Tangent 21 - Teachers Advice needed

Posted by
Sange

Posted on
19:50
Mar 07 2002

Teachers Advice needed

Hiya .... as some of you are aware Sean my 6 year old has ADHD. He has been on ritalin since sept after being constantly excluded from school, and the school really not being much help.
Well the last few days Sean has been having a very hard time at school a lot of his routine has been distrupted and his teaching assistant (who he adores and respects ) has been off ill. Well basically he has just recieved another exclusion from school which to be honest I'm happy with, today he ran away from school but he didn't come home I had to spend 15 mins driving round the streets looking for him therefore I'm happy he has been excluded because I don't feel he is safe there if they can let him get away like that, all they said was he did this and did that etc etc ... I questioned Sean and discovered that he went "crazy" as he calls it because another child was in his seat (people who understand ADHD will realise that children with it need everything to be just so need to know where they sit etc etc any slight devation can have terrible effects)
Ok basically I've now got to the stage where I really feel that Sean can not be educated in a main stream school, I'm having a meeting with the behavior supports team, but I was hoping that anyone here might have some advice for as to hows the best way to push to get him the Education and help he needs and deserves.

14 Replies and 3058 Views in Total.

Red "A world of No!"

Sange, can I ask ... has Seans ADHD been recognised officially by the school?

If so I am assuming he has been statemented (above stage 3).

Let's chat about this at the weekend, hon. I'll give you as much help as I can

Posted: 20:15 Mar 07 2002

Desire Girls don't like boys, girls like cars and money.

Sis...

I *know* the Code of Practice for SEN children has changed as of January this year. As far as I know theyare pushing for a veryinclusive policy at LEA (local education authority) level - which for our school means that we will have less chance of getting some of our severe EBD children education in 'special' school.

I do know of one child who just was not coping at all, but she had terrible learning difficulties and so lack of progress was easier to see... I don;t know if Red will agree but I find the progress made by children with ADHD harder to track as they can seem to take one step forward and two steps back at times! (hence the head banging against a wall at playtime)

I have a copy of the new improved code of practice where they thought they'd confuse us all even more by changing all the stages so now there is only "school action" (up to the old level 3) and "school action +" - (levels 4 and 5).

If I were you I would read all you can about this. I found a neat summary of the changes:

The SEN Code of Practice

The new SEN Code of Practice came into force in January 2002, it will:

help schools and LEAs obtain best value from considerable resources and expertise.
include the new rights and duties introduced by the SEN and Disability Act 2001.
have started in January 2002 - LEAs schools, early education settings, health and social services - must have regard to it. They must not ignore the code.

Changes from the Original SEN Code of Practice

a stronger right for children with SEN to be educated at a mainstream school.

new duties on LEAs for parents of children with SEN to be provided with services offering advice and information and a means of resolving disputes - 'Disagreement resolution'.

a new duty on schools and relevant nursery education providers to tell parents when they are making special educational provision for their child.

a new right for schools, health staff, social service staff and relevant nursery education providers to request a statutory assessment of a child.

It emphasises:

working in partnership with parents.
pupil participation.
working in partnership with other agencies.

The revised Code recommends that, to help match special educational provision to children's needs, schools and LEAs should adopt a graduated approach. It sets out a model of school-based intervention for children with special educational needs within both early education and school settings at school action and school action plus.

To support schools in developing their graduated approach a booklet called School Action and School Action Plus has been produced.

More information on obtaining a copy of the new SEN Code of Practice can be found on the DfES Code of Practice website pages.

A more jargony-filled guide can be found here: www.dfes.gov.uk/sen/viewDocument.cfm?dID=260

HTH

*hugs*

(Edited by Desire 07/03/2002 21:12)

Posted: 21:09 Mar 07 2002

Random "I don't know where you're going, Rodice. I'm going out."

Sange, you might want to also try the forums at the Times Educational Supplement website, at www.tes.co.uk/staffroom/. I'm not sure how much the people there can add that Desire and Red can't already tell you - but it never does any harm to have additional sources of information.

The SEN forum has a lot of discussion on inclusion, and at least one thread on ADHD, though perhaps not the most useful of stuff. Lurk for a while, though, cos it's not always as friendly as it is here... (any real trouble, though, and you let me know - I have administrator privileges, if I can remember the damn log-in

)

Posted: 22:16 Mar 07 2002

Sange It's only kinky the first time!!! after that it's just the Norm ;o)

Thanks guys

Red def we shall talk about it this weekend thanks hun

Sis your great I know that the Headmistress told me that if I applied for special schooling it would fall back on her school now as "they are sposed to have provision for this" I really feel the angle I need to go on here is the saftey aspect the annoying thing is a teacher physicaly grabbed him yesterday to take a toy off him and hurt his wrist yet they tell em they can't stop him running out of school???

Random thanks for that hun I'll go lurk

Posted: 22:23 Mar 07 2002

Jola

Unfortuntely I know nothing about what to do on this topic, but I'm just wanting to send you all *huggles* and hope you get everything sorted soon hun

Posted: 08:10 Mar 08 2002

Red "A world of No!"

by Desire
I don;t know if Red will agree but I find the progress made by children with ADHD harder to track as they can seem to take one step forward and two steps back at times! (hence the head banging against a wall at playtime)

Absolutely, as with all the other problems like dyspraxia, etc. Which is why I wondered if Seans ADHD was being officially recognised at school. If so, things can be adapted for him. I have a child who clearly had something other than 'learning difficulties' but the parents would not acknowledge this, seeing it as some sort of failure on their part, so it couldn't be officially recognised by the school and dealt with appropriately. Very frustrating. Managed to get him a laptop to work on finally, but it still doesn't really help

Posted: 08:26 Mar 08 2002

Sange It's only kinky the first time!!! after that it's just the Norm ;o)

Ok Red I checked on his last school report he has been assessed at 3 now as far as I'm aware this means the school believe that they can cope with Sean with a little help?

Although this is obviously not the case I'm hoping to speak to a member of the Behavior support services team this afternoon to find out exactly where I can go from here as I have now no faith that the School can not guarentee that he isn't going to run away again ... all I seem to here is "Sean has to learn to except the schools rules and punishments" but when he does do anything wrong the first person they call to sort it out is me as far as I'm concerened Sean now knows the school have no "power" over him and I feel that due to the constant exclusions last year they have brought this about themselves.

Posted: 10:27 Mar 08 2002

Sange It's only kinky the first time!!! after that it's just the Norm ;o)

OK quick update
Sean returned to school today after being off since last Friday I have been in contact with as many people as possible and fingers crossed starting next term Sean will be doing part time schooling in a special needs school and the rest of his time in his mainstream school (thus avoiding him getting too upset about missing his friends) This is also going to allow the authoritys to asses him and decide if he really needs to have fulltime at this school.I think it's when I quoted "who is going to be responsible if something happens to him" that finally shifted the school into action .. I've also been a acomplete pain in the Butt to everyone and anyone I could find in the phone book to do with Education

Posted: 14:11 Mar 14 2002

Red "A world of No!"

That's great news, sange. Keep being as big a pain in the posterior as you can, cos it's the only way you'll get results (I'm almost ashamed to say). I hope Sean copes well with the new system

Posted: 14:21 Mar 14 2002

Keenangel *Fourteen phonecalls a night??!!*

Sange, it's good to hear that things seem to be sorting themselves out for Sean. I was going to mention statementing, as Joel has a Statement... he's just had the review.. and i'm happy he's got it as it means that he won't fall through the cracks educationally wise. Its a long thing to go through, because so many people (including the parent) have to submit reports.. We have a Statement Officer, who i'm supposed to talk to should i feel there are problems with Joel's statement or schooling in general, the thing is, he has very little sympathy for children with autistic spectrum disorders, so he tends to get on the defensive if i question anything to do with Joel's statement.. fortunately i haven't needed to speak to him recently.. but best of luck hon, i'm sure it'll all work out in the long run... and you know, to get what you want for your son, you have to be a pain in the butt to get stuff done, speaking as someone who's been exactly that in the past... because they won't do it for you...

Posted: 14:58 Mar 14 2002

Green_Amber Duct tape is like the force: It has a dark side, a light side, and it holds the universe together.

Well done to you Sange, I think you've done brilliantly - too many people just sit back and wait for something to be done - it's amazing what can get done if you are a bit 'assertive'

I hope things work out for Sean now.
*hugs* to Joel and K-A as well.

A very interesting thread, and fantastic replies.

Posted: 15:39 Mar 14 2002

Sange It's only kinky the first time!!! after that it's just the Norm ;o)

Only me again

Found out last night that starting on the 24th April Sean will be attending a special school two days a week (wed & thur) and then staying at his mainstream school the other three days. This is at the moment for a period of 6 weeks so he can be assessed, So now it's really a case of wait and see all I can say is that it truely does pay to be a totaly pain in the butt

Posted: 10:05 Mar 20 2002

Red "A world of No!"

Great stuff!

Posted: 13:18 Mar 20 2002

Keenangel *Fourteen phonecalls a night??!!*

Excellent news Sange... being a pain the butt to beaucrats like this is the only way to get things done quickly or satisfactorily...

Posted: 16:36 Mar 20 2002

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