So Frustrated

[Marleysgirl]

I am so flippin' frustrated today, it's not real.

Three months ago we had a Child Development Team meeting that brought together all of A's various specialists to decide how to progress. At this meeting, it was noted that his Pre-Schools Special Needs adviser is his "key worker" and co-ordinates everything.

We received notification this weekend of another meeting coming up - Audiology, Teacher of the Deaf, Community Audiologist. As there is every chance they will be talking about sign language, I thought it would make sense for his Pre-Schools adviser to be there - after all, (1) she has the best overview of how his concentration difficulties hamper him learning anything and (2) she is his key worker.

The response? No. Apparently it's not in her remit, she leaves that up to the sensory team. So he has learning difficulties that affect his ability to concentrate and develop; and he has a hearing disorder that will affect his ability to learn. But the two are to be treated completely separately.



Does that make sense to anybody else? Because it certainly doesn't to me. There is to be NO joined-up thinking or approach.

 

[sun]

I totally agree with you - It doesn't make sense to me to not look at the whole picture. My LO has a dev ped who gets copies of everything and meets with us once a month or two to discuss, and we also have a worker who advocates for me and my son. They recently started suspecting a link between his physical delays and speech problems that never would have been considered if there hadn't been someone evaluating all his assessments.

I don't know what to suggest to help, but it seems off that his key worker wouldn't be there. Does the sensory team send reports back to her regarding his progress? xx

 

[Marleysgirl]

Apparently I am mistaken, she is not his Key Worker (according to her Manager who phoned today). Nobody is, because our city doesn't provide a "designated key worker service". She is a lead professional and will advocate for us, but will not attend the meeting because she has every faith in the sensory team. (More faith than me, obviously)

Funnily though his Teacher of the Deaf visited at home today, and she suggested (without prompting) that his Pre-Schools worker should come to the meeting. My OH told her that we'd already been told no, but the Teacher said she'd phone and ask anyway. So who knows where that might lead?

I know that they all copy each other into reports, but I also know (from experience) that reports & minutes don't always correctly capture discussions and nuances. The time taken for them to write a pre-meeting report, then read the meeting minutes afterwards ... surely it'd be quicker to simply attend the meeting?

 

[hattiehippo]

Maybe she's not able to attend the meeting due to prior commitments, not working that day or she could have been told that if the Teacher of the Deaf is already attending she shouldn't as well.

I work as a specialist teacher for school age children for a local authority and I know we are discouraged from duplicating attendance at meetings due to being short staffed and the amount of children that need to be covered but having said that maybe someone who is going to be there should be the Lead Professional instead?

 

[Marleysgirl]

Maybe she's not able to attend the meeting due to prior commitments, not working that day or she could have been told that if the Teacher of the Deaf is already attending she shouldn't as well.

Nope, none of the above. She (and her manager) were adamant that it's because she is not the designated key worker, does not have to attend every meeting about Andrew, and is happy to leave this meeting to the specialist team.

I work as a specialist teacher for school age children for a local authority and I know we are discouraged from duplicating attendance at meetings due to being short staffed and the amount of children that need to be covered but having said that maybe someone who is going to be there should be the Lead Professional instead?

This is the problem Hattie, I'd like somebody to be there who has an oversight of BOTH of Andrew's key problems (developmental delay and hearing impairment). We have a lead professional working on both sides, and both do make allowances, but nobody is really working on how each problem can affect the other.

I've been offered a referral to an Outreach Worker (who I wonder might be from Social Services? she wasn't really clear) who could perhaps take this overseeing role.

 

[hattiehippo]

Marleysgirl - that does sound pretty poo then. I know when we work with children coming into school who have preschool support, I would attend meetings as well as their preschool specialist teacher or if I see a child who also has a Teacher of the Deaf (for example) we would both attend meetings if we could -- though sometimes we can't cos of working part-time or double bookings and then we would feed back to each other as we're on the same team.

The only other thing I would say is that it can be really hard to know how the hearing impairment and the developmental delay are impacting on each other at 2 but it would make sense for them to work together wouldn't it!

I don't know what else to suggest other than I get why you're frustrated