With an internal sigh the SENCO considered the forms in front of her on the desk, and the possible options open to them, was it necessary to place Jack onto the next stage of the school SEN register, and if so on what basis? It seemed to be the next logical stage in the process, as they’d gone through several meetings about Jack’s behaviour and academic progress over the past six months, trying various strategies, yet something wasn’t sitting right. She mentally ticked off the list of things covered so far…hearing tests and that came out negative, apart from some hearing issue as a very young child. Vision checks seemed to be OK. A screening test for literacy had been done and while that showed up some issues with spelling patterns, it was not sufficient to explain all that was going on with this bright young lad in 5W. Coordination and motor movement observations from P.E. and other physical activities seemed to show up some issues with balance and accuracy when reaching for things or catching. The phone rang in the middle of this mental recapping, picking up the expected call that had taken over three weeks to organise with the County SEN Support services, she hoped this would provide a way forward…
“Well, yes, Jack is like that at home too,” explained Jack’s mum, “he’s constantly on the go, doesn’t sit still for very long and seems to do things without thinking which has sometimes almost caused an accident to himself or others.” Which was helpful information for the SENCO and seemed to sit with the advice from the Support Service’s Educational Psychologist. “How would you feel about working together so that we can get a fuller picture about Jack at home and school? If we both carried out the same observations over the next four to six weeks this would provide very helpful evidence we can use to put some things in place for Jack,” suggested the SENCO tentatively. The relief on the face of the lady in front of her was immediate. At last someone was beginning to take things forward…
Alastair Fielden is our Education Consultant with over 20 years experience in SEND Education and assistive technologies.
