Education, Education, Education
Some of our personal experiences with education.
The school I choose was meant to be good for Special Educational Needs practices but frankly I've not seen much evidence of it in the area of autistic spectrum disorders. I do believe they try, they just aren't as aware about spectrum disorders as they need to be and they will not ask outside agencies for help.
Through the autistic outreach teacher and by going above the school staffs heads really I have now got one to one support for my son and the autistic outreach teacher comes to school for an hour a week and does a social group with him and a few classmates which the auxiliary is then supposed to do back up work on at other times during the week (I've not actually checked if they do this). Also the school did actually try to do something helpful by actually suggesting applying for help from a special technical help department for education within the local council that provide software and laptops etc for kids with any special need who might benefit from them. After assessing him they allotted Stephen with clicker 4 software because he is reluctant to write, then the school said it would be installed on a pc in his class ready for him starting Primary 2, when I checked a few months in the teacher said they hadn't used it yet because the pc wasn't connected to the printer but they would soon..Stephen seemed to get keener on actually trying to write so I thought maybe they had decided to continue encouraging this instead but his last report shows he has actually made very little progress in writing and I will be getting them to add something in his IEP(individualised educational plan-note to self write glossary and abbrevation index!) about it and checking on the use of the software.
Before he had the support Stephen had a short period Primary one where he became very disruptive and aggressive and they threatened expulsion at one point. When this happened I questioned them about the support he was receiving and asked if they were taking into account that his disorder was in fact causing the said behaviours and they said it had nothing to do with it?! So I asked what the autistic outreach teacher thought and they hadn't even bothered to tell her of the problems he was having or ask her if it was related to his autistic spectrum disorder or not! After this the outreach teacher set up a social group and I went straight to the educational psychologist to request one to one support as school said they had been turned down previously for Stephen and there was no point reapplying as nothing had changed! I told educational psychologist if he was refused help which he needed I'd apply for a "record of needs" ,as it was called then, and 2 weeks later he had one to one support for 15hrs per week with additional help at other times using normal school resources if required.
I've not applied for a 'record of needs' or a co-ordinated support plan as it is called now, as school here is supposed to provide any support they need without needing to have a 'statement' which is what the English equivalent is called. I am worried that this might come back to bite us later but at the moment he is getting on much better than previously - but we'll just have to play it by ear.
I do find the whole schools attitude stinks basically they always assume it is Stephen's or my fault if he starts being disruptive. They have blatantly lied to me and misinformed me because they can't use the words "I don't know". At least the wording, " Stephen has much better days when he comes to school on time" have not been written in his report this year... Maybe after 3 years at this place including their nursery they finally realise if Stephen is having a good day we are on time, if he's having a bad day we are late it is NOT BECAUSE he's late therefore he has a bad day it is he IS having a bad day THEREFORE we are late!!!
UPDATE :2 days into new school year and things are fine at school as far as I can gather had a very weird conversation with a supply (yes 2nd day and they are using a supply teacher already!) teacher she said he was doing fine then added it'll take time but he will settle down soon she was sure?! So is he fine or not??? It's a confusing world anyway he is very hyper at home but seems happy with school- will have to see how it goes as usual.
The school I choose was meant to be good for Special Educational Needs practices but frankly I've not seen much evidence of it in the area of autistic spectrum disorders. I do believe they try, they just aren't as aware about spectrum disorders as they need to be and they will not ask outside agencies for help.
Through the autistic outreach teacher and by going above the school staffs heads really I have now got one to one support for my son and the autistic outreach teacher comes to school for an hour a week and does a social group with him and a few classmates which the auxiliary is then supposed to do back up work on at other times during the week (I've not actually checked if they do this). Also the school did actually try to do something helpful by actually suggesting applying for help from a special technical help department for education within the local council that provide software and laptops etc for kids with any special need who might benefit from them. After assessing him they allotted Stephen with clicker 4 software because he is reluctant to write, then the school said it would be installed on a pc in his class ready for him starting Primary 2, when I checked a few months in the teacher said they hadn't used it yet because the pc wasn't connected to the printer but they would soon..Stephen seemed to get keener on actually trying to write so I thought maybe they had decided to continue encouraging this instead but his last report shows he has actually made very little progress in writing and I will be getting them to add something in his IEP(individualised educational plan-note to self write glossary and abbrevation index!) about it and checking on the use of the software.
Before he had the support Stephen had a short period Primary one where he became very disruptive and aggressive and they threatened expulsion at one point. When this happened I questioned them about the support he was receiving and asked if they were taking into account that his disorder was in fact causing the said behaviours and they said it had nothing to do with it?! So I asked what the autistic outreach teacher thought and they hadn't even bothered to tell her of the problems he was having or ask her if it was related to his autistic spectrum disorder or not! After this the outreach teacher set up a social group and I went straight to the educational psychologist to request one to one support as school said they had been turned down previously for Stephen and there was no point reapplying as nothing had changed! I told educational psychologist if he was refused help which he needed I'd apply for a "record of needs" ,as it was called then, and 2 weeks later he had one to one support for 15hrs per week with additional help at other times using normal school resources if required.
I've not applied for a 'record of needs' or a co-ordinated support plan as it is called now, as school here is supposed to provide any support they need without needing to have a 'statement' which is what the English equivalent is called. I am worried that this might come back to bite us later but at the moment he is getting on much better than previously - but we'll just have to play it by ear.
I do find the whole schools attitude stinks basically they always assume it is Stephen's or my fault if he starts being disruptive. They have blatantly lied to me and misinformed me because they can't use the words "I don't know". At least the wording, " Stephen has much better days when he comes to school on time" have not been written in his report this year... Maybe after 3 years at this place including their nursery they finally realise if Stephen is having a good day we are on time, if he's having a bad day we are late it is NOT BECAUSE he's late therefore he has a bad day it is he IS having a bad day THEREFORE we are late!!!
UPDATE :2 days into new school year and things are fine at school as far as I can gather had a very weird conversation with a supply (yes 2nd day and they are using a supply teacher already!) teacher she said he was doing fine then added it'll take time but he will settle down soon she was sure?! So is he fine or not??? It's a confusing world anyway he is very hyper at home but seems happy with school- will have to see how it goes as usual.
posted by Bramblebrae at
1:08 AM
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