to anybody with kids

[muddypluka]

im interested to no what people would do to ensure there children get a full education ,

my reasons ,
our daughter has three types of epilepsy and is causing her to fall behind at school she is 8 now and is a full school year behind despite our best efforts ,

she has 1to1 tuition for 7 hours a week with a teacher wich is helping her keep up and not fall any further behind ,

our next step is to contact the education secratary for our area and try to get a statement of education stating that the government has a leagal duty to provide her with a education no matter what the cost ,

i mention cost because at present i am unemployed needing to be at home ( family comes first) and the price of 1 hours tuition is 100 pounds ,

her school have said they can only provide 7 hours per week and cannot afford any more due to there budget but they feel more 1to1 would be of great benefit to her future,

when i posed the question how can i get them to give her more tuition they said to contact there governing body but insisted i would get no joy from them without x y and z blah blah,

at the moment i feel like her school is not providing her with the best form of education and feel she would be better suited to being home taught without the destractions of other children and surroundings and i can fit her learning around when she is having good days and ease off when she is having bad ,

but this is a very big step !!!!!!

i would gladly devote my whole life and future providing her the best i could but am unsure where to turn for advice .

please help
chris
aka muddypluka

[Drift]

We had a similar problem and still do to a certain extent.

Kieron my step son had cancer when he was nine and he missed a full year of school completely as he was so ill.

We and Macmillan had a chat with the school to get him some extra work to catch up.
Three years later he still hasn't had any work, and he still takes time off because he still occasionally gets very ill.

We have called so many times to get them to send him work home and received nothing.
We even get snotty letters saying he hasn't handed in homework on dates he was off sick with infections

We have had it with the school and are looking for the net step.

Sorry I couldn't help but I fully understand your frustrations, hope it gets sorted for you.

[muddypluka]

thankyou for a quick reply i dont want to say it but im glad im not alone but it sure feels like it at the moment i think the next step is to
ask for a statement of education once you have one i think you have them by the bouncies im just reading here

http://www.oaasis.co.uk/public/document ... 002_07.pdf

ive been trawling the net for the next step and i think ive found it im going to read on
chris

[Ruathar]

I can't give much constructive advice at the present time, but my Mum used to be a teacher dedicated to teaching children in these situations in the west midlands area until she retired. She is currently on holiday till the middle of this week but when she gets back I will ask her for advice on how to get the education authority in your areas to provide the proper facilities and resources....

[Drift]

Looks interesting, got in favourites and will have a good look through it latter.

I was at the point of throttling the headmaster one day when the attendance office actually knocked at the door and Kieron had been in hospital for nearly three weeks solid then home 2 days and back in for weeks.

Schools just do not communicate

[muddypluka]

thankyou that would be extremely helpfull i just feel so useless at the moment i feel im letting jessica down for not noing what to do next we always try to do whats best for both our kids but it still dosent make it any easier when being confronted buy something like this
chris

[muddypluka]

before jessica was diagnosed we had so much pressure put onto us from school it was uberable they kept saying she was unruly and a bad influance on others because she didnt understand they tried everything to blame us calling us bad parents every parents evening was the same jessica has done this jessica has done that it was so painfull to hear
now they have an excuse and a condition to blame for not trying it seems to be well her condition is causing her to be disruptive and shes always asking the teacher for help so she is taking time away from other pupils who want to learn it just makes me so angry,
i feel for any parent who has a child who is either disabled or ill i can understand why they get so frustrated it is dificult seing other children in the playground and having a normal childhood and i think that other children no there is something wrong jessica hasnt been invited to any birthday parties for over three years and when we do a party for her there are only a few invertations returned and most of them say im sorry but i wont be able to attend its like she is being treated like she has the plague or something,

i am sorry to rant on but ( with clentched fists ) i just need a release and some advice

[alex]

£100

My wife paid for herself through uni working for an agency teaching at peoples homes. She went and charged the family and filled in a report and sent a cheque back to the agency.
For families she got on with she would knock the price down and get them to sign for less hours with her pocketing the diff to make a saving for them.
I know its 8 years back, but she charged £17 an hour.

Will get the contacts tonight.

[Red Oktober]

i feel for any parent who has a child who is either disabled or ill i can understand why they get so frustrated it is dificult seing other children in the playground and having a normal childhood and i think that other children no there is something wrong jessica hasnt been invited to any birthday parties for over three years and when we do a party for her there are only a few invertations returned and most of them say im sorry but i wont be able to attend its like she is being treated like she has the plague or something,

i am sorry to rant on but ( with clentched fists ) i just need a release and some advice

Hi Chris
I was a disabled child at school (I have been diagnosed with a mental health problem ....and i am deaf and wear 2 hearing aids)
it's not fun at school when you have problems (even little problems) the other kids are seen to do so well in comparison to a child who doesn't appear to want to learn
i bear deep mental scars because of the way i was treated by both the other kids and the teachers who were suposed to be helping me

there wasn't nearly as much understanding about disablities in children as there is these days ..we were just ostresized and bullied into keeping up by the people who were meant to be helping ....and the other kids just bullied

my parents weren't offered the chance to get 1 to 1 help for my schooling so i fell further and further behind
and the further i fell ...the more i got bullied. it's a never ending cycle of mental and (for some) phisical cruelty making school a very bitter place to be .......

I really hope that things get sorted out quickely for you and your family

[Ruathar]

I have to say I was so lucky. I suffered a lot at school with health problems and epilepsy, mainly caused by an infection I got in hospital when 5 (wasn't diagnosed or treated properly until I was 21 ). At the age of 10 the state system had given up on me so my parents made a lot of sacrifices to send me to a boarding school where the headmaster was fantastic. He openly said to every new child at the school that it was his job to find out what each and every child was good at and encourage them, if they left the school without him doing that then he felt he had failed them.

Thanks to him and the fantastic teachers I had whilst there I am now doing very well. I started as a weak and sickly 10 year old with attention problems, I left there after playing rugby and basket ball to an international standard and had enough academic qualifications to allow me to go to university to get myself a double BSc.

Sadly my old headmaster died late last year (after many years of retirement), but thanks to his work having inspired me, my father took a seat on the board of governers at the school and his message to all the students is now part of the whole ethos of the school. I still go back to the school fairly regularly and can see the difference that man and his staff have made to a lot of children. There isn't a day that goes by when I am not thankful for the sacrifices my parents made and the vision of my school.

[alex]

Try Cloisters Tutoring, searching for other tutors, private ones, see if you can negotiate a nice rate. Most are uni students and might be willing to do a few hours at greatly reduced personal rates....

Then you can ask the school for the £100 and use it to buy more hours, just another avenue to consider.

[paul higgi]

my advice
education authorities
get intouch with local paper
and local mp`s, all of them lab.con,libs etc
citizens advise
just make it a wider audience, bring it into the open
get them to get in touch with school governing bodies, keep pestering the hell out of each and every one of them, every day if possible

all the best higgi

[Tiddles]

Have spoken to may father who is an ex collage teacher.

His advice was go to the local MP and keep pushing the council but I guess you are doing that.

He also says that it is a post code lottery in that you could move to the next county and get more money and support.

The other fact to consider is that the school will have a "budget" for learning disability kids. So the more kids the less money there is for each of them. He said it appears the school is doing what it can under the guide lines and restraints that have been set on it by the Government.

As for the £100 tuition fee the actual teacher only gets about £25 of that the rest goes the school/agency.
Sorry to say but you will need a specially trained tutor to work with your daughter so they will be a little more expensive. Yes I know this is wrong.

Most importantly his advice is do not remove your daughter from the education system as you will get no support. Fight the system from within so to speak.

My own idea is take it to the papers. The Sun, Sport, Star type love to have a cause to fight and will take any chance they can get to bash the Government.

I am dyslexic and the school did not want to know. I and suffered very badly at school coming out with nothing except depression from being bullied.

My collage saw this and organized a reader and righter for me. I cam away with no more depression and cam out top of my class

Hope this is of help to you.

John.

[di]

Thought i'd add our experiences here..
Aiden our youngest is 4..started main stream nursery last Jan (07) afternoons (2 1/2 hours) but after a week they cut him back to an hour as they couldnt get him to participate and sit still...took SWMBO going in and sitting with him for the extra hour for them to let him stay - any way April last year he was transferred to a specialist Pre school assessment unit 6 kids 14 staff - witin 3 weeks he was using Makaton (kids sign language) and basic words (up till then he would just point and grunt)..he has now been there approaching a year, and is in the middle of being statemented - and also we are awaiting a full diagnosis - so far they have narrowed it to Aspergers sysndrom - Autism - and A.D.D. or possible a combination of all 3..All the applications and suggestions have come via the nursery unit - which has been fantastic, he is going up to 'big school' in September and has been put forward to attend another specialist unit where he will get 2 to 1 tuition (1 kid 2 teachers) .. We have been told that if we had to pay it would be in the region of £3000 Per week..
He still doesnt string together sentances very well - doesnt mix well with other kids -or adults - his speech is still below his age standard -has certain foibles that are asociated with Austism, as wll as displaying some Aspergic tendancies too.... BUT if he was still in main stream education I hate to imagine what he would be like..
Statement are a good thing BUT make sure that you fill in EVERYTHING that is sent to you as believe me if they think they can get out of it they will!!!!

If you dont get any joy contact the local C.A.B.

[yaki]

Not an expert on this but from the little I know you need to find out who is the Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) for the school and get them to draw up an Induvidual Education Plan (IEP) for your daughter.

If you child needs help then it is the Local Education Authorities (LEA) responsibility for them to provide help BUT unfortunately it is yours and the schools responsibility to make sure that the LEA get all the information via your childs IEP so that they release the funds your child needs.

Getting the LEA to release the funds ain't easy (surprise surprise) but with effort and persistence it can be done.

I would assume that your daughter is recieving medical treatment for her condition, this will probably require hospital/doctors visits, this will help your cause.

These days it is a requirement that all schools do their utmost to provide education for all irrespective of their physical/mental condition but to do this they need the funds. They will only get this if they contact the LEA with the necessary information and keep pluggin away.

Bottom line, get in touch with the school SENCO, if they haven't got one find out why, your daughter will be in Secondary Education in a few years, get involved with the SENCO in the comp. Get your Health Visitor/GP etc involved and find out what they can do to help in providing evidence.

Try and get in touch with other parents who have or are going through this and swap notes.

Sorry if I have droned on a little but hope this helps

[Ruathar]

I have just been talking to my Mum and can only repeat the above advice. Each school should have someone whose job is to ensure that children with special needs are taken care of properly. If they don't, or that person is not doing their job then it is the Head Teachers job to get one who can do the job.

May also be worth speaking to the Learning Skills Counsil ( http://www.lsc.gov.uk ) They should be able to sort out ALS/ALN (Additional Learning/Learner support) funding or they should be able to point you in the right direction (was over there with their funding program manager earlier today so thought I would enquire).

The one thing my Mum did say is not to take your daughter out of the education system, as when you do she will no longer be on their radar and so you will receive no support or help at all.

[muddypluka]

the sen at jessicas school has never had to work for her money all the children who attend are a 1 students without any difficulties her attempt at a iep was pathetic
and i quote
(standard scores were significantly low in numareacy and literacy for a child of her age )

(her new target in handwriting to improve letter formation)

(jessica seems to enjoy school she listens and show and understanding in topics)

(there is a problem in that jessica does not always listen in the conventional way)

these are three lines one after another in the minutes from the meeting the other day this is a complete contradiction i just get the feeling she has absolutly no idea i have been in touch with the parent partnership today and they are very concerned that interventin is done immediatlyand are looking at arranging a meeting at school within the next two weeks to put some firm iep benchmarks into place they were astounded that a sen could be so vague and that our next meeting is not till october the said they would insit that a meeting is done every term or sooner

[*Sam*]

My advice mate is to keep plugging away, until you get what you want.

As others have said, talk to the MP's, local papers, tabloids, basically anyone that will listen. More importantly talk to your school, hassle the head teacher in to doing something about it. Request weekly meetings, write letters, call them etc.. you basically have to make a nusance of yourselves and shout until somebody listens.

This isnt the way it should be but unfortunately is the way it is. The LEA will help too. Ring them, write to them etc... etc... do you know any of the school governers?? Most schools have two or more parent governers, find out who they are and talk to them too, they will be able to present your case at governers meetings.

Keep your chin up.
Keep plugging away.

Every parent wants to do the best for their children, and that is all you can do.

Sam

[JBW]

Sorry to hear of your situation.

My take on education is that even with healthy kids the approach that schools take often varies from area to area, even within a county.

I can only speak of my own experience of local schools and Cheshire County Councils Education Department.

First each school seems to have a budget to fund 'special needs education'. Once the budget is spent it's spent - hence the 7 hours offered!

However, in my area it has been unofficially acknowledged that one school in particular does really well with special needs children and this appears to be getting more funding. Possibly at the cost of the other schools so I'll chip in with my pennerth for what it's worth:

1) Have a meeting with your headmaster to understand what the limiting factors are. Make notes. Watchem they're canny b*ggers.

2) Ask whether there is a tribunal to appeal for more funding or what appeal processes are available. How more funding can be made available. Ask very direct questions and make sure that you get very direct answers. Make notes. Keep takin notes

3) Speak to someone at County Eductaion level and get them to explain the special needs strategy & funding for your area.

4) Find out how many other statemented children there are at your school and perhaps on a broader basis within 5 miles. Not sure how you'd do this.Is there a register with the LEA. You don't need names as this would breach the Data Protection Act, but numbers of statemented children by school would give you a good understanding of whether this is under funded, funded but not in the right way etc..(with 3 & 4 you can see if there's unused budget somewhere else).

5) With the knowledge gained from the above, then approach (as suggested previously) both your local borough councillor for advise, guidance & assistance. And likewise your MP who may be able to engage at a county level. If you can marshall a number of parents with a similar problem this would help.

The issue is that until you know on what basis the funding is available and how it's made available it's impossible to fight your corner.

It could be that in your area there's no funding available but 15 miles away the situation's different. Facile as an example. But in your situation I'm sure that you won't want to leave a stone unturned.

Good luck. JB.

[JBW]

Oh and most most importantly. Follow each meeting, telephone call up with a letter, reflecting the questions that you asked and the answers given. This then corroborates the exchange be it in person or over the telephone and ensures that the party that your engaging with understands that you mean business.

It also gives them the opprotunity to respond and clarify...

It doesn't have to be done in a nasty way, just a simple

Thanks for meeting/talking ....on xx/xx/xx as mentioned my situation is ....

Just to be clear i asked .... your reply was ... my understanding is therefore ....
I then asked ...

and so on.

Finally ask them to reply confirming the responses given as a matter of record. If you don't get a response call and check they got the letter etc...

Hence the reference to making notes. It creates a record of what was said. Helpful, sometimes if two of you go into meeting. Or put a phone call on speakerphone and have someone write notes.

DON'T rely on telephone conversations/email, people can deny telephone conversations happened or that they never got the email and often pass the buck. It's less easy to ignore a letter. Especially if you followup the letter with a call.

Cheers. JB.