MadHen

Crikey - you are very restrained not to have vented your frustrations there and then, I would have. My dd regularly had 'outbursts' at school, within her first week of starting a new primary school when she was 7 she totally trashed the headteachers office and kicked the headteacher several times - outcome of this was that they didn't think she could manage full day without her 1:1 (who wasn't starting for a couple of weeks) and would we mind if she only did half days the following week. This was from a school that had no experience of autistic children, so I am shocked that your school is reacting in this way. I think you should sit down with your son and talk to him about what he thinks would help him in these particular lessons and then put this in writing to the school - they have to take his thoughts into account. If the Ed Psyc has made some useful suggestions which the school are ignoring, I would also be inclined to compain to the LA about the way the school are handling the situation and query where the exclusion is actually lawful - it doesn't sound as if it was a 'violent assault' and it can be directly linked to his disability so the school is on very dodgy ground. I hope you manage to get this sorted out.

Oh, forgot - get a file of your child's school record - you are fully entitled to do this and I may even have a copy of the letter on file which you need to submit to the school. They are allowed to charge a small fee for this (usually about £5 to cover admin costs), but it is worth it as everything to do with your childs education should be in there. If the school claim they are doing certain things, then there should be proof on file - if it's not there, its very hard for them to convince anyone they are doing it. It can also throw up other little snippets that you may not be aware of. My daughter had been left outside the class to have a time out on her own, but was found half an hour later wandering around the school field by another member of staff - her class teacher or 1:1 hadn't even noticed she was missing!

I have taken a compaint to the Ombudsman (which was upheld), but they could only look at the actions of the LA and not the school. I would suggest that you start by complaining to the LA as it is their responsibility to ensure that the school is doing their job - if they are not aware they are not in a position to do anything about it. Start with your child's case worker, if that doesn't get any action go to the head of SEN section, then onto Head of Childrens Services. I had to go to the MP before anything began to happen. Another piece of advice would be to send any correspondence by email and request a delivery and read receipt if possible - one of my emails got passed from pillar to post once inside the LA, but the Ombudsman ruled that because it had been read on a set date the LA were critisised for not taking action in a timely manner. Also, if you do got to the Ombudsman make sure you give them a very detailed description of what the circumstances are and what you want to get out of it (I asked for an apology for the disgusting treatment my daughter had received and an assurance that my LA would tighten up their admin procedures to make sure that the same situation did not happen again). I left a lot of my complaint, which I couldn't add in at a later stage, so make sure you include everything that you want the Ombudsman to look into at the start. Hope this helps & good luck x

.. Thanks Kazzen, We live in West Suusex, right on the coast. We have not visited Heathermount and I can't remember why I discounted it a couple of years ago when we first started looking. She had an assessment at Farleigh and was offered a place, to be honest this one is perfect for her and it was the only school where she has actually displayed her true character rather than turning into a timid little mouse. If you have any other suggestions I would be really greatful.

Thanks Kathryn, We have spoken to her current school and they have taken some suggestions on board to see if they can make some improvements (social activities with NT children etc so she can have that social experience), but have agreed that if we are still not happy they will call for a Child in Need meeting where her current statement and placement can be reviewed. Basically, they have said that if it's not working they will support us in achieving the best outcome for her. I have only found 2 ASD schools which might be suitable, Heathermount in Ascot and Farleigh - we have restricted our search to 2 1/2 travel as she does not travel well. Both of these are roughly the same cost. The only other option is St Catherines on the Isle of Wight which is a speech and language school, but cheaper than the other 2. Transport to all would be a significant cost, but I would be perfectly happy to concede that and do the transport myself if that was the deal clincher. Mx

Hi Lil me, my daughter attended mainstream primary with no problems and so we sent her to the local secondary against medical advice because we thought it was the best option (she was academically able with a good network of friends). Unfortunately, she could not cope with the chaotic nature of secondary school and the school did not have a clue how to support her. She has since moved to a specialist resindential school, but is not progressing so we are now having to re-evaluate. My advice to you would be that you know you child best so do what you think is right for him but keep on top of things and don't think that just because you have sent him to mainstream that he has to stay there. BTW, we would never have considered a residential option in the beginning, but as puberty hit it became obvious that she needed a 24 hour curriculum, so never say never to that one. M x

Hi, She is currently in a non-maintained special school, but because she is at the high functioning end of the spectrum she is not being challenged enough as it is a school for moderate to severe learning difficulties and she has been unable to form any appropriate peer relationships in the time she has been there. Due to this, her social skills have regressed dramatically. We would ideally like her to go to a specialist autistic school, Farleligh College is the one we have always had in mind, but the LA have rejected that on cost already, so I wouldn't hold out much hope on that one if we tried again. I have widened my scope to schools that concentrate on speech and language difficulties, as it is her understanding of the english language which is her main problem area, but this still leaves us with a problem, as there are no schools in our local area so she has to go out of county and she needs a residential placement (which she has at the moment). I just want to get her into a school where she can make some progress - she has not had an easy school life. SHe did not enter full time education until she was 7 and then her education was continually interrupted because she is also epileptic and spent a lot of time off school. Her transition into secondary (mainstream) was a nightmare, she only lasted a couple of months and was then out of school totally for over a year before we conceded and agreed to this school where she has in effect lost another year. Thanks Mx

Hi, Has anyone ever been in a position where they have needed to move their child out of a non maintained school into another non maintained or independent special school? After long, drawn out talks with our LA, we finally agreed on a placement at the current school (our dd had been out of school for over a year and we could not face a tribunal) even though we had our concerns because it is a MLD/SLD school. It has become clear that the school is not suitable, dd has made little educational progress and socially has regressed. She should have been capable of doing GCSEs, but I cannot see this happening. I am worried that we won't be able to get her moved and she will be stuck at this school making little progress. Any advice would be appreciated.