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Post by .... on Sept 6, 2009 0:33:57 GMT
Well here we go again on another rollercoaster of an academic year . My youngest has had just two days back at school and twice I've been dragged in for over half an hour a time after school. They have decided to admin her lunchtime meds which is great news. (Bit worried that they wanted me to send methyphenidate into class via her school book bag - but have arranged to deliver it daily to office) But her visual timetable has been ditched without a word. Again. And after just two days of the year her new teacher has suggested 'we give her a fresh start' and ditch her daybook. Because she has had two relatively good days in school I'm getting the 'pedantic parent' treatment. To be fair to the new teacher hasn't been briefed or updated by the school on anything previous. I did try to explain that she had the wrong idea about the daybook being 'punishment' and that it was a communcation aid.
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Post by boo on Sept 6, 2009 11:55:27 GMT
its frustrating isnt it chrysallis, hopefully the new teacher will have listened to you about the lines of communication (no irony there huh! ) last year i found out quite late in the school year that none of my sons teachers for that year had been told he has adhd or what difficulties would manifest in terms of his academic achievements. it was only when i read his school report and virtually every subject had the poor concentration, not fulfilling potential, lack of being able to get started, easily distracted, distracting others... blah blah blah that i found out cos i contacted the school with my concerns. it hard getting the balance right between making sure the teachers have an awareness and being made to feel that you are just making excuses for your child and asking for 'special treatment' or fussing over 'nothing'
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Post by .... on Sept 6, 2009 14:39:05 GMT
I asked the last teacher at the end of the year which single behaviour in the classroom would be top of her wishlist if we could eradicate it........
So we could work on it in the holidays with her...
She replied, " we're trained to handle her disruptive behaviours so its not those that are the problem. But if she could just learn to sit still and concentrate on classwork then we could teach her"
Beyond that the daybook is for them as much as me........... When exceptionally restless I alter her diet but I can't reduce the additives and preservatives in her diet to nil permanently. If she has a bad spell of impulsiveness in school then I can increase the amount of exercise she gets to an unsustainable level for a short while etc.
I am cross that the SENCO did not do as she promised and brief the new teacher before the start of term.
Do you mind if I ask how your son is doing academically? And he's ever been able to have any help to make academic progress at school?
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Post by andy12345 on Sept 6, 2009 14:40:21 GMT
Well, this year there is the NICE guidance to fall back on, Disability anti-discrimination laws.
Personally, anyone who wants to argue with NICE's .....six hundred and sixty four page adhd document is eithery stupid, stupid or stupid. Did I say stupid?
These terms "poor concentration, not fulfilling potential, could do better, easily distracted, distracting others, talks to much" were usually on my school report.......
Now, are they just polite phrases to say that the school teacher thinks that the pupil just needs good discipline or has bad parents without starting world war 3?
Take one example.............How does someone know that you are "not living up to your potential" if they never see your potential? Logic dictates that they must therefore have seen signs of potential, but they don't try to develop it, do they?
I think you had better print some copies of the adhd nice guidance leaflet (27 pages) and post them to the headmaster along with "allowing reasonable adjustment for impairments" documentation.
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Post by boo on Sept 6, 2009 15:11:50 GMT
chrysallis, i dnt mind you asking at all. he wasnt dx until he was in senior school, so hadnt had any extra help at all up to that point. he is a very bright lad though and was achieving ok and managing to keep up, there or thereabouts. he did have lots of the usual comments on his school reports though and i used to dread the headmaster walking over to me on parents evening for a 'quiet chat'. but he was never distruptive to the point of me being called in over his behaviour, well nothing serious anyway. so really, the fact that he is an intelligent lad, kind of masks the difficulties in a sense, he is capable of much more but as he is 'doing ok' people dont think its a problem, do you know what i mean. i really feel i let my DD down on this point, cos she was a very young school starter and yet was achieving high results in infants and junior school, she got to seniors and it went downhill rapidly, just like me before her. but i hadnt heard of adhd then and by the time she left, she thought of herself as stupid and incapable i wrote an email to the school before the and of last term though, because he is going into year 10 this year and as i said to them i dont want to find out half way through the year that he has slipped further and further behind and be trying to close the door after the horse has bolted and all that. so we shall see, i guess, what this year brings
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Post by .... on Sept 6, 2009 16:05:02 GMT
Well I will cross my fingers for you boo that the school keep a good eye on things for you for a change.
Last year I got called in for little chats around three times a week. They couldn't understand why detention for fidgeting at storytime made her worse not better etc. Each year brings a new set of difficulty - a teacher that doesn't 'believe' in ADHD, or one that misunderstands it etc.
She had a good spell of progress in her schooling when she was working in the class book corner when it was available. The headteacher banned that tho - said she needed to learn to cope with a classroom environment and not a watered down version of it. I've asked the parent partnership to sit in the meetings this year to help negotiate some help for her. If they are any better at it then I'll let you know boo in case you ever need them.
I have pointed out that she is entitled to reasonable adjustments as per her condition Andy. I had to when I needed her kept in the classroom for collection to stop her disappearing after school a few years back. The schools response was to say " they weren't suggesting the diagnosis was wrong but that it didn't explain some of her problems, and had the paediatrician investigated the possibility of ASD, AS, or APD." In short they seemed to conclude that 'not believing' my daughter has ADHD entitles them to get out of making reasonable adjustments for her.
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Post by laura on Sept 6, 2009 16:17:25 GMT
that is terrible, if they wont beleive a diagnosis what are you supposed to do. you shouldnt have to fight to get special adjustments, its just stupid its my sons 1st day back tomoro, itl be the start of his 2nd year in full time school and he really doesnt want to go, his behaviour over the holidays has just been getting worse. so we shall see what tomoro brings! im hoping it will do him some good tho having some kind of routine again.
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Post by .... on Sept 6, 2009 17:07:21 GMT
Yep. Schools can be that!
I hope things go well for your lad tomorrow. My DD loves school, as long as no one attempts to make her do the work set for her.
Hopefully things will go better on monday for your lad than he expects. We play good thing bad thing when my daughter comes home - she gets rewards if she can tell me one good thing for every bad thing. It helps her stay objective about things sometimes. Maybe this would work for your son too?
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Post by annie on Sept 6, 2009 17:21:18 GMT
Hi
Just wanted to say, if your child has been dx with adhd presumably they are being monitored by Camhs (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Team).
If that is the case your child should be on the SEN register (Special Education Needs Register) and the school should have implemented School Action Plus. This requires the school to write an Individual Education Plan, taking account your views and expertise about your child and clearly stating how they are going to help your child deal with and overcome the difficulties relating to his disability.
If you find your child is not on School Action Plus explain to the school they are likely to be in breach of the DDA!!
Good luck
annie
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Post by laura on Sept 6, 2009 19:03:09 GMT
thats a great idea crysallis as he hardly has anything good to say about school.
what do you use as rewards?
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Post by .... on Sept 6, 2009 20:49:58 GMT
Oh hell. I wrote you a brief history of our IEP Annie. And have deleted it somehow!!!
Heres the short version. IEP never gets done on time. When it was over 20mnths old in Jan we went in a demanded a new one. Got it by easter. Was posted a new one at end of summer term. No input was requested from us. The new IEP is useless. I'm praying hard that the parent partnership can help put things back on track in October.
Laura don't laugh. But at the moment my handbag is frequently full of harry potter stickers. She has a book to collect them in. I just give her one sticker for each thing. When I run out of stickers it can be anything from picking the next track we play off of youtube to being the one to pick whats for tea.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2009 22:58:09 GMT
I'd love to throw in some word of encouragement Chrysallis but I'm not really in any position to offer any. At least school are communicating with you. We are supposed to be getting an appointment with CAMHS soon, as they say all the tests have been done. I expect we will be fobbed off because school have been playing it down. No idea what they are playing at . In gymnastics yesterday, after she'd been climbing on the equipment I eventually found her hiding sandwiched between 2 whopping crash mats. She's off her head! At least she shook the coach's hand at the end of the lesson rather than giving her the usual bear hug
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2009 0:39:30 GMT
Hey, I'm new to the forums.
Also, I've just finished training to a be a teacher, so I know a little bit about the SEN register and how teachers avoid it.
To gain qualified teacher status you have to be aware of the SEN needs of all the children in the class, and this has to continue to gain promotion and more rungs on the pay scale. I would question the promotion of any teacher who doesn't attend to these needs.
More importantly, however, is that schools are assessed by OFSTED (the inspectors) on how good their SEN provision is. If you have enough evidence to say that they school isn't doing its job properly, you could conceivably send it to OFSTED and it could mess up the schools rating. This could be done after the OFSTED report is published, where you can challenge a report, or even as a statement to the school as a means to threaten them to sort out their affairs. I appreciate this may be a little hostile, but it is viable startegy.
Schools and teachers live in fear of OFSTED.
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Post by roland on Sept 9, 2009 1:21:59 GMT
Hi Hadros, Welcome to the forum and thank you for letting us know about OFSTED and the fear it instills. That led me to do a bit of searching, and I came up with the following site that has details about how to complain: www.ipsea.org.uk/complaints-index.htm#ofstedAnd again, welcome to the forum, and a big thank you And let us know if we can help you in any way
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Post by .... on Sept 9, 2009 9:19:58 GMT
Thanks guys. That link gives excellent advice Roland. And I might be calling on you for all kinds of advice Hadros ;D ,perhaps about PGCE as well as ofsted. And what is it with the bear hugs Giddy? My DD frequently assaults aquaintances and school staff in the supermarket etc by running up and hugging them unexpectedly lol . People seem flattered by it usually, but it traumatises me lol. I'm crossing my fingers all goes well with CAHMS for you. Back to the matter in hand. The school SEN provision is a problem for several children I think. Some of the children due statement reviews in June have heard nothing about them being done even yet. I think I will be writing to Ofsted later in the year and I don't think I will be the only parent to. The school Are communicating with me, but not in a useful way. The daybook was good communication, but despite me expressing reservations they have now removed it. Calling me in at the end of the day to complain about her in front of her is not good communication. In last terms meeting the school were still insistent that she was making good progress. In end of Yr 3 maths SATS she achieved the level she should have at the end of Yr2. Not especially worrying. But at the end of Yr4 SATS she has achieved exactly the same level. I can't call this good progress. The school agreed maths was being a problem. I asked what help could be given. They said she wasn't eligible for any. Parent partnership will to come into the next meeting and I'm hoping will bring some weight. It feels like they have decided that they just aren't going to teach her. But then I know that previous teachers have been very disappointed to not be able to get any help with or for her. We've had four changes of SENCO and five changes of Headteacher since 2007. There has been no accountability to date. I was hoping to force them to statement her. But know statemented children within the school that don't get even a fraction of the help listed, and haven't had their statements reviewed in over 18 mnths. Its occurs to me that perhaps I should write to the school governors and express disappointment over the occasions where they have contravened the DDA in respect to my daughter? And point out that though it hasn't been in her best interests previously for me to have pursued those incidents, from the point of trying to work with some staff that did want to help her, I won't continue to put up with it.
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Post by twix on Sept 9, 2009 9:23:47 GMT
Don't talk to me about OFSTED aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhh Anyway if she could just learn to sit still and concentrate on classwork then we could teach herI'm banging my head on the table and screaming VERY loudly at that comment. A suitable reply might be to say, yes that nice, maybe if the hearing impaired kids could hear you that would be good too. Perhaps you would like the child in a wheelchair to walk up the stairs, it would be good. And maybe the visually impaired children, if they could just open their eyes and look at the board it would be so much easier to teach them. *scream scream scream*
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Post by twix on Sept 9, 2009 9:25:20 GMT
Oh I am sooooooo cross. And punishing an ADHD child for fidgeting, wtf?
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Post by .... on Sept 9, 2009 18:47:43 GMT
Yep. Sounds familiar. Has started to feel like I am banging my head on the desk even when I've stopped these days.
On the upside - the teacher that said it might have an appreciation of ADHD when the next kid comes along cause she thinks she has discovered it.
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