Withdrawal from School

[KKaren]

My son 13 goes to mainstream school but doesn't seem to cope - He has just got a full time classroom assistant and still he is getting into trouble with other children. His school is quite big and has some "rough" kids - he seems to be drawn to them and then they pick on him and he becomes aggressive.

 

I've had to take him out now until January as he refused to go to classes after a few incidents with other kids. What to do if he can't manage to stay in school in January?

 

anyone been in this position or have any advice we don't really know what to do for the best.

 

thanks

[lindy2017]

My son 13 goes to mainstream school but doesn't seem to cope - He has just got a full time classroom assistant and still he is getting into trouble with other children. His school is quite big and has some "rough" kids - he seems to be drawn to them and then they pick on him and he becomes aggressive.

 

I've had to take him out now until January as he refused to go to classes after a few incidents with other kids. What to do if he can't manage to stay in school in January?

 

anyone been in this position or have any advice we don't really know what to do for the best.

 

thanks

Hi, My sons 12 i took him out of yr 6 last april due to anxietiesand not coping like you said in primary school i deregistered him and home schooled it was difficult in september he went to taster day at comp he hated it had meltdowns but he was registered he didnt attend that school and still ahsnt they supplied home tutor and it was fine after he got used to ehr coming to our home twice a week ... we were offered nurture unit max 10 children he atteneded with hoem tutor a few times but now doesnt im trying to get hoem tution started back as tutors boss ahs withdrawn it wants him to be schooled outside of home but thats not possible so have soem people sorting it out.... then applied for staturity assessment so have to wait and see ,lindy

[justine1]

Hi

 

Has he got a statement? If not maybe you could start the process yourself. It means that he will be able to receive more precise support as opposed to just getting 1:1.

 

I was in the same position last January,Sam was in year 2.He had 1:1,IEP's etc and was on a part time table(9am-12pm) He would come home lunchtime and then do some work that school provided in the afternoon. I split his learning and play time when he was at home which worked well for him,as it worked on a sort of reward system. The school then applied for statutory assessment and by June he had been excluded 4 times so I was able to get him into an ASD unit attached to a mainstream. Transport was provided,it was 45min drive from where we lived.It is rare the allow a child to attend a unit until after a statement is issued but he had missed out so much already. He got his statement last October but we moved in November,he now attends a different ASD unit and he is doing so very well

 

I have in the past thought about home schooling but IMO it is very difficult.It makes the LEA more relaxed/slower when it comes to statementing and any additional support such as providing a tutor. It also makes boudaries a little unclear to a child,unless you are already quite strict and have a good routine in place. It will be hard to differenciate between "school work" and "playtime" Some people cope but I know I could not do it. I liked the idea of a part time table because it still gave him the normal routine of school and a little break in the afternoon,but I still kept structure and as I say his school provided work for him,so less pressure on me trying to keep him busy. I think once you withdraw from school it may cause problems making it hard for you to get him back into school at a later date.

Whatever you decide make sure you get everything in writing and read up on everything like de-registering etc.

[Sally44]

As suggested you should start the Statementing process by asking your local authority to carry out a formal statutory assessment.

 

If he is refusing to go to school you need to cover yourself so that the educational welfare officer does not get involved.

 

Go to your GP and ask for a referal to either the professional that diagnosed him, or to Clinical Psychology or CAHMS. Ask specifically to be referred to professionals that have experience of working with children on the autistic spectrum. They should be able to give you some written advice for school. Ask that their findings and recommendations are put in writing to you and school.

 

Ask them if they can provide him with counselling or CBT, or an emotional literay programme etc. They may or maynot be able to do that. If they argue that they cannot provide a certain therapy for him because he does not have the skills needed to access that - ask them to put it in writing to you. Because letters like that are evidence of his needs and if they can't meet his needs, then he should be placed in a school that can.

 

You may also get advice from www.ipsea.org.uk, or www.network81.org.uk, or www.ace-ed.org.uk

 

You need to think about whether your son would cope in his current school with more professional input. Or if you don't think that will ever work, then you need to know the alternatives.

 

Don't de-register him. That takes all responsibility off the local authority and you become solely responsible for his education. If you do decide to home education, give yourself time to find out all about it, and what other alternatives are out there BEFORE you say anything to anyone or de-register him.

 

As your local authority to send you their list of secondary maintained, approved, special and independent schools for children on the autistic spectrum. Your local authority will have children placed at other schools both locally and nationally.

 

Your LA may have another secondary school that has an autism unit.

 

It is possible to get your LA to fund a place at an independent ASD specific school, but it takes time, perseverance and money to get independent reports etc and to go to an Educational Tribunal.

 

Get a copy of the special educational needs code of practice and read the relevent section.

 

Get in touch with your local authorities parent partnership [they can advise you and come to any meetings in school], and the autism outreach teacher [your local authority will have one, and she can go into his current school and observe and give advice and support to both school and your son.

 

You can ask the SENCO for a meeting in school, and ask them what level of SEN support he is on [school action or school action plus??], and ask school to refer your son to the speech and language therapist [they are responsible for expressive and receptive speech, social communication skills and emotional communication], and also the educational psychologist to see what advice they can give.

 

If you ask the LA to carry out a Statutory Assessment the LA has to ask those professionals to assess him anyway. Telephone these departments and request that they carry out standardised assessments [as these will give you an age or percentile related result for all his skills and this will be a baseline from which to measure progress.

 

Those standardised assessments will identify his strengths and weaknesses, but often they are never carried out. Or only parts of the assessment are carried out and the results not fed through to the final results that give a very clear picture of what a child's needs are.

 

School should be doing something. You don't want to leave it and end up with him refusing school, at home all day for months or years, missing exams etc.

 

Unfortunately no-one is going to tell you what to do, or be proactive. You are going to have to learn about the SEN system and you are going to have to project manage this through to the end result that you want. No-one will do it for you.

 

Your son is probably picking up on the disruptive children simply because they are more noticeable and attact more attention. You can argue that the fact he is homing in on them is not good and shows that he has little social understanding and that that too is an educational need.

 

If he is then being picked on, the school should have anti bullying procedures that you can read, which you can ask for. You can ask school what they are doing about it, and if you are not happy you can write a letter to the governors.

 

However, I would suggest you tackle this from the point of view that he has an ASD and that his current placement is not even identifying, nevermind meeting, his needs.

Edited December 8, 2011 by Sally44

[KKaren]

Hi Guys

Thanks for your advice matt has a statement and also has 27 hours classroom assistant - unfortunatley the school is very large I think if it had been smaller he would manage better - I'm going to send him back in January and go from there - I don't think I would be able to home school myself too difficult to get him to do any work! I like the ideas of a smaller unit attached to school so will investigate this - the problem being with Matt he hasn't be diagnosed with ASD the doctor has referred him to great ormond street for a second opinion he thinks it may be schiophrenia, however I've had counsellors who thinks its Aspergers I myself can see a lot of traits it could take months to see a specialist doctor and thats if it goes ahead until then we are left in limbo with the psy trying out all sorts of different meds - which dont' work - i've also asked for CBT and behavioural therapy another wait - thinking of going private to get the therapy started - waited over a year for an MRI scan to be told the psy hadn't even referred him to the mri unit. So you can imagine I'm not too happy with the Cahms unit.

 

At least now hes out of school we can have a peaceful Christmas! Until January comes around!! Thanks again everyone K