Somebody give me some encouragement!

[flappyfish]

My SDS has just transferred to mainstream high school and it's a disaster. All the worse behaviours and self hatred/harming have come out to play. He's being really well looked after, school are communicating with us well and he has good support but I can't see how it will improve. He seems determined to get thrown out. He was only diagnosed in the summer so it's all been CAMHS before that and not knowing what we were dealing with. It is impacting on his sister who attends the same school. Please someone tell me that it can get better, and any hints as to how would be gratefully recieved.

[bid]

Hi Flappyfish,

 

Just to clarify, was your DS at a special school before?

 

Bid

[Karen A]

Hi.

Does your SDS have a Statement of SEN and if so is the support in place as documented ?

Is the diagnosis AS or HFA ?

Sorry to start with questions but it makes a big difference as to what to advise .

 

Karen.

[flappyfish]

Hi.

Does your SDS have a Statement of SEN and if so is the support in place as documented ?

Is the diagnosis AS or HFA ?

Sorry to start with questions but it makes a big difference as to what to advise .

 

Karen.

 

diagnosis of ASD - v high IQ but processing and lang issues. Has Individual funding amounting to three and a half days support. Has mentoring sessions etc and will get support of ASD specific team. Didn't have support in primary - just about struggled on without it apart from emergency bouts. It's not level of support bothering me but rapid downshift in spite of it.

[Karen A]

diagnosis of ASD - v high IQ but processing and lang issues. Has Individual funding amounting to three and a half days support. Has mentoring sessions etc and will get support of ASD specific team. Didn't have support in primary - just about struggled on without it apart from emergency bouts. It's not level of support bothering me but rapid downshift in spite of it.

 

Hi.

I have a few ideas however it is difficult to be specific as it depends partly on whether the difficulties are related to AS or your child is wanting to get thrown out for reasons not related to AS.

Do you think the support is tailored to your son's needs ?

Could CAMHS help with some advice or input?

Could the ASD support become involved urgently due to the rapid downshift ?

Do school have experience in supporting pupils with ASD ?

As bid mentioned where was your child before ?

 

It can get better.Ben has had some difficult times.He has AS and is very bright.He is doing much better than expected now he is in year 8.

 

Karen.

[flappyfish]

Hi.

I have a few ideas however it is difficult to be specific as it depends partly on whether the difficulties are related to AS or your child is wanting to get thrown out for reasons not related to AS.

Do you think the support is tailored to your son's needs ?

Could CAMHS help with some advice or input?

Could the ASD support become involved urgently due to the rapid downshift ?

Do school have experience in supporting pupils with ASD ?

As bid mentioned where was your child before ?

 

It can get better.Ben has had some difficult times.He has AS and is very bright.He is doing much better than expected now he is in year 8.

 

Karen.

 

Good to hear. Thank you. Think school are doing their best - it takes time to get things right. I just needed to hear that it can improve.

[Mandapanda]

Hi flappyfish

 

Going to secondary school is a really big step. It is often a bigger school, and the older children look (and behave?) like adults. The children are expected to be self sufficient and have a certain level of maturity. Even my eldest struggled in the first year of secondary and he has always enjoyed school. They come together from different primary schools and they are all sorting out their groups and hierarchies again. They go from being big fish in little ponds to little fish in big ponds. We found the second year was more settled.

 

I've found it is not my children's cleverness that is a problem, it is their delayed emotional maturity.

 

My youngest son could not cope at all with secondary, but he is a very different personality to my eldest. There were many problems for him in the school environment, including the older pupils snogging each other at breaktime!

 

Hope things settle down for you <'>

[Sally44]

I've had problems with my NT daughter moving to secondary. There is such a big change from being the biggest in primary school, which is very supportive in comparision - to moving and being the youngest in a large school with classroom, pupil and teacher changes for every lesson.

 

Eventhough you say the support is good, if she is deteriorating regardless of that, then school do need to do something about it. The Autism Outreach Teacher could come in and see if there are any specifically difficult areas or times of the day eg. transition between lessons. Many on the spectrum struggle with the noise and chaos as children move from one class to another. She might benefit from being allowed to go to her next lesson 5 mins earlier, or have the LSA that is supporting her go with her to the next lesson. If it is difficulties with breaktimes, she may need to be given a place she can go to (eg. libarary), or meet with the LSA during these times. She will not be the only ASD child in that school.

 

If the school are doing everything they possibly can, and she still is not coping, then you may need to look at specialist provision, which may include independent schools if the LEA does not have anything suitable - and if she is very smart, then they probably wont have.

 

If she has processing delays, how is that being supported. Is all work being given out in note form as well incase she cannot process all the auditory information in time? If she has language issues are they responsible for any of her difficulties. Is the SALT involved and is she confident that your daughter can access the lessons in the way they are being delivered? My son cannot access whole class learning for long periods of time because the processing demands become too great. He has to have small group work in groups of between 6-8 pupils.

[flappyfish]

Lots to think about. Had more input from psych today and there is going to be a multi agency meeting including autism support team and psych in school to look at things in more detail and come up with possible strategies. Much of this has taken everyone by surprise, so it's nobody's fault and people aren't being negligent. However, all your posts have given me lots of things to take along to this meeting whenever it happens, so thank you.