Hi,
I am new to this forum so please accept my apologies if I babble on!
My son is 11, has ASD, dygraphia and is severly dyslexic. He went up to secondary school last September.
The support he received at primary school wasnt brilliant. He was 9 by the time we got an official diagnosis and by then CAMHS were involved as he had started to self harm. CAT got involved shortly after and they were absolutley brilliant. Unfortunatley though I felt the school in general didnt actually know how to deal with him and although certain things improved and support was put in place it wasnt enough. It got to the stage by the time he was in year 6 that I'd resigned myself to the fact that it was as good as it was gonna get. I was told by people that once he got to secondary school things would be alot better as they were better equiped and staffed to take care of SEN children. By the end of year 6 I was counting the weeks until he left!
However, I am not seeing any of this so called better support that everyone told me about. My son is now starting to go backwards. Hes extremely unhappy, fustrated and anxious.
We are now 7 months into secondary school and he still hasnt even got an IEP. He has been given a new support worker at CAT, as unfortunatley the one he had before (who he trusted and seemed to be the only person that ever helped us) doesnt cover his school, but he's met the new one once last September. When I asked the SENCO why this was she said they dont offer the same level of support as they did at Primary.
Also I was told he would have a teaching assistant in most of his classes, I found out a few weeks ago that hes not had any help in class since Xmas! And even before then it was once or twice a week instead of 3-4 times a day! When I queried this I was told it was because they are short staffed at the moment.
At parents evening before half term I found out that at least three quarters of his teachers didnt even know he had ASD and dyslexia! The one teacher actually looked angry when I told her and said well that explains alot. Apparently the teachers are told of specific areas certain children struggle with, like reading or writing etc but they are not told of any diagnosis' etc. I dont understand why??
After some serious pushing I have managed to get a meeting with his SENCO and his new CAT contact on 12th March and I am just wondering if anyone else has experienced similar problems. Is this just the norm or is my sons school failing him?
I have been told to contact the parent partership but I am still waiting for them to come back to me. Would really appreciate any advice in the meantime.
Lise x