Another bad weekend

[Sally44]

Just got through another typical weekend. Son refusing to go out the house for the whole weekend again.

Last night lots of tantrums and anger and threats of killing himself.

But he can't really give me much idea of what is causing these feelings and how he feels.

All I get is "I don't know".

He's refusing things he even used to like. Then when I say "okay you don't have to do that then", he apologies and says "I'm sorry, i'll do it". Which makes me feel even worse because it appears he feels some pressure to conform and do things that he really wants to refuse.

He's been referred so that he is assessed for depression etc and I was asked how I feel about medication.

I don't think a 9 year old should be on drugs.

I feel that school and home life should be looked at first to see if there is anything we can do to make him feel better.

 

He's usually very good with change. But last night he was upset because:-

The snow has gone and so Christmas is finished.

When it snowed the school allowed the children on the computers at breaktime and now he feels he'll have to go outside again.

His work is too hard and is all day long. He feels it is a relentless slog.

 

We already know he is emotionally labile. Last night he could tell me he was on a 2 in a scale of 1-10, where 1 is you wish you were dead and 10 is very happy. This morning he said he was on a 6, which is good.

 

We've just got one more week to go. I'm exhausted, but hope we will get through it. But then we have the next term infront of us. I can't go on like this. I'm emotionally drained and worried.

 

I don't know how they will assess him when he cannot give explanations of how he feels in certain situations. Most of the time he says he does not know.

 

CAHMS gave us an A4 sheet of lots of different faces (cartoon ones), and we've got to choose a happy, sad, angry and worried face. He can't even do that. He can't choose. He doesn't know. He's sorry etc etc. Then he's crying again.

 

I kept him in bed with me last night, and all night long he was grinding his teeth.

 

I've emailed the Autism Advisory Teacher, and have asked his teacher to phone me. I'll see what they can do to get him through these last days, and arrange to meet him in school in the new year.

 

Eventhough it would be awful for him to actually stubbornly refuse school. At least then he would have made that choice and decision and we would move forward from there. I've got a child that is all over the place emotionally and who then gets upset and apologises for being like that.

[JsMum]

I would contact CAMHS today and express your sons mental health deteriation and request an urgent appointment especially as his emotions are so unballanced at the moment, the explanation I can give is the problem with the faces, choosing happy, sad ect, is that it probably changes for different issues he is faced with so this then confuses him, for example he could probabaly give a happy face when on computers at break time, and now its outdoor play its a sad, these are at the end of the day changes, J really struggles towards the end of term, especially the final week.

 

Christmas is a massive obsticle so there is the added difficulties with the festivities.

 

Ensure he has some where he can chill out in, get his own space, does he have this at school?

 

I personally though would get him signed off school throw a GP or CAMHS with the emtional and mental health your son is displaying.

 

JsMumx

[lindy2017]

Just got through another typical weekend. Son refusing to go out the house for the whole weekend again.

Last night lots of tantrums and anger and threats of killing himself.

But he can't really give me much idea of what is causing these feelings and how he feels.

All I get is "I don't know".

He's refusing things he even used to like. Then when I say "okay you don't have to do that then", he apologies and says "I'm sorry, i'll do it". Which makes me feel even worse because it appears he feels some pressure to conform and do things that he really wants to refuse.

He's been referred so that he is assessed for depression etc and I was asked how I feel about medication.

I don't think a 9 year old should be on drugs.

I feel that school and home life should be looked at first to see if there is anything we can do to make him feel better.

 

He's usually very good with change. But last night he was upset because:-

The snow has gone and so Christmas is finished.

When it snowed the school allowed the children on the computers at breaktime and now he feels he'll have to go outside again.

His work is too hard and is all day long. He feels it is a relentless slog.

 

We already know he is emotionally labile. Last night he could tell me he was on a 2 in a scale of 1-10, where 1 is you wish you were dead and 10 is very happy. This morning he said he was on a 6, which is good.

 

We've just got one more week to go. I'm exhausted, but hope we will get through it. But then we have the next term infront of us. I can't go on like this. I'm emotionally drained and worried.

 

I don't know how they will assess him when he cannot give explanations of how he feels in certain situations. Most of the time he says he does not know.

 

CAHMS gave us an A4 sheet of lots of different faces (cartoon ones), and we've got to choose a happy, sad, angry and worried face. He can't even do that. He can't choose. He doesn't know. He's sorry etc etc. Then he's crying again.

 

I kept him in bed with me last night, and all night long he was grinding his teeth.

 

I've emailed the Autism Advisory Teacher, and have asked his teacher to phone me. I'll see what they can do to get him through these last days, and arrange to meet him in school in the new year.

 

Eventhough it would be awful for him to actually stubbornly refuse school. At least then he would have made that choice and decision and we would move forward from there. I've got a child that is all over the place emotionally and who then gets upset and apologises for being like that.

Hi, My 11 year old son is the same although ive taken him out of school this april as he was so anxious being there .....we have home tutor suppied by school at moment he is alot happier i had a terrible time with meltdowns when he was attending school.........he doesnt go out much loves his pc..........waiting to be seen by CAMHS appoitment 11th january.......hes been seen by the speech and language COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO.....didnt score very high .....i was stressed and exhaused the same as you for more than 7 months before i took him out of school.....so i can undestand what you are going through.......lindy

[JeanneA]

I really do feel for your Sally, I can understand what you are going through. I've had a tough time with Glen over the years and more so this last year. He is away now for this assessment and I really think its the best thing for him. Glen did go on medication at 9 it can happen, it didn't seem to help him at that time but it may be worth a try for your son as things do seem to be very bad. He would only have a low dose of medication due to his age. Anyway its obviously up to you but if it were my son I would hate to see him suffer so much I would be willing to try medication if only for the short term. Thinking of you Sally (( ))

[Sally44]

I asked him how he was this morning and he said "a 6", so I thought he could go in.

He arrived in school, vomitted, they phoned me and I collected him.

 

I made an appointment for the GP and he has said he will speed up the referal to CAHMS and that I should send him back into school Wednesday. I've left a message for his teacher to phone me.

 

The thing is, my sons moods are very changeable. Last night he was distraught and talking about killing himself. I then distracted him and we talked about "One Foot in the Grave" and he was laughing his head off. Then I returned to the subject of 'school' and he disolved into tears again.

 

He refused to take part in the school play. And this is unusual for him. Things like plays, christmas events, parties etc he likes because it means there is no reading/writing/numeracy which are the things he hates. So to refuse to do that means he does feel bad. So I said "Okay i'll talk with your teacher and you won't have to do the play." And he says "I'm sorry, i'm sorry i'll do it." So he also feels compelled and obliged to do things and to conform as well.

 

I took him to McDonalds for lunch and he is absolutely fine. He is not ill. When I collected him from school he was laying down!! And the staff said "he looked so ill". "Ill my ######" (as Jim Royale would say). I'm not saying he faked it, because he did vomit. But it isn't due to sickness and the GP agreed he looked completely well.

 

The Dr at CAHMS suggested I phoned the autism advisory teacher. I've spoken to her and she cannot go into his school because they are supposed to already have that expertise there. But there is no-one in that school that has the training or experience she has. And school still are not acknowledging that there is anything wrong and he seems fine (apart from throwing up apparently).

 

I'm going round in ever decreasing circles at the moment.

 

I'll send him in on Wednesday, will speak with his teacher and arrange a meeting with school for the New Year. If he is ill again i'll go back to the GP.

 

I asked the GP for a sick note and he said he could not give one because he was not sick. Now thinking about it, anxiety is surely sickeness???? Just realised I've been fobbed off again.

[cohanki]

Hi, your story sounds so familiar. Very similar to mine. My son is 9 and we have just been told that he is on the spectrum, very close to a full diagnosis of aspergers, but not quite. The consultant did say however that we would probabaly find ourselves referring to it as aspergers so that other people could try and understand where we were coming from.

Most recently We have had months and months of tears, shouting, hurting siblings and extreme anger. It all came to a head a couple of weeks ago when he tried to jump off the top of the banister. It was during the weekend and we felt very alone and not at all sure what to do.

We have regular days of 'hating' himself, everything being 'too much' 'wanting to die'. He often says he would be 'better off dead.'

 

School do not really agree with what we are saying. Academicaly he is very bright, in top set for everything and they say he is very willing to please and always says he is happy if they ask. Again, i think he says this because he knows that is what they want him to say and he wants to do the right thing. They have however begun to put things in place after a lot of pressure from myself and them seeing that things have to change for the sake of ouf family. We have two other(younger) children as well. He now stays in the library at break and lunch times as we felt the class time was enough of a social situation for him to deal with and a lot of the anger was due to anxiety of friends 'liking' and 'not liking'. having people to play with and not etc. I wonder if this might benefit your son? He has also be given the responsibility of getting to school 10 minutes early, collecting the register and helping do jobs in the classroom before the start of the day. This has given him a real sense of purpose in the morning and along with a very strict morning schedule our life has gone from world war three every morning to a little more chaos than other homes but feeling like we are moving forward with tiny positive steps for him! do you think this could help your son?

Thye negative remarks he makes about himself we try and ignore as much as possible as i feel he was feeding off our shock and upset. we acknowledge that its ok to be feeling like that and discuss ways to try and improve it but if we feel like it is being obsessed about then i try and walk away.

Another good things that is working is that my son has a 'thinking' book in school and he writes , mostly negative things, concerns etc in the book and his class teacher can read it and discuss it later with him. It is obviuously for good things as well but we don't get many of those!

I wonder if you need to go into school and ask them to support you even if they don't want to belive or accept there is anything there with you son. They have nothing to lose and you have a lot to gain.

We have also been offered medication and i think after a lot of thought and research we are going to try it. I think we have decided that our family needs to try and function at a more positive level and if this is going to help our son get to it then it will help us all. We only want the best for him and when we ask him he is so desperate for change and some help and i wonder if the increased level of behaviour is the same for your son?

 

My son did the lighting for the school play as he didn't want to be infront of everybody but could be in complete control of the lights with no interference. could yours do the lights or sounds?

 

Sorry for the long message. It has been great for me to do this as for so long we have been dealing with it all by ourselves. Would love to chat more if youthink it might help.

xx

[Boy]

In our school the ASD children who get very anxious and overwhelmed by their workload have timetables that allow them to know when they can move on to another task and so that they know that they will eventually get to do something that they want to do. In the infants I think this is pretty well covered by the amount of free play they get in between learning, but in the juniors the workload and atmosphere seem quite different. If they don't already allow your son some free time, perhaps you could talk to them about putting this into his timetable? For example, he has to work up until a certain time, then he gets 15 minutes on the computer (or any other activity he likes - reading, etc. perhaps).

 

Also, if he struggles with his feelings and feels pressured to please people (even if he would rather not do those things) you could talk to the school about offering him more choice (if someone asked if he'd rather be in the play or help make props, perhaps he'd feel more in control and be able to opt out of doing what he REALLY doesn't want to do, but still feel that he isn't letting anyone down). You could also ask them whether they offer anything like art therapy, or whether there's any way it could be built into his timetable to have a bit of time away with an adult where they can talk about feelings in a less pressured way (whilst doing some painting or something). This sort of thing could even be done in small groups so that your son doesn't feel singled out and so that there's even less pressure on him (because everyone gets to have an informal chat about how certain things make them feel and what kind of things would make them feel better).

 

I always liked 'wet playtimes' because I'd get to stay in and read (rather than wandering around the playground by myself). Especially in winter, however, as I'm hypersensitive to the cold. If you could find out what would make him feel better about the prospect of playtime (would he like to be able to take a book or other item into the playground with him? Would he like to stay in and go the library/on a computer? Would be ideally like to go outside and play but has no one to play with?). I don't see why the school wouldn't make some allowances to help with his depression/anxiety.

 

As for him feeling like Christmas is finished already because of the lack of snow, perhaps part of his routine at home (if he'd like to, of course) could be watching a Christmassy film, or have some focus on baking/making things that are Christmassy? You could also buy some fake snow for him to play with (that stuff is pretty cool! The stuff you add water to and it sort of swells and goes all snowy - I really like how it feels and I also like that it isn't as cold as real snow). Maybe spray the windows to make it look snowy from inside? Or would he like a sort of wintery activity, like perhaps going ice skating just before Christmas. Much of the time if you feel depressed/anxious it can sometimes ease it a bit if you have things to look forward to. School seeming like endless days of drudgery isn't going to help, but breaking it up a little bit with fun stuff might help.

[Suze]

hi sally <'> >< , hope hes better tonight.My son was similar at that age very emotionally vulnerable we were also offered meds, ....but managed to get through somehow.Primary school was a complete nightmare for us, in his last christmas nativity he had a special part (he was a wise man), he spent the whole performance scowling realy badly and rocking it was awful and I hated to see him like that.If I could offer you any advice it would be too take all and any pressure off him , even asking him to identify his emotions with the face cards may be to much for him at the moment.The xmas hols maybe just the break and respite he needs best wishes suzexx

[Sally44]

Hi, your story sounds so familiar. Very similar to mine. My son is 9 and we have just been told that he is on the spectrum, very close to a full diagnosis of aspergers, but not quite. The consultant did say however that we would probabaly find ourselves referring to it as aspergers so that other people could try and understand where we were coming from.

Most recently We have had months and months of tears, shouting, hurting siblings and extreme anger. It all came to a head a couple of weeks ago when he tried to jump off the top of the banister. It was during the weekend and we felt very alone and not at all sure what to do.

We have regular days of 'hating' himself, everything being 'too much' 'wanting to die'. He often says he would be 'better off dead.'

 

School do not really agree with what we are saying. Academicaly he is very bright, in top set for everything and they say he is very willing to please and always says he is happy if they ask. Again, i think he says this because he knows that is what they want him to say and he wants to do the right thing. They have however begun to put things in place after a lot of pressure from myself and them seeing that things have to change for the sake of ouf family. We have two other(younger) children as well. He now stays in the library at break and lunch times as we felt the class time was enough of a social situation for him to deal with and a lot of the anger was due to anxiety of friends 'liking' and 'not liking'. having people to play with and not etc. I wonder if this might benefit your son? He has also be given the responsibility of getting to school 10 minutes early, collecting the register and helping do jobs in the classroom before the start of the day. This has given him a real sense of purpose in the morning and along with a very strict morning schedule our life has gone from world war three every morning to a little more chaos than other homes but feeling like we are moving forward with tiny positive steps for him! do you think this could help your son?

Thye negative remarks he makes about himself we try and ignore as much as possible as i feel he was feeding off our shock and upset. we acknowledge that its ok to be feeling like that and discuss ways to try and improve it but if we feel like it is being obsessed about then i try and walk away.

Another good things that is working is that my son has a 'thinking' book in school and he writes , mostly negative things, concerns etc in the book and his class teacher can read it and discuss it later with him. It is obviuously for good things as well but we don't get many of those!

I wonder if you need to go into school and ask them to support you even if they don't want to belive or accept there is anything there with you son. They have nothing to lose and you have a lot to gain.

We have also been offered medication and i think after a lot of thought and research we are going to try it. I think we have decided that our family needs to try and function at a more positive level and if this is going to help our son get to it then it will help us all. We only want the best for him and when we ask him he is so desperate for change and some help and i wonder if the increased level of behaviour is the same for your son?

 

My son did the lighting for the school play as he didn't want to be infront of everybody but could be in complete control of the lights with no interference. could yours do the lights or sounds?

 

Sorry for the long message. It has been great for me to do this as for so long we have been dealing with it all by ourselves. Would love to chat more if youthink it might help.

xx

 

 

I will speak with his teacher and will set up a meeting with school after Christmas.

It would help enormously if our son could actually tell us what upsets him when it happens. But he can't. I've tried today, to talk to him about how upset he was last night and all I get is "I don't know".

[Sally44]

In our school the ASD children who get very anxious and overwhelmed by their workload have timetables that allow them to know when they can move on to another task and so that they know that they will eventually get to do something that they want to do. In the infants I think this is pretty well covered by the amount of free play they get in between learning, but in the juniors the workload and atmosphere seem quite different. If they don't already allow your son some free time, perhaps you could talk to them about putting this into his timetable? For example, he has to work up until a certain time, then he gets 15 minutes on the computer (or any other activity he likes - reading, etc. perhaps).

 

Also, if he struggles with his feelings and feels pressured to please people (even if he would rather not do those things) you could talk to the school about offering him more choice (if someone asked if he'd rather be in the play or help make props, perhaps he'd feel more in control and be able to opt out of doing what he REALLY doesn't want to do, but still feel that he isn't letting anyone down). You could also ask them whether they offer anything like art therapy, or whether there's any way it could be built into his timetable to have a bit of time away with an adult where they can talk about feelings in a less pressured way (whilst doing some painting or something). This sort of thing could even be done in small groups so that your son doesn't feel singled out and so that there's even less pressure on him (because everyone gets to have an informal chat about how certain things make them feel and what kind of things would make them feel better).

 

I always liked 'wet playtimes' because I'd get to stay in and read (rather than wandering around the playground by myself). Especially in winter, however, as I'm hypersensitive to the cold. If you could find out what would make him feel better about the prospect of playtime (would he like to be able to take a book or other item into the playground with him? Would he like to stay in and go the library/on a computer? Would be ideally like to go outside and play but has no one to play with?). I don't see why the school wouldn't make some allowances to help with his depression/anxiety.

 

As for him feeling like Christmas is finished already because of the lack of snow, perhaps part of his routine at home (if he'd like to, of course) could be watching a Christmassy film, or have some focus on baking/making things that are Christmassy? You could also buy some fake snow for him to play with (that stuff is pretty cool! The stuff you add water to and it sort of swells and goes all snowy - I really like how it feels and I also like that it isn't as cold as real snow). Maybe spray the windows to make it look snowy from inside? Or would he like a sort of wintery activity, like perhaps going ice skating just before Christmas. Much of the time if you feel depressed/anxious it can sometimes ease it a bit if you have things to look forward to. School seeming like endless days of drudgery isn't going to help, but breaking it up a little bit with fun stuff might help.

 

Your advice is good and I don't want to seem as though I am discounting it, but my son cannot make choices. Obviously he could choose between mud and cake. But not between more similar things. He always asks the adult to choose, or uses eeny, meenie, minnie, mo to choose. But then might get upset at the outcome! I try really hard to stay calm. But sometimes I am at screaming point inside with this inability because he becomes 'stuck' and then upset at getting stuck, and then apologetic at getting stuck and apologetic at getting upset at getting stuck and round and round we go again.

[Sally44]

hi sally <'> >< , hope hes better tonight.My son was similar at that age very emotionally vulnerable we were also offered meds, ....but managed to get through somehow.Primary school was a complete nightmare for us, in his last christmas nativity he had a special part (he was a wise man), he spent the whole performance scowling realy badly and rocking it was awful and I hated to see him like that.If I could offer you any advice it would be too take all and any pressure off him , even asking him to identify his emotions with the face cards may be to much for him at the moment.The xmas hols maybe just the break and respite he needs best wishes suzexx

 

I don't know about him needing the meds. I need them. And if he behaves I might share them with him.

 

I actually asked the doctor if I could keep him at home until after Christmas. He said not to. But if he is sent home again i'll keep him home. We have to retain some kind of sanity.

 

I know that there are lots of children out there who are even worse. But what is amazing me is that I feel i'm gradually being channelled towards the medical solution of medication when other options are not being tried or put in place first. I wouldn't rule it out as an end solution.

 

I've been told to contact the autism advisory teacher, only to be told I was given incorrect information by the Clinical Psychologist because they cannot get involved.

[Sally44]

Does anyone know. When a child has a SEN placement, who within that school is supposed to be the mainstream equivalent of the autism advisory teacher?

Although my son has such a placement I know that the SENCO, Head and his teacher do not have any specialist ASD training.

I'm waiting for his teacher to phone me back so I can ask him who it is and how he thinks we should proceed.

[westie]

Does your sons statement mention ASD as his diagnosis,and something along the lines that that the school needs ASD specific training/ strategies to use with him? Or anything along those lines, as if this is the case then you could challenge the fact that they are not meeting his needs as outlined in his statement if they do not do this/ seek some advice?

Is it an independent special school rather than an maintained special school (which would explain why the autism advisory teacher will not get involved) I know that the team in my area would visit and give advice at least to a maintained school, but only if invited to do so. Not sure if it was independent, I think they would probably have to pay for training/ advice..

 

btw I am not an expert so this is just questions/ guesswork (based on some knowledge/experience)and I am sure that you have already considered this, but just in case...

[Sally44]

Does your sons statement mention ASD as his diagnosis,and something along the lines that that the school needs ASD specific training/ strategies to use with him? Or anything along those lines, as if this is the case then you could challenge the fact that they are not meeting his needs as outlined in his statement if they do not do this/ seek some advice?

Is it an independent special school rather than an maintained special school (which would explain why the autism advisory teacher will not get involved) I know that the team in my area would visit and give advice at least to a maintained school, but only if invited to do so. Not sure if it was independent, I think they would probably have to pay for training/ advice..

 

btw I am not an expert so this is just questions/ guesswork (based on some knowledge/experience)and I am sure that you have already considered this, but just in case...

 

 

Hi Westie,

This is where I move into rant/manic mode because his Statement DID use to say teachers suitably qualified and experienced in teaching children with ASD and speech/language and communication disorders. It also said he should have access to specialist teachers for ASD and the specialist teacher for dyslexia as necessary. It also said that these teachers should be experienced in using various approaches for those on the autistic spectrum, such as TEACCH. This was not provided because school said they were happy. I complained to the LGO and they found in the LEA's favour because of how the Statement is worded. So when it was in the Statement it wasn't provided.

 

His new Statement, which was finalised after the reassessment (and which I am appealing) says "teaching staff should be experienced in helping children with communication difficulties." And that is all. So no ASD specific experience or qualifications mentioned in section 3. No ASD 'teaching' approaches mentioned. No access to any specialist advisors for ASD or SpLD. But I do have a letter from the LEA 'assuring' me that the 'new' Statement was not an attempt to weaken the earlier Statement. But they have refused to reinstate everything they removed. Ha, ha, ha.

 

And now I apparently cannot get access to the LEA AAT because she only goes into 'mainstream' schools and not 'mainstream enhanced resource' schools.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Sally44

[cohanki]

I know that my sons primary school contacts the local special school and gets support and guidance from them. also have behaviour support been in to assess your son or speak to school or you? they offer support and advice and then tell the schools what needs to be put in place.

It sounds like your son is so scared of getting things wrong and upsetting everyone. When he is making a choice maybe to point out very clearly that there is no right or wrong and that it is ok to feel or want whichever choice he makes. Start off with tiny choices first that really don't matter to you and let him feel very postive about it. Even choosing what he has for breakfast and explaining to him clearly that what he just did was make a choice and that nothing awful happened. perhaps a lot of his anxieties are about getting things wrong. There is no easy way to cope but i think if you need to keep him off school then that is what you do. Schools don't need a doctors note for a few days and there isn't much time left now before xmas. I have done it before and i think that when it is your childs mental well being then you are more than entitled to. At the end of the day nobody else is going to fight for your son. you have to. good luck x

[Sally44]

From the phoning and talking i've done today. It appears I have to speak with his teacher first and get him to ask the school to seek advice. I can best achieve this by getting 'emotional' targets on his MEP from the "Emotional Programme" he is supposed to have which is in his Statement - must just check that is still in, as it maybe another thing that was removed! And by appealing this new Statement, which frankly is not more than toilet fodder.

As a last resort I can get an independent report, but wanted to save that for next year. I was hoping he would last until then. But I have to face the fact that he may not.

I have also been told that this maybe a reaction to the changes over Christmas. That would be good to be true. But what is worrying me is that if that is the case, then this will be the first Christmas that he has not coped with the changes.

 

I have the joys of a CAHMS assessment infront of us, and have been told they are not ASD specific. I will be very surprised if they getting anything more than "I don't know" or "maybe" out of him.

[Sally44]

Just checked. An Emotional Literacy programme with specific bulleted aims has been removed. Now he is to have "support when emotionally dysregulated".

[westie]

sounds like a nightmare situation. Poor lad, I hope you get somewhere. <'>

I have asked school to look at the following programme for my son who is also at the minute suffereing a lot of anxiety, as I have no hope of him getting a CAMHS appointment any time soon, though I have asked for an urgent referral... I bought the book a while ago and have taken it into school for them to read and assess.

 

It can be done in school or at home, alone or in a small group it says and it is CBT but designed for use with young people with Asperger syndrome.My son has a diagnosis of PDA but I have done a similar thing with him a couple of years ago with anger management and I think it helped (it certainly did not harm and I timed it so that we did not do too much at once).

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Exploring-Feelings-Anxiety-Cognitive-Behaviour/dp/1932565221/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292280240&sr=8-1

 

Other book maybe worth looking at (at home):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-When-You-Worry-Much/dp/1591473144/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292280587&sr=1-1

Edited December 13, 2010 by westie

[Boy]

Does anyone know. When a child has a SEN placement, who within that school is supposed to be the mainstream equivalent of the autism advisory teacher?

Although my son has such a placement I know that the SENCO, Head and his teacher do not have any specialist ASD training.

I'm waiting for his teacher to phone me back so I can ask him who it is and how he thinks we should proceed.

I'm not sure exactly how it works, tbh, but in our school the SENCO happens to be particularly interested in autism (which might be because most of our SEN kids are autistic), and we have a lot of input from an autism advisory type person who regularly comes in to check on things (even just the workstations at the beginning of the year to make sure that PECS is being used correctly and that the workstations are set up correctly). She also occasionally runs hour long training sessions in the evenings to give the staff an idea of how to use things like PECS and visual timetables, so that other staff can use them with the children (rather than just the child's TA). I think that it's also her who arranges for people to go on longer training courses.

 

By what the SENCO has said it also sounds like we have quite a good relationship with the local special school (and she has said she's often on training courses with staff from there), and that the head has offered for us to visit at any time to see how they do things.