School refusing to refer to educational psychologist

LandyAndy

kjmtidea wrote: »

I took him to the doctor about his behaviour, far too many to list here but at school he cannot cope with any change at all, can't sit still, at home we have to tell him a million times exactly what we are going to be doing the next day, can't change plans, have to walk the exact same way to school every day, has to have the same plate, bowl cutlery etc and they have to be the 'right' way before the food goes on. The list is endless, basically life with him is difficult to say the least.


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kelpie35 wrote: »

I would say from what you have written about your DS's symptoms that he is on the Autistic spectrum.

My son was 5 when he was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome and was exactly how you describe your DS.

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I agree.

MrsLA's special area of expertise is ASD and those traits are all indicative of it.

daska

Get in touch with Parent Partnership. Explain that your PD has said your child needs to the the EP and ask for their help. Specifically ask about applying for a Statement of Special Educational Needs - the actual process you will find is that you apply for an assessment and they will automatically turn you down but it should be enough to get the whole process started. (Your council may also have a family information service but this is not the same thing at all.)

It sounds as if your child may well have sensory issues. Look here for more info on Sensory Integration. If that rings bells go back to your GP and ask for a referral to Paediatric Occupational Therapy - it may be a long wait but hopefully worth it. Sensory processing difficulties can in some instances be the cause of speech and language delays (e.g. my DS2).

Another good resource is IPSEA, they are a charity who specialise in SEN law. It isn't always possible to self-refer, in our area all the services are bought in from private companies.

aycor

I asked freind with knowledge in this area what she suggests you do here is her reply

' contact the education department and ask to speak to the educational psychologist for the school.
Ask for a meeting in school with ep and senco. Meet and explain everything that you want, advice and support incl regular review meetings to monitor how he is getting on.


One piece if advice would be to change channels from verbal instructions to visual ones- saves your energy and maybe better understood.
Eg visual timetables - pictures/ photographs of the routine you would like him to follow. '
good luck

kjmtidea

Thanks guys, we have started with pictures for instructions and school has too, the only trouble is that he becomes obsessed with things like that and then it can almost make things worse if that makes sense? but I will try whatever they suggest.

The speech therapist has given me a load of worksheets to do with him because his understanding is very poor, he cannot follow more than one instruction at a time and he doesn't understand before/after. She thinks he may have auditory memory difficulties and he was moderately below average on all the tests she did with him - he was on the 5th percentile rank.

When he saw the pediatrician, she said that his motor skills were of a 2 year old. Anyway thank you very much for all the advice, I will definitely be taking it up and getting my son some help!

jem132

You can request the ed psychology to see your child your self and request a statutory statement also do this by writing to the school stating you expect to a reply in 14 working days that should get them moving. I have had to do this and in the end my son was statemented they still could not keep to his statement he went to high school and is doing really well. My other child started showing autistic trayets school were crap yet again so I moved them schools at the new school they put a one to one in place after his first week and have now employed a special autistic one to one while his funding and statement go through I have to say though this school is fab the ex phyc said he had never known a school to be so on the ball. Hope this helps xx

daska

I would strongly suggest that even if the school do agree to apply for a statement, you do a parental application as well.

There's an excellent book called Getting Started with Statements which gives lots of advice and examples on what/not to do/say.

Our LA buys in specific services from private EPs so it isn't possible to call a meeting with them in the way suggested above but your local Parent Partnership will know the best tactics for your area.

aeb_2

kjmtidea wrote: »

The speech therapist has given me a load of worksheets to do with him because his understanding is very poor, he cannot follow more than one instruction at a time and he doesn't understand before/after. She thinks he may have auditory memory difficulties and he was moderately below average on all the tests she did with him - he was on the 5th percentile rank.

I suspect the SENCO will have discussed your child with the EP at the JPM. This is the Joint Planning Meeting where all the outside agency services who work with the school meet to discuss the case load for the following term (or 6 months) If the Speech Therapist has been involved recently, and from your post it sounds like they have, I would imagine they have decided to give the strategies the Speech Therapist has suggested (visual timetable, one instruction at a time, etc) time to work. Depending on the outcome of these strategies, at home and at school, then if a referral to the EP is made, say after Christmas, then s/he will have much more information to go on and will be able to produce a much more meaningful report containing much more valuable information.
I know it is frustrating as everything seems to take so long but I really would give the Speech and Language strategies a little more time to have some impact.
You need to work with the school on this. Tell them what works at home and they will do likewise with what works at school. Both need to 'sing from the same hymn sheet' so to speak.
You mention the visual timetable. Are you using the same pictures at home and school? Use 'scripted instructions' - the same at home at school. These are the type of things you should be talking about at meetings so you can be seen to be working with the school, and them with you.
Keep the school on side if you want the best outcome for your child. At this stage I would not be getting in Parent Partnership or ringing to apply for the Statementing process to begin. That is for later.

jellyhead

You've been given advice already, and I can't comment on the referral process because mine saw the EP before he was school age and it was years ago, so the referral process was different.

I just wanted to comment on what you said about not hearing anything good about CAMHS. My teenager saw them after an incident at high school and they were brilliant. I appreciate that anger management etc. for teenagers is different to what you need, but I just thought I'd mention that I had a good experience with CAMHS.

Good luck with getting your son seen! Both of mine have autism traits but neither tick enough boxes for a diagnosis.

daska

aeb wrote: »

I suspect the SENCO will have discussed your child with the EP at the JPM. This is the Joint Planning Meeting where all the outside agency services who work with the school meet to discuss the case load for the following term (or 6 months) If the Speech Therapist has been involved recently, and from your post it sounds like they have, I would imagine they have decided to give the strategies the Speech Therapist has suggested (visual timetable, one instruction at a time, etc) time to work. Depending on the outcome of these strategies, at home and at school, then if a referral to the EP is made, say after Christmas, then s/he will have much more information to go on and will be able to produce a much more meaningful report containing much more valuable information.
I know it is frustrating as everything seems to take so long but I really would give the Speech and Language strategies a little more time to have some impact.
You need to work with the school on this. Tell them what works at home and they will do likewise with what works at school. Both need to 'sing from the same hymn sheet' so to speak.
You mention the visual timetable. Are you using the same pictures at home and school? Use 'scripted instructions' - the same at home at school. These are the type of things you should be talking about at meetings so you can be seen to be working with the school, and them with you.
Keep the school on side if you want the best outcome for your child. At this stage I would not be getting in Parent Partnership or ringing to apply for the Statementing process to begin. That is for later.

I may be wrong of course, this SENCO may be fabulous in that role and just carp at communicating... but surely, if your hypothesis is correct the SENCO should have explained that?

OP - Parent Partnership won't go in all guns blazing. They will however give you sound advice about who to chase/ what to do.

meritaten

Why are you just dealing with the SENCO? have you taken this to the Head? you have two medically qualified persons who recommend that your child see the Ed Psych........sort of Trumps a mere SENCO!
If still no joy then a letter to the governers saying exactly what you have said on here!