November/December 2017

Ask Alison... Helpful advice for grandparents or guardians
Alison Waterhouse has worked with children with Additional Educational
Needs for the past 22 years in both mainstream and the private sector.
Initially, she trained as a Special Needs Teacher and has worked in a variety
of schools and educational settings. Alison now works as an Independent
Educational Consultant for Special Educational Needs and Emotional Well
being in both the Independent sector and mainstream. She is involved in staff
training for Young Minds and Releasing Potential and she has an Educational
Psychotherapy practice.
For more information, please visit www.alisonwaterhouse.co.uk.
In her regular “question and answer” page, Alison uses her experience to
help readers & their children with educational concerns or problems. If there’s
something you’d like to ask Alison, email your question to :
alison@familybuzz.co.uk
Dear Alison,
My son is in Year 3 at Primary school
each night his class teacher sends his
reading book home however he refuses
to read to me. I have tried tempting
him with rewards and getting cross
and I have tried to read at different
times. His class teacher keeps writing
comments in the book asking me to
read with him. I just don’t know what
to do anymore.
When we find something difficult
we try to avoid it. For whatever
reason, your son sounds as if he
is struggling to read and certainly
not getting any enjoyment out of it.
My first suggestion would be to
make an appointment and meet
up and discuss this with his class
teacher. Ask how he is doing
in school, whether she has any
concerns over his reading and if
so what sort of support is in place.
Then you can share the difficulties
you are experiencing at home and
then together work out strategies
that support both you and your son.
It is really helpful for children if both
schools and parents get together to
discuss difficulties and then both
work together to create strategies
to overcome these.
There are a range of things that
can work to support reading for
children. Share books together –
if he doesn’t want to read don’t
make it a big deal, just say ‘OK I
can read.’ That way, your son is
still being exposed to the words
on the page, the excitement of the
story, and is hearing the language
of stories.
Other ways that support reading
can be writing on post it notes – in
lunch boxes – with a joke of the day,
on the fridge - what’s for tea or jobs
to do. Emails from grandparents
to share together or texts to Dad
or other older siblings can also be
fun ways where he needs to try and
read.
You can also try games where he has
to read clues to find the treasure – a
new game or a sweet of some sort.
1. Go to the bedroom, 2. Look under
the pillow in the front room, 3. Go to
the kitchen, 4. Look in the fridge etc
Comics are another area that many
children with poor reading enjoy
as they have graphic pictures to
support their understanding of what
is happening in the story. You can
be as creative as possible and make
reading a fun and enjoyable activity
with you.
Dear Alison
We are very lucky as our daughter
is in a mainstream school with a
fantastic class teacher who she enjoys
working with very much. She has a
range of problems including Dyslexia
difficulties with co-ordination and
handwriting. She has been on the
Special Needs register ever since
she was in Y2, she is now in Y5. The
school SENCo has just suggested that
we start a school Based Action Plan.
Please can you help explain?
Thank you for your question it is one
that often is asked by parents.
A School Based Action Plan – SBAP
is a way of ensuring that parents
and schools work together to both
identify and then support a range
of needs that a child might have.
You will be asked to work with
the SENCo to complete the SBAP.
This will identify areas that your
daughter does well both at home
and at school and then also areas
that cause her to struggle. Once
these areas have been identified
then together you will choose the
ones that school needs to focus on
for the term ahead. Once this has
been done then the school will share
how they will support these needs.
Within the SBAP they will show who
will support your daughter, how, and
for how long each session. They will
also share the targets your daughter
and members of staff will work on
and how you can support this at
home.
Each of the areas will be linked
to the 6 areas of SEN that the
Government identifies: 1. Cognition
and learning (for your daughter
her dyslexia) 2. Physical (her coordination
difficulties and possibly
handwriting) 3. Sensory, 4. Social
Emotional and Mental Health (this
might be high anxiety as a child
is not able to do something, low
self esteem or other diagnosed
mental health) 5. Medical, 6.
Communication and interaction.
At the end of the term you will
be invited back into work with the
SENCo to review the progress your
daughter has made against the
targets set. At the end of this part
you and the SENCo will agree the
Ask Alison
next lot of targets for the coming term. After 2 or
3 cycles you will be able to see the progress your
daughter has been able to make with this support.
If progress is good then the school will be able
to meet her needs within their budget. If however
the SBAP shows that progress is not sufficient
and that more specialised support is needed or
that they are not able to make progress within
their budget then an application can be made to
the Local Authority for and Education Healthcare
Plan – EHCP.
This will identify your daughters needs and ensure
that they are met at whichever school she attends.
For some children it also recognises the greatness
of their need and enables schools to access
further money to meet these needs within their
environment.
FSK Karate - Crowhurst Park, Battle
Classes from 3+ years
www.fsk-karate.info
01273 702662
Educational Psychotherapist
Qualified Teacher
and S.E.N.C.O
Is your child struggling at school?
Are they ‘stuck’ in their learning?
Behaviour causing concern?
Educational Psychotherapy is a specialised
educational and therapeutic intervention
recommended for children and young people
with complex emotional barriers to learning
and social development.
Phone: 01580 881 271
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E-mail: alison@alisonwaterhouse.co.uk
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