Person Centred Review for Joshua Folan

Our contribution to our child’s Annual Review meeting

What we like and admire about our child. What are their strengths?
Joshua is happiest within his family environment as he is very family oriented. Joshua is the youngest of
three children, although his big brother moved out into his own place 18 months ago. Joshua has a very
special bond with his sister who is 23 months older than him, she is his world. Although, Joshua’s brother
is 9 years older than him and he doesn’t always see eye to eye with him and their similarities can cause
them to clash sometimes.

Joshua is a very kind and gentle child he wants to be friends with everyone, he does not like to see other
children in trouble and will do everything in his power to help them, even if this gets him into trouble.
We are working on this but he still struggles with social cues and interaction. Joshua still has problems
with communicating, making and keeping friends. Joshua is still coming to terms with and I think will
always struggle with his diagnosis's.

Joshua is very good with younger children and can be a good role model, he is cheerful and funny and is
maturing well into the life of a young adult.

Joshua is an Explorer Scout which he loves. He is a good team member and works very well with a
smaller group of Scouts who are the same age as him. He can struggle in a larger setting and sometimes
his difficulties impact his interaction with others and his friendship groups. Joshua is going to go to
Austria in the summer for 10 days with his Scout group which is a major break through for Joshua as it
will put him out of his comfort zone with his autism and other problems but hopefully he can understand
his limitations, manage his anxieties and it will give him some good experiences that will help him within
other aspects of his life. Joshua is currently doing his Bronze DofE under supervision at Scouts, he is due
to do his 2 day expedition in May 2019.

Joshua attends a Local Judo club near our family home once a week and has worked through his grading
to achieve his orange belt with two stripes and he regularly get the student of the week award. Although
Joshua loves Judo he will not go to competitions and compete as he does not like the fighting aspect of
the sport. Joshua also volunteers at Judo on the younger children’s mat coaching the lower belts, he is
very good at it as well but he generally more comfortable with children who are younger than himself
and he wants to go on to get his Judo teaching awards so that he may continue to teach.
What we consider to be our child’s achievements over the year:

This time last year March 2018, Joshua would not get up or get dressed and was not interested in going
out or even leaving the house let alone go to school. So, I would say that one year on we have a child
who will get up each school morning get dressed, have breakfast take his medicines and brush his teeth
and be ready sitting for his school taxi is an achievement in its self.

Although the weekends are less structured but he will come down and make himself breakfast then take
his medicines, brush his teeth but we do not like to get dressed and are happiest in our pyjamas. This is
fine because he then has his down time, and this helps him manage his life and his anxieties.

Joshua has settled well into his new school, he wants to go to school and learn but Joshua struggle with
his dyslexia and finds that challenging. At school he likes all his teachers and learning mentors. He still
struggles his autism and his anxieties and continues to have difficulties in making conversations and
interacting with his peers. He likes the smaller classroom sizes and can cope better more structured
timetabling and general structure within the school.

Joshua has really started to mature in many ways, but his autism and anxieties still hold him back.

What we would like to see our child achieve over the coming year:

We would like Joshua to learn to make better decisions especially in stress situations. Mr Stuart has
mentioned his Executive Function needs to be addressed and we are helping with this by playing more
board games and table top games with complex rules (Star Wars Armada). We would like him to
improve in this area even more as reading and watching documentaries about it we realize this is very
important for his future wellbeing.

We would like him to continue to be settled at school and to progress with his GCSE work as we know
with some effort, he is more than capable of achieving grades that will help him move on to sixth form or
college.

We would like him to achieve more understanding of social situations and how to react in certain
circumstances. This we think is possibly Joshua’s weakest area and we would love him to be more
relaxed especially in larger groups.
What support we think our child will need at school:

We feel due to his dyslexia and dyspraxia the use of a laptop as detailed in his EHCP would be of great
benefit to Joshua as you would get more work out of him as writing distresses him a great deal due to
the issues mentioned.

More work on social interaction, cues and how to behave when relating to others and dealing with
difficult situations.

More work on his executive function. A lot of this will probably tie in with his social interaction as the two
areas seem to overlap a great deal.

More structure to his lunchtimes and free time as this seems to be when Joshua has the most problems.
Until he learns to structure himself better a more rigid regime would benefit him. (give him an inch and
he will take a mile!). He really struggles with this as lessons are structured and he knows what is
expected of him. When he is not is a structured situation he struggles.

Mobile phone etiquette. Online training and awareness. The perils of social media. We do talk to him
about all of this regularly but reinforcing it at school would be useful.

What we think is important for our child at home and school:

At Home:
Routine.
Clear Rules and Boundaries.
Following through when we tell him something is going to happen.
Knowing the consequences for behaviour.
Family time.
Good communication between all members of the family.

At School
Routine.
Clear Rules and Boundaries.
Following through when you tell him something is going to happen.
A settled class environment.
Knowing the consequences for behaviour.
Knowing that lessons are for learning and not being allowed to leave the classroom because he fancies a
wander.
Failure to complete work in school will mean he will need to complete it at home. This will be very
effective.
A better idea of where Joshua stands against the National Curriculum. This will help him and us prepare
for the next two years.

Our hopes for our child: Actions needs to achieve these:

Leave school with GCSE’s 4 or above in English Work hard at school and attend all lessons.
Math’s and Science.

To have good friends and keep them. More work on social interaction etc.

To make good decisions. More work on executive function.

What is working well at home: What is not working well at home:

Clear rules and boundaries. Family life can be unstructured sometimes.

Consequences for bad behaviour.

Rewarding positive behaviour.

Restricting screen time.

What is working well outside of home and at What is not working well outside of home and at
school: school:

Mobile phone ban. Unstructured free time.

Certificates and post cards home.

Life skill classes.

Being on the school council. He likes responsibility.

 What is important for your child now? What is important for your child in the future?

To be happy. To get his GCSE’s.

To “fit in”.(His words!) To work out what he wants to do with his life.

To have friends. The same as what is important for him now!

Anything else you would like to add?

We have noticed a big improvement in Joshua since he has been in the Anderson school. We are looking
forward to seeing how he develops more in his time there.

Name:

Signature: Date: