Aspergers advice again please

[buzz for boys]

I agree with Claire, you might have to fight this battle. Cam could be SEN because of his health issues or developmental issues - either way he needs support, not segregation. He can't spend his entire time at Primary school stuck in a corner.

We have a really good SEN co-ordinator at my school - I'll email her tomorrow and ask her whether she would expect Cam to have a statement. Has he now got the diagnosis of Aspergers? How much time has he missed through surgery? I think either of these issues would trigger focussed support.

thanks i would appreciate that if you dont mind !!
Cam has got a diagnosis of aspergers and has missed the last 7 months of school and is about to be off again for at least 5 months !

 

[joolz1910]

I spoke to my SENCO today and she was totally outraged. She said that what they were doing (segregating Cam) was discrimination and that you could take them to court and win. She was 100% sure of this.

She said that they should be using strategies to encourage/build friendships and that there are recognised strategies for doing this.

I outlined Cam's health issues and Aspergers and she agreed that often statements are given for educational need and that his Aspergers would not trigger an automatic statement, however, she did say that he could be statemented for social reasons or for health reasons, if his spatial awareness is an issue for example.

Like Kenny, she is a great advocate of the Parent Partnership. She said that they will effectively fight these battles for you. They would even take the school to court on your behalf over this segregation! She has given me the contact details and I will PM you.

Sending you It's a pity you haven't got my SENCO at your school! She would kick their *****.

 

[Pegasus928]

Hi Louise

Sorry to hear about your experiences in your meeting, but also pleased that some positives came out of it with regards to consulting with Cam before decisions are made that will have an immediate impact on him.

After reading about what you went through - especially with the Senco bursting into tears and having to leave the room (what on earth was that all about ) I think your next step should be to refuse to attend any more meetings until you have someone to go with you and don't agree to any of their suggestions until you have had a chance to speak to someone about them.
I can almost guarantee that if you had had someone like PP there with you the Head wouldn't have criticised you for being 'harsh' and the senco wouldn't have left the meeting in tears. They know that PP know their stuff and probably know more about SEN, statementing, Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and what is law with regards to Cams situation than the school themselves do.

Good luck and I hope that if you do decide to seek the advice of PP that they can be as useful to you as they was to us.

 

[wideeyes]

Thanks for the advice I will look into the whole statementing issue and have made a call to parent partnership to see what the think.
Thanks again guys
Louise x x x

good luck

 

[buzz for boys]

I spoke to my SENCO today and she was totally outraged. She said that what they were doing (segregating Cam) was discrimination and that you could take them to court and win. She was 100% sure of this.

She said that they should be using strategies to encourage/build friendships and that there are recognised strategies for doing this.

I outlined Cam's health issues and Aspergers and she agreed that often statements are given for educational need and that his Aspergers would not trigger an automatic statement, however, she did say that he could be statemented for social reasons or for health reasons, if his spatial awareness is an issue for example.

Like Kenny, she is a great advocate of the Parent Partnership. She said that they will effectively fight these battles for you. They would even take the school to court on your behalf over this segregation! She has given me the contact details and I will PM you.

Sending you It's a pity you haven't got my SENCO at your school! She would kick their *****.

Thanks for that !!! really appreciate it they did in fact put me in touch with staffordshire parent partnership and I have phoned parent partnership and they have arranged a meeting with me at home to get to know all the details and they then said we would then approach the school for a meeting - so massive thanks to all and ill let you know how i get on!!

 

[Jets fan]

Sending you and Cam

Hope everything goes Ok for you.

Tina

 

[MazdaUK]

for you. My DNeph has Aspergers, and his schools have all been supportive - in fact he was spotted at nursery so it was a big help, but my DSis still had to fight the LEA for everything he needed. His best teacher was in year 2 - he was in the same class as DS, and felt he had to sit next to him ALL the time at "carpet time", which was getting stressful for DS(who had lots of friends) and DNeph (who also had friends but wanted to be next to HIS cousin). The teacher bought in a piece of carpet and said this was DNeph's own territory, and he could choose who sat in it but it wasn't fair for him to only choose DS as others might want to sit with him too. This helped him understand the other point of view, and by maing him special in a good way helped him find other friends.

He is in mainstream school, taking GCSEs next year and has made friends out of school through various interests. It can be done! You are right to push for your DS to be treated as an individual with views of his own about what is good for him.

ETA - I wonder if the Senco agreed with you but was being pushed to agree with the "official" line? Could you maybe have an informal word somehow?

 

[aaronandterri]

Jamie isnt statemented for education needs either his is mainly social etc, hes in year 8 and sitting his science and maths gcses this year!
There not very good at statementing pupils these days, the government are trying to phase statements out, its sad but its to do with funding and the way the schools have to pay for it, sad but true, there not issueing as many statements these days and everyone i know has had to fight to get one.
Id definatly push for it.

 

[buzz for boys]

for you.
He is in mainstream school, taking GCSEs next year and has made friends out of school through various interests. It can be done! You are right to push for your DS to be treated as an individual with views of his own about what is good for him.

ETA - I wonder if the Senco agreed with you but was being pushed to agree with the "official" line? Could you maybe have an informal word somehow?

Thanks for this I love to hear about older children that are managing well in mainstream.

Our SENCO is flaky to say the least and im not actually convinced that she has the ability to have an opinion in a previous meeting she actually said that cmerons only issues were the inability to hear the word NO !! Ive heard her say to other parents thats she has drew the short straw at having to be the senco so she has no real interest in what she is doing !!! Ive had many a frustrating meeting with her where she just seems unable to grasp the impact that having a special needs child actually has on us x