Kazzen161

The LA should have a list of their own special schools and units (it's probably on their web-site or ask them for it). They should also send you a list of indpendent schools (local and national) once you get to the provisional statement stage. However, these lists do not cover all schools, so it is best to do your own search. Use Gabbitas to do a a search. Look at the Priory, Cambian, Eagle House and NAS web-sites. Ask at your local ASD support group (they will have good knowledge of your local schools and the way your LA works). Breckenbrough looked like a good school when I investigated it (I can't remember what age they start from). It is unlikely that you will be able to get very far with visits over the summer holidays, so there is little you can do except prepare yourself to get started in September. You might be able to book some visits now for Sept. Try not to panic - getting the right school is VERY important - if you rush things and the school is not right, you will regret it.

I am not sure why you want to know what other schools your LA fund children at. You need to find a school that will meet YOUR son's needs and then fight to get the LA to fund it. The other schools the LA funds chidlren at may not be appropriate for YOUR son. The schools themselves will often tell you if they have other children there funded by your LA if you think it might be suitable for your child.

If you were told to do the "voluntary" work by the job centre (eg: to gain work experience), you might, depending on the conditions the job centre set. You are supposed to tell the benefits people if you do voluntary work, as it may effect your benefits (eg: they may class you as "not available for work" if you do too many hours). It does not effect DLA, but may effect Incapacity Benefit, Job Seekers or ESA.

Would your son mind if you spoke to his boss and explained that you think he may have AS and that he needs instructions to be very clear and only one or two at time? If the boss does not want to help, then you have not lost anything.

Another thing that can happen is that the LA can drag out the appeals process as long as possible, as for each week/month/term they delay it, they are saving themselves lots of money (as you have to pay each term in advance) and you can't claim the fees back. As someone said, the longer they are out of mainstream, the harder it gets to prove that they would not cope with mainstream. The LA will also be well aware that once he is the independent school, you are likely to ask for it to be changed to a residential placement at some stage and that the school is likely to support you in that appeal.

It is difficult to generalise as schools differ so much and the role of the TA has changed so much. When I was a SEN Governor I campaigned for our TA posts to be advertised properly so we could get the best people - not just giving the post to someone's Mum because they were known to the school. If the TAs don't have a reasonable grasp of Maths and English it can cause lots of problems. In the school I worked in, half of the TAs had degrees - the school took advantage of well qualifed people wanting to work school hours. Some TAs were better qualified in certain subjects than the teachers. As to "ASD qualifications" - I had a psychology degree and 15 years experience of living with two children with differing levels of ASD, had been to many talks and conferences (including one by Tony Attwood), but I did not have a LA recognised ASD qualification. I did later attend two twilight training sessions on ASD and a two day SEN course. Although they barely scratched the surface, they were recognised qualifications. Which would make a better TA? TAs and Teachers are supposed to work with all the chidlren - the SEN chidlren need the teacher as much as the more able.

The LA will only fund an adequate education for your son - not the best education. Depending on what other provision your LA has to offer will affect how hard it would be to get Farleigh. Independent specialist schools are considerably more expensive that LA special schools/units, so they are bound to offer those first. It may be that if you talk about having to look at independent specialist schools, a place will suddenly be found for him at the support centre!

You get a lower rate of ESA during the assessment period (13 weeks). Once the decision is made you get an increase in ESA if you are put in the WRA Group and a bigger increase if you are put in the support group. If the decision takes longer than 13 weeks, any increase is backdated. If you fail the assessment, I think you get put on JSA. I don't think you have to pay anything back because the lower ESA rate is the same as the JSA rate.

I would get advice from Ipsea before you give the LA this letter. Being cynical, they may use your information to make sure they write the statement in such a way that it makes your reasons against a particular placement harder to argue.

I agree with Chris. If you get the right school, it will enable your child to get a good education and also help with life, independence and social skills.

"could" is the operative word. In 3 out of 4 units I saw, there were operational difficulties in actually accessing the mainstream with adequate support. (eg: when the timetables of the two schools did not co-ordinate; havng 1:1 support in the mainstream).

Have you tried googling the school? You would be amazed at what you can find out eg: from minutes of the LA sen, education or finance committees. You may find the truth about when it might be ready to open. I cannot see how they have not already appointed at least a head teacher if it is to start in Sept, and I woudl have thought teachers would have had to give a terms notice, so they should also have been appointed by now and how could they appoint teachers withour telling them what the school is going to be like?

Is the school going to be run by the LA or by an independent group? Whichever - are there are other similar schools run by them? If it is to be available from Sept the HT/T in charge might well already be appointed. Ask if you can speak to them. How confident are you that the unit WILL be ready for Sept (if you google you can sometimes find info eg: through CC meeting minutes of how it is progressing). How many places are available and how many children will be fighting for those palces (I knew of 20 parents who had all been promised one of the two paces for their child!). A unit was suggested for my son during Yr 6 for the following sept, but it did not open for another year after that. I spoke to the HT of the unit (who did not think they coudl meet my son's needs) and went to a unit in a neighbouring LA (which my LA said was similar) and it coudl not meet my son's needs. Both units required the children to be in the mainstream part for some of the time, and one of them expected the children to be in the playground with only someone watching them from an upstairs window. I did not want my son to be their guinea-pig. BESD units may be able to meet his needs but it will very much depend on their ethos. I know of some SEBD schools that understand ASD, but there are also many who treat them in the same way as children with EBD due to neglect, abuse, poor parenting, etc and the same strategies don't work for both in my opinion.

Although your son has been put on ESA at the moment (on the initial "waiting for a decision" rate), his award will not be confirmed until they make a decision based on the form you filled in/a medical. Please do find out more about the process, as it is very complicated and you don't want to get it wrong. www.benfitsandwork.co.uk is a very helpful web-site for ESA.

Just heard that my son has been put in the WRAG of ESA again. It will not be reviewed again for two years. It has taken them 16 weeks to make a decision, but we did not have to go for a medical.

The LA does not have to provide an extra space, though they may if it is not to the detriment of the school/other pupils. As most units only take a few children, it is unlikely that it would not be detrimental. Many parents will be asking for the unit to be named, so the LA cannot open up places indefinitely. If the unit is in another LA, then your LA has no power over them to make them offer a place. A tribunal may be able to force either LA to open up another space. Your case statement for the tribunal will need to be quite specific to the unit/school named if it is to be strong, so the sooner you can make a decision the better.

I would check with IPSEA, as if you specify a school and they then do not offer a place I am not sure where you stand with your appeal.

The "buddy" in the playground will be another child, so that does not take up any of the hours. The "circle of friends" would only take up about 30mins per week once it is set up.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/parents/schoolslearninganddevelopment/examstestsandthecurriculum/dg_4016665 This gives links to the compulsory KS subjects. I think Eng, Maths, Science and ICT are core subjects.

No, he woudl not have to sign on or keep a job log or apply for any jobs if he didn't want to. He might have to see his DEA occasionally and there was a one-off 6 week work programme that was supposed to help them with CVs, interviews, etc that they had to attend once, but that is not going at the moment. There is no limit on how long you can be in the WRAG group - you do not have to get a job. They do review the ESA claim every so often (6 months the first time for us, hten 18 months).

Definitely worth trying to claim ESA. My eldest son is in the support group and he is capable of working if the job/staff are right, but is not able to get work as easily as most people. My other son is on JSA and has to apply for at least one job each week - my eldest cannot even fill in application forms due to his dyslexia.

Be careful - some tests cannot be repeated sooner than 6 months since the previous one. Also check with Farleigh, as many independent schools do EP, SaLT, OT, etc assessments as part of their 3 day assessment when deciding whether to offer a place.

This talks about levels up to 10: http://www.derbyshire-language-scheme.co.uk/Programme.htm

I am guessing that they score the child on the tests (eg: how many of the questions they get right at certain levels) and that is what the SaLT is talking about, but it would be best to ask her to explain.

The 1-4+ refers to the key word level of their comprehension/speech. p16-18 of this explains it: http://www.ifanc.org.uk/files/786comrichenv07.pdf and this: http://www.brothersofcharity.ie/galway/Derbyshire%20Language%20Scheme%20Summary.pdf