[senco-forum] boosting parents confidence

I agree with Amanda, Connexions should be able to help.

 In Essex we also have an organization  - part of County Council now though it began as a charity- called Travel Training.  Young people are referred from school and a trainer takes them on practice journeys  by bus or train which could be to and from school, a planned work placement, into town or to a college they hope to attend.  Might be worth checking whether your LEA has anything like this.

Barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk on behalf of Luisa Pinnell
Sent: Fri 12/28/2007 3:20 PM
To: senco forum
Subject: [senco-forum] boosting parents confidence

I know this is really sad-Christmas Holidays and here we are working or thinking about work! In my case, I am fretting about a couple of annual reviews in the beginning of January-one in particular. 
This Year 11 pupil has made a lot of progress, been  entered for a number of GCSEs, but the father is so over protective.. Pupil has never travelled by public transport, never been out alone, although perfectly capable and sensible. Father exaggerates what he sees as physical disabilities (slightly poor balance, which does not affect this young person's mobility in the least), organises everything for the pupil who,at 16, has no autonomy. 
His aspirations for this youngster include' going to college and leading an independent life', yet he fails to understand that independence is not acquired overnight by some quirk of nature, it has to be learnt and encouraged. I know that he only wants the best for his child, he is very caring and he obviously thinks he is doing his duty as a father. 
He is not the easiest person to talk to. I usually tackle this sort of person with calm and patience but sometimes I wonder if I should change this approach, as I have seen colleagues use a 'no-nonsense' attitude with success. Everybody has their weak points and my particular one is that I always try to avoid arguments....
The trouble is, he always tries to blame the school for something or other and I know that he is going to complain because in his view, his child should have 1-1 support at all times.  He feels guilty for what he sees as his child's disadvantages/disabilities, and one of the ways of coping with it is trying to blame other people. I would like to make him feel more confident and help him to 'let go'.

I would be grateful for any views/opinions on this matter

Luisa
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