Parent, Buckinghamshire
My stories
My School Story
School was not able to meet my son's needs. He has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and half way through reception I was already listening to the school telling me he had a learning disability, when in reality they just didn't understand him or were able to educate him.
He started reception making simple maths that are only taught end of reception /beginning of year 1 but this was being ignored because he couldn't do other things they wanted him to do. Half way through reception he had lost skills instead of having gained any.
School kept refusing to make adaptations for him to learn and to listen to us. He started refusing to attend school, we had a distressed child every morning and every afternoon due to demands put on him.
By the first half of year 1 we hit a dead end when a teacher was happy because on occasions my son would identify number 4. All they could see was his diagnosis and nothing else, they were doing more harm than good they were not educating him.
The diagnosis is cerebral palsy but I'm pretty sure this is a wrong diagnosis and he has hereditary brain damage, both myself and my dad have university degrees, so it was very hard for school to convince me of a learning disability on a 4 year old.
He started reception making simple maths that are only taught end of reception /beginning of year 1 but this was being ignored because he couldn't do other things they wanted him to do. Half way through reception he had lost skills instead of having gained any.
School kept refusing to make adaptations for him to learn and to listen to us. He started refusing to attend school, we had a distressed child every morning and every afternoon due to demands put on him.
By the first half of year 1 we hit a dead end when a teacher was happy because on occasions my son would identify number 4. All they could see was his diagnosis and nothing else, they were doing more harm than good they were not educating him.
The diagnosis is cerebral palsy but I'm pretty sure this is a wrong diagnosis and he has hereditary brain damage, both myself and my dad have university degrees, so it was very hard for school to convince me of a learning disability on a 4 year old.
What happened next...
Now that my son is home educated he has made so much progress that I know this is not correct at all.. if my son had stayed at school I can not imagine what would the future be. His love for reading is back, he memorises information like never before. His numeracy and literacy skills are progressing so much.
He is really enjoying being educating and learning about what interests him.
He is really enjoying being educating and learning about what interests him.
How I think schools could be better.
Schools need to be able to make adaptations to children. To be able to show progress in different ways, to be able to understand that progress is not linear and does not look the same for all children. Not wait years before making changes in the way that they are teaching. Listen to parents they will know what works for their children.