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please could some-one help us!

hibbsy

hi there, i have written on here a few times about my 11 yr old son who was recently diagnosed with autism. He has had his struggles with school with dyslexia speech and language probs and severe anxiety which resulted in him having a breakdown two months ago. Cahms suggested we do some diagnostic tests which showed him to be autistic.

We have had our struggles with school and they have been saying right up until a few months ago that my son is likely to get a level 3a/4c in the impending sats tests, and just needs to work a bit harder (?!!). We have now been told this week that he will not be sitting the sats tests as he would not be graded in any of it as he has not reached a level where he could be assessed. He would not even get a level 2.

How on earth can a child be going from a level 4 to ungraded in a matter of a couple of months! I have always told them of his struggles and have always been told although he has his struggles there is no reason why he shouldnt still get a good result!....now we are being told "well...look at his diagnostic assessments, you dont seriously expect us to be able to educate him to a level where he can sit his sats do you?!" But it is US parents that pushed for the assessment...not the Ed Psych, not the school, and i now feel angry that they are hiding behind this assessment rather than ever discussing his struggles with us!

At the parents evening tonight we were shown our son's mock sats assessment sheet which is given to our son to read. It said well done he has reached a level 3b and with a bit more effort he could reach a four!....when we asked, we were told it was a year 3 sats paper he has sat, and thats what he will be sitting in May as he hasnt reached the national sats level. Although i do understand him sitting a lower level sats paper i do not want the wool pulled over his or our eyes and be led to believe he has made excellent progress, as he and us parents were told! No, he hasnt, he is now being taught as a 7yr old, but no-one wants to discuss that with us! We just get fobbed off by them! And like i said...if it wasnt for the fact that we had the diagnostic testing done, we would be none the wiser to the degree of his struggles and why he had the breakdown! We feel so angry and let down, and we just don't know what to say or what to do.

Does anyone out there have any opinions on this and what we should do? My 7yr old daughter has just started the same school. Please help, we are desperate for advice!

Thankyou.    

  • Sad reading, but not surprising.  I'm a support worker in the ASD department of a big secondary school.  No names, no pack drill, as they say.

    Most of the mainstream teachers I've met appear quite clueless about Autistic Spectrum disorders and their classes are too large, their time too much occupied, to begin to do very much in the way of providing differentiated learning.

    When ASD children struggle to learn they get put with others who struggle to learn, which means they find themselves in the same lower sets as children who routinely misbehave - often a far from ideal environment.  If they're 'lucky' they get 1 to 1 support, and if they're very lucky they may get 1 to 1 support from someone who has a clue what they are doing.

    League tables and the results orientation behind them can create their own dynamic.  Monday's task must be completed by Tuesday's lesson, Tuesday's homework by Thursday and so on, and in trying to help the child 'reach' those targets the support worker does more and more of the work themselves.  You are showing the student what to do, you are explaining, and you are often either telling the child what to write or writing it (scribing) for them, yet often, 20 minutes later, what they have 'learned' has been totally forgotten.  That is probably the main way the misleading grades appear.

    A year or two back I attended one of those tutor/parent/child meetings where parents are told what grades their children are anticipated to achieve.  Dad nodded sagaciously as he listened and then, when I asked him what he thought to it all afterwards, he answered "bollocks".  Mum and dad knew that the predicted grades were nonsensical.

    I lost my own 'special' child to different disabilities a good number of years ago.  Perhaps that is partly why I value other 'special children' - though in fact it is all children - so very much.  I can't say I'm happy at what schools appear to be doing either to or for them.

     

     

  • Hi Alex

    Thanks for that info, I wil bare that in mind!

    I have contacted our local parent partnership team and they will be organising visits to some special schools within the area and hope to have more of an idea as to what I want for my son, at the end of the day I want what every parent wants and thats my son to have an education to suit his needs and to be happy in his environment, and will fight if thats what it takes!

  • You both sound as if you are dealing with some difficult situations.  I hope that you find it helpful to share your experiences here.

    I thought it would be useful to include a link to the NAS Education Rights Service which hibbsy mentions, both for fighter and for anyone else reading this who may find the service beneficial.

    They can be contacted on 0808 800 4102 (Freephone) and their information page is here:

    http://www.autism.org.uk/Our-services/Advice-and-information-services/Education-rights-service.aspx

     

    Alex - mod

  • Hi Fighter,

    Oh my word it just gets worse and worse doesn't it, and your struggles really hit home with me, it is truly shocking that they can do this to your son, and yes we have also found they make all the decisions without any discussions with us, too! It's really and truly a disgrace what they are doing to you and i can only imagine how you must be feeling, my heart goes out to you! I can't imagine what effect this has on your son, and they need to be looking at the whole picture. Have you discussed your education rights with this National Autism website, it might be able to offer you support and guidance? I would certainly be fighting tooth and nail, as im sure you are. I know from my personal experience, that my own son would not be able to cope with being pulled away from his classmates, or with being kept away from yr6! what on earth will that do to his self esteem! Well sadly i don't have the answers, but all i would say is, fight, fight, and fight some more! Do look into getting that support you need, as we are, and i send all my very best wishes to you and your son. Let us know how it goes!

    Hibbsy 

  • Hi Hisspy

    Im new to this forum and have just been reading your post, I am going through the exact same as you only my son is 10.

    I had a review at school concerning his support (or lack of it) and considering moving him to a special school, he has ADHD and ASD and is in a main stream school statemented with full hours.

    The school decided to tell me in the review he wouldnt be going into Y6! and they would be putting him in a newly created small class with younger under acheivers, due to him not being able to cope with Y6 sats and him being so behind in all his subjects, which was new to me, as i was told he was below average in his reading and writing!

    I was frurious as the Ed dept, CAMHS, Ed phyc and SENCO for secondry school was at the review, and felt that i should have been consulted prior to the meeting.So that would mean him been isolated from the class he has gone all through school with, which i wasnt happy about (from a social point of view).

    From that the SENCO for secondry school stated if he didnt start getting better grades they wouldnt be able to accept him at there sec school after Y6! (but told me last sept review he would fit into the sec school)

    Then the Ed dept told us if he was to go to a special school all the schools in our area are full and would have to go on a waiting list!

    I am now arranging some special school visits with our area to put him on a waiting list just incase, but am really concerned as to what will happen to my sons education.

    I can sympathise with you.