What to do about school?

[Joels_mum]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking for words of wisdom from those who have been here before. Our son Joel is 4 (it's actually his birthday today) and he was due to start school next month after spending a year in pre-school. We only got an official diagnosis of autism in April and Joel has an IEP in place and has 15 hours one-to-one at pre-school. After discussion with the Child Development Centre, we decided it would be best for him to stay another year in pre-school rather than go to primary school in September and school admissions agreed to this.

 

The problem is, there is no specialist provision in our area for autism so we're at a bit of a loss as to what to do next year. He is likely to get his statement at the beginning of the new term. The options which have been suggested to us are: to send him to a school with a unit attached; the only one here is not attached to a great school and the unit is not specifically for autistic children. The next option is to send him to mainstream with support although the CDC teacher thinks that if Joel doesn't improve much in the coming months, this wouldn't be ideal. The last option is a specialist school. There isn't one in our area; the nearest one is about 20 miles away and under a different council. I don't want for him to have to travel 40 miles a day but I would like him to go to the best school for him.

 

So perhaps we should consider moving house? We own our home so it would mean selling up; it wouldn't be a problem in terms of our jobs but we would have to uproot my daughter from her school. Before making such a drastic change, should we give it a shot in mainstream anyway? Is there any help/support for parents who have to relocate because there is no provision in their area?

 

Joel's main problem is communication and comprehension. He is a good natured, affectionate little boy and I am somewhat concerned that he could be overwhelmed by the environment of a unit where other children may be more physical or demanding of attention.

 

Any advice?

Edited August 15, 2010 by Joels_mum

[justine1]

Hi

 

Firstly I think its a very good idea for him to stay at preschool another year My son is also an August baby(he will be 7 on Tuesday) and I felt he was far too young to start "big school" but wasnt given a choice.Also he has the support at preschool that will stop at school, unless of course he has his statement.

 

My son had just started at an ASD unit before summer holidays and it seems to be going well.As you say the unit is not ASD specific this may be a problem with regards to his needs,I was given a choice of three one was Behaviour unit and one was a learning difficulties unit,neither were appropriate so I went for the ASD unit.

Like you we have no special schools they are all in different counties and its unlikely he would get in as they have waiting lists.

 

The best advice I can give you is to speak to the ed psych and see if they can advise you on where he can go to school.Then visit all the schools.Have you been to the unit? Maybe you can if you havent done so,so that you have a good idea of what it is like and ask all the questions you can.

Even if you move you will need to make sure the county you move to will continue with his statement and that there will be places available at the school/s.You dont want to move only to discover he cant even get into a mainstream because its full.

 

Look as close to home as you can for now,he could always try the mainstream on a part time basis for now,maybe two days a week and see what the school itself feels.

You can go and speak to the mainstream and other mainstreams,they all differ so much and you may very well find one that suits your son.

[JsMum]

Hi Joels Mum, and very happy Birthday to Joel, bless him, 4yrs hey, if only I could turn back the clock and look at ensuring what should of been in place for my Jay, it might be a different story now, as my wee baby is now 13 and half.

 

My words of wisdom are to ensure what your son NEEDS are available to him to give your son the best possible chance for his future, my son is recieving high level needs now because when he was four LEA wanted to SAVE money and not provide him a statement until he was eight and then it wasnt worth the paper it was wrote on, and we had to appeal part 2,3 and four, and his statement now states a specialist school, as my son is academically able in certain subjects.

 

I am afraid us parents can not fight for whats best anymore for our children because the LEA state our children are entitled to a Satifactory Education, what matters are NEEDS, what our kids NEED are. so ensure his needs are acknowledged and met, that way you can ensure the right enviroment is ensured, even if that did mean a specialist, private, independant, out of county school and if the LEA dont agree there is rights and laws, such as the SEND appeal process, contacting National Autistic Society Educational Helpline is a really helpful advise line, so recommend you contact them as well as ipsea.

 

I would go and look at spersific Autism schools, units, to get a insight to how they run differently to a regular Mainstream school or LEA Moderate Learning Difficulties School.

 

My son's needs would not of been met in a MLD school and a Mainstream Enviroment J could no longer learn/socialise in anymore and effected his mental health, he does have a range of developmental disorders so getting the right enviroment is essential when meeting complex conditions.

 

What is clear though is early identification of needs and accessing the right support as early as possible is essential to ensure your son can show his true potential and succeed, and prevent requiring more support in the future.

 

Welldone for getting this far with the statement, but it might be useful for someone in NAS/IPSEA to go over some of the document to ensure his needs will be met and if it where deemed his needs would be met further away there may be support for transport if that would help your son attend a school that met his needs as no other school nearer can meet his needs.

 

You need to put in your reasons to why the nearer options are not suitable for your son.

 

I do recommend NAS for further information.

 

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=20381

 

They will also give you information on spersific needs schools in your area or surrounding area.

 

JsMumx

 

 

[Joels_mum]

Hi Justine,

 

Thanks for your reply. The only unit in town has mostly children with ADHD. I really worry that Joel would be sat in a corner scared because the teacher at the CDC said that most of the children there are pretty vocal and physical and he is so quiet and gentle. She seemed to be guiding us in the direction of the specialist school and said she would fight for him to get a place but the funding can be difficult because the other council would charge £200,000 per year for the place! That's partly why I thought it would make more sense for us to move but as you say, the last thing we want is to go to the expense and hassle of moving for him not to get in.

 

The pre-school he's at is outstanding and it's undoubtedly the best place for him for now. The primary school attached is excellent but isn't quite so good when it comes to special needs from what we've heard.

Edited August 15, 2010 by Joels_mum

[Joels_mum]

I think we've been really fortunate so far in that the pre-school recognised the signs as soon as he went there (as I had) and really worked with us to push for assessment. The CDC has also been great; when I hear about the nightmares people in other areas have had with getting diagnosis and support, I am so relieved we've not had to go through that.

[Suze]

Where about in the north west are you , pm if you want it to remain private.I have alot of experience with schools in cheshire if that helps.

[Emmet Murphy]

Speaking as a teacher who works in SEN, I would not base too much on what you hear; I have worked in excellent schools which have had really bad reputations and schools with great reputations that were really quite poor. Visit them all and insist on sitting in on a whole lesson in the class where your child would be placed. I regularly have prospective parents sit in for anything up to 60 minutes; it will give you an accurate flavour of whether or not that placement is right for your child.

[Grace]

Hi Justine,

 

Thanks for your reply. The only unit in town has mostly children with ADHD. I really worry that Joel would be sat in a corner scared because the teacher at the CDC said that most of the children there are pretty vocal and physical and he is so quiet and gentle. She seemed to be guiding us in the direction of the specialist school and said she would fight for him to get a place but the funding can be difficult because the other council would charge £200,000 per year for the place! That's partly why I thought it would make more sense for us to move but as you say, the last thing we want is to go to the expense and hassle of moving for him not to get in.

 

The pre-school he's at is outstanding and it's undoubtedly the best place for him for now. The primary school attached is excellent but isn't quite so good when it comes to special needs from what we've heard.

 

Hi Joels-mum,

 

Can I just ask if the special school is independent or local authority maintained, as that sounds like an awful lot of money for a maintained school. Who told you it was £200,000? Have you been to see the school and spoken with them yourself? I believe Emotional/Behavioural maintained schools can cost a lot of money, but I have not heard of such an amount for any other maintained school - is this a boarding cost?

 

Twenty miles does sound like a long way, when the norm is going to a local school, but you do get used to it and I think you'd find it worth it for the right school.

 

In order to put parents off applying for schools LEA's have been known to exaggerate the costs of going there, so try to find out independently about the costs. If it is a maintained school and they can meet his needs and there is nothing else suitable, you would stand a good chance at tribunal getting a place.

 

Maybe others on here know of day maintained schools charging that amount? Costs of schooling came up during my tribunal and I've also costed independent, but nothing came close to this amount for a straight-forward ASD day school/x

Edited August 16, 2010 by Grace

[Kazzen161]

Have you checked if the school has places available? There is no point moving unless your child would definitley get a place.

Is it in the same county? If you move into another county/LA, then they will review the statement and you could end up with a worse one.

If the school is independent, there is no guarantee that either LA will pay for it.

[Joels_mum]

Hi,

 

The school is council run, it's in a different council area and the CDC teacher told us that they can secure placements but they are limited because the other council charges our council around £200,000 a year for each place.

 

We obviously wouldn't move unless we were sure of him getting a place but if the statement could change because we had moved, that could be a problem!

 

Thanks for all the advice and comments; it helps to speak to people who know about it.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Joels_mum

[Lynden]

I can only echo what the others have said, visit all the schools that he could be placed in and see how you feel about them. I don't always think a school being ASD specific is necessary, but a good understanding of autism is. Ls is in an SLD school where probably about 50% of the children are autistic but they are superb, I cannot fault them at all and he is thriving there.

 

Equally I know there are more able autistic children attend my daughters mainstream school with 1:1 support and they are doing really well also.

 

He's an august baby too, 15th, but I did start him in school at 4. I had thought we would only put him in for half days but within a week he was there full days as he loved it so much. It does completely depend on the school though.

 

Lynne