Ready for High School?

{I was prompted to write this post by Kate's Fun Friday blog event

on the subject of  children with special needs  returning to school. }

In July, shortly after his 11th birthday,  Benjamin left his lovely Junior school. Now the summer holidays are almost over, and he starts High School on the 5th September, (UK High School of course - ages 11 to 16).

Ben has a statement of Special Educational Needs which addresses his difficulties which include Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD, poor auditory memory skills, specific learning difficulties in literacy and poor fine/gross motor skills (though these have improved hugely over recent years as we have put in lots of work).

Ben also has lots of strengths - he has a very high General Congntive Ability, and he is talented at maths. He is generally a polite and happy boy

I am really hopeful that this "transition" will go well - but it has taken an awful lot of preparation - which started well over a year ago. Here's a brief run down of the process:

1. Summer 2011 - at Ben's Year 5 Annual Review we looked at options for High School. We wanted him to attend the same High School as Megs, which would require a high level of support.

2. Autumn Term 2011 - reviewed by Educational Psychologist, Specialist ASD teacher and the Speech and Language team - new reports to inform new statement. Initial meeting with Senco (Special Needs Coordinator) at the High School.

3. Spring term 2012 - new Statement written and accepted - met with the Senco and Assistant Head at the High School to discuss how provision would be organised. Year 6 annual review to organise transition.

4. Summer term 2012 - transition programme of visits to High School - (on top of the usual 2 days with his new Form Tutor) first with his current Learning Support Assistant Miss M, then with his new LSA Ms L. He practised going in though the front doors and finding his way to the SEN Base.

5. Summer Holidays 2012 - all the usual organising of new uniform, shoes, bags, equipment etc. Next week he will attend a 4 day summer school focused on developing literacy skills and games - hopefully providing a gentle reintroduction to school.

Still to come after he starts school - monitoring his new timetable - checking he is getting the required support and the correct number of hours 1:1 - making sure that he is having the right interventions for literacy, social groups, occupational therapy etc. And I'm quite sure there will be a lot more meetings!