"The class teacher said she couldn't differentiate 'that low'. .............. Re: [senco-forum] SpLD or MLD?

Hi Mary:

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"The class teacher said she couldn't differentiate 'that low'. .............. 

My issue is not really one of whether a child needs extra support - yes they do, but what category do they (not) fit".

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No teacher should be gettng away with that comment - additional awareness training is seemed to be required for this teacher. And s/he should?be made to attend a meeting wih the parents?-- including with you and?the EP -- to resolve the difference in professionla views. No professional should be allowed to abdicate their responsibility?for teaching all of their children as best they can -- and if the resources/ expertise is not there -- then acton must be taken to remedy this unsatisfactory lack of provision. Parents remedy is to draw the LA (and put pressure on the EP to justify the comment that the child is doing ok) into the picture by requesting a statutory assessment.

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Not all children will fit neatly into the predetermined categories devised by LAs/central government. But if all of the difficulties encountered by the teacher/s and parents - and as described by the child itself -- in working and socialising with the child are listed -- then a legally valid summary descriptor can be devised -- and which does not have (in law) to fit standard descriptors.

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Significant diffciculties often appearing on summary lists (in Part 2 of statements for example) and of vital importnce are:

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concentration; attention to task; inabilityto begin and remain on task without 1:1 support and continuous adult prompts; distractibility; organisational difficulties; independence difficulties; underacheivment as compared to most peers in basic skills (reading/writing/handwriting/spelling/numerical operations)?; low self-esteem; lack of self-confidence. The list could go on and is familiar to all who teach any children in mainstream.?These children exist in virtually every m/stream state classroom in the country.

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If the list you compile for your undefinable children show a number of these difficulties -- then?the an IEP with simple descriptions is justified and for the child to be placed at School Action. There is nothing in the law/CoP that states that children should fit a specific category for additional? SEN support at School Action or statementig level to be justified.?

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A typical IEP/ parents request for a statutory assessment /?could start as follows:

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XX has general, specific and/or associated?difficulties that affect her/his learning?as follows:

(list all difficulties in?simple terms)

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Consequently XX?has learning difficulties that affect her/his ability to access a sufficient and?appropriate?education?from the resources and expertise normally?available?to most of the children at?the school. This?remains the case?despite additional advice / support / monitoring by designated school professionals / external advisors / specialists. 

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Consequently, additional support will be provided at School Action (plus) of the Code of Practice? and the following targets to be sought to be achieved over the next term are:

(List targets to meet each one of the identified needs)

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The following daily additional support will be provided as follows (and see attached timetable highlighting when and where within the curriculum thsi addditional support is being provided).

(Specify amount and type of additional support the child wil recieve).

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-----Original Message-----

From: Mary Ross 

To: kngbrndn at aol.com

Sent: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:26 pm

Subject: Re: [senco-forum] SpLD or MLD?

#AOLMsgPart_2_9b92155c-091a-40ad-b45a-ce6e69238f08 

Thanks Brendan,? -? interesting thoughts.? I referred one of 'these' children to an EP a while back, who said?she was doing as well as could be expected.? The class teacher said she couldn't differentiate 'that low'.? Her 'Sats. scores (surprise, surprise) showed that she didn't meet the criteria for statementing.? So the poor girl was stuck in the?cycle of low attainment without her needs really being met.

My issue is not really one of whether a child needs extra support - yes they do, but what category do they (not) fit.

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Mary. Senco. Norfolk Junior School. 

----- Original Message ----

From: "kngbrndn at aol.com" kngbrndn at aol.com>

To: maross13 at yahoo.co.uk

Sent: Tuesday, 18 December, 2007 12:01:09 PM

Subject: Re: [senco-forum] SpLD or MLD?

Hi Mary. When most learning difficulty children were sent to special schools (including MLD) there used to be? a category -- 'Mild Learning Difficulty' -- which indicated that these children?were not sufficiently needy to go to a special school -- and were catered for in 'ordinary' schools. There has always been children that don't fit the categories (which are human inventions designed to fit 'typical' learning difficulty 'types' and are very blunt instruments of description).

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The most commonly recognised in those days were 'general learning difficulties' children (MLD / SLD / PMLD) who have a straight line profile of low level?cognitive (IQ) abilities on all tests. SpLD was much less commonly recognised in those days. 

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When I scrutinised?SA advices and wrote up statements in those early days?(as a seconded part time 'statement officer'? in the late 80s) I?remember just one out of?100s with a dyslexia diagnoses -- where a doctor's son in our one small?'leafier area' had commissioned an independent EP report and where a full blown WiSC had been carried out. This was the first time this had been done in our area.?Needless to say -- my line manager saw to it that this child?got all the help he needed in m/stream (a dyslexia specialist was drafted in from B'ham University to advise and train staff and?a 1:1?'welfare assistant' was deployed for 20 hrs pr wk?-- highest ever known at that time).

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This aroused my real interest in this area. I realised then the social effects of assessment and statementing and how affluence and education of parents could?ensure preferred treatment for children. The latest stats (and I believe these ones) show this is still happening and?more so than ever before.

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Remember the notion of graduated SEN indicates that many children may have SEN at 'some point in there lives'. So I would put these marginal undiagnosed/unassessed children at School Action with an IEP for?a period -- informing parents and colleagues that this was for assessment purposes as much as for provision, and most likely?not a long term provision.

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And ask the designated LA EP or an LA advisor to assess and assist with targets. There is supposed to be 'flexibility' enabled for schools with the new?increased delegation funding schemes -- so that no child is overlooked -- and the focus is not entirely on the?neediest / statemented children.

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It depends whether?your school is a winner or a loser in the formula funding lottery - as to whether you can afford to put even your most marginal of SEN children on School Action and carry out an assessment / monitoring process for about 6 months so that they are no longer a 'puzzle'.

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If they are (possibly)?underachieving and funds are not available for their (likely)?additional needs -- I would request a statutory assessment if I were the parents (even though there are much more 'severe' SEN children in the?school only receiving School Action provision --?and they nowhere near fit the restrictive LA criteria for assessment).

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I would make my inevitable appeal to the SENDIST on the grounds that their needs have not been fully?identified and they are not making expected progress -- the only conditions in law for a?statutory assessment being deemed necessary.

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?'Severity', 'Complexity', 'longevity of need',?'low incidence', 'lowest 2%', '4 yrs behind in reading age in primary', '6 yrs behind at secondary' (the commonly used criteria that are required by LAs before they will?agree an SA) are non-statutory and can only?used as internal guidance to recognise the most needy cohort promptly.?Use of such criteria?should not be ruling out cognitively able children who are?significantly underachieving in respect of 'expectation' -- otherwise they become 'blanket policies' rather than internal local guidance and become unlawful practice.

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And every child has a right to have their needs identified. This must involve expert assessment whether school arranged (informal/non-statutory) or LA arranged (formal/ statutory).

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The point made in an earlier posting on this thread that many SpLD children would not be 'registered' as SEN if they were taught 'properly' and are thus inflating the statistics for numbers at?School Action. This could apply to all children. If all m/stream schools had all the provision they required to?meet all needs the category of SEN would become redundant -- with no School Action cohort -- never mind no need for statementing. 

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I have actually heard an MP lip-servant for the current government policy state that 'individualised' learning will cause SEN or 'additional needs' concepts redundant as all children will be assessed in the future and all will have their (special or non-special) individual needs met. So SEN will no longer be a viable description. How many extra billions would this require? We will all be in the big schoolroom in the sky (eating American Pie) before this? utopia transpires methinks.???

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?Brendan King???

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-----Original Message-----

From: Mary Ross maross13 at yahoo.co.uk>

To: senco forum senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>

Sent: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 9:13 am

Subject: [senco-forum] SpLD or MLD?

I've read all the messages on SpLD etc. and still am not quite sure about   certain children.  I don't know what PLASC stands for but I do know its a sort   of census on categories of children that the LEA use.  I try to 'flag' up as   many children as possible if i think they have a difficulty of some sort.  But i   have a few children who don't fit anywhere.   To me SpLD is just that - a   specific difficulty.  These children are very low attainers across the board,   have parents who are semi literate, poor home life etc etc.  I think they have   additional needs - do I call them MLD?  It seems a bit extreme.  Any suggestions   on how to categories them?  I'm actually trialing 'Senco Manager' at the moment,   so I need to tick a box on that   as well.  Mary. Senco. Norfolk Junior School.       Mary. Senco. Norfolk Junior School.            ___________________________________________________________  Support the World Aids Awareness campaign this month with Yahoo! For Good   http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/  

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