caci

I agree Bid. I was working in the mainstream school, and for those kids it seemed to work OK. In the ASD unit things tending to be shown as a picture (or symbol) crossed out the show NOT to do something (a bit like a no smoking sign on a bus) I must admit, I do like the "no huffs", maybe I will use that one at home for my husband !

I used to get 42.9p per mile.

We did this sort of list when I worked in a mainsteam primary school, however, we changed what the kids said from negative to positive, so "No kicking, and no hitting" became " we have kind hands and feet", I think involving the kids is an excellent idea, but agree it may be better to phrase things as positives rather than negatives.

Just rememebered there is a school in a neighbouriong borough with an ASD unit. Not sure I can put the name on here so will PM to you.

It is a very hard choice isn't it ? Especially with an area like Bromley, you would need to move within half a mile of so of the over-suscribed schools to stand a chance of a place. However, I think the ones with the "best" Ofsted reports may not be the best for ASD support. The problem we found was the size of the schools, and the fact our son needs people to be pro-active in spotting when he needs support (as he can't/won't ask). This, for him didn't work in a mainstream primary with only 240 pupils in the whole school. As many of the secondaries have 240 puils per YEAR group, this would be a HUGE challange.

Just to back track a little, can she reliably match one to one as she counts objects ? I worked with a child who could chant the numbers up to 100 easily, but when given 4 blocks to count could not move them one by one and come up with 4. She would either ocunt too quickly or too slowly, and it took at least a year to get her to manage to correctly match and count up to 5 objects (she was 7yrs old at the time)

I think it might be a good idea to get an EP to do a detailed assessment of you son before the visits. That would mean when EP visited the new school/s, he would have some idea of which might suit your son. If you are going to tribunal, it might be worth finding an EP who would attend that too. Unfortunately, this would put the price up, but if you are spending ££££ you need to make sure you ask for the right things for your money.

I think you can ask for his statement to be changed to include the "extra" trips home. This might mean a tribunal and more solicitor fees, but could be worth it in the long term.

I think asking your son is an excellent idea. Our 12yr old really was struggling every day to go to school, but was even more horrified at the thought of a tutor coming into our house. To him, the idea of someone come into our home (even for just a hour) to do school work was unbearable (although he was OK about doing school work at home with me)

I think you will find the "experts" will always offer what they consider "best use of resources" which actually means the cheapest option they can provide. If you want another setting, you may need to employ a good solicitor and go to tribunal to prove the school you have chosen can meet your son's needs, whereas the one they suggest can't. It can be done, but could become very time consuming (and expensive)

Can you try to draw the situation with her ? Draw a matchstick person and write her name under it, then draw a second person and ask your daughter what that person's name is, and lable it. Ask you daughter if you should draw any more people. Point to your daughter in the picture and say "what is she doing?", then point to each of the others in turn and ask the same question. Hopefully you will be able to piece togther what has happened (or at least where it took place and who else was involved)

I accepted the special school as it seemed more likely to work than a big mainstream. The size was right, but many other bits weren't. I found one small independant school, and contacted them myself (although they do not have any sort of ASD provision) The answer was "Sorry, we do not have a vacancy for a child with special needs at this time". Good luck, I really hope you find somewhere suitable.

I haven't been able to find one either, so will be following this with interest. Our son had a place at a LEA special secondary school in this area, but things didn't work out for him there.

It sounds like you are on the same merry-go-round I was on a few months ago. I was told by EWO that GP should sign our son off sick if she felt his anxiety was preventing him from being at school. The GP insisted she was not qualified to identify anxiety and could not complete a sick note for a child anyway. She did agree to write a letter (for which I was charged) but the EWO decided that was not enough proof. The school referred us back to CAMHS, but they decided the problem was school based and therefore should be dealt with by the school. I suspect you need someone to agree to home tuition, but I don't know who. However,I assume if you are waiting for home tuition, the EWO should back off, and stop trying to prosecute you for your child's non attendance. Catch 22

We ended up in a similar situation. I asked our GP and CAMHS to write to the EWO (education welfare officer/truancy officer), but unfortunately she would not accept their letters as evidence that anxiety can affect our 12yr old son's school attendance. If your GP would write an actual sick note or certificate you would be covered, but ours would only write a letter. Would the clinical Phychologist write a letter for you ? It is very important to get medical people to support you in writing, as without proof, the EWO may decide to prosecute you for your son's non-attendance.

My sons statement was finalised in Jan of Yr 5, and his transfer to secondary review was in June of Yr 5. Our LEA had sorted out the places at special schools by Nov of Yr 6 (long before the mainstream places were allocated)

If you get Tax credits, you get extra because of the DLA, but they take a bit away for the Carers (as that counts as a taxable income) I am not sure how this works if you have a household income of under £15000 so get free prescriptions etc. If the carers takes you over that limit it may not be worth claiming IYSWIM

I think those tall bubble tubes that have balls and coloured lights in appeal to huge range of kids, but I think they are very expensive.

caci, on 05 January 2011 - 09:26 AM, said: This is SO hard isn't it. With hindsight, the one thing I wish I had asked, would be how do the school deal if there is a clash of personalities between students. At my son's special secondary school, I estimated 80% are on the spectrum somewhere, but most also have ADHD and other complex needs. My son found he couldn't cope with the actions of another child, and the school did not deal with it well at all. They insisted it had never happened before, they had never changed the classes around and he would need to learn to cope. JS mum - no he isn't at that school anymore. For several months I tried to get the staff to understand things weren't working, but they couldn't or wouldn't change their attitude - so I withdrew him from the school.

This is SO hard isn't it. With hindsight, the one thing I wish I had asked, would be how do the school deal if there is a clash of personalities between students. At my son's special secondary school, I estimated 80% are on the spectrum somewhere, but most also have ADHD and other complex needs. My son found he couldn't cope with the actions of another child, and the school did not deal with it well at all. They insisted it had never happened before, they had never changed the classes around and he would need to learn to cope.

It sounds to me like they are claiming to supply an LSA for each subject. If your son does need academic help then this might be why they are doing it (supplying someone experienced in each subject area) BUT....... Firstly I doubt many of the LSA's are actually experts in their subject and secondly, is it academic support you son needs, or is it help with planning, organising, moving from A to B etc ? Which ever way you look at it, 11 is a huge number, and would completely defeat the object of providing any kind of continuity for him.

Apart from the CRB issue, I would be worried about a child who needs 30 hours support being given a LSA new to the school and with no special needs experience. As other have said, I think I would ask for another LSA, who knows your child a little to cover for half a term (at least) to see how things go. Having said that, my first LSA job was to give 27.5 hours support to a child, and at that stage I had no real experience of special needs (in fact the child had dyspraxia and I admitted at the interview I hadn't even heard the word dyspraxia before !) I wouldn't sign anything. If the new LSA is the only one available, the school will have to ensure she is not left in a situation where she is alone with your, or any other, child. Difficult for the school, but not impossible.

Don't forget money for your cab fare home (or will someone be able to give you a lift home?)

We have become experts in tracking down non-minty toothpaste that doesn't say for up to 7 years on the tube. We have found the Berry flavours to be best. These are the cheapy toothpastes from supermarket own brands.Sainsburys, Tesco, Morrisons have all done them at various times. Also the cheap supermarkets (Lidl, Netto, Aldi) often have this type too. I tend to bulk buy when I do see it, and have a stock built up, so if you PM me with your address, I will post a tube to you so you can try it.

Beth - you should feel really proud of yourself Treat yourself to something special, I recommend chocolate