Executive disfunction

One of the difficulties and impairments J has is with executive function. Put simply this means his game controller (or brain controller) is pressing many buttons at the same time and his brain (the console) is struggling to interpret this.

The result of all this extra activity is that J misses instructions and mislays objects at times. Sometimes from morning to evening, often from room to room or in school from lesson to lesson.

The school have detected this and made several plans which they have failed to keep to. One big issue has been with writing down homework in school, J's writing is literally unreadable and being asked to write down his homework under pressure doesn't work. Deciphering this homework is impossible and J cannot usually remember what he needs to do, then the school sanction him for not doing it.

Back in March J mislaid his PE kit for the second time since September, as money was tight I couldn't afford to replace everything at once and so I cobbled together a top and shorts but had no trainers which could be used. I replaced his trainers the following week when I could afford to do so.

The replacement of the trainers coincided with my receiving a letter from the school saying that J was issued with an after school detention for not having a complete PE kit during the previous week.

As we had recently had the Annual Review of James Statement where his executive function issues had been highlighted I asked if we could try using the plan instead of sanctioning J.

The SENCO did not agree and said that J should do the detention as issued. I pointed out that the reason he had lost his kit was down to his executive function impairments which the school had identified. She did not agree and reluctantly I allowed the detention to go ahead, in doing so I let J down.

J went to the detention which I envisaged taking place in a classroom, I pointed out to the school that sitting for an hour would be difficult for J but that if the PE teacher needed a cupboard tidying they could do this with him to make it easier. They did not do this.....instead something different happened.

So what happened during detention?

Firstly a teacher had to leave early which happens and is not anyones fault. This meant only two teachers left to supervise both the detention and the after school rugby club. So the teacher supervising detention lead the pupils in detention out to the rugby field where they stood for an hour on the sidelines watching the rugby.
 No problem one might think, well yes there WAS a problem...a big problem.

Firstly they had left J in an unsupervised and unstructured situation, something they already know he finds difficult. Secondly one of the other pupils in detention was a boy who was known for teasing J.
Thirdly it was cold and J had forgotten his coat, it began to rain as well which was too much for J.

So J began to cry, his autism makes him emotional when he feels overwhelmed and he was upset. The "boy who teases J" called him a "cry baby" and J got more upset, J then lay on the ground and raged. The "boy who teases J" laughed at J and an argument commenced with both boys calling each other names and J getting more and more upset. Where were the teachers during this incident? They were on the field teaching rugby and did not witness what occurred.
J was angry and emotional, he chased the other boy and threatened to "strangle" him but says the other boy was too fast. The boy and others continued to laugh and jeer at J who was already upset but all settled when the teacher came back to them.

So J was once again left, left in a situation he found hard to deal with, a situation the school already knew he struggled with.

J left detention an hour later in full meltdown, he screamed, he raged, he cried and he threw his bag to the ground. It was nearly 30 mins before he was calm enough to get in the car so that I could drive safely.

 I was angry, he should not have done the detention in the first place as it was given for a circumstance outside of J's control (my inability to afford to replace his trainers immediately) and because J's executive function impairments really do mean that he has a tendency to lose things.

A far better approach would have been to say "we now have a plan to ensure he keeps track of items" and then to monitor this.

Since this detention the school have agreed to leave J's PE kit in the PE department so it cannot get lost. That was three months ago and to date it isn't happening, nobody remembers to ask for J's PE kit after each lesson and he brings it home. It's a matter of time before he loses it once more but this time I am ready and we will NOT be doing any detention.

I should add here that my issue is not with J's school as such but with a system which fails to recognize differences effectively enough. The teachers are fabulous and really nice committed people but the system for children like J at secondary level is pants. There is partial differentiation but what they practice is integration, this is NOT inclusion and is why I am now asking the Local Authority to place J in a special school which can meet his needs. From all I have read I am firmly expecting them to refuse.....and we will then be gong to tribunal because I am not leaving J's well-being to chance.

Giving J a "label".

I have been pondering a bit since my letter from the community paediatrician - his impressions were as posted before, dyslexia, dyspraxia and social communication disorder. As the OT said "that's quite a label" and it's this thought which gives me some disquiet. J definitely has some problems which were picked up at nursery. To me though he is and always was just J with all his little foibles and idiosyncracies. The problems he displayed in nursery were exactly the same as the ones he displayed at home but in the context of a crowded nursery and now a classroom can be irksome and hard to manage for the teacher and teaching assistant. This is why J has so much 1-1 support and I am grateful he has this. Seeing the paediatrician was supposed to be another opinion for the education service - a different perspective and a way for them to add to the picture of J's needs to see if a Statutory Assessment needs to be carried out. What concerns me is:

• Children with any sort of label have a set of behaviours which apply to that label. I wonder how much of this is the actual underlying problem and how much of it is a child behaving in the way expected of him for the diagnosis.
• The SEN label may become applied right throughout his school years with his educators having a lower expectation of him as a result. This is fine if his educational attainment would be low no matter what but it is NOT okay if he has potential which is missed as a result of the lower expectations.
• The other issue is that J is a carbon copy of me and except for the reading issue I was exactly the same at school. I found it hard to read social situations too and as a result was bullied and totally unable to cope with this. The difference is that although I saw educational psychologists I did not get any sort of label as I might have done now. I read well but coasted through school as I struggled to apply myself - once I was adult enough to do so I never looked back and studied various subjects throughout the next 20 years including gaining a degree.
• J has always achieved some things later than others. He spoke very late but babbled almost constantly to himself in a nonsense language showing that language development was there and would come...as it did when he was 3.5 years old. And dyspraxia? J crawled at 5.5 months old - hardly dyspraxic wouldn't you agree?
• Children seem to be given all kinds of labels these days. I've lost count of the number of children diagnosed with ADHD (and with which I was determined the paediatrician would not label J ). My friend had a daughter with ADHD - true ADHD - she rarely slept longer than 2-4 hours and even as an adult  still requires medication.

When did difficulties in behaviour and in skills become worthy of a medical diagnosis? I am not someone who says these things do not exist - they have always been there but have we gone too far in the desire for a label?  I think we might have done especially if you consider that once a label is applied it may well be there for life and affect the child as an adult trying to live a normal life with the label of whatever around his neck.

So despite what the paediatrician has said I am placing myself firmly on the "let's wait and see" line. Despite my previous post I am keeping an open mind on dyslexia following the response from a blog reader. It's possible J could be dyslexic.... I don't think it's a case of ABT (Ain't Been Taught) as if this was the case then few of his classmates would be reading either and all indications are that this is not the case judging by the number of "free readers" among his peers (free readers are those who have progressed through the reading program and are now allowed a free choice of books to read and feed back on).

I am happy for J to have a label if it's the right one and if it will guarentee him the support he needs in the classroom. Otherwise I'd like the medical profession to keep it's labels for those who need them and I'll continue seeing the OT service who are offering practical support to J and the SENCO who is assessing and applying various techniques to help J in the areas he struggles. I am equally happy for J to go into the social communication group (something which might have helped me as a child) especially if it helps him to make sense of his world and means he can build up good lasting relationships with his peers.