school refusal

[bensmum2]

Hi my son has suffered from school refusal since starting secondary school, he suffers severe stomach cramps diagnosed as somatic , vomiting, headaches, bed wetting, etc. His anxiety was so bad the lea provided a taxi to/from school as it was felt the stress caused by getting the bus full of other school children would be so upsetting for him that he would then not be able to deal with a school day as well. Since spetember i ahve been home schooling as this illness got so bad i couldn't put him thorugh it any longer so i deregistered him. this spetember he shouidl eb in year 10 and i feel he now needs to go back to school , but i think he needs a school that understands him and where he can be with people like himself and smaller classes etc. 2 weeks ago we finally received a proposed statement. The lea refuse to name a school at the momemnt but have said it will be a mainstream school, despite all the evidence, doctors letters etc that say it was school that was causing hi sproblmes, the lea now say it was that particular school and he will be ok in another mainstream school. They will still not accept that he can't cope with the noise or the number of pupils , he cant cope with the smells in science and is diagnosed with hypersensitivity , o any mainstream school will cause him to have th same problems, sinc ehe has been home schoole he has grown in confidence and chnaged a lot but that is because he isn't so anxious as his learning environment is almost stress free and flexible, he even manages to attend college 2 half days a week and get there independently on 2 buses each way which he could never have done before.

Anyway i am looking for an article about school refusal in aspergers children especially at secondary school, over the past couple of years i have read several such articles but now can't seem to find any. I am also interested in other peoples experiences of school refusal. I will be having to go through an appeal when they finally name a school, so i want something to prove to the appeal panel that this is a common problem in aspergers teens and it is likely to happen again if he is made to return to a mainstream. He will be in year 10 in September and he has gone thorugh school so far with no help , this is his last chance to get the right place and hopefully leave school with some qualifications as he is quite clever, but has not made much progress in school becsue he was never able to stay in class due to the sensory problems. Please can anyone help me to prove to the LEA and Sendist that this is a common problem with Asperger teens and forcing him back to mainstream will make him ill again. I ahve asked camhs and my doctor for support but all they say is he should be in school and which one is up to the lEA, although the actual evidence is staring everyone in the face.

[wasuup]

So the LEA are unable to provide your son with a suitable place at a school that will meet his needs? I have been advised not to use the term school refusal as then it looks like your child's behaviour is the problem to the health professionals and gets the LEA off the hook.

 

Does your son have a statement, if not then you need to apply for one.

 

Look at the IPSEA and ACE websites they have some good info on there and maybe call an advisor. NAS advisors can usually give some great advice too. The advisors are all really friendly and helpful.

Edited March 4, 2010 by wasuup

[Sally44]

You say you have the proposed Statement. So you are at a very critical time.

The Statement should identify ALL needs (ie. difficulties) in section 2 and should cross reference to section 3 in how those needs will be met in school. And that provision should be quantified and specified in terms of quantity of hours and staffing arrangements (which includes professional input as well).

So, your son's Statement should be making it very clear as to the type of environment he needs.

Who assessed your son for the Statement?

Has he been assessed privately at all?

Has your son seen an Educational Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist.

As he has sensory issues is that itemised in section 2 and detailed in section 3.

Does he have a formal diagnosis of sensory integration disorder?

Are all his senses affected ie. vision, smell, sound, touch, taste, balance and co-ordination?

 

Have you found any school you think is appropriate?

Has your LEA sent you a list of all their maintained and independent approved schools?

Have you visited the school your LEA thinks is okay?

 

The LEA is required to provide a suitable education for your child. It also has to be the best use of their resources. HOWEVER your Statement should 'add up' to the kind of placement he needs. If it says he needs small classes or small group work, that he needs a low arousal environment. If it says he has severe anxiety (and submitted medical evidence of this), and has been unable to attend his former mainstream school at all. Then I think you are right to be looking at a different environment.

 

When the LEA EP assessed him, did she make any recommendations about the school environment in her report?

 

You may find you have to get private reports to details the difficulties your child has.

 

Do not agree the Statement is you are not entirely happy with it.

 

Speak with www.ISPEA.org or www.ACE.org about the Statement. If you remain unhappy with the Statement contents and the placement and the LEA is refusing to make any amendments (don't give them too long to do this). Then tell the LEA to finalise the Statement so that you can go to appeal. Then you will need to gather your own evidence for your case for tribunal. You may seek amendments to section 2, 3 or 4 or indeed all of them. But you will need professional reports to identify the difficulties and make recommendations. Statements are just made up of the findings and recommendations of reports, so if the LEA/NHS have not been very good your Statement won't contain much of use.

 

The Statement is a legal document. It has to be abided by. So it is very important to get it right. LEAs have to provide what the Statement says. So if you don't have a true picture of his difficulties in the Statement you will not get the level of support his difficulties require. And that level of support also has to be stated by the professionals and not just your opinion.

 

Hope that makes it a bit clearer.

[Karen A]

Hi.

I found a book in my local library yesterday that I thought was excellent.

''Choosing a school for a child with Special Needs'' by Ruth Birnbaum.Published by Jessica Kingley Publishers first published this year.

Although it is not ASD specific it does cover ASD and I thought it was very good.

Karen.

[bensmum2]

Hi All, Thanks for your replies, yes we have been in touch with ace and ipsea and will be supported by them at appeal but as the lea wont name a school and finalise the statement we cant appeal yet. My son is partially sighhted and so i am also supported by nbcs . He is diagnosed with all sensory problems, smell , touch ,taste , noise,etc and also just before his aspergers diagnosis was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder, i even have doctors notes to say he is unable to attend school becasue it makes him ill. He has had all the assessments you mention and the ed psychologist recommended an

resourced environment, small groups and a placement with an intake broad enough to allow him to interact with others with similar needs to himself. She called his sensory problems hypersensitivity . The LEA seem tio have ignored her recommendations and when i pointed this out to them they said i was interpreting her report wrong and i should speak to her. I did this and i stiull dont believe i am interpreting it wrong and all she said was, they didnt have to do what she said, she only made recommendations.

There are no suitable schools in the area as they are all mainstream, and all much larger than his old school. They still say they can meet his needs at any mainstream school in the area with help. They refuse to understand his sensory problems,They are including a "time out" card, so they know he will have problems , but if it was the right provision he wouldn't need that card he could stay in class . He has had an assessment at the school i want him to go to out of the area and he fitted in perfectly he even made freinds as they are all very similar needs, and the classes were very small. I am expecting the revised statement any time and i know i will not be able to agree unless they include what the ed psych said and i know they wont include that so what can i do , we are at stalemate. If i agree thsi proposed statement he wont get the provision he needs but if i dotn they wont name a school so i cant appeal, can anyone please help with this scenario becaseu i know full well they will still be leaving these things out. I have even tried the nas advisors but i have been trying for so many years they tell me i have done everything i possibly can, i have even complained to the local government ombudsman but even that isnt getting anywhere i ahev been waiting since last may for that to be dealt with

 

[Annea]

Hi,

You really need to look for a school so that you can base your appeal on your request (sorry if I have put that clumsily) We went to tribunal nealry two yrs ago supported by IPSEA, our daughter had been unable to cope with school for 9 months at that point.

Initially they put in the proposed statement that they wanted to put her straight back into the school she had been unable to cope in. Then they had a 'wonderful' idea of schooling her in a shed! This might seem very odd, but it is true! Her fascination is animals so they decided she should be schooled at a local community farm in a room they had which was 20mins walk from anywhere.... it had no windows, no heat, one huge flouresent light, it really was literally a shed!

At the last minute (the Friday before the tribunal on Monday) they decided to school her in a local ASD unit- it was only set up for day puoils but at the last minute they decided that she would go full time...

 

By this time whilst they were chasing there tails not lookign for any decent placement, we got all the evdence we needed (helped by IPSEA) we got her a place at a priory school, and went to appeal for a placement based on what our evidence proved she needed.

 

At the tribunal our evidence contradicted everything the LEA said, but because they had not done their homework, because they had made no attempt to find somewhere properly suitable, our evidence was used to support our application and the school placement that we chose was awarded.

 

It was a very long fight,

 

details of our fight and details of how she was affected is on her website below.

 

I hope you sort out what your son needs, I am sure you will get to the bottom of things, it just takes a lot of perserverence.

 

Elizabeth

[bensmum2]

Hi Annea Thanks for that, i have already been fighting the lEA for 8 years, 6 of them knowing he had undiagnosed Aspergers as he was only diagnosed last July, I have found the perfect school and have named it but they refused. They are going to name anothe rmainstream not his original one they are saying it was THAT actual school but any other school would eb much larger adn noisier. I have had the new proposed statement today and its not much better , there is no way i can agree it, they have even put his ASD down under non educational needs????. I am presently home schooling but between appointments and evidence gatherign i dotn have much time, Today i have been in such a state that my present plan is to take him to the lEA on monday, and ask for the lady who keeps refusing and say "here he is , find him a school i've had enough" I have no other ideas left. I have got ipsea, NAS, NBCS etc all involved, yet when it comes to meetings they are all unnavailable and i have to face the lea alone every time!! We are now at stalemate i am not going to agree the proposed stateemtn as it still isn't right and so they are not going to name a school, so i can't appeal.There is a local school with an asd unit but we went to see the school and it is a mainstream with over 800 pupils they told us it wasn't suitable for my son and he wudn't get a place in the unit unless he was severely autistic and there are no facilities for small classes, my son was extremely upset after the visit when they refused toe ven show us round becasue they said there was "no point" I don't see a way out of this at all, and in the meantiem my son who is year 9 is not getting educated.

[Grace]

Hi, Don't know if you are aware of the following?

 

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), where an authority have served a copy of a proposed statement or proposed amended statement on the child's parent under paragraphs 2(1) or 2A(2) of Schedule 27 the authority shall within 8 weeks of the date on which the proposed statement or proposed amended statement was served, serve a copy of the completed statement or completed amended statement and a written notice on the child's parent under paragraphs 6(1) and 6(2) respectively of Schedule 27. (4) The authority need not comply with the time limit referred to in paragraph (3) if it is impractical to do so because -

 

(a) exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or his parent during the 8 week period referred to in paragraph (3);

 

( the child or his parent are absent from the area of the authority for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks during the 8 week period referred to in paragraph (3);

 

© the child's parent indicates that he wishes to make representations to the authority about the content of the statement under paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 27 after the expiry of the 15 day period for making such representations provided for in paragraph 4(4) of that Schedule;

 

(d) a meeting between the child's parent and an officer of the authority has been held pursuant to paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 27 and the child's parent under paragraph 4(2) of that Schedule has either required that another such meeting be arranged or has required a meeting with the appropriate person be arranged, or

 

(e) the authority have sent a written request to the Secretary of State seeking his consent under section 347(5) to the child being educated at an independent school which is not approved by him and such consent has not been received by the authority within 2 weeks of the date on which the request was sent.

 

And also:

 

Code of Practice:

 

Part 4: Placement

 

8:42 In the Final statement, Part 4 will set out the type of school and any particular school which the LEA consider appropriate fro the child, or the LEA's arrangements for the provision for education otherwise than at school which the LEA consider appropriate.

 

Therefore, if it was me, I would put in writing, sent by recorded delivery, a letter saying that you want the statement finalising. I would not attend any further meetings until that has happened. You can then begin the appeal process and there is NOTHING stopping you meeting up with the LEA (if you want!) after the appeal process has begun. However, it's always best to get things in writing and if you can't take anyone with you to meetings, then you can correspond by e-mail and therefore have everything on record. It also will give you time to run anything by your supporters.

 

If they do not finalise after your request (within 8 weeks) I would write to your MP, as very simply they are breaking the law.x

 

P.S. The emoticon is not intentional and it won't let me rub it out!

Edited March 6, 2010 by Grace

[Kathryn]

Bensmum, you may as well let them go ahead and finalise the statement and name the school of their choice. They are legally bound to do so anyway eventually and you can be pretty sure they will not rewrite parts 2 and 3 as you want them, or name your choice of school when they do, no matter how much evidence you throw at them (prove me wrong and I will faint with shock!). You will almost certainly have to appeal, so you may as well get yourself into an appeal situation sooner rather than later (the process takes long enough!) and spend your energy on gathering your evidence to make the case for the school you want.

 

It's quite common for a statement to be finalised when it still has serious flaws throughout and the parents still aren't happy with it. You can appeal against any of the statement, not just part 4 but against parts 2 and 3 as well. As has been said, you can still continue to talk to the LA about the amendments you want, before and throughout the appeal process - the tribunal expects this to happen.

 

Once you have started the appeal process though, you will be in a far better position than you're in now. It will put additional pressure on the LA, force them to comply with very tight deadlines, and to look at your son's situation more carefully and produce clear legally based reasons for their opposition to what you want.

 

K x

Edited March 6, 2010 by Kathryn

[wasuup]

It sounds like you are in a good position at tribunal, the LEA perhaps know this and expect that you will be wanting something private and expensive hence doing this to put you off. Visit other schools, get an idea of what you want for your son, see if he meets their criteria for them.

 

[bensmum2]

Hi Ladies grace i am aware of all that you said , if i sign the proposed statement they will name a school but there is so much missing out of it!! i was scared i wud be accepting it , but jathryn just said i can also appeal parts 2 and 3 so thank you for that , noone has told em that , as i said i am supported by ipsea and nbcs and nas but not one of them has told em that and not one of them has been to a meeting with me. I have been fighting for this for so long i want it to be right . ALso camhs are supposed to be on my side but so far i have waited 6 weks and still no sign of an appointment. The past 2 days i have been unable to eat or even function but i am more determined again today.

wasuup i ahve been to many schools , incluf=ding the local mainstream with asd unit but even they said it was not suitabel becasue he isnt bad enough to get a place in the unit and the scool itself is oversubscribed and there is even facilities for small classes .he woudl eb expected to cope full time and in classes fo about 35

When the lea name a mainstream school , i am very willing to visit but it will only be to ask a series of very difficult questions in order to build case against them!! You have all helped me so much , tomorow i am going to speak to all my supporters and probably sign the proposed statement so they can finalise, then i will be at tribunal stage and my supporters can actually get involved again, they all say unless i am at tribunal there isnt much they can do. In my sons case i need to prove he has sensory integration disorder and that his eye condition (he is registered partially sighted) affects his everyday life, this shouldnt be too difficult.Thanks again all xxx

[Grace]

Hi Bensmum - I hope Kathryn will input on this; but I have never signed a proposed statement; I have simply asked them to finalise, so I could go ahead and appeal. Need to check, because signing documents can indicate acceptance.

 

Kathryn is spot on that you can appeal any part of the statement. Don't worry about how much of it is wrong; I would not be surprised if it gets better before you get to tribunal - it is common for them to produce a 'working document' (which is a bit like a proposed statement) to show the tribunal what they are now prepared to offer.

 

Once you are in receipt of your Finalised Statement, you will then need your supporters help to fill in the appeal paperwork - it is pretty straight forward, but like with most things, when you have not done it before, help can be invaluable, especially when you are stressed!

 

Best Wishes

 

Grace/x

[bensmum2]

Hi Grace thanks for that , i would much prefer not to sign i will get advice from ipsea or ace tomorow on that before i do it. x

[Kazzen161]

If there are any other units that you can visit, do so. Units vary a lot in how they are set up and how much time they expect the children to spend in them.

 

[JsMum]

Just read your post, boy did it bring it back for me what I went throw nearly 18months ago, in very similair situation to your son, and the LEA wouldnt listen to my requests either, he was dx with Panic and Anxiety Disorder due to been forced into an enviroement that he just simply couldnt function in, he did a months worth of school in a year and they even tried to place him in a Moderate learning difficulties special school when he doesnt have moderate learning difficulties and the MLD school was still a big, noisy, packed enviroment! so it wouldnt of helped his Sensory and mental health needs.

 

The LEA then tried to place him back into a Mainstream Secondary school even after some Secondary Schools refused to give him a place because they couldnt meet his needs, in the end one SMS did after the LEA retained some vital information on my son and they accepted him, my son couldnt even step foot anywhere near the school gates and after discussing all of Js needs and the level of supervision he would need the HT excepted he couldnt attend due to health and safety and we went on to tribunal as we were fighting for a Specailist Residential Educational placement as he couldnt even access mainstream activities and even shopping and going to social functions where causing great distress so we where going for a 24hr curriculum so he could access support 24-7.

 

It was very stressful and exhausting and I too had no one going to the tribunal so going alone, but I knew I had to do it and the SENDIST said that many parents do go in it alone, though I did have a solisitor to help me with the reports and ground work, I also got support from this brilliant forum, NAS, IPSea, ACE, Network 81, Contact a family, thats the great thing now adays there is lots of fantastic information, you just have to find it.

 

I was all ready for the battle, then the LEA agreed to change part 2,3 and four of the statement, we got our school that we wanted it was finaly over, the hardest bit for me was getting him back into school, the seperation was the hardest part funny enough I read Univercity support for students when they leave home to get throw it, there was very little litriture on the kind of situation I was in, but it was kinda of similair, just that J was 10 yrs younger, so I had to modify it.

 

Its been 18 months since that battle and your fight made me remember what I and J went throw, because if its traumatic for your son to be in this situation its the same for the family so its not just effecting your son but the whole family.

 

We were truly at breaking point, I practically home schooled J for 2yrs with very little support until the end of yr 6 where he did have a full time statement, he did have a statement from yr 4 but the problem was the enviroment, he couldnt learn in a mainstream enviroment and he needed a very spersific special school because he had average to high average intelligence so getting that enviroement right was crucial to meeting his potential.

 

I agree for some children who have severe Sensory needs enviroement has to be a big consideration, its no good if they have the best TA and the best Statement if there in a situation where there is noise, crowds, large buildings that overwhelm them, for J this is not just school but where ever he goes.

 

The changes have been incredible since we have met those needs and he is learning to be more and more independant where as before he was just going backwards and withdrawing into a dark duvet to escape, now there is no stopping him.

 

I just want you to know there are other mums/dads/carers who are and have been where you are now and not to give up, its a hard slog but you will get there in the end and what you begin to learn about the SEN system is amazing.

 

As I say if I knew then what I know now things would of been a whole lot different years ago, and maybe now J wouldnt of needed sooo much intensive support that he requires now.

 

JsMumxxxx

 

Edited March 7, 2010 by JsMum

[bensmum2]

Thank you so much j's mum, Ben is pretty much the same, he hates to go aywhere where there are a lot of peopleand has separation issues i have been home schooling since last september but he should be in year 10 next september and he is capable of passing some exams if he is in the right environment, they have all the evidence but just ignore it, i am going to appeal .When forced back to mainstream last june he becasem violent , then they said if he broke the rule again he woudl be threatened with exclusion!!!! what planet are they on!! all these replesi have given me the strength to carry on, and tomorow i will ask for the statement to be finalised without my signing so i can appeal and while i am waiting i will be gathering my evidence!!! Thnak you so much and i'm glad to hear your son is doing so well xx

[Kathryn]

In response to what Grace said, there are no legal implications to signing off the statement. It makes no difference to your right of appeal either way, and signing it will not weaken your case at tribunal. Do whatever you need to do to get them to finalise the ###### thing as soon as possible.

 

Good luck, we're all behind you. <'>

 

K x

[bensmum2]

Thanks Kathryn and thansk everyone, this is a great forum. I started my letter and ended up doing a 5 page list of everything that was wrong, IPSEA told em i could just quote bits from ed psych's report, but when i started i ended up changing them to how i wanted things to be and it looked really good,on the accpetance letter i changed to it do not accept the proposed statement and named the school i wanted then signed it and sent it in, if they don't put in what i want i will use a copy of that letter to appeal, take care all and thanks again x

[Mandapanda]

Hi my son has suffered from school refusal since starting secondary school, he suffers severe stomach cramps diagnosed as somatic , vomiting, headaches, bed wetting, etc. His anxiety was so bad the lea provided a taxi to/from school as it was felt the stress caused by getting the bus full of other school children would be so upsetting for him that he would then not be able to deal with a school day as well. Since spetember i ahve been home schooling as this illness got so bad i couldn't put him thorugh it any longer so i deregistered him. this spetember he shouidl eb in year 10 and i feel he now needs to go back to school , but i think he needs a school that understands him and where he can be with people like himself and smaller classes etc.

 

Hi

 

We've had same experience. The term school phobia is better understood by people than school refusal. I officially deregistered Aw in about Oct '09, he is 13. There was absolutely no way I could get him to school at all at that time. He wouldn't even do online learning or have a home tutor come. Since telling him he would not have to go to school again (unless he wants to), he has been so much happier. He is enjoying learning again, and he can sleep & eat when he wants/needs to which suits him. Home education is an amazing thing (it doesn't have to be like school at all). I would recommend researching it more as it is a useful 'last resort' if nothing else.

 

I would definitely agree you should press ahead with the statement if you feel he will be willing to attend a different school.

 

Good luck.

Edited March 13, 2010 by Mandapanda