Advice needed on transfer to comprehensive.

[Suze]

Hi, could do with some advice regarding transfer to secondary school.My son is 9 and statemented.Currently gets 10hrs LSA, 2hrs specialist literacy, 1hr typing.Is classed as severe learning difficulties.Has dx of AS, dyslexia and dyspraxia.We have an annual review meeting next month and I understand this will be used as an oppurtunity to discuss transfer to secondary school.An officer from the LEA has suggested we start to think of which school we would like him to attend.His primary school has 120 pupils and have catered well to his needs.The 2 local comps have over 1000 pupils in them and I worry how he will cope.I wondered how other parents on this site decieded on school placement at secondary level and what the LEA offered them.We have considered part time home ED and school , would this work?He had a very bad episode in year 3 with a difficult teacher( pre-statement) and nearly had a breakdown,I fear a similar episode if we don,t find the correct placement.HELP!

[sylvm]

Hi Suze. I don't have any answers for you but would also be interested to hear the views of everyone on the forum on this. We don't have a statement - we are going through the dx process at the moment hoping it will give us more ammunition. We also worry about secondary and the size of it, coping with so many teachers/changing rooms etc. Although dd is only Year 3, we do not feel we have good secondary schools in this area so may need to move first. As the application process is so early in Year 6, we need to know what we are doing in 2 years time which is not long. I have a friend who works as a LSA to a couple of statemented pupils in a secondary school. She says the parents are still battling to get their hours increased and the school would not be able to cope if it wasn't for willing and able sixth formers who support in non academic lessons such as art.

[nellie]

Suze,

 

The law now requires that the child's Statement must be amended before February 15 of the year of transfer. Your LEA should have had this done and dusted by now.

 

Here are a couple of previous topics on the subject. There is no harm in speaking to an NAS or IPSEA advisor and getting some advice on this matter.

 

Amending statements on year of transfer., Transfer to secondary school.

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...t=0entry15984

 

Transition to Secondary School

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...st=0entry1307

 

 

Good luck.

 

Nellie xx

[Suze]

Hi Sylvm, all your worries are mine also,my son is several years behind his classmates in literacy,and I don,t know how they would deal with this in secondary school.He would definitely need a LSA.The lea have mentioned that he may be allowed to miss foreign language lessons and concentrate on computers maybe to build up literacy skills.His self esteem is an issue as well , and it does,nt take much to damage it.Good luck with your DX is and statement.

[Suze]

Hi Nellie.My son does,nt transfer till sept 2006.But the LEA have told me they want to use the review meeting next month to discuss options for transfer.They have said they like to have an idea of what parents want so any disagreements can be sorted before next years feb 15th deadline.Thanks for the links shall give them the once over.Bless you.

[Helen]

Suze,

 

You should ask for more LSA hours for a comprehensive placement - your son is definitely going to need the extra support in comprehensive. The layout of a bigger school would confuse your son, he would need support in getting around, perhaps he'd need some hands-on-support in any 'practical' lessons due to his Dyspraxia, he may need LSA attendance on eduational visits, help to organize his work, help in writing in his planner etc. The language in comp will become more abstract, he'd need support in interpreting this type of language - because the English language is used throughout the national curriculum subjects (excluding the foreign languages) this would mean that he'd need support in every lesson.

 

An important point to remember is that you can ask for the LEAs advisory teacher for Autism to visit his present school to provide his/her valuable input, you may have some concerns that you'd like to share with the advisory teacher.

 

Your son should be given the opportunity to make regular visits to the comprehensive, for him to get use to the idea of him attending the school. He could be given a map of the premises for him to study the school's layout, e.g. the toilet area, dinner hall, ICT room...

Edited February 20, 2005 by Helen

[Suze]

Wow thanks Helen, you sound like you speak from experience.

[mbrown]

Hello All, Our son is 10 and has Asperger's syndrome. We are currently looking at prospective high schools for him. He has a choice of 3 schools. Each has a support unit within the school fo rchildren with SENs. We too share the concerns regarding multiple classes and teachers, large numbers o fpupils, the noise, getting to school, getting to and from each class, haveing a safe 'chill-out' zone etc

 

I suggest that parents visit any prospective schools and see for themselves what each has to offer in regard to serving your childs needs best.

 

We are visiting on eschool this week. Our boys primary school teacher is coming along also to see what preparations she can make in order to help her pupils move smoothly into high school.

 

As far as I know this school has a unit where our boy can go to chill-out, calm down, seek support, or if he decides to 'opt-out' of a particular class for whatever reason. In these cases the class teacher may come to th eunit to give out any work.

 

When it comes to getting a statement, what is written very often varies from what actually happens so I think that visiting each school can help to get your points across and in my experience, working with the school has been far more productive than just leaving them to get on with things as they see fit.

 

There is no reason why working together, parent and school, cannot acheive decent results as far as getting our children through school in one piece, (I HOPE!!)

 

Good luck to everyone that is in the process of transition between primary and high school.

 

Mike

[Helen]

Suze,

 

I think it's easier to make suggestions in hindsight...

 

My own son's transition into secondary didn't go well... When he was being assessed by the LEA's EP during the statutory assessment, the EP stated that he was going to make a recommendation for the LEA's advisory teacher for Autism to visit my son in his new school each week for the first nine months of his schooling - this didn't happen.

 

My son found the layout of the school very confusing, he also had trouble getting his head around the idea of having to visit a different class for a different subject.

 

When he had to attend to a different lesson, he would often take a route outside the building instead of taking a shorter route through the building as this saved him from coming into contact with any bullies, it also saved him from having to deal with the noise level and the shoving/ personal contact from the busy hallways as the pupils would move from class to class. He would use the 'outside route' even when it use to rain and as a result he would then get a warning about detention for going out in the rain - health and safety matters of a child going out into the rain and leaving behind them wet floors on entering the building.

 

The Senco from the comprehensive had visited my son in primary just before his transition. Due to problems with his transition, I had to visit the school on three occasions to educate the staff about my son and his needs, in spite of all this information being noted in his Statement - for some reason the staff hadn't initially taken this information on board. My son was still experiencing transition problems so his SALT visited the school on two occasions to provide the staff with information - all this was during his first three months at comprehensive.

Edited February 21, 2005 by Helen

[Kathryn]

I agree with Helen, oh for the wisdom of hindsight..

 

When my daughter transferred five years ago she didn't have a diagnosis, let alone a statement, so there wasn't any support in place for her. She struggled with finding her way around long after the settling in period, and found lunchtimes stressful as she couldn't cope with the dining hall arrangements, the noise, handling money etc. so she stopped eating at school. She was often the last to leave the classroom as it took her a long time to gather up and pack her things, so she would meet the crush of pupils coming in for the next lesson. On one such occasion her head was accidentally banged against a wall and we had to take her to casualty. LSA support would definitely have helped in these situations. Ironically, in the classroom, where she was struggling least, LSA's attached to other pupils would try to help her and she would angrily reject them because she didn't want them to think she was "stupid".

 

One of the main problems at secondary school is the way information is passed on (or not). In a primary school you are dealing only with the child's class teacher. At secondary level there are many teachers, supply teachers etc. and it is impossible to speak to them all personally and make sure they are all singing from the same hymn sheet. Parents evenings are chaotic - we found it impossible to talk in depth in the five minutes that you get. It's good for parents to build up a relationship with one teacher, usually the form tutor, who can be the first point of contact and make sure concerns are passed on.

[nellie]

Suze,

 

You have been given some great advice.

 

Have you thought of looking at other schools? You could ask the LEA or Parent Partnership to give you a list of all the schools, maintained and independent. There may be a school or a unit that would be appropriate for your son's needs. If you found a suitable school, which was an independent school, you would have to prove to the LEA that the maintained school does not meet his needs as they have a duty to use their resources to the best.

 

There is no harm in looking at all the options.

 

Nellie xx

[Suze]

Thanks guys, all your advice is so appreciated.I,m so worried though I know there are going to be tough times ahead. At the moment things are on an even keel at school, my son likes his teacher and lsa.But it does,nt take alot to rock the boat, and transfer definitely will.Thanks again for your posts

[Kathryn]

Hi Suze,

 

Apologies if anything I said in my post alarmed you. I realise I have painted a somewhat bleak picture of secondary school. My daughter entered this phase with nobody aware of her problems, outwardly she seemed to be coping well. Even we, her parents, underestimated the extent to which she was struggling; we were not even sure what support she was entitled to or what problems she would face later on. You are much more aware your child's needs and what kind of setting would suit him best so you are already far better prepared than we were to make the transition as smooth as possible. I'm sure your son will have a much more positive experience than my daughter did.

 

K

[Kazzen161]

My youngest son has "mild" AS and I visited both local schools and tookinto account SEN knowledge, availability of a chill-out room, environment, etc.

 

I insisted on three transition visits, and a long talk with the year Head and keyworker, we did lots of walking around the school, practising getting around, looked in the changing rooms, practised dinner times, etc, practised using a timetable. This went well, and he was the only child who could find his way around in the first week. I also wrote a letter for every single Teacher he would have.

 

The problems we are having is that he has no statement and no LSA time. If he goes to the Unit cos he decides he doesn't want to do a lesson, no one person is responsible for encouraging him to go into the lesson or for making sure he does the work. Communication is the most difficult thing - we have a Head of Unit, a Head of Inclusion, a keyworker (LSA), and Year Head, a Tutor, a Deputy Head - I still have not found out how to get the info I need to the right people at the right time.

 

I think the NAS has a booklet about transition to Secondary mainstream - it was very useful.

 

Karen

[jilly2003]

Hi, my son transferred to senior school in Sept ,prior to him starting he had numerous visits to the school with his 1to 1 helper they got maps of the building and wandered around everywhere he met his new teachers .he visited at all times of the day to hear the bells and see the chaos of school life, he also had lunch one day .His helper also made him a social story of his new school life listing everything that would happen when the bells went. We spent the summer holidays practising the new uniform and route to school.Like everyone else he was very nervous of the new school but he has settled in very well they are now starting a Lunch time chill out club for him and others . Prior to the move his Senco at Juniors asked me which particular children I wanted my son to be in class with and also who I would wish to be excluded from his new class ,this was helpfull as there was one particular boy we did not wish him to be grouped with. It has also helped him that he has to move classrooms for each lesson this allows him to chill out a bit before the next lesson also he knows that if he doesnt like one teacher he only has that teacher for a short period of time before he can escape. School have also started a Peer Mediator for him which is an older pupil he meets regularly and can contact at any time if he need help. Hope this is a bit positive for you ,the NAS leaflet mentioned about Transfer to Secondary school is very helpfull you have to buy about 10 of them but then you can hand them out to all teachers you feel may need it .

[sylvm]

Sounds like your son's school deserves a very big pat on the back Jilly.

[Suze]

Thanks for the advice guys, it,s much appreciated.

[Kazzen161]

>>Prior to the move his Senco at Juniors asked me which particular children I wanted my son to be in class with and also who I would wish to be excluded from his new class ,this was helpfull as there was one particular boy we did not wish him to be grouped with

 

We all said there was one boy my son should not be anywhere near - and they put him in the same class!! It got sorted in the end, but it was not a good start.

 

Karen