Panders Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Sorry to learn that the school are beginning to entrench themselves again Upsy Daisy. Are they expecting to see a child so racked with pain that she is in tears, moaning and rolling all over the place in agony one wonders. How easy would it be for the school office to ring you and say G says she needs medication, do you give your verbal consent and then give G the paracetemol and you sign a med form when you go to pick up. I am struggling to understand what risk are they afraid of, or why they believe it is unworkable - if G is having meds (ibuoprofen at 7am. they are unlikely to overdose her 5 hours later with a paracetemol tablet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Full day care can give paracetamol to babies with temps or who are known to be teething so I have no idea why the school cant gve it to a 7yr old who can verbalise her needs. I'd ask to see their med policy and also ask the LA what their stance is on it. How silly to say they cant see the pain, its notoriously difficult to measure, if they can come up with a way, then I'd nominate them for a prize at the next BMA council or maybe the Nobel prize this year would suit their over inflated sense of rightiousness. You keep fighting Upsy Daisy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catma Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Have you considered going to your local councillor - they can be very good at getting the LA to take note. Nothing the LA hate more than a members enquiry to deal with!! Might be worth it? Cx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 I know its not helpful in the short term but could you devise something pictorial which is an indicator of how bad the pain is? (Very small pain, small pain, medium pain, big pain, very big pain) This way the teacher could monitor how she is feeling over a period of time and might get a better picture of how the pain is increasing through the day. This might help the teacher feel more in charge of the situation and also help your daughter to express it more easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 I know its not helpful in the short term but could you devise something pictorial which is an indicator of how bad the pain is? (Very small pain, small pain, medium pain, big pain, very big pain) This way the teacher could monitor how she is feeling over a period of time and might get a better picture of how the pain is increasing through the day. This might help the teacher feel more in charge of the situation and also help your daughter to express it more easily. G is pretty good at giving a 1 to 10 rating for her pain which I have explained to them. Sadly the issue seems to be that they simply don't believe her. I can completely understand why because I've just walked our dog with her and a friend's little girl. They ran and jumped together with the dogs having a lovely time. She'd said her hips hurt before we started and after we dropped the other child off she told me that her hips were now on number 7. She begged me to take her straight home to get some medicine. If I didn't know better I would have said she felt no pain when they were playing with the dogs and I can see why a teacher seeing this type of behaviour would struggle to believe her. We have a lovely sympathetic GP who works on Thursdays so I'm going to see if I can see her or speak to her tomorrow after my other daughter's statement review. Maybe she'll agree to speak to the school for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Oh what a lot to cope with! I have a child in my class who is having to have asthma inhalers every day until his asthma settles again - we have a care plan (think thats what its called) to alllow me to administer it - I dont have a problem because I'm sure the problems caused by him not having it would be far more serious!! Hope you manage to get this sorted soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 I was pointed in the direction of this site http://www.lazarum.com/2/en/articles/artic...hp?idarticulo=5 A child I mind is on the autistic spectrum and feels no pain - this site explains why and is fascinating reading. Nona Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Thanks Nona, I will look at that when I am more awake tomorrow. xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I was pointed in the direction of this site http://www.lazarum.com/2/en/articles/artic...hp?idarticulo=5 A child I mind is on the autistic spectrum and feels no pain - this site explains why and is fascinating reading. Nona that is a fascinating read.. often wondered why the children never felt the pain or complained about it... most of the children we cared for had the flapping or similar repetitive actions... all makes sense now.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 I was pointed in the direction of this site http://www.lazarum.com/2/en/articles/artic...hp?idarticulo=5 A child I mind is on the autistic spectrum and feels no pain - this site explains why and is fascinating reading. Nona Thank you Nona. This is a really good explanation of why G becomes move active and appears to be happy and excited when she's asking for painkillers. I will print it and show it to the school. This morning I have spoken to the school nurse who now understands the situation and I'm about to go and see my GP. It is very clearly the head's decision as to whether they will administer the medication so that battle isn't worth fighting. What I have to do now is make sure they understand why they can't see her pain and are very clear in their understanding that they must call me if she asks for painkillers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 My GP was shocked at the school's attitude. I had to keep explaining it because she thought she was getting the wrong end of the stick! She is writing a letter to the head telling her how important it is that G gets pain relief when she asks for it and that she may not express her pain how they might expect. If that doesn't work I might be home educating for a while. Thanks for giving me the confidence to sort this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 It is very clearly the head's decision as to whether they will administer the medication so that battle isn't worth fighting. Its so wrong that you've been made to feel that way Upsy Daisy The head surely must have to adhere to Anti discriminatory practice laws. I wonder how many special needs school contact parents to administer meds? None, I'm guessing. Hopefully the letter from your GP and the printout explaining pain will be used to inform their decision, failing that go directly to the LA. My friend had loads of problems with our local primary regarding her son's additional needs and she complained. It came to nothing when the teachers who were contacted, who previously had been on my friends side, refused to turn up to the hearing, or whatever it was called. She swopped schools and has had a lovely time time with the new one. We're all behind you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I think we're all shocked at the schools attitude! It really shouldn't be the case that you need to battle to get the school to listen and understand the issues being raised. I hope for yours and your daughters sake that this all gets resolved without you having to resort to drastic measures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 The head surely must have to adhere to Anti discriminatory practice laws. I wonder how many special needs school contact parents to administer meds? None, I'm guessing. Once again I'm disgusted by the attitude of G's school. I totally agree with everyone else. In answer to Rea, I work at an SEN school and this is how we work it... If a child has prescribed medication that needs to be given during the school day, the school nurse administers it at the appropriate time. If a child becomes ill or seems to be in pain through the day we phone their parent/ carer and ask if we can give them paracetamol (this is both to ask for permission and to make sure they haven't already had some within 4 hours). If they say yes the school nurse again administers it. If the nurse is busy we can give the medicine as long as the nurse has measured the dosage (calpol in a syringe). There are certain types of medication that we can give without the nurse as long as we've been trained by her (e.g. rescue meds for epilepsy). If a parent wanted to come into school to give the medicine themselves for any reason of course we wouldn't object to this. A few minutes disruption is unimportant if it means that the child doesn't have to suffer. I think the fact that you are still waiting for diagnoses is irrelevant. If there was a child who was bullying others but had no condition would they deal with it? If there was a child who was painfully shy but had no condition would they deal with it? If there was a child who had a stutter but no condition would they deal with it? Every child should be given understanding and support to deal with their individual issues whether they are diagnosed with something or not. That is our job as teachers. I wonder if they would have the same attitude if it were a child who always behaved perfectly and always got top marks. Would they believe her if she said she were in pain? I tend to think they would! It makes my blood boil to hear of the way you and G are being treated. When you told us the about the issue with the dress I wanted to tell you to find her a better school but felt like I was being a bit unfair after hearing about just one incident but the fact that you are considering that yourself has made me realise that it is probably the right thing to do. I agree with you that it might be best to wait until you have her statement because moving schools might slow the process down (as long as you don't have to wait too long!!) but maybe you should start visiting schools and discussing your situation to see what reaction they have. It might just give you some hope that things are going to get better if you can find a possible alternative. Good luck and keep us updated xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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