womble

The school may have learning mentors or something similar? My son did rude drawings on his GCSE RE exam paper last week and he has Aspergers, so the school put a learniong mentor in place for him to keep him on track as it were. You apply for extra time a long time before, but as said previously the school can pull out all the stops at the last minute to offer some support. I work and am a single mum, a good tip is to email the school in the evening. Use the teachers name in the subject heading for example; (RE: Ms Jones, Maths) give your childs name, form etc and ask if you can ring in the day at a convenient time. Go to the staff room or loo if you have to and ring on a mobile (i have a cheap Asda phone because i do this a lot). I always tell myself that they would do the same if it was their child, and that gives me the courage to kick a**. Remember you can find a way round things. Good luck Jx

Thanks for that. yes he doesn't realise that he has support now and that he will need that in order for college to go ok. But by focusing on where exactly he will need help rather than the ASD he may see things differently. The Careers Wales officer has drawn up a learning and support plan and my son did sign this in school when we went to see her last year (i asked for a chat). The college have said that they usually sort students out after the initial week, which is not ok for an ASD student at all, he will get too anxious at the last minute over stuff. This is maybe ok for students going from the local special school, but my son has to even get to college, which will be a feat in itself! Thanks you for your thoughts, very helpful.

My son had a diagnosis of Asperger at 15 and is now 16 and leaving school to go to the local FE college. He has got a place on the BTEC Art level 3. He has been in mainstream and had a reduced timetable with a LSA for 10 hour a week. He says he has not got Aspergers and he will be fine in college. Has anyone any ideas how i can get across to him that he will need some support even if it is only the discreet support that can be offered. He has a learning plan from the careers (Wales, no Connexions advisers here). Any ideas? I thought i would go to college and talk over with the support people about this?

Hiya We dont have Connexions in Wales. We have careers Wales whose brief is very reduced compared to Connexions. I will look at the 139a thing though and thank you for that. I will arrange to meet with the college learning support too. Again thanks...Judy

My son is leaving school this year, he is 16 and has a diagnosis of Aspergers. He is on School Action + and has a 1:1 in school, has dropped GCSE subjects so he can have free lessons to do his GCSE subjects with less stress, and is going to further ed college in september to do a BTEC in Art. School have said he doesn't have tansition planning because he has no statement. He was diagnosed last July after years of problems and exclusions. Do i really have to find out how he gets support myself and how he gets to college? Anyone have any ideas or experience of this. I live in North Wales.[/size]