Educational Issues in Primary schools with Special Needs

[looba]

I was wondering what the current issues are in primary education concerning children with special educational needs X any help would be great!!

[seeker]

I think you need to be a bit more specific. What's the title of the essay/article?

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

are you a parent of a child with SN?

Or are you a parent of a NT child?

For eg funding can be an issue, as well as the tortuous statementing process, acceptance by schoolmates (or more often, by other parents), inclusion or special school

all these are issues, and there are loads more

I'm not quite sure what you want to know??

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

oh yes, seeker is right

d'oh

[looba]

Sorry I should have been more clear. Basically I am hoping to get on to a primary PGCE course and I would like to know SEN issues just in case I am asked at any time. It is an issue that interests me alot so would like to know other peoples views and ideas X thank you

[CardyMow]

Err not enough money in the system to offer much needed help, not enough training on specific conditions, too many SEN children in the same class, LEA's not wanting to give out statements as the money then has to be 'ringfenced' for that child (which it isn't on SA/SA+). Lack of TA's, schools slashing budgets for TA's, I could go on... (can you tell that 2 out of 3 of my DC's are SEN??!!). .

[gigglewitch]

well Loud's pretty well summed it up

[CardyMow]

Teachers not being given enough time to differentiate the curriculum for SEN children. That's a huge bugbear for me. The National Curriculum being TOO harshly applied, i.e. a child with SEN in Y3 not being allowed to do KS1 work/pre-KS1 work, therefore not learning anything as they are not able to access the KS2 curriculum. Lack of places in SN schools (inclusion DOES NOT work for every child). The awful jumping through hoops procedures to actuall GET a statement...

You may do better if you find the Special Needs section of Mumsnet...there will be lots of people there willing to give you some pointers...

[CardyMow]

Just a few more random thoughts off the top of my head!

[gigglewitch]

a the curriculum levels, Loud. That's what we have a bleeping statement for, and PIVATS/P-scales and all the rest of the stuff we have to do!!

Agree that the specialists are in special schools and not mainstream, and the version of "inclusive" that too many schools go for, means that they don't have the expertise or the resources to support the diversity of children's needs that they are actually taking on. Great sweeping generalisation obv - but nonetheless it's true of many schools. And the funding - well it is a joke. The resistance to taking children to SA+ makes me gobsmacked, I have a ds who has (eventually, last year) got this, but still no funding for any support I must add The poor SENCO's is all I can say.
BTW, I'm a SEN teacher

[cory]

In our LEA one problem is that children with physical disabilities cannot get statemented at all; they only statement for learning difficulties. Which means that as a parent of a physically disabled child you cannot demand even the most basic help, there will be no agreement on what help your child is entitled to, it is all dependent on the goodwill of the school, unless you are prepared to sue them for discrimination, which is a bit of a biggie.

[Piffle]

Hmm I have one dd with gross and fine motor issues and very poor vision, she has a diagnosis of Noonan Syndrome, yet she is in yr 2 and has been waiting 2 years just to see the Ed Psych to assess for medical hours!!!!
Appt finally for end of March yet she will not even assess her prior to the meeting At the mo I am spending a fortune on enlarging text for her. She has totally stopped reading which is gutting as she raced through the reading scheme til the print size got too small and there she has lingered for 8 mths...

The school do an awful lot for her off their own back as do I.
But the system is screwed, you will be pleased to hear that the two violent reception boys got immediate statementing and assessments though

[mebaasmum]

Hi Piffle. You probilbly have done all this already. Do you have a QTVI? Is your daughter registered partially sighted . If not that might help. Have you been intouch with National Blinds Children's Society educational advocacy. I found them helpful. Also RNIB have an educational advisor. They can be a bit slow to answer. Organisations like SOSSEN can also be helpful. Joseph Clarke School in East London do enlarge all the Oxford reading tree books. You can get them from their reprographics dept.

[Piffle]

She is registered with NBCS Custom Eyes book service and received advocacy from the County Councils Sensory impaired Service who regular monitor her in school and advise on print type and size and how she is coping in the class.
So they say she needs to sit at the front of the class to view the board, but as she has a short neck and head tilt, she gets a sore neck and loses interest.
So anything read out in class etc she only takes half of it in.

And yes the ORT enlarged books are available but the school has NO funding as DD is not statemented
It's madness and drives me nuts

[SE13Mummy]

As a teacher in mainstream but who was also a SENCo for a while I'd say pretty much what Loudlass has already mentioned.

1. Different boroughs will prioritise different needs and respond (or not) to those needs in different ways so there is no real consistency.
2. There is never enough funding so teachers and TAs spend a lot of time making resources that should/could be provided if only the money were available.
3. There is a lot of buck-passing with LAs and health authorities each trying to make the other pick up the bill for a particular child.
4. Too much is down to the individual school and often the individual teacher; this is great if you're in an imaginative school but disasterous if the school is so hung up on the NC that they lose sight of what matters i.e. the individual child and their individual needs.
5. There is insufficient support and training for teachers and other staff especially with regard to differentiating appropriately for large groups of children.
6. Too many hoops have to be jumped through in order to secure support e.g. why should I have to exclude a 5 year old just to qualify for behaviour outreach input for him/her?
7. Inclusion is a wonderful ideal but without proper funding and planning it's a joke and does no-one any favours.
8. Parents have to go to too many different agencies and retell their story/state their case in order to get support for their children.
9. There is insufficient flexibility in the system (this is often dependent upon the area though) and an apparent unwillingness to let children access the support they need from a specialist unit whilst also benefitting from mainstream experience - why shouldn't a child with EBD attend a specialist school part-time/when needed and a mainstream school at others? This could be true for many other additional needs, educational or otherwise.

All too often the approach of a school depends on its staff and their contacts which isn't really fair to schools whose staff don't have contacts! At the moment parents have to do far too much in the way of advocacy for their children in order to secure support/get a place at an appropriate and desired school and in terms of educating school staff about their child's needs. It would be fantastic if there was enough funding that parents and school staff didn't need to battle for their child to receive the education that suits him/her but sadly that's not the case at present.

[CardyMow]

SE13- It's funny that they wouldn't differentiatie the curriculum appropriately at primary for DD, and she made NO progress in 5 years...She's gone up to Secondary, they're differentiating much more for her, and ...she's starting to make progress! (she's finally off p-scales and into NC levels, even if it is only Lvl 1...). It REALLY does depend on the school, and if you're in an area like mine, where even the LEA admits we need another MS school to cope with admissions, there's no options either, it's this school or one that's 30 miles away when I can't drive.

DS2 was meant to have a special chair AND a writing slope before he joined reception (we had lots of meetings beforehand to discuss his needs). Still not got either and we're a term and a half into Y1 now. I was told halfway through reception that he needs to use a laptop in order to access the curriculum - the SenCo has told me he'll not get it until he gets into Y3...He's meant to have 6 weekly school visits from the OT...one since September 2008 when he started Reception....and blah blah blah.

Unfortunately, my DC's are stuck in a MS school that is VERY tied up in the NC. My DS1's stepbrother is in reception, and has been excluded 9 times since September, He's possibly ADHD, but as per your point 3, PCT say LEA needs to deal with it, LEA says PCT needs to deal with it...