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2002/3 - Core Team Meetings and Planner Excerpts

Mum's notes from Core Team meeting 3 December 2002:

I walked in to the meeting with our newly coloured-in LLL icon cards that Michael’s English teacher had offered to laminate for us.  Michael’s class teacher dismissed them with the back of her hand saying that I could forget that idea now (I hadn’t said what my idea was) as Michael was starting to push his talker away and prefer to write than use it, and that she would prefer it if Michael did write.  He didn’t use his talker in her lessons. 
(Michael can spell a few words but is usually reluctant to write. His fingers are short and stiff, with the bendy joints missing, and he has to float his whole arm above the page to write. We applauded the isolated incident of him spontaneously writing ‘HAT’ for Helen Moore when he didn't know where the word was stored in his talker. See Planner entry – 28 November 2002)

Support Assistant reported that Michael was reluctant to use his talker in most lessons, and Math’s teacher concurred, saying that Michael only came out with gobbledygook when he did use it.  He also reported that Michael was still only ‘working towards level one’ in Math. 

On Michael’s behalf I mentioned how willingly he had worked several times a day throughout the last school year, learning by heart those lists of curriculum words and teachers names, and how well he was working in English right now.  I pointed out that Michael had never had a formal lesson in using his talker and wouldn’t have a clue where to look for new words.  I wanted them to note his inability, rather than reluctance, to use it. 

Mrs Newell then brought up the issue of Michael wanting to try on people’s coats and asking other pupils where they lived.  She pointed out that school could not help in procuring addresses and that she felt Michael was too old for such intimate behaviour as asking to try coats on.  She was also concerned that some people might feel pestered rather than complimented by this attention.  Michael did sometimes ask during lessons. 

SLT shared a solution she had used previously with a little boy who was speaking inappropriately - simply to remove the symbols from his communication board!  She continued in my direction “… and you’ve got these phrases in Michael’s talker…”  I interjected with 'that’s like cutting someone’s tongue out’.

(I have often wondered if she was about to ask me to remove these messages from Michael’s talker.   It is considered to be a gross violation of human rights to treat a disabled person in this way.  For this reason the talker comes with a standard set of rude phrases stored on it so that the non-speaking community can choose to curse or not, just like everyone else).

We agreed just to try to impress on Michael that he must respect others’ space and wishes and not distract class by going off subject.

That very night when I returned home from the meeting Michael was signing ‘Where’, ‘Live’ and ‘Coat’ and searching his talker for names.  I thought ‘Oh no, not Mrs Newell, she’ll think I’ve put you up to it.  Mrs Newell doesn’t want her lessons interrupting by you asking if you can visit her or try her coat on.

(It took a bit of questioning to find out who Michael was talking about – he didn’t know where Mrs Newell’s name was in his talker.  At the junior school he used his talker to say ‘Good morning Mrs Smith, Good morning Mrs Howard, Good morning class, every day).

I had been so enthusiastic about Michael’s new interest in social communication and I really felt for him that everything he wanted to say was forbidden.  I had been going to use his choice of subject matter with core words and phrases on his talker that would enable him to communicate verbally.

Michael has also been banned from feeling heartbeats and pulses so that a strict ‘keep your hands and feet to yourself’ policy can be observed. 

Excerpts from Michael's Planner 2002/3

6th September 2002 – Looking forward to coming in to English…
9th September 2002 – Looking forward to coming in to school soon

14th September 2002 – Is there any special time I should call in to school?  It feels strange, having a son that can’t talk means I don’t know what he’s doing each lesson.  Can I come to English soon Helen?
(English and Math teachers had already agreed before the summer holidays that I could come in to class in September, I was ust politely asking when would it be convenient here.)

16th September – class tutor: come in any English – see timetable.
20th September – Eng & Math: yes come in lessons 1 & 2, Maths & English Monday.

23rd September – Stand-in SLT turned up for a session and we had to take Michael out of the lesson, so I missed my session in English after all, but I did get some words to complete the set of Well Square book text from Helen. 

It was upsetting to find Michael working with a group who had difficulty sort numbers 1-10 in Math, when he had been doing this with numbers over 100 in year 6 (2000).   Please see End of Key Stage 2 Maths Report.  Michael was working at Level 1 in year 6.  Adding, subtracting, reading the time and using numbers to over 100 in any order.   

30th September – Can I come in today Helen as we missed last week due to SLT?  I wrote down all the words from wall pockets in English to add to our dictionary.
Michael had his hands on his ears in Math - in anticipation of new school bell ringing, or sick of the numbers 1-10?
 
18th October – What is Michael doing in his other lessons this term?
I’ve done some first drafts of communication Passport pages - in the photo album in Michael’s dictionary for you to have a look.

18th October – I phoned Miss Connolly and asked what Michael was studying AND how I could best discover which phrases would get him communicating on his VOCA with his teachers in class.

I explained that these two requests were separate items and that I was not looking for lists of curriculum words alone, as we had learned in year 7 that this was the wrong approach; it did NOT get Michael communicating with his teachers, who have now stopped providing words.  Miss Connolly offered to liase with his teachers on my behalf.
(Curriculum words are readily available – in word banks and word prediction, in programmes like Clicker 4 - although I would need advice from school to find out their current strategy for providing children with communication difficulties access to curriculum vocabulary, there are so many softwares in the brochures and I would want to do the same as school. This is still a question as of writing – 18 November 2003).

(This is still a question 28 September 2004, as none of my requests in Michael’s planner, letters to Head and phone calls and meetings with her, including asking at governors’ meetings, have resulted in me getting any answers about school’s current strategies for their non-speaking community and I don’t know what Michael is doing this year either.) Things no better January 2006, July 2006.   

21st October – What subjects are being studied in Michael’s lessons?  It feels strange not knowing.

27th October - Half Term – I wrote to Julie asking if I could visit Sarah Bruce’ and Audrey Long’s classes with a view to learning from them how to make Michael a communication book/board, and could Dawn Seals (AAC Role Model and Inspirational Speaker) come in to talk to our children on her communication aid. 

4th November – Looking forward to our next core team meeting
(We hadn’t had one this term due to SLT being on maternity leave since the previous summer)

6th November – Norma Laidler, Support: Michael has worked well today.  He has written his alphabet with verbal help. He wants you to see his paper.  Words for Delta Talker are in red file.
(Curriculum words for RE.  Result of Miss Connolly’s liaising with staff regarding what which vocabulary would enable Michael to communicate with his friends and teachers. Incidentally, the three words procured from the RE teacher were the only words given from all teachers for the whole of the year)

8th November – Julie Connolly: I’ve spoken to Maureen Shaw (Bek) and she has a student placement at the moment.  Can we arrange your visit after Christmas? 

9th November – Thanks.  Can I come and talk to you soon?

14th November – I’d like a meeting to discuss useful communication phrases for Michael to be able to talk with his teachers.  Do we have a (core team) meeting coming up any time soon?

21st November – Joanne Walters (SLT) has asked for a core meeting for 3 December.  I’m looking forward to it.  I’ve been waiting all term for a talk.  Joanne wrote to me and asked what concerns I would like to bring up.  I replied: Communication Passport, BECTa CAP, and useful communication phrases for Michael to talk to his teachers.

22nd November – Julie: Thanks for your letter.  Could you meet with me on Thursday 5th December at 9.30am? 
(I wrote and asked for a meeting because Julie had returned my 27 October 2002 letter to me, unanswered, along with various AAC resources from DfES BECTa, Communication Matters and 1 Voice, and my requests in the diary had not resulted in me finding out what Michael was doing at school all day or discovering how to help him communicate at school)

25th November – Thank you for appointment.  I’m also trying to get in touch with Jill Beddow, Learning Support Services (LSS), regarding assessing Michael’s communication needs.
(Durham County SEN Section put me on to LSS when I asked who in the LEA was responsible for AAC?  Jill informed me that LSS do deal with AAC but only for mainstream schools. I often go round in circles like this.

DCC SEN also told me that 20% of children in our special schools have speech and/or language difficulties – The Children’s Society estimates the figure to be significantly higher, at around 80%). 

27th November – Helen Moore: Michael was brilliant in Literacy – not only did he read on DT (talker) but also answered questions on it.  One answer was ‘HAT’ – he didn’t know how to say this so he wrote it on paper.  He then used talker to say ‘Emma, I like your coat – where did you get it?  He did this without any prompts from me. There’s a list of English phrases in front of red book.

28th November – Helen you’re a godsend.  Thank you for the phrases.  HAT = jacket + hobo.  Did DT pronounce Emma as ‘eema’ – Michael stored it himself.  Column 1 lights keep going out.  May have to return for repair.  Communicate may help us with where, and how to store phrases.

29th November – Helen Moore: Michael read again very well again.  He has asked for a new book & I think he is ready for it.  Will send Rocky at School word wall for new words to be added.  Thanks for phrases – we used ‘I didn’t like that book’ at end of lesson.

(This is the type of thing I needed advice from an expert on at the time.  We stored this phrase in one two-icon sequence so that Michael could speak in ‘real time’ but there should have been 4 separate two-stroke sequences.  While providing an opportunity to communicate, this denies him an opportunity to learn where the phrases and individual words are stored in his VOCA by default)

29th November – Michael’s granddad enjoyed our visit to bowling Friday options.  Thanks for offering to laminate Flash Cards of Minspeak icons for us, Helen.

2nd December – Helen Moore: Can I have an extra set of talker words for my dictionary, Terry? – Thanks.  (Helen made a Wellington Square dictionary in Makaton with Writing With Symbols and glued cut-outs of the Delta Talker icon-sequences for each word alongside).

3rd December – Helen Moore: Sorry – can’t make meeting – have a senior planning group meeting.  Please report Michael is doing very well using talker for reading and answering questions about the text.  Michael used talker to ask for ‘silent reading’ at end of session. 
(Again, ‘silent’ and ‘reading’ should have been 2 separate words so that Michael learns where the words are stored in his Minspeak communication software).

3 December* - Please see top of page for summary of Core Team Meeting

4th December – Helen, some of the flash cards are in Michael’s bag.  Thank you. 
Helen: No red file (Michael’s picture dictionary) so couldn’t do new book – did worksheet on old book – copy enclosed – worked very well.

5th December – So sorry I forgot to send red file in.  I still had it with other paperwork after the meeting.  Thank you so much for laminating the flash cards, Norma.  I’ve put the rest in Michael’s bag.  I really appreciate you taking time out to do this.  Helen, I’ve learned how to put groups of messages into ‘themes’, it will be easier from now on.  (In theory – never made it into practice).

5 December - Meeting with Head.  Asked what she thought about accepting Dawn Seals’ offer to speak with our children – ‘Perhaps one day in Assembly or PSHCE…’

(Dawn never got her invite to speak with our children. I wrote again in October 2003 and October 2004 to remind head, and in November 2004 I passed on Dawn’s contact details to Head so they could liaise directly. I reminded head verbally at the 2005 Xmas Disco. It's now August 2006 and Dawn is still waiting for a reply to her offer, and the children at Trinity School still haven't met an AAC Role Model. Without such a visit they have no way of knowing that they too could be accessing Assistive Technology for communication, mobility and environmental control, and their teachers have no way of knowing that the children are, in fact, capable of doing it.)

6th December – Helen: Had a good chat session with Michael – he says he wants a drum and harmonica for Christmas ‘I would like a green and white coat’ according to Michael.

12th December – We felt better for a chat with Miss Southren at the Xmas disco.  Matthew’s mum asked me about getting Matthew assessed through the DfES CAP.  (Head later told Matthew’s mum that it would not be suitable for him)

The following notes are not from planner:

27th January – Mrs Ruddy asked me about CAP Project for her two boys, while we were waiting for school medical.  She said the Head had told her she didn’t think ‘it’ would be suitable for her sons. DfES and BECTa opinion is that anyone and everyone can be helped and that only those with the skill and training should make such decisions, hence the centralised monitoring by CAP of all countrywide AAC assessments and applications, to assist and encourage schools and LEAs to fulfil their obligations in this area, and supplement their efforts.

27 January - Jan Newell asked would I mind cancelling our second core team meeting, as Helen couldn’t make it again and she is Michael’s key and only Delta Talker worker.

Most of Jan – Mar  = broken Delta Talker, DAHA had undergone department reorganisation and not insured it, so much delay in repair work.  This was two months when a communication board/book could have filled the gap and illustrates the importance of having such backup. How I wish I'd been allowed into the Cerebral Palsy class to learn how to make one - and I sincerely hope that the children in CP class do have communication boards made for them?

5 Feb - Meeting to submit application to Communication Aids Project. Michael was sick on arrival at school.  When I arrived to submit CAP referral with SLT, she sent me home with it to submit myself and I finally managed it 11 Feb. This was the third of three planned meetings with stand-in SLT for this school year. The only teacher (English) who uses the Delta Talker with Michael couldn't make it to the first meeting. The second was cancelled when English couldn't make it again. The third and last was cancelled as just said.

Is one meeting with an SLT who believes in removing symbols from a communication board, and no meetings with the only teacher who uses Michael's communication aid with him sufficient input to plan objectives and goals for the year, to monitor progress, train staff, parents and child in the use of communication equipment?