Clever children put on SEN register, need advice!

[Cinderella2006]

Need some advice and i know there are some very knowledgeable people on here and many parents with children.

Will start with a brief outlay. We are having difficulties with my five year old in school and after seeing the school nurse he was referred for further investigation. Ethan was having trouble concentrating in school, his teacher said his listening skills were poor and he was in a constant daydream! On the other hand he is top of the class ... how could this be if he wasn't able to concentrate!?

After a six week investigation we had a meeting today and they are referring him again. They want him to be put on the special needs register. The specialist thinks he is very clever and after working with him for six weeks thinks this would be best. She believes that the reason for the lack of concentration is that he is bored and Ethan admits the work is "easy peasy!".

Has anyone got any experience of his? I am finding the school a nightmare to deal with, his teacher makes him sounds like an inconvenience. At parents evening she outlined all his weaknesses, no positives. I have so many questions i wish i had asked before she left

 

[mumloveseeyore]

hi , my son has a statement because of his special needs, my understanding is that a statement will oblige the school within reason to make the provisions to help him achieve his potential, perhaps extra support with harder work form? The local authority may have someone who looks after gifted and talented pupils. you are also able to have a named person come with you as support to meetings etc. Sorry that the school isnt being very cooperative but if he does get a statement then he will be entitled to exrta help. Hope some of this is relevant or helpful. Gill

 

[buzz for boys]

Special educational needs need not mean in a negative sense from what you put your ds has special needs i.e different to the other 30 in his class but in his case its for harder more challenging work !!
If your ds goes on the sen register it means the school has to provide him with work to suit his needs and basically its all about targets for the school.
Hope this is making sense but i say its not a bad thing see it as accessing the work he needs x

 

[Pegasus928]

Please don't view Special Educational Needs register as a bad thing. From reading your outline it does seem that the school are doing all of this for your sons benefit and any help that they offer would be great for him. Our son is SEN and I would say if your sons school are taking steps to help, especially at such a young age, then grab all that help with both hands

In readiness for your next meeting/contact with school start making a list of any questions you want to ask. That way you wont forget something that is important - I have to do this as I always get sidetracked by the many points that are raised.

Good luck

Mrs Pegasus

 

[PoppyAnna]

It sounds like your school have recognised that your child needs special attention but haven't communicated this very well to you The problem comes when some people hear "special needs" they often think in the negative - I did too until my DD went to school It may be that your school assume that you know more about the education system than you do, my DD's school do this all the time with lots of issues and it really frustrates me They sometimes treat me like my DD is my fourth child to go through the education system rather than my first

I sometimes wonder why my DD hasn't been refered for assesment, she is in Year 2 and since the end of reception her teachers have believed she might be Dyslexic, although they say she is still young to be tested they have modified their teaching of her and she has responded. She hasn't yet been refered to the SEN co-ordinator at school when a boy in her class with some similar traits has been assesed by the SEN-Co and been referred on to the local authority and has had a series of long education tests. I feel because some of his issues are behaviour related and he can disrupt the class they have dealt with him differently, because DD is very well behaved and causes them no trouble I'm worried she will slip through the net. In the spring when she is 7 I will be banging down their door for a educational assesment.

Good luck

 

[natalielongstaff]

because DD is very well behaved and causes them no trouble I'm worried she will slip through the net. In the spring when she is 7 I will be banging down their door for a educational assesment.

The well behaved children are often overlooked

 

[Nubbedy]

Please don't worry.

A special educational needs register is for all children who need work at a differentiated level to the rest of the class. The majority of children work at an average level, with a small percentage above average and a small percentage below average. A teacher would plan for the average children and differentiate the work slightly above and slightly below to cover the majority of the class.

However, in addition to these, there are the tiny percentage of children who are unable to cope with the class work, and another tiny percentage for whom the work is too easy. These children have special educational needs because they need work that is different to the rest of the class. In Ethan's case, they would probably register him as gifted and talented, and provide him with more challenging work.

I don't believe they would actually give him a statement. This is a very formal procedure which would provide additional support in school, which as a gifted and talented child he would not really benefit from. But that's just my opinion. Far more likely he would just be listed on the school's SEN register, so that all staff are aware of his ability and needs.

Sorry to have waffled, but that's the teacher in me! PM me if you have any queries, we are not too far from each other so the system in our two counties is probably very similar.

 

[joolz1910]

I agree with Sara - the 'need' is being addressed, which in your son's case is his need for more challenging work. It's a shame that SEN has such a stigma attached to it, as it's all about helping children achieve their potential. It's good that the school is taking such a proactive approach with Ethan - it's easy for bright/well behaved children like Ethan/Poppyanna's daughter to slip through the system unidentified. Best of luck.

 

[wifey]

We had to persevere to get the school our son attends to take his intellect seriously too, thankfully they did eventually listen to us. Ethan also gets extra work to do with other teachers and in classes at a higher level than his peers so it keeps him interested at the moment since he scores high on their charts and tests consistently.
Boredom is a sure sign they need more stimulus and a different approach to a subject or task to keep their minds keen to learn more.
See if you can ask the staff to give extra work or a parallel topic to work on which is relevant to the stuff the rest of the class are learning that can be done in maybe an ITC suite or on a computer in a library, this can also help with independence and encourage your child to take more interest in the topic being learned with the rest of the group regardless of what level everyone else may be able to achieve. Rewards are also a good way to get them interested so keep places and events in mind like local historical sites and have fun on educational websites together too. Try not to worry too much at least they are recognising that your child has different needs to their peers and are looking into this. Maybe the school needs something like a Gifted and Talented Child Support staff member to assess what's really needed I hope everything works out for you soon

 

[Cinderella2006]

Thats for all the help, i will re-read it all again when i get a minute. I am very frustrated. His teacher flagged up a problem last year and i made an appointment with the school nurse who refereed Ethan to the specialist. Natalie (the specialist) has now come to the conclusion that he is finding work too easy and he is very bright. The specialist thinks this is why he is daydreaming, not concentrating.
I spoke to Ethan's teacher after school yesterday and she disagree's with this! She definitely thinks that there is something wrong with him, her words not mine! What is the point in the school asking the specialist for help if they dont bloody communicate!

I need to speak to the specialist now as apparently she is supposed to send a letter to SENCO so hopefully a full assessment will be done to determine why Ethan is not reaching his full potential.
He is a very bright little boy but i do a lot at home with him and i dont think he is getting the support in school. He is overactive and doesn't have a good attention span but he is only 5!

I feel like just because Ethan is not 'normal' in her eyes there must be something wrong!?

I feel like i am banging my head against a brick wall. I know the ball is rolling and i appreciate that but they don't make things simple for us parents!

 

[Cinderella2006]

It was Ethan's previous teacher in reception that referred him to the school nurse and his teacher in year one is having the same difficulties, i really don't know what to do or think.
It is getting to the point where he doesn't want to go to school anymore. He is feeling like an outcast compared with the other children which is not helped by his teacher putting him down in front of everyone.

 

[joolz1910]

It sounds like his teacher needs a little ahem 'training', especially if she uses expressions like 'there is something wrong with him'.

 

[bigbear]

The well behaved children are often overlooked

Our dd spent four years at junior school being bored. She was not offered work to stretch her despite the fact that we enquired on numerous occasions and were always willing to provide any additional support (even financial eg for books) the school needed. Unfortunately because her behaviour was always exemplary she was allowed to continue being bored. I have always been sure that if her behaviour had caused problems they would have done something about her boredom with the academic work. We were lucky enough to find her an excellent state grammar school to attend, when she was eleven, and she is now a second year medical student at Oxford! I would never underestimate the need for children who struggle at school to be helped, I work with teenagers who didn't succeed at school myself, but gifted children deserve to be noticed too........even if they are well-behaved!!!

 

[MrsJobba1]

Need some advice and i know there are some very knowledgeable people on here and many parents with children.

Will start with a brief outlay. We are having difficulties with my five year old in school and after seeing the school nurse he was referred for further investigation. Ethan was having trouble concentrating in school, his teacher said his listening skills were poor and he was in a constant daydream! On the other hand he is top of the class ... how could this be if he wasn't able to concentrate!?

After a six week investigation we had a meeting today and they are referring him again. They want him to be put on the special needs register. The specialist thinks he is very clever and after working with him for six weeks thinks this would be best. She believes that the reason for the lack of concentration is that he is bored and Ethan admits the work is "easy peasy!".

Has anyone got any experience of his? I am finding the school a nightmare to deal with, his teacher makes him sounds like an inconvenience. At parents evening she outlined all his weaknesses, no positives. I have so many questions i wish i had asked before she left

I am a teacher - Being identified and put on the SEN regisiter is a positive step - a school can only get specialist advice/ help for a pupil if they are indeed on the register. It does sound though as if the class teacher could have phrased things a bit better. It is hightly unlikely that your son will get a statement. I have a pupil who is autisitic and it has taken a year just to begin the process.

It sounds like your school have recognised that your child needs special attention but haven't communicated this very well to you The problem comes when some people hear "special needs" they often think in the negative - I did too until my DD went to school It may be that your school assume that you know more about the education system than you do, my DD's school do this all the time with lots of issues and it really frustrates me They sometimes treat me like my DD is my fourth child to go through the education system rather than my first

I sometimes wonder why my DD hasn't been refered for assesment, she is in Year 2 and since the end of reception her teachers have believed she might be Dyslexic, although they say she is still young to be tested they have modified their teaching of her and she has responded. She hasn't yet been refered to the SEN co-ordinator at school when a boy in her class with some similar traits has been assesed by the SEN-Co and been referred on to the local authority and has had a series of long education tests. I feel because some of his issues are behaviour related and he can disrupt the class they have dealt with him differently, because DD is very well behaved and causes them no trouble I'm worried she will slip through the net. In the spring when she is 7 I will be banging down their door for a educational assesment.

Good luck

Hi I have just completed 4 weeks of a dyslexic course - there is an early screening test for KS1 pupils - I dont have my info here as I have leant it to a collegue - but I would get in contact with your schools senco who can look into this for you!

 

[PoppyAnna]

Hi I have just completed 4 weeks of a dyslexic course - there is an early screening test for KS1 pupils - I dont have my info here as I have leant it to a collegue - but I would get in contact with your schools senco who can look into this for you!

Thank you Helen, thats very helpful.

 

[Aardvarks]

Yep, we had a son like this. Never did too well at school, they tried to have him statemented. His IQ is a lowly 155.

He set his first business up at the age of 12, left school at 16, passed all his professional exams inside 3 months and by month 4 had landed a good job with great prospects and more money than a 16 year old should know what to do with. On his 17th birthday he bough his first car, brand new and I dont mean a base model, I mean 2.0l engine, aircon, cruise control, alloys, the whole package.

Schools deal with average, not exceptional. Enjoy your child for who they are and do not value against the norm. One day your son will surprise you.

My very best wishes for your future together. Kindest regards