include your little girl in the life of the school.

It sounds like you’re sorted and she’s moving, but for anyone else in a similar situation, it is NOT okay for a school to only cater for a child for less than the whole day. They need to provide a full education. IPSEA are great for advice on these sorts of issues.

Does she have an EHCP and is her move to special setting agreed by LA?

If not and you are fighting still then refuse PT and if they insist on sending her home then make sure you email every time to say "due to them asking you at x time to pick dd up and you collected her at y time - Gould like the exclusion paperwork that day before your reintegration meeting the following morning." Ask for the time of intervention meeting and if teacher will attend this meeting.

I've been through this myself. It's a very adversarial system sadly. Usually my advice is work with the school as much as possible but if they aren't meeting you halfway you have to get legal and tough to get the information you need to support your move to specialist placement.

I would expect the teacher to be planning and assessing for the child and to attend meetings. However ime I was blocked from all teaching staff and only senco would meet me or she would respond to any emails I sent teachers (even though she told me to email the teacher 🤦🏼‍♀️). She made things impossible and made my life hell to force me to withdraw ds from school rather than them having to remove him iyswim? (As it was da removed himself after being assaulted with a knife)

I would honestly work WITH school as much as you can but if they won't work with you then do what you need to.

Have a look at educational equality (they have a closed FB Page).

Btw - is this an academy?

Your school are breaking the law. Your DD is entitled to a full time education like everyone else. They aren't allowed to tell you she can only attend part time.

They also aren't supposed to exclude her from activities like school trips.

This is disability discrimination.

I assume if you are considering moving to specialist she has an EHCP? Does this state what support she should be receiving?

You haven't mentioned a SENCo? They are responsible for coordinating provision for children with SEN in school. It's strange that you are not invited to meetings. The Code of Practice states that parents, and children too where applicable should be involved in agreeing targets etc and should have a goog understanding of how their child is being supported.