Subtitles
Associated Teachers TV programme
Special Needs: Making a Statement
0001 10:00:00:00 10:00:03:22
It really was not worth the paperit was written on at that time.
0002 10:00:03:22 10:00:09:09
It feels like a matter of luckas to whether you succeed or not.
0003 10:00:09:09 10:00:12:13
It's a lottery,a hit-and-miss game,
0004 10:00:12:13 10:00:15:18
whether you can actuallyget the resources in time.
0005 10:00:26:08 10:00:28:11
A statement is a legal document
0006 10:00:28:11 10:00:31:18
which sets outwhat a child's needs are,
0007 10:00:31:18 10:00:34:02
how they'll be met, and by whom.
0008 10:00:34:02 10:00:36:14
And it's legally bindingon local authorities
0009 10:00:36:14 10:00:38:14
once it's actually up and running.
0010 10:00:38:14 10:00:40:22
Parents like their childrento have them
0011 10:00:40:22 10:00:43:07
because it provides protectionfor the future.
0012 10:00:43:07 10:00:45:17
(teacher) Good morning, Salome.
0013 10:00:45:17 10:00:47:12
Good morning, Nikashun.
0014 10:00:47:12 10:00:49:11
(woman) Hayden's nine years old.
0015 10:00:49:11 10:00:52:11
He was diagnosedwhen he was around two-ish
0016 10:00:52:11 10:00:54:10
with being on the autistic spectrum.
0017 10:00:54:10 10:00:57:09
- (teacher) Good morning, Hayden.- Good morning.
0018 10:00:57:09 10:01:01:06
I was lucky. I managed to get thingsgoing while Hayden was at nursery.
0019 10:01:01:06 10:01:06:06
So it was pretty much beforehe'd even finished his nursery year
0020 10:01:06:06 10:01:10:13
he was fully statementedwith the full amount of hours.
0021 10:01:11:08 10:01:14:01
(teacher) Who can remind mewhat a still life is?
0022 10:01:14:01 10:01:16:09
(Louise) What I foundthe most difficult
0023 10:01:16:09 10:01:19:02
was actuallyenforcing that statement.
0024 10:01:19:02 10:01:22:23
He had a very, very, verydifficult year in reception.
0025 10:01:22:23 10:01:27:23
He did not do one full day at schoolin his whole reception year.
0026 10:01:27:23 10:01:29:17
That was very stressful.
0027 10:01:29:17 10:01:35:07
I was almost made to feelthat his condition was a weapon
0028 10:01:35:07 10:01:37:24
used against himfor excluding him out of school.
0029 10:01:39:07 10:01:40:20
In his statement, it says:
0030 10:01:40:20 10:01:45:22
"Yes, this child will hit, willtantrum, will get very distressed."
0031 10:01:45:22 10:01:49:05
But they were saying it's forexactly those behavioural issues
0032 10:01:49:05 10:01:52:22
that he can't be at school becauseof health and safety of our staff.
0033 10:01:52:22 10:01:56:19
The statement was sayinghe needed the social interaction.
0034 10:01:56:19 10:02:00:00
He needed to be ableto cope with playtime.
0035 10:02:00:00 10:02:03:10
Then, towards the endof that school year,
0036 10:02:03:10 10:02:09:08
it was finally decided that no, thatwasn't the right setting for him.
0037 10:02:09:08 10:02:14:18
It was obvious, I think,to everybody much earlier than that.
0038 10:02:14:18 10:02:19:12
But I think the school were tooscared to say, "We're not coping."
0039 10:02:19:12 10:02:21:24
But at least at his lastreview at that school,
0040 10:02:21:24 10:02:26:09
it was, "It's not working.Need to find him somewhere else."
0041 10:02:26:09 10:02:27:15
And we did.
0042 10:02:27:15 10:02:31:06
(teacher) I want you to start yourpaintings and finish them today.
0043 10:02:31:06 10:02:33:13
Yeah, we had to paint these.
0044 10:02:34:14 10:02:36:06
(teacher) Your turn.
0045 10:02:36:06 10:02:38:11
I think it's two...
0046 10:02:38:11 10:02:39:21
One.
0047 10:02:44:10 10:02:46:12
"In two days' time..."
0048 10:02:46:12 10:02:47:22
"In two days' time."
0049 10:02:47:22 10:02:49:24
Yes. "In two days' time."
0050 10:02:50:11 10:02:54:16
We've been talking aboutapplying for a statement for Naftali
0051 10:02:54:16 10:02:58:13
probably for about the last year,year and a half.
0052 10:02:59:20 10:03:01:22
- Backwards?- What does it say?
0053 10:03:01:22 10:03:04:21
- In two days' time...- Look at the first word.
0054 10:03:04:21 10:03:07:22
- "In... two days' time..."- In...
0055 10:03:07:22 10:03:12:00
(Danielle) What we're waiting for isto get all the pieces of the jigsaw
0056 10:03:12:00 10:03:17:10
into place, really to give usthe best possible chance of success
0057 10:03:17:10 10:03:21:05
either the first time aroundor on appeal.
0058 10:03:21:05 10:03:25:15
(teacher) Can you help me? I don'tthink that one fits on quite yet.
0059 10:03:25:15 10:03:30:00
We started off by thinkingit was largely about his speech,
0060 10:03:30:00 10:03:31:05
which was slow,
0061 10:03:31:05 10:03:33:08
and his abilityto construct sentences.
0062 10:03:33:08 10:03:35:14
And over time it's become clearer
0063 10:03:35:14 10:03:41:02
that his problems are nonverbalrather than language-related.
0064 10:03:41:02 10:03:45:18
- "Two days ago." That's backwards.- You're right.
0065 10:03:45:18 10:03:49:11
(Jonny) He comes acrossas almost precocious, in fact,
0066 10:03:49:11 10:03:53:16
but if you probe a little bit deeperhe often really doesn't understand.
0067 10:03:53:16 10:03:56:24
So you're on Tuesday...
0068 10:03:56:24 10:03:59:24
- and you need to go how many days?- Backwards.
0069 10:03:59:24 10:04:02:04
(Danielle)Over the course of this year
0070 10:04:02:04 10:04:04:18
we've had regular conversationswith the school
0071 10:04:04:18 10:04:07:04
about what is the right timeto go for a statement
0072 10:04:07:04 10:04:09:15
and what do we needin order to go for a statement.
0073 10:04:09:15 10:04:13:12
And we've also tried to progressgetting a medical diagnosis,
0074 10:04:13:12 10:04:17:02
because it's not quite clearwhat the problems are.
0075 10:04:17:02 10:04:22:09
"We went back to... town...
0076 10:04:22:09 10:04:24:04
and looked for my bag."
0077 10:04:24:04 10:04:28:04
(Jonny) His reading is in theacceptable boundaries for his age.
0078 10:04:28:04 10:04:30:16
It's not way down below,like everything else.
0079 10:04:30:16 10:04:34:16
But when you ask, "How did the boyfeel when they took his bike away?"
0080 10:04:34:16 10:04:38:00
or "How do you think he feltwhen he was pushed in the water?"
0081 10:04:38:00 10:04:43:02
those kind of empathy-basedquestions he finds very difficult.
0082 10:04:43:22 10:04:47:12
But unfortunately when you havethis statement process,
0083 10:04:47:12 10:04:50:11
they'll say,"Actually, his reading's OK."
0084 10:04:51:02 10:04:52:11
OK!
0085 10:04:52:11 10:04:56:01
How do you decide...If you lose something...
0086 10:04:56:01 10:04:58:09
(Susanna) School Actionis the first stage,
0087 10:04:58:09 10:05:00:15
when a child hasspecial educational needs,
0088 10:05:00:15 10:05:04:22
where a class teacher might observethat a child has additional needs
0089 10:05:04:22 10:05:09:18
that need additional resourcingand paperwork.
0090 10:05:09:18 10:05:12:23
After that, it may move to
School Action Plus,
0091 10:05:12:23 10:05:15:10
where external professionalsbecome involved.
0092 10:05:15:10 10:05:18:01
For example,the educational psychology service
0093 10:05:18:01 10:05:20:16
or specialist teachersfrom a local authority
0094 10:05:20:16 10:05:22:13
may come inand work with that child.
0095 10:05:22:13 10:05:24:22
Naftali's on School Action Plus.
0096 10:05:24:22 10:05:28:17
And yet, were it notfor us doing our own research
0097 10:05:28:17 10:05:30:15
and the school having mentioned it,
0098 10:05:30:15 10:05:34:13
there's no way that we would knowabout a statementing process.
0099 10:05:34:13 10:05:41:08
At that point - and this can takequite a long time, sometimes years -
0100 10:05:41:08 10:05:45:18
then, at that point, you may apply
for statutory assessment
0101 10:05:45:18 10:05:47:03
of that child's needs.
0102 10:05:47:03 10:05:50:23
And parents can apply for statutoryassessment, or the school.
0103 10:05:50:23 10:05:53:19
Ideally both, at the same time.
0104 10:05:53:19 10:05:56:00
If you don't have your schoolbehind you...
0105 10:05:56:00 10:05:59:23
And I guess we're lucky thatthe school do support the idea
0106 10:05:59:23 10:06:01:23
that we should go for a statement.
0107 10:06:01:23 10:06:03:18
It may be interesting to note
0108 10:06:03:18 10:06:07:18
that parents have more rightsin this regard than schools,
0109 10:06:07:18 10:06:09:18
and it's quicker if parents apply.
0110 10:06:09:18 10:06:13:10
But obviously you wouldn't want todo it without the school's support.
0111 10:06:13:10 10:06:16:10
So hopefully at that pointit would lead on to a statement.
0112 10:06:16:10 10:06:18:14
What shapeare you going to make first?
0113 10:06:18:14 10:06:19:14
- Square.- OK.
0114 10:06:19:14 10:06:22:15
Let's see if this dotis part of the square.
0115 10:06:22:15 10:06:24:24
- So we've got one...- One...
0116 10:06:24:24 10:06:29:20
(Danielle) The school psychologistdirected us to the Hope Centre.
0117 10:06:29:20 10:06:34:21
It specialises in helping childrenwith cognitive difficulties.
0118 10:06:34:21 10:06:38:14
Shall we draw these two in?Want to draw those two in?
0119 10:06:39:11 10:06:42:06
- (Naftali) I'll do this one...- Yeah.
0120 10:06:44:01 10:06:46:11
Naftali, just stop.Remember where we went?
0121 10:06:46:11 10:06:50:17
(woman) Naftali came to usa few months ago.
0122 10:06:50:17 10:06:53:20
The parents were frustratedbecause he had difficulties
0123 10:06:53:20 10:06:55:05
accessing the curriculum.
0124 10:06:55:05 10:06:57:09
They weren't surewhat was the matter.
0125 10:06:57:09 10:07:01:06
The Hope Centre'sa centre for cognitive education.
0126 10:07:01:06 10:07:04:17
We work with childrenaged from three up to 19.
0127 10:07:04:17 10:07:06:06
And we work one-to-one
0128 10:07:06:06 10:07:09:23
with children that really need workon their thinking skills.
0129 10:07:09:23 10:07:11:18
- (Naftali) Uh-oh!- Well done.
0130 10:07:11:18 10:07:15:07
The work with the dots was all aboutplanning what he was doing,
0131 10:07:15:07 10:07:17:04
holding in his headwhat he had to do,
0132 10:07:17:04 10:07:19:24
deciding where to go next,sequencing.
0133 10:07:19:24 10:07:24:24
The school has been quite supportiveand quite good at advising us,
0134 10:07:24:24 10:07:30:16
and their view, like others',is that Naftali needs a statement,
0135 10:07:30:16 10:07:35:05
needs ongoing one-on-one supportin the classroom to progress,
0136 10:07:35:05 10:07:39:15
and that when he has thathe can learn.
0137 10:07:39:15 10:07:42:09
- Four!- How many dots do we need?
0138 10:07:42:09 10:07:47:09
(Danielle) Their advice is also thatit'll be very difficult to get one
0139 10:07:47:09 10:07:49:04
and that we should...
0140 10:07:49:04 10:07:52:04
While they will support
an application from us,
0141 10:07:52:04 10:07:58:06
their advice to us has beento wait and to see what happens.
0142 10:08:05:05 10:08:10:19
Science...is kind of difficult for me.
0143 10:08:10:19 10:08:16:23
You need to do experimentsand explain why this and why that.
0144 10:08:19:02 10:08:23:23
And that's... that's the onlysubject that I don't like.
0145 10:08:23:23 10:08:25:19
He does find sometimes
0146 10:08:25:19 10:08:31:02
articulating what he wants to sayon paper quite difficult.
0147 10:08:31:20 10:08:35:09
Explaining why this and why that.
0148 10:08:36:05 10:08:42:04
And... like, predictingand that stuff.
0149 10:08:43:15 10:08:46:05
(boy) Hayden, get a small brush.Then you can...
0150 10:08:46:05 10:08:50:12
- Take that. Then you can start...
- This is thicker.
0151 10:08:52:21 10:08:55:19
That is so much better.
0152 10:08:56:08 10:08:59:21
(Louise) What was so greatwhen he came here
0153 10:08:59:21 10:09:05:18
was the fact that I was made to feelthat my concerns were important.
0154 10:09:05:18 10:09:08:22
Hey! We made grey water!
0155 10:09:09:21 10:09:14:13
(Louise) There was always the optionthat I could come in for a chat,
0156 10:09:14:13 10:09:18:21
just to discuss what was happeningand for us to work together.
0157 10:09:18:21 10:09:20:21
Is that colour that colour?
0158 10:09:20:21 10:09:22:23
(Hayden) If you want to,use this colour.
0159 10:09:23:23 10:09:30:03
It's really good,and the teachers are really nice.
0160 10:09:30:03 10:09:33:05
And, um...
0161 10:09:33:05 10:09:36:12
the classroom is big, massive.
0162 10:09:37:11 10:09:42:24
And people in the classare kind of nice.
0163 10:09:42:24 10:09:44:12
As a teacher,
0164 10:09:44:12 10:09:49:07
to understand that you never haveall the knowledge about a child.
0165 10:09:49:07 10:09:51:23
Parents and teachersneed to work together
0166 10:09:51:23 10:09:54:00
when you have a childwith any type of need,
0167 10:09:54:00 10:09:56:12
particularly withspecial educational needs.
0168 10:09:56:12 10:10:00:05
Parents may know, for example, thattheir child doesn't like a colour
0169 10:10:00:05 10:10:04:09
or they find eating in a big groupor a level of noise very difficult.
0170 10:10:05:14 10:10:09:14
It's absolutely imperative that youhave that relationship with parents.
0171 10:10:09:14 10:10:12:00
Also the consistencybetween home and school,
0172 10:10:12:00 10:10:14:22
so you're followingthe same types of strategies.
0173 10:10:14:22 10:10:18:12
(Louise) If the support's there,they can access it.
0174 10:10:18:12 10:10:20:04
If the support isn't there,
0175 10:10:20:04 10:10:23:04
then it's stressfulfor the other children in the class
0176 10:10:23:04 10:10:24:18
and for the teacher.
0177 10:10:24:18 10:10:29:12
I'm gonna make this sidelighter than that side.
0178 10:10:29:12 10:10:32:21
(Louise) He is succeedingin every way.
0179 10:10:32:21 10:10:39:11
He's got friends, he lovescoming to school, he's doing great.
0180 10:10:39:11 10:10:42:20
I've only got one best friendin the class,
0181 10:10:42:20 10:10:46:21
and I've got a best friendin another class.
0182 10:10:48:18 10:10:52:08
One of my best friendsis called Corey.
0183 10:10:52:08 10:10:54:15
He's in my class.
0184 10:10:54:15 10:11:00:20
We've been friends like...for two years now.
0185 10:11:00:20 10:11:03:03
I think this is going to bevery interesting,
0186 10:11:03:03 10:11:05:09
what happens next with Hayden.
0187 10:11:05:09 10:11:08:04
He's doing very well at the moment.
0188 10:11:08:04 10:11:11:09
He's coping well at schoolwith the support that he has.
0189 10:11:11:09 10:11:16:06
Soon I'm leaving this school,in year 6.
0190 10:11:16:06 10:11:19:01
I'm gonna be in Queensmead,
0191 10:11:19:01 10:11:22:06
and it's gonna be really scary,
0192 10:11:22:06 10:11:25:09
because it's high school.
0193 10:11:25:09 10:11:27:19
The sort of workthey'll be doing at high school
0194 10:11:27:19 10:11:30:11
will be completely differentto what they do now.
0195 10:11:30:11 10:11:33:11
And I think that's...I'm hoping it won't be the case,
0196 10:11:33:11 10:11:36:01
but I think I'll be havinga battle on my hands
0197 10:11:36:01 10:11:41:17
to justify him having extra hourswhen he goes into high school.
0198 10:11:41:17 10:11:44:21
But I think that's what he's gonnaneed for it to be a success.
0199 10:11:44:21 10:11:49:12
Mm! Let me try and useblue and green.
0200 10:11:50:06 10:11:51:11
Blue...
0201 10:11:51:11 10:11:54:13
(boy) I think I'll make your colour.
0202 10:11:55:13 10:11:56:16
Turquoise.
0203 10:11:56:16 10:12:00:20
I want him to have accessto the best education that he can
0204 10:12:00:20 10:12:02:23
for his ability.
0205 10:12:02:23 10:12:06:23
And yes, in some waysnot to be treated differently
0206 10:12:06:23 10:12:09:23
but to be accepted as an individual.
0207 10:12:09:23 10:12:14:15
He may have a label of a condition,but he's still Hayden.
0208 10:12:14:15 10:12:17:24
He's got a great personality.He's a bubbly little boy.
0209 10:12:17:24 10:12:19:22
Yabba-dabba-doo!
0210 10:12:23:12 10:12:26:05
OK. Let's put lots and lots out.
0211 10:12:27:13 10:12:29:13
Set!
0212 10:12:29:13 10:12:32:02
Hold on a second.
Hold on. Stop, stop, stop.
0213 10:12:32:02 10:12:33:17
Look carefully.
0214 10:12:33:17 10:12:35:08
(Jonny) We want the statement
0215 10:12:35:08 10:12:39:18
because it then at least makes itvery clear what has to be provided.
0216 10:12:39:18 10:12:41:18
Which one should you take away?
0217 10:12:41:18 10:12:43:07
- That.- Very good. That one.
0218 10:12:44:10 10:12:47:07
I think obstaclesare deliberately...
0219 10:12:47:07 10:12:51:00
or appear to be deliberatelyput in your way all the way along,
0220 10:12:51:00 10:12:54:19
and it doesn't seem to have the bestinterests of the child at the heart.
0221 10:12:54:19 10:12:57:12
For a child like Naftali...
0222 10:12:58:10 10:13:02:04
I think one can only befairly pessimistic
0223 10:13:02:04 10:13:06:04
about whether we're gonna succeed ingetting a statement for him or not,
0224 10:13:06:04 10:13:08:09
despite the factit is abundantly clear
0225 10:13:08:09 10:13:12:21
that he will only attainwhat he's capable of educationally
0226 10:13:12:21 10:13:14:17
with additional support.
0227 10:13:14:17 10:13:17:17
If you've got a panelwho are turning things down,
0228 10:13:17:17 10:13:21:02
yet the process isn't transparentto teachers who are applying
0229 10:13:21:02 10:13:22:08
or to parents,
0230 10:13:22:08 10:13:25:10
that makes the processvery frustrating and difficult.
0231 10:13:25:10 10:13:27:19
It seems bizarre.Either provide it or don't.
0232 10:13:27:19 10:13:33:04
But don't provide it and make itincredibly difficult to access.
0233 10:13:33:04 10:13:34:23
You've worked really hard.
0234 10:13:34:23 10:13:38:09
- Is that the end?- Yeah! You did really well.
0235 10:13:44:08 10:13:46:20
Visiontext Subtitles:Doreen Trenerry
0236 10:13:46:20 10:13:48:20
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