Help: SEN child biting!

[ksheff2]

My daughter went to mainstream school for 18 months and she barely made any progress at all. She is 6 and still cannot read or write. I do think its very hard for the teacher as they have so many children to see to and they all have there own needs. Autistic children need so much time and attention, that i dont think this is always possible in a mainstream school, but it also depends on the severity of the Autism, it affects some children a lot more than others. I dont think teachers are getting extra training, at my daughters old school, it was mainly the teaching assistant that did most things with my daughter.

 

Thanks ever so much for the reply.

 

When I did that SEN course, (albeit a not very in depth one), it seemed to me that it was the way forward, to integrate children with special needs, but having read various magazine articles and seen reports on tv, I get the impression from parents that they preferred/would prefer their child to have their children attend a school specifically for children with special needs.

Like you said, it really depends on the specific need.

 

I just wondered if you thought that all this integration was just a very cunning way of the Government saving money and in the end, lots of children are losing out?

[funkymiss]

It is very hard to fully meet the needs of one child with SEN in mainstream school, let alone several in one class. It's frustrating for the child, teacher and the parents. No, most teachers don't have SEN training. There are schools where it works better and it is about knowing the child and trying to set things up for them as much as possible. It is amazing what children with ASD can achieve in the right environment. I have a friend who works in a special school in a class where all children are on the autistic spectrum and the facilities and care are amazing.

[Typical user]

As blade4ever has said, this is an issue that crops up a lot with anyone on the autistic spectrum because they are totally unable to interpret other's feelings or wishes if they aren't stated clearly and they can't feel any sort of empathy, so of course this results in a rather persistent sort of selfishness, kind of like a younger child who hasn't yet learned what is acceptable and how their actions affect others.

 

Children with autism CAN learn what is acceptable, but they won't learn it in the same way as other children because they can't think with the same pathways. With a child who doesn't have autism, if they bite you then you make a big show of crying because they have hurt you and they learn that they don't want to hurt you- that won't work with an autistic child because they can't interpret your crying as meaning that you are upset or hurt. You have to say the words and you have to explain them repeatedly so that the child can remember that last time they did X you told them that this was wrong, so the next time they do the same thing you're going to stop them too.

 

It's longer, it's frustrating and it takes a lot of repetition and someone who has loads of patience and time to repeat things to that degree, but if it's hard for the teacher/parent, think of how hard it is for the child!

 

If they don't learn the same way as "normal" children, why are they in a "normal" children's school.

 

I may seem harsh but for 5 years my life was a made difficult due to a person with mental health problems not getting the adequate support they needed. I find it ridiculous that a whole class of children and its teacher have to be abused to the point of being fed up, go without their education all for one child that isn't getting the care he/she should get.

 

Maybe they should teach the child, in the way you suggest they need to be taught, in another "more suitable" school and once the child has learned how to behave in an acceptable manner then let them go to the "normal" school.

[medusa]

Since being ill I retrained (in the hopes that I'd be well enough to work again) as a specialist teacher for adults with disabilities, so I've done quite a lot of learning around learning pathways and the like- and my ex-husband has Aspergers.

 

Before I started training as a teacher I was really quite fervent in my view that of course learners with a disability should be catered for in mainstream education as a mixed group helps to give the best opportunities, but over the years and talking to adults who could express their opinion a little better than children can, I'm coming to see things the other way around.

 

True inclusivity, which is centred around offering equality of opportunity to all users, really would offer the best opportunities to all the learners in one class, no matter what their abilities or disabilities, but that's not what we appear to have at the moment in mainstream education. We seem to have integration which is not the same thing as inclusivity at all. Integration is shoving everyone in the same room at the same time and expecting them to do the same thing irrelevant of their ability to actually do it and irrelevant of the amount of training and support the staff have to help the learners.

 

If we could have true inclusivity and provide a proportionate niche for every child then I'd still say that all children could be catered for in one classroom. If, however, we're going to have integration rather than inclusivity, then that fails children at both ends of the spectrum by trying to make all of the square, oval and triangular pegs fit through the round hole along with the round pegs and it would be preferable to put all the unusually shaped pegs in their own groups with more appropriate niches.

[shane39]

Press charges. If they argue the child is ill, ask them why he/she's not in a school that can cater for his/her illness. If child isn't ill, expel him/her.

 

Some parents like to try and keep their Autistic children in mainstream schools.

[JFKvsNixon]

I dont want to upset anyone here, Im just asking a questions, and in no way want to offend.

 

I was just wondering what mums of children with special needs think of their children attending mainsteam schools, where the teachers might not have the training to know how to handle the specific need of the child?

 

I did a special needs awareness course and learned that lots of special needs schools were now closing and children were being integrated into mainstream schools.

This is all well and good, but are the needs of these children being met?

I just wondered what the parents of children with special needs thought?

 

Lots of parents who have children with special needs will agree that it can be very hard work to cope with a child who has special needs, so what about a teacher, with no training in looking after a child with special needs, who also has another 29 children to teach/look after at the same time?

 

Are teachers being offered extra training now?

 

As I said at the start of my post, I hope I haven't offended anyone with my questions

It's just that, as you said, Blade4eva, parents of non special needs children need to understand.

 

Thanks

 

Most schools will now have a Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) who will be trained to either provide the child's education, or help the mainstream teachers provide the education.

[blade4ever]

The SENCO don't provide the education, they gather information for the childs SEN statement and can put you in touch with support groups ect.

[JFKvsNixon]

The SENCO don't provide the education, they gather information for the childs SEN statement and can put you in touch with support groups ect.

 

My wife is a SENCO, their responsibilities are far greater than those that you have listed. Amongst other things she is responsible for the education either directly or indirectly of the children on the SEN register.

[blade4ever]

It takes a long long time for a child to get on the SEN register. I had concerns about my daughter from when she was 2 and a half to 3, but she was only diagnosed with Autism last June when she was 5 and a half and her Statement is only just about to be released.

[Plain Talker]

My sister and my nephew have Autism, as does my cousin's son.

 

My sister and my nephew could not manage to cope with a mainstream education, but my Cousin's son did. With some support.

 

(NB, cousin's son is not as severely affected by the Autism as my nephew)

 

Some children with SEN, need so much intensive "looking-after", that, with the best will in the world, they will never manage in a mainstream school.

 

In an ideal world, we would have inclusivity, and all kids receiving the same levels of edcation, and parity in educational support. All schools having a big enough budget to supply those needs, and having access, etc, etc, etc.

 

But, sadly, we don't live in an ideal world. Schools don't get enough money to run mainstream education, let alone cater for the needs of kids with SEN.

 

Some children like my nephews, will really only thrive in the sort of environment that a special school can provide.

 

Back to the difficulty with the child with SEN in the OP's question:-

 

The school has a duty of care toward the other pupils in the class, that they are safe from being attacked/ assaulted/ injured in any way by this child with SEN. (Well, the duty of care is basically that the children be kept safe. Whether safe from this child or any other in that school)

 

I would imagine that a risk assessment would need to be (re-?)done about the child, and its behaviour, and how adversely his or her behaviour would affect/is affecting the other children in the class, and what means the school would have, in order to put measures in place to protect the other children.