Non believing school teachers

[skippysmum]

My son is 15 and has chronic itp and a diagnosis of alps blood disorder too. We are waiting for an apt. at GOS and have been for 3 months. My son has just got the disheartening results from his mock exams as we sent him to school that week with awful flu like symptoms as no one told us he could sit the exams at a later date if ill. He suffers from fatigue off and on and gets labelled as not trying hard enough. When the school raise any concerns about his tiredness, I always take him to his g.p just so it is always recorded that we do our best but his doctor says there is nothing he can do as it is a symptom. He had a drop in platelets over xmas as he came out in major bruising for no reason. How do others make their kids school understand?

[Hidden]

Take a meeting with the principal and heads of year and take along another person with you who is not a relative to be present. take all your medical reports and a print out of info on ITP. and also ask for somebody to be present to take minutes of your meeting. If things are in writing they have to be acknowledged and acted upon by the school. Also get yourself some info from the Department of Education on discrimination in schools and then throw those hints out there. A letter from your treating doctor would be great.Their lack of understanding or should I say ignorance to info you have already given them is unacceptable. He is in fact a child with additional needs being medical needs. He should be treated no differently to a child who needs to sit at the font of the class because of poor eye sigh to or a diabetic child who needs to eat at varying times of the day. You can demand an agreement or acknowldegment from the school that consideration needs to be given and you can also write to the board of studies. You are you sons greatest advocate sounds a bit crass but when you rattle the cages of monkeys often enough they pay attention

[SoporRose in reply to Hidden]

Great advice for any problem with a school, Mumofwill!

[scaryteacher]

As a secondary school teacher who has had ITP for 19 years, I sympathise with your son. As stated above, get letters from the specialist and the GP. Ask for a meeting with his HoY and form tutor and explain what is the matter, Give them letters from the doc and ask for it to be recorded. Ask for his illness to be raised at the weekly whole staff briefing so that everyone knows there is an issue and can cut him some slack. If he continues to get hassle from his teachers, he and you should refer it to his tutor to deal with.

The problem is that some teachers will teach in excess of 600 students per week, and it is very difficult to keep up with what is wrong with each of them.

Ask the exams officer if he can be allowed extra time in exams due to the ITP, which may give him more of a chance. You'll need to apply soon for this if his GCSEs are in May/June this year.

At home, make sure he eats well, sleeps well, and doesn't spend too much time on the PS2/3/4, xbox, computer etc. My lad did his IGCSEs 2 years ago now, and I had to resort to threatening to cutting off plugs with scissors in my hand at times. I also resorted to tucking him up to ensure he was in bed with the lights out. They need routine at this stage, and good protein.

[skippysmum]

Thanks for replying. We have had phone call meetings and the school also received itp info from me 2 years ago. They have been good so far but now he is so close to his exams some teachers seem to have forgotten his health issues with one teacher telling him he will never make the police force as he is too lazy. I will contact the exam board to see how to go about getting him extra time during the exams as this I am sure will reassure him. He has an appointment with a professor from G,O.S in march so here's wishing for a magic pill!

[JJMcLaren]

I have a 504 plan that lets my daughter have special accomodations for her fatigue and behaviours. I would recommend you ask for one if you dont already have one in place...