Hello To Everyone & a Huge Thanks for Being Here -
As brief as I can... My son is 14 and in his 1st term of yr 10 in mainstream highschool. He was diagnosed dyspraxic in primary and struggled academically, particularly writing and maths. He has always disliked sport. He has continued to struggle in highschool and his empotional and social development also declined. Family and friends urged me to consult school and request a referral to Physch Ed for full assessment. We were worried that my son was autistic. The SENCO always dismissed my concerns and told me repeatedly that my son was just lazy, manipulative and she chasticed me for my "soft" parenting approach stating it reinforced my sons negative behaviours. Long story short, I bypassed school and went to my GP. He was eventually seen by a specialist, assessed and was diagnosed ASD in May this year.
I was given the news in May 2012 during an appointment with the Consultant Peadiatrician who informed me he would write up his report for the GP, myself and school. He gave me some advice and suggested I contact school to discuss a way forward. I informed school by email and letter and requested a meeting with the SENCO to discuss the implications... this request was ignored as were emails and messages. An urgent meeting was called over my sons attendence so I used this to adress his ADS..The SENCO dismissed me again, she implied I was lieing as there had been nothing written, that she knew that consultant and knew full well he wouldn't diagnose my son ADS - she said she was absolutely certain he was not ASD and that perhaps I had heard what I wanted to hear. The written report eventually arrived a week before the academic year. I went in to see SENCO and she flippantly told me it was too late to do anything this year and that she was retiring. She agreed to refer my boy to physch ed and I signed the forms. The SENCO had previously told me and my Son that he was part of a group who would be doing day release to college.. My son had been in 2 or 3 meetings with a support staff to discuss the plan of this etc. I am telling you this background to give you a sense of schools committment.
We all had a great summer break and my Son went back to school happy and enthusiastic... he was starting in year 10 and had chosen his GCSE. He was also excited about college. I made contact with the new SENCO and asked to meet and discuss an interim support plan until the Physch Ed assessment was complete. I have now been informed the previous SENCO hadn't made the referral, one has now been made but I have been told not to build my hopes up as their workload is huge and my Son isn't a priority! The new SENCO has told me that pushing for a statement is not good idea because it is essentially for younger children to help choose the right school. My Son never did get included in the college group and is now sinking slowly under the huge burden of workload expected of him for the GCSE's
My boy is already loosing his enthusiasm, he has been set the same amount of work and homework and no adjustments have been made to help him thrive or cope.
He is really really struggling to keep up and rarely does homework. He then gets detention, he refuses and then gets internal exclusion...he walks out of this and then get externally excluded. He then has to go back and do the inclusion....punishment can not help or make him do more work or keep up.
QUESTION - What reasonable adjusments can school make??? What are your experiences???
I want to ask school if he can drop 1 or 2 of his none compulsory GCSE subjects and use the time to concentrate on the subjects he is enjoying and his compulsory subjects that he really struggles with...maths, english. He could use those subject slots to work in the support unit where he can do his homework with support form staff... A real problem is Geography, he cannot maintain the pace or concentration. He is predicted togain an F in his GSCE and is already way behing half way through this 1st term.
Thank you to aybody who has been patient enough to read that lot...I guess there is a lot of waffle but if you have any advice or experience of schools types of support at GCSE levels...then please let me know...
:)
x