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This really shows the dilemma of ASD - there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. I know several people who I now believe to be AS who have done very well academically with an exam based approach, (aspergers was unheard of when I was doing exams). But these are mild forms of AS, even with the greater awareness these days they would not have been diagnosed until their teens, if at all. For them the ease of absorption of facts means the traditional exam plays to their strengths. However in many more severe cases there are at lot of associated issues, such as anxiety, fear of failure, executive processing problems, issues with short term memory, not to mention motor skills problems that make writing very slow. For these children an exam is pretty much the worst possible environment. My son hates being tested, if he comes across a question he can't do or does not understand he will just give up - not just on the question but on the whole test. He is very good at recalling facts, and so has the ability to do well in exams, but he builds such barriers that it is hard to see if he will get anywhere near his potential. On the other hand he does not really have the skills required for coursework - where the emphasis is more likely to be on the interpretation of facts rather than the facts themselves, but I think the lack of sch obvious pressure on course work means he may actually achieve more with that approach

There are good employers and bad employers out there - and many are particularly bad during the recruitment process. Just because a prospective employer treats you badly or changes his mind during the application process does not necessarily mean they are discriminating against you - they can be equally bad with all candidates. As to whether, and when, you should disclose it - that really depends on whether you are expecting the employer to make "reasonable adjustments". If you are happy to compete for the job and do the job with no special allowances made then you don't need to disclose at all. If you think your performance at interview will be impacted then you need to make sure they know during the interview process. In that case I would probably recommend letting the company know once they have asked you for interview. An experienced interviewer will almost certainly pick up something unusual in the communication skills of most people who are ASD. Without being given a reason, that might be enough to put a question mark over you as a prospective candidate and in these days where there are a lot of applicants, a question mark is likely to mean "no" unless you have exceptional skills.

I would certainly send that letter - almost any professional opinion is good, and one that mentions his anxiety and the possibility of dyspraxia is strong evidence. You should also use our parental comments to highlight the impact of these on his education (as I presume you've done)

Yes, I am sure it will be a standard letter. The request to assess can come from anyone and I am sure will trigger the same response in all cases - so you will be getting the same letter you would have got and school requested the assessment. As Sally says, the most important thing is to include a list of all documents you have submitted - and there is absolutely nothing wrong with sending the same document in twice. Many LEAs are known to okay the missing document game as a way of slowing up the process. As far as the fall is concerned - I would not make too big s thing of it. The panel aren't going to decide he has Dyspraxia based on anything you say. You should be keeping a log of all significant incidents and this can form part of that. If your log shows a significant history of such incidents then you can argue it as a need without having a diagnosis.

That is really several questions rolled into one. Certainly I am sure that the vast majority of AS children are NOT best educated in mainstream - every aspect of the environment is hostile to them. The first thing an AS specialist school will do is to provide a more appropriate environment, with the necessary therapy and provision so the children are not stressed and can concentrate on work. The the style of teaching in mainstream is also hard for many AS children - a teacher in front of a large class relying primarily on the spoken word to teach also does not suit children like my son. In terms of the academic curriculum itself I think that can be broadly similar for AS children, but each AS child is likely to find certain parts very difficult. However the subjects should be taught in different ways, e.g. making more use of visual and written information. However on top of that AS children need a lot more teaching in the area of communication, social skills, life skills and so on. I think the GCSE approach they do today is probably easier for AS children than the old O Levels - the emphasis on course work and continuous assessment must be easier for most than having everything depending on a couple of exams at the end of the course - even the most able of AS children must find that very stressful. However that is changing again now and by the time my son gets to that age they will be more exam-orientated again. I used to be all in favour of integration until it got to the stage of considering secondary education for our son - then just looking round a few schools I soon realised that it would never work for him. Seeing the AS schools they are set up so much better to cater for all the needs of the child.

You may still be in time to appeal the review. The deadline for the appeal is 2 months after receiving the notice from the LEA. Following the appeal the head teacher should write to the LEA giving recommendations. After that the LEA should either issue you with an amended statement or a letter saying they are not going to amend. It is the receipt of that statement/letter than triggers the right to appeal, and that is when the clock starts ticking. Part of the paperwork you should have received from the LEA should explicitly state that you have the right to appeal - so find any documents you have had from LEA since the review and look for that information. As your review was in May there is a good chance that you are still within the 2 month window from the decision. I do think that de-registering is not the best idea - it lets both the LEA and the School off the hook. You will get virtually no help from the LEA if you voluntarily take him out of school and home educate. If the current placement is not working then you need to get a professional on your side (e.g. your GP) and then keep him away from school - but keep him on their books as that puts the onus on the LEA to do something about it.

That is excellent news - and very encouraging for us as we expect to have a similar battle shortly. How did you argue for residential?

Welcome to the forum. Your son sounds similar to ours, he is coming to the end of Yr 5 and is gifted in Maths and Science (NC Level 7 in maths and 6 in science - but I am not sure what that really means). Bright ASD children are not well catered for in our education system - the recent thread "AS and not coping in School" shows this to some extent. Other threads will help you find out about other parents' experiences. There is far too much to discuss in one posting - and sorry if some of this sounds basic and you know it already. Probably the most important advice at this stage is to apply for a statement NOW. There is no doubt at all that your son needs a statement, and he will get one at some point. Unfortunately getting a statement is often a very slow and protracted business and the sooner you start the better. The school are totally wrong to say that he won't get a statement because he is doing okay academically, but it does make it harder. It is almost certain your LEA will refuse the first request on that basis. Also don't rely on the school to apply on your behalf. All you need to do is write a very short letter to the LEA - IPSEA have a very good web site that includes a sample letter you can send. At this point all that really matters is that you send the letter as that starts the process going. As soon as you do that there are statutory timelines that must be complied with. All you need to say in the letter is that he has a diagnosis of Autism and say that he is struggling in school. You will then have the chance to provide more information before they assess. You need to take control of the process so don't let the school do this for you. You should send that letter as soon as possible. Don't wait to get additional evidence before making the application, the application is the beginning of the process not the end and you can continue to feed in additional information into the process as and when it becomes available. Download or send off for the "SEN Code of Practice" that gives you all the information you need about the process, but be aware of course that the LA is highly unlikely to follow it Have a browse of other threads on this forum and take note of what people say, particularly about Sensory Issues (sensory processing disorder, sensory integration), anxiety and so on and see what of those may apply to your son. Those are areas to bring out in your parental comments which you will be asked to provide once you have made the request to assess. The local authority will almost certainly refuse to assess. At which point you will probably want to appeal to SENDIST - but you can consider that later. At school is he on SAP (School Action Plus)? This is an important stage to go through as it is harder to get a statement without having been on SAP for some time. If he isn't then you should have a meeting with SENCO and persuade them to put him on SAP, and make sure he get's IEPs and the like. The other important thing to do is to start writing everything down. Keep your own notes of every conversation you have; make notes of anything he says to you; record all incidents you hear about from school and all behaviour in the home that may be attributable to school. On the bullying side you must make a formal complaint about that - the school will have a complaints procedure that you can use and if you invoke that then you will get a written response from the school and there will be the opportunity to appeal the response. When making the complaint make sure you tie in into his autism. Say explicitly that he is being bullied because of his disability.

How frustrating - of course they are not allowed to do that, sounds as if the school have made a mistake here. To be honest as a one off then probably not worth making a fuss. You could either just let it go or ask for clarification from the school as to why he was excluded (preferrably in writing). Make the point that it is inconvenient for you to pick him up and ask why they were unable to deal with this themselves. You can of course make a formal complaint - but that is likely to get their backs up and won't necessarily do any good

From what you post it sounds too woolly. Provision needs to be fully specified (hours per week and qualification of those involved) and fully resourced. You need to look in detail to find out where the statement it explicit that he gets dedicated resource. So "supported by a Teaching Assistant" means nothing, that could be done by the existing TA. You need "20 hours a week from a dedicated Level 3 TA with 2 years experience with AS/Dyslexia" or some equivalent specification that commits the LEA to funding an appropriate resource. Any phrase starting with "Should" can be ignored as it has no force As it is a proposed statement I presume part 4 is blank so they can't really say anything about transport

Glad it went well. In general the school should be on your side - they are at the sharp end and have to pick up the pieces if things go wrong. If the output from the review is worded strongly enough the LA are unlikely to resist - if they do you will need to take it to tribunal

The other thing worth saying is that you should take as detailed notes as you can of the meeting - maybe take someone else along to write it down for you. Should you end up at tribunal the notes of the annual review will be part of the evidence and would you want the only written version to be those provided by someone who is paid by the LA?

There's no need to get too fussed about the review - you should put your case as best you can but it is not final - you shouldn't be asked to sign anything. After the review you can always write to the school making additional points - then the school will send their report to the LA, copied to you (within 10 working days). At that point you can also talk to the LA and let them have your opinion directly. Then the LA will issue a decision - either saying they are not gong to change it or setting out their changes. If they don't make any changes then you have the right to appeal, if they propose changes I think you have the right to comment on those changes and have a meeting - once they finalise the statement then you have the right to appeal that too. Funding for the statement should come directly from LA so if the school is short of SEN resources then they should be seeking to increase the provision in the statement to get the extra funding - but it doesn't always work that way.

The DLA form is not easy to complete for ASD children, it is far too focused on physical disability. Don't get hung up on the times, but give a good narrative explaining how it impacts daily life. The form needs to be supported by credible evidence. I think we just attached a copy of his statement and listed all the professionals in case they wanted more info. Since the person reading the form will not be an expert in ASD you need a professional opinion that explains some of the impact. You may have that in the form of a diagnosis or EP report - but if not I would approach your GP, or CAMHS, for an opinion

Shocking, but probably more incompetence than design. There is no one to hold them to account and they know they can get away with it.

I was just about to say the same thing myself. It is highly unlikely that an BESD school is going to be appropriate for an ASD child. Don't forget you have the absolute right to a mainstream education - don't let the LA name a special school unless you are totally happy with it - if necessary ask them to finalise the statement with part 4 empty and go straight to appeal on in

This thread is illustrating the challenge of ASD provision. Our children have a lot in common but as parents we have very differing views of what the best educational provision is for them. That seems to be very much dependent on their specific needs, and also their experience in mainstream school. It seems that none of us agree on what the right provision is for our children, so it is no wonder that we have so much trouble finding schools! That said we are very frustrated that there seems one style of ASD provision that dominates the independent schools - and this does not seem particularly appropriate for certain children - if that is not the provision you want you are hard pressed to find an alternative

Ah yes - we considered that option but decided that it would not work in our case. Even though he could be in a unit he would still be in a school with 1000 other pupils - no way could he cope with that. Also there is no point in being in the mainstream environment if you can't do the majority of lessons in the mainstream environment - and again no way can he do that. For us the ASD unit would probably be the worst of both worlds - while it holds out the possibility in theory of better GCSE grades the cost would be, as you suggest, just too high.

Indeed - I was reporting what the ASD schools give as an excuse. To be fair the fact that a pupil is in a special school implies that they have more severe needs than can be met in mainstream and so you cannot directly compare the situations. Instinctively I agree with you - I know my son has the cognitive ability to get reasonable GCSE grades. However to do so he needs a combination of a caring environment and quality teaching - and it is very hard to find that combination.

I don't see why the two should be mutually exclusive - quite the opposite in fact. He will only do well either academically or socially in a school that can fully meet his needs. It is very worrying that your son had such a negative experience of a special school - was it ASD specific or just a more general special school? We start off only considering schools that have excellent credentials in managing HFA, then look for ones that also have an acceptable academic record. The resulting list is VERY short

If you look at the results for most AS specific schools their GCSE results seem very poor - for most of them it is unusual for a pupil to get 5 GCSEs (but I don't know if the results tables might under-report results) Only a handful of schools actually regularly get good grades. A lot of schools will point out how much trouble ASD children have with exams, but the fact that some schools to achieve better results must mean either they have different selection criteria, or they manage them better, or both. Either way I would prefer him to go to a school where to get A grades at GCSE is not unusual!

For our son our thoughts are very similar to Sally - he has problems with social interaction and we think these are best addressed in the semi-structured context of a school outside the classroom time. So we think that either residential or extended day school provision will be able to address his issues in the best way - although trying to get the LA to agree is a different matter. For us at the moment, teaching is unimportant. He hasn't learned anything from school for the last couple of years - if he is interested in a topic he will teach himself from books, and if he isn't then nothing the school can do at the moment will make him learn. The key job for his next placement is to provide an environment in which he is prepared to engage. Once we get over those barriers then the quality of the teaching becomes important but there is not point having the best teaching if he won't go into the classroom.

I have an idea that the statement appendicies should include all the advice that was received, and that as parents we have the right to submit any advice we like to the process. So by implication it should be included in the appendix. I really don't see why the LA should complain - other than shear laziness

Having an ASD child makes you realise just how complicated the development of any child is, normal or not. It is only when that development does not proceed normally that you realise how complex it is and how many factors inter-relate to producing a human being. An ASD child may have issues in a number of apparently small areas and yet the impact of that on development is massive. This is one of the problems with ASD, it is a hidden disability. On the surface the child may appear and act almost normally but this hides the fact that he functions in a very different way to a normal child. These differences are not readily apparent but tend to show themselves in ways such as anxiety and difficult behaviour. What is important to realise is that they external symptoms are indications of some more fundamental issue. You cannot help ASD by treating the symptoms, you need to dig down and find out what the underlying causes are. That is probably the single most important thing to learn. If he behaves badly it is not because he is naughty, if he refuses to do something it is not just because he doesn't want to. You are going to come across a lot of nice and well-intentioned people who just look at the symptoms and think "EBD". You will need to look deeper than that and seek out the underlying difficulties It certainly sounds as if there are sensory issues there. This is worth looking into at some time. If you don't understand how his sensory system is working then it is very hard to understand how he perceives the world and why he responds to stimuli in the way he does. Do keep an open mind on the SALT too. A superficial assessment can miss certain problems with language but it is possible that there are certain very specific areas of difficulty that get missed.

In theory with the sort of staff/pupil ratio the specialist schools have it should be possible for them to deliver individual tailored curricula to each pupil. From what we can tell the better schools do manage this to some extent - it seems fairly common in Maths, and in fact the school that is currently top of our list does double maths GCSE, a thing than many mainstream schools don't do. I seem to recall Unsted Park had a number who were good at history (in the sense of expected to get an A at GCSE) We are looking at special schools now not only because he can't cope in mainstream, but also because he really needs some of the support and therapy that the specialist schools offer that are impossible to find in mainstream (for example Sensory Integration Therapy) and in our son's case we think the semi-structured environment of school outside core hours (be that residential or extended-day) will help him develop socially as well. What is it about mainstream that your son finds so difficult? Maybe there is another way of approaching things.