Tafara

The school my son is at is an all boys one. The description of the school is a bsed but they do also specialise in boys with aspergers. They have a real mixture of boys in the school but it does seem to work. The academic range is also wide and they can take a wide selection of GCSEs if they are able. Again, I really feel for you during this time as I know how much pressure it put on us as a family. Something else to consider and it took me a while to get my head round this too is this. Although our children may be academically able, high IQ etc if they are not able to learn and conform in the classroom to a certain extent they will not be able to physically sit and take exams etc my son quite often simply does not see the point of learning anything new or things that he does not want to learn. So, although I agree they do need to be provided for accademically there is aslo alot of work needed to make them ready to learn emotionally. The work my son is doing at the moment is very simple and I know he is able to do more, however it is a massive achievement that he is now in all lessons and completing somthing. I would think it would def be worth looking a the weekly option as just getting the respite in the week may give you more strenght to cope at the weekends. If you dont mind saying what was your daughter like when she went to visit the first school ? xx

Hi, I think that you may be surprised at the extent that an appropriate and correct education placement for your child may help her behaviour. My son who has aspergers diagnosis and also has and has always presented with huge oppositional behaviours has just completed his first half term in a special school. We are already seeing positive changes in his behaviour that we do not recognise in him. I think there are 2 reasons for this 1 that he does not have the huge pressure of being in the wrong enviroment where people did not have a clue how to treat him and 2 that the staff at the school are so on board and are experts in helping the children achieve their full potential. We looked for schools for years and I did find there were far more options for boys than girls. He has ended up in a weekly residental placement and this has given the whole family a chance to breathe and begin to work on the strained relationships that we have had due to our sons behaviour. The massive stress that we used to experience every day has been lifted and we are beggining to feel a little more normal whatever that is !!! Its such a hard journey and people who have no experience of it just cant believe the pressures that are children go through every day. I wish you all the very best in finding a placement for your daughter as it will be worth the fight xx

Hi, My son is 12 , he has a diagnosis of aspergers. He is now in his 4th week of a new school where he is residential in the week. Things still feel quite strange at the moment as we are getting used to a change in family life etc but I def feel like we have made the right decision. I think we need to be realistic, the children who are placed in a residential school will all come with their own issues and difficulties , otherwise they simply wouldn't be there ! They will have all found it impossible or at least very, very difficult to function and make progress in mainstream and yes, typically there will be children that display anger or behavioural difficulties that we feel are different or 'worse' than our own child. However, what I would hope is that this would be far outweighed by the benefits that our children should receive from being in a specialist placement. Just after a few weeks I am beginning to see that my son may be in a place where he feels he belongs. He is not left sitting isolated from his peers for hours or doing something different to everyone else. The school are clear that they will do there very best to support every child so we are no longer facing the constant run of exclusions and negative phone calls home that we have become used to over the past 5 years !! Of course it is such a difficult decision to make,and we were fortunate in the end that the decision was kind of taken out of our hands in that the school offered him a residential place and we had no other option . Its obviously early days but as I said before I feel like we have done the right thing in making the best choice for our sons future.