Excluded on advice of EP?

[bed32]

Our son has just been given a fixed term exclusion. As part of his statement there is an EP who goes into school once a fortnight to work with him and the staff. We believe (but don't know for certain) that this EP was consulted on the exclusion and may even have advised in favour.

 

We believe that the exclusion is totally inappropriate in the circumstances and we are shocked if it is the case that someone who is supposed to have skills in ASD would support it. We will probably appeal this.

 

However the involvement of the EP (if she has been) raises two serious issues. Firstly it may be that if the school can show they were acting on the advice of the EP then we might not win an appeal (although we probably still will).

 

Secondly if she did give this advice, or even not fearcely oppose it - then there must be a huge question about whether she is an appropriate person for the role in relation to an ASD child. That is even more worrying, I am not sure what we should do if that turns out to be the case - I really wouldn't want her to have any more involvement.

[Sally44]

Can I ask what the exclusion was for. Has the school recorded it.

[bed32]

In this case he lashed out at someone who was bullying him - but he does have a tendancy to be aggressive when under stress so there have been other incidents in the past.

 

If it weren't for the issue of the EP I would have no problem dealing with that - clearly well out of order, and unlawful detriment. It is the involvement of the EP that worries me (a) because the school could claim it is a legitimate behaviour management technique sanctioned by an EP and ( because if the EP does agree with it I am very unhappy about her continued involvement.

[justine1]

Hi

 

I have experience of this myself. Sam had four fixed term exclusions during his statementing process and it really did help him in the end.

I also have to say that if ANY child lashes out at another they should be excluded,always put yourself in the position of the parent whose child has been hit even if it was a provoked "attack"

 

Not sure if your son is statemented but whether he is or is'nt the EP could be trying to prove the environment is not appropriate prehaps the school is not coping. Make sure everything is done legally. You should get a letter about the exclusion detailing the incident that took place,they dont name names but use the childs initial instead. The letter needs to also state the time/date when the exclusion begins and the time/date when it ends. When returning to school you and your son should meet with the head/senco before your son starts his first lesson. You need to also make sure his absense from school is recorded as authorised you can request to see the register yourself.

 

As I say it helped my son and he has been happy at an ASD unit for three years now and has absolutley no aggressive outbursts.

[babnye1]

There is a link here to some advice on fixed term exclusions http://educationandrights.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/exclusion.html

 

Make sure you look at the legal requirements that school has to comply with. Have they followed them here? There is possibly a disability discrimination issue here if he was not being appropriately supported.

 

Can you contact the EP directly and ask him/her about their involvement?

[bed32]

Yes school have filled in all the paperwork - so nothing to complain about on that. I also have no doubt that the exclusion is technically unlawful according to the Equality Act,Also the head teacher did not follow the statutory guidance (but I don't think that matters as there is no way of enforcing it as far as I can tell).

 

We do in fact have a meeting with the EP in a couple of weeks time (arranged before the exclusion) when we can probably discuss this.

 

This is one of a couple of points that are making be wonder whether the EP knows enough about Autism for the role. It seems very strange to me that the EP should recommend this action as being in the best interests of the child - it certainly goes against the recommendations of Tony Attwood, and of the IEP we had for the tribunal. This sounds to me much like the sort of action that would be recommended for an EBD child rather than an ASD one - but is there an established school of thought that would use those sorts of punishments for an ASD child as well?

 

Note the EP involved is not the school EP - so in this instance her duty is purely to our son. When considering her actions there is no need to worry about whether the exclusion itself was reasonable.