At the end of my tether

robpw2

if tehe actions of this other mother are anything to go by no wonder your son lashed out
i would have a word with your lea if the head wont allow him to use special equipment he requires im sure the newspaper would have a field day

mrs_peabody

I am so sorry to hear of your situation. Both my daughters are hearing impaired so I can identify with how you feel.

When my eldest daughter (19 now) was in year 2 she had a very unsympathetic teacher. Each day after school she held my daughter back, then told me all the things my daughter had done 'wrong' throughout the day. One of her complaints was that my daughter didn't answer when her name was called for the register, well doh, she couldn't hear!. Up until this point I had not received one single complaint from anyone about my daughter and she had been to playgroup, nursery and year 1.
I couldn't believe that it was my daughter she was talking about. Of course she 'knew all about these kinds of children' as she had taught A deaf child before!

To cut a long story short she was completely unaware of my daughters needs.It is the only time during my daughters education that she hasn't wanted to go to school ( she's at uni now studying to be a vet) It took a lot of work from the teacher of the deaf (and me) to sort it out, and my daughter never looked back, but she still remembers vividly the awful time she had in that teachers class.

I think I would be inclined to write a letter to the headteacher with a few quotes from the disability discrimination act. I would copy the chair of govenors, the LEA, your son's sensory impairement teachers, and the school SENCO in as well.

Don't be afraid to fight for what are your son's rights. Don't be bullied into thinking that you don't know what's best for your son, because you do, and better than anybody else.

Get your battling boots on and good luck!! Let us know how you get on.

mrs_peabody

Oops I forgot to say... Your son might not be able to tell you why he hit the other child.

I think it's very difficult for someone who doesn't have sensory impairments to fully understand what the world must seem like to those that do, I know I don't and my two are 19 and 17.

To give an example, for many weeks my daughter came home from school saying that no-one would play with her and she spent the whole break time holding the dinner lady's hand and walking around with her. When I asked her why she thought that was happening she said it was because the other children didn't like her.
When I asked how she knew that they didn't like her she said that they kept whispering then running away ( it took a long time to get this out of her). Of course that wasn't happening at all.
The other children didn't fully realise that my daughter couldn't hear them or lip read as they were all running around. Once I had explained things to my daughter she understood and started to make friends!

Another thing that I encountered was my daughter being bossy with other children. Now on the face of it that doesn't sound nice, but the hearing impaired teacher explained it to me. If my daughter dictated to others what games they should play etc, it made it easier for her to know what was happening and predict the outcome rather than having to guess all time. When I asked her why she was being bossy she said she didn't know.

Another thought, the National Deaf Childrens Society would probably be very interested in your son's situation at school and may have some useful advice to give you.

Situations like this make my blood boil. Pm me if you need any help or just need to vent!

Good Luck

tattoed_bum

mrs peasbody ,although your daughter had a hard time at school I feel so much better knowing that someone else has been through it and come out the other side sane ,
It sounds the same as what my son is going through ,we also havent had a teacher before who said that he was trouble ,All his other teachers have said he was such a loving child and although a handfull he had been a delight to teach .
Since he moved into this class he is constantly angry and is starting to lash out he doesnt seem like my little boy anymore .
Funnily enough my son is animal daft and either wants to be a vet or an engineer when he grows up .( he did go through a phase of wanting to be Ace venutura pet detective till he realised it was make believe )

I did manage to speak to the other mum and explain that he didnt know why he did it ,She was actually worried incase her son had been bullying mine and that my son had retaliated ,

So after a calm sit down and a coffee .we managed to sort things out .

Ive got the number for Lea and i'm going to give them a call later , they said before christmas that they would go and assess the school ,so time to chase them up .

msb5262

Well done OP - you sound as if you're doing all the right things for your son (sadly unlike the class teacher). Excellent work!
Good luck with the LEA. Let us know how you get on.
Best wishes
MsB

NoAngel

Good luck OP. I think it's awful that the teacher isn't using his FM system properly, it must be very frustrating for him not to be able to hear properly. Let's hope that something gets sorted out quickly. I suppose you can understand the anxieties of the other mum in this situation, and I'm glad things are sorted out with her.

My sister is in a similar situation as my nephew has hit a little girl at school. He has some special needs and these don't seem to being addressed. Whilst it's obviously wrong for him to have hit another child, there is probably a reason for his frustration being shown in this way.