Is this true?

[Anna]

Originally Posted by kezz

Hi Kelly,

Its Cheshire East. I am hitting a brick wall with the parent partnership to because all I keep on getting is the answer phone (this is week 2 and still the same)

The school has enough to go on to apply for funding, they are just giving me the run around.

I was looking at a school that comes under Stockport but they are full, and my dread is that I get him into another school and the fight starts from scratch again.

I have been awaiting a letter from the Community Paediatricians so I can give the school a copy to put in his file, on this letter it says School difficulties, Delayed language development and Possible developmental coordination difficulties. There is no mention of the Dyspraxia which is why he was referred to them in the first place. I phoned to speak to the doctor but she is away, but the doc I did speak to didn't understand why she has put it the way she has!! As DCD is associated with Dyspraxia, I feel like I'm being spun round and round on a merry go round!! I can't use the letter due to no mention of Dyspraxia which I am fighting the school to recognise that he has got it. After speaking to his tutor this morning she beleives it maybe due to them not wanting to label, the world is so bloody politically correct........I just don't get it!!!

To top it all of, I recieved a phonecall from the hospital this morning and the aneasthatist has refused to do Rileys op on Monday for his grommits due to his heart and asthma!! I have asked this question over and over and was assured there would be no problem!! He now has to be referred again to the consulatant I discharged him from due to the poor care he recieved!! I had months and months of complaints and fights to get him seen which never materialised, hense the reason he was referred to a different hospital only for him to be refferred back!!

I feel like screaming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xxx

Cheshire East has the same rules as Cheshire West and Chester and I teach in Chester. Ed Psychs will not come out (there are only 2 I think) Everything has to go to panel where the SENCO will discuss.
School have to prove they are putting money into the child and it is beneficial to the child. The child needs to be on school action plus (IEP and extra support paid for by the school - this could just be half an hour a week) After that they need to apply for IPF (individual pupil funding) not necessarily push for statementing, more likely to get support for via IPF than a statement as it is less beauracratic and there is not as strict legal requirement for school to stick to it. We have a number of children on IPF in school without statements. It really depends on your SENCO - we didn't have any children with IPF until our new SENCO came and now we have about 8!
PM me if you need help
Anna

[lennie]

Arrrg typed long reply, it got lost.

EP can come out, but not straight away.
It goes to panel and they decide from evidence that school submit whether child should be seen or not.

Alternatively you could cheat and put in for statutory assessment, EP would have to come out then.
Parent Partnership told me that.

When your child reaches 6 and half start asking you school for dyslexia screening.

Is your child on school action or school action plus (will say on top of IEP)?
School receives additional money in their budget for child with SEN, this should include yours.

If school say they can't do any more to help child then join forces with school and out in for statutory assessment.

If it is school withdrawing help, then ask for reasons why in letter, (by saying they can't help him anymore)
If school have done all that they can to help him and they think he needs one to one all the time, then ask the SENCO to put in for statutory assessment.

Always keep everything for evidence.

Your son sounds like my youngest, he used to rip up school work, say he was stupid, no good....this soon changed when he moved schools.
A positive attitude towards the child = a more happier child.

I have battled away with the LEA and schools for quite some time now as my heart child has learning difficulties which affect her learning, my middle child is on the autistic spectrum and my youngest has dyslexia and dyspraxia.
Elder two have statements of 25 hours support (was not easy), Ollie is happy at school and more self esteem than he ever had, and that was down to the change of school with more positive teaching methods and attitude.

Regarding not being able to find the label dyspraxia in the letter, it's already there DCD is dyspraxia....you could do a wee bit of googling look for the Dyspraxia Foundation and do some print offs for teachers I have done this in past).
Dyspraxia or DCD affects more than just co-ordination, they have major self esteem problems.

Make sure if anything important is said, you have it inwriting....you can also email people and CC to others, this leaves paper trail...you can email the parent partnership you are trying to get in touch with.....if you get in touch with school senco via email, or anything else educatonally copy it to Parent Partnership, this means whoever you email can't wriggle out of what's been said.

Think of this moment as a stepping stone, he is still very young, you collate as much evidence as you can to put in for statutory assessment.
Do not worry if the LEA refuse to assess your son, they did mine one of which has an IQ of 63, you can appeal.
You know your son better than anyone, you'll know what is the right thing to do.

[kezz]

Oh thank you Anna and Lennie.

Riley is on School Action already, well they call it Early years action and he's on Early Years Action Plus. He is currently having an hour a week one to one for phonics, he also has extra reading and one to one for Numeracy. Numeracy is definately his strength. I also pay a private tutor who teaches children with Dyspraxia and that is for an extra half an hour a week. So he has got a fair bit in place but with little improvement, I also work with him at home.

How old was your son when he was diagnosed with having Dyspraxia/Dyslexia? Riley definately has self esteem problems, which is a shame, because he was never like that. I have been looking around at other schools, but the majority of them are that full you carn't even get in to have a look around.

I have looked up Developmental Co-Ordination difficulties,and your right Lennie it is Dyspraxia. It was the 'Possible' that I wasn't happy with, as he has already had a diagnosis so I have no idea why they have done that. I needed that letter to put in his file, but am scared to do this because it will be questioned why they have put 'possible'. I am still trying to speak to the doc regarding this.

Does your son have any problems with muscle tone/speech and language Lennie? xxx

[sussexcat]

hi brought a tear to my eye reading through this especially the part were your son says he feels stupid, that is just like my joe, i went around things the complete wrong way but it actually made everyone sit up and take notice, joe's teacher believes joe should be statmented, he is going into year 2 in sep and he is still at no achademic level for anything well maybe made a little progress in maths but still so far behind, i went above the school staright to the lea and said i wanted my son assesed they can't refuse, obviously it was turned down but plans started happening and quickly, he was moved to school action and then school action plus within 4 months, when he goes back in september every day he will be driven by taxi to another school for a cple of hours a day to have 1 to 1, to see if this can help joe at all, but they are all agreeing that it looks like joe will need to be statemented. I am now armed with more info as joe had genetics tests done at guys and st thomas and they have come back showing he has deletions along chromosome 12, we are waiting to go back up for more tests etc, all of this will help me fight the system.
I get so angry that we have to fight for our kids, good luck and keep us posted.
cat x

[lennie]

Hi Kezz,

To answer your questions.
How old was your son when he was diagnosed with having Dyspraxia/Dyslexia?

OK so school did a dyslexic screening (asked several times before and was told by the head teacher that he was displying lazyness and lacked motivation) when he was 7 and they said he had dyslexic tendancies, they can't diagnose.
I went to GP with huge list pf my concerns and asked for him to be referred to pead.
Pead saw him summer last year (age 7) and diagnosed dyspraxia and attention deficit disorder and "would you like him to try ritalin" said no thanks as he's nothing like his brother who has ADHD as well as being on autistic spectrum (he is on meds).
After his behaviour and self esteem deteriorated I asked several times for school to refer him to EP as I wasn't happy with his self esteem and feeling rubbish all the time.
EP came out last Autumn, (he was 8) did her tests, agreed that he does present with dyspraxia and specific learning difficulties (they won't say dyslexia, Lord knows why but it means the same thing).
Best thing that helped him was getting him into a positive school.

Does your son have any problems with muscle tone/speech and language Lennie?
Ollie does not (the one with dyslexia and dyspraxia) but his brother Ben does.
He has oral dyspraxia (as well as dyspraxia too and Aspergers, ADHD).
His mouth muscles are loose and he has difficulty moving his tongue correctly to articulate the speech sounds correctly.
A speech therapist can identify this and write a programme of therapy, which if you had on paper would be further evidence that he needed further support at school as speech therapy has to be regular and consistant with home and school working together.
If your son has trouble with his tongue a good thing to help is licking things, especially at this time of year with ice-creams.
Ben tends to push ice cream onto tongue and into mouth whereas my other chldren push out their tongue to lick it.

Both boys with having dyspraxia move and run awkwardly. Ben bumps into more things than Ollie.
Ollie and Ben both fall down a lot when walking on unsteady ground.
Ollie has re-occurent back and hip pain.
Ben doesn't notice pain.
They both can't stand P.E, have trouble copying the movements for activities if teacher is demonstrating.
The have trouble following verbal instructions.
They have meltdowns.
They get upset easily. especially if they think they have got something wrong at school, or haven't come first.
Dyspraixa is more complex than just muscle and co-ordination difficulties, but with the right attitude they can leanr to accept things, Ollie is.
ooooh and tell your lad that Harry Potter has dyspraxia and Tom Cruise has dyslexia.


Hope this helps and makes sense

If you need anymore advice or have questions I'm mroe than happy to help.
Have lots of experience with all three of my children
__________________

[kezz]

Thank you so much, its so good to speak to somebody who is in the same predicament.

There are a lots of similiarities between my son and your boys.
You sound like you have your hands full Lennie. It annoys me when they lable children as being lazy, and boys unfortunately are the ones that seem to be given this label more (granted some are, but not all) All I can say its a good job your boys have you looking out for them.

I will definately take you up on your offer, you have been a great help xxxx

[lennie]

Anytime Kezz

[rosiebush]

First of all I'm very sorry that you have experienced this kind of feedback from you son's teacher.
I am shocked to the core that she has said she cannot provide the help your boy needs...

Her job and role as teacher is to provide him with an educational learning ladder that is one of success to him as an individual.

I work as a TA and I have supported children that have come into the UK speaking no english at all, and in the space of 2 years these children have left primary school with a level 4 in maths and english.

I have also supported a child for 2 years with global development delay, autism and epilepsy. Never once did the teacher not have a level of differentiation appropriate for his abilities.
I also prepared and developed learning intervention programmes for him and a small group of children with extreme learning difficulties.
all within mainstream primary school.

I'm also a mum with a child who has global Dyspraxia, (co-ordination, learning and verbal)
David recieved some excellent support in primary school,
But I have to say the best of his support and help and progress came from senior school.
He is about to start his 2nd year of his GCSE's in september and alreay has been predicted c grades in some subjects.

I was advised by David's head teacher when he was 7 to write a personal letter to the special educational needs directorate and ask for a formal assessment. (this is usually a better faster route than through the school) If a parent wites asking for a formal assessment, the directorate by law has to respond to you request. if you can get supporting letters from either a speech therapist for occupational therapist to support you letter all the better.

Hope your son gets the help and support he needs and deserves.

[kezz]

Originally Posted by rosiebush

First of all I'm very sorry that you have experienced this kind of feedback from you son's teacher.
I am shocked to the core that she has said she cannot provide the help your boy needs...

Her job and role as teacher is to provide him with an educational learning ladder that is one of success to him as an individual.

I work as a TA and I have supported children that have come into the UK speaking no english at all, and in the space of 2 years these children have left primary school with a level 4 in maths and english.

I have also supported a child for 2 years with global development delay, autism and epilepsy. Never once did the teacher not have a level of differentiation appropriate for his abilities.
I also prepared and developed learning intervention programmes for him and a small group of children with extreme learning difficulties.
all within mainstream primary school.

I'm also a mum with a child who has global Dyspraxia, (co-ordination, learning and verbal)
David recieved some excellent support in primary school,
But I have to say the best of his support and help and progress came from senior school.
He is about to start his 2nd year of his GCSE's in september and alreay has been predicted c grades in some subjects.

I was advised by David's head teacher when he was 7 to write a personal letter to the special educational needs directorate and ask for a formal assessment. (this is usually a better faster route than through the school) If a parent wites asking for a formal assessment, the directorate by law has to respond to you request. if you can get supporting letters from either a speech therapist for occupational therapist to support you letter all the better.

Hope your son gets the help and support he needs and deserves.

Hiya,

I think the main reason she said this was because she will not be able to give him the one to one time that he needs. He needs a lot of coaxing, reassuring and keeping him on task. When he goe's back in Sep, the class size has doubled, which will only make things more difficult. On his Psychologist report the recommendations was that he should have a one to one all day, I don't think for one minute he will get this. They are going to introduce the Nessy programme when he goes back and wordshark, but neither the teacher or TA has experience in using this so have to be trained. I think the top and bottom of it is that it is a very small school and his teacher has not much experience with SEN children, she has never done an IEP before. I know she has little knowledge of Dyspraxia, I don't think the school does on a whole.

I am still waiting for his speech and language appointmnet and Occupational Therapy appointment, then I will probably know a bit more of what is instore (there is a 19 week waiting list )

I am in two minds about asking for an assesment, becuase I have been told I will struggle to do this as his scores are not low enough. But on the whole he has a lot of needs that need addressing, so maybe I would be able to do it on that basis? The next step I believe is Individual Pupil Funding, and I'm worried sick that this will be refused, as they seem to think his age is part of the problem? If my son was able to learn via computer, things would be so different for him (he is very much a visual learner). I think I will see how things go when he goes back and decide from there, I need to feel that I have enough evidence as I can possibly get so I don't get knocked back.

What is the difference between global and developmental Dyspraxia? If there is any? I'm glad your son is doing so well, how is he with his self esteem? Senior school was one thing that was worrying me also (even though thats years ahead) but feel reassured that your son has been given great help.

Its all a learning curve for me, and I won't settle till I know my son is getting the help he needs. The school probably thinks I'm one of them pushy Psycho mothers? Thanks for replying, I was feeling really isolated at one point. xxxxx