Help please! (school refusal) sorry long!

[scatty]

Hello again, not visited here for a long time, but our education issues continue.......

Condensed version of events so far

My son is almost 12. He has a history of struggling in mainstream school, first with the transition between infant and junior school (eventually got permanently excluded because of violent and dangerous behaviour), then had a managed move to another school, didn't work for the same reasons. Eventually almost a year later he started at a specialist unit for ASD children - worked brilliantly! He stayed there for 17 months and then it was closing and they said that he should go back into mainstream. This worked for 5 months. After the summer holiday and move up to year 6 he refused for 3 months. We got into trouble as they said we weren't trying to get him there, we're using his autism as an excuse, we were bad parents. 3 of our children were put on a child protection plan, we were told if we didn't get him back to school they would prosecute us and remove the children. We managed to get him to school, he refused to get out of the car for hours, would only stay in school with me in the room, hit teachers, walked out, damaged property etc etc. (everyone told us we were great parents and they could see we were trying everything.....child protection was removed) They put him on a part time time table, in a room on his own with a teaching assistant, doing cookery, art and science projects. He didn't make it back into the classroom at all or move on, everyone agreed that mainstream was not appropriate.

In September the LA said he should start at our local academy, even though we have stacks of evidence that he would not cope, the academy have said they couldn't offer him the high level of support that he needs etc. my son is refusing again. In this time he has had about 4 separate hr long sessions with an outreach worker, but only went into the school for 20 minutes and wouldn't go back.

The LA say that he has a place at this school, has manged in mainstream in yr 5, managed the transition day and is refusing to go.

I have sent them numerous emails, reminding hem of all the evidence etc.

I think that he needs specialist provision, though our LA havent anywhere that they could send him in this county, so i have named an independantly maintained school in the next county. I have lodged an appeal, due to be heard in Feb 2013. I am representing myself and feel confident that we have enough evidence. The LA have said they will get a ed psych report.

I have been told to get a private ed psych report, I phoned up about it today and it's going to cost £1200!

I also want to contact a solicitor as I feel that the LA should be offering my son more than the 4 hrs chat times with the outreach teacher that they have offered him. My husband works and so we are not entitled to legal aid.

The LA should have responded to the appeal by yesterday, but of course they didn't.

Has anyone got any advice for me?

Should I just try to drag my son to the school (doubtful that I could....) and then leave them to deal with it to prove he can't cope?

Am I doing the right thing in asking a solicitor to get involved (I think they would call the LA for a judicial review)

I'm feeling slightly out of my depth here xxxx

Thanks in advance if you have managed to get through this! xxxx

[Sally44]

You can usually get initial legal advice for free or for a set fee. If you have a case for Judicial Review that would mean you paying an upfront fee of around £300 to involve the solicitor, and then they would act on behalf of your child and you would not pay anything else.

 

But what would you be going to Judicial Review about?? The fact that they are not providing him with an education??

 

Better to concentrate on the appeal to SEND.

 

My son was out of school for a year. I got a referal to Clinical Psychology via the Deveopmental Paediatrician who diagnosed my son. Clinical Psychology supported us during this tough time. But I did have to write to them and ask them to put their advice in writing ie. what his difficulties were and why he was refusing school. And I also asked them specifically to put in writing "how much physical force I should use to get my son into school." Because I had been using quite a lot, and I felt uncomfortable with it.

 

My son would vomit at the mention of school, he became so anxious. He would get very emotional and angry etc. Clinical Psychology put in writing "you should only use gentle encouragement to get xxxx into school, anything more would have a further detrimental effect on his mental health." And that covered me. It is a medical professionals opinion and advice and no LA officer or the educational welfare officer can go over that Health advice.

 

You also need a letter from a consultant [clinical psychologist, developmental paediatrician or psychiatrist], that states your son is medically unfit for school due to his ASD/anxiety etc. Once you have that in writing - and again put in the request for them to put it in writing - you then have a legal right for your son to receive a certain amount of education.

 

You must always appear to be working with the LA/school otherwise you will look like a bad parent at the tribunal. But you also have a duty of care towards your son [as do the LA/school and NHS professionals].

 

So, as an example, the LA decided to arrange for a teacher to come and collect my son and take him into his former school twice a week for 1.5 hour sessions.

 

Due to my son's anxiety I taught him a hand sign to use if he became too anxious and needed to come home. He could use it and could show the teacher if he needed to end the session and come home. ClinPsych agreed this was a good idea, because they said his attempts to voice his anxiety had not been listened to and so he needed to know that his attempts at communication were being listened to. So from then on, when he used the "home" signal, they had to bring him home. And I had a daily diary that I wrote down everything he said and everything he did, and how he refused to leave the house. And how long he stayed with the special teacher.

 

[At the tribunal the LA said that my son had attended all the sessions for the duration. That was a lie. And fortunately my advocate [Eirwen], could confirm that she had been talking with me on the phone when he came back early from a session. So that confirmed that the LA were lying. And believe me they will lie because paying for an independent school costs them money].

 

He never managed to attend both 1.5 hour sessions each week. Often he was back home within the hour. He refused to go into any classroom or see any other children and so he was taught in the store cupboard. The specialist teacher confirmed he refused to engage in any learning and would only do some simple play tasks before demanding to come home. This continued for 9 months up to the day of the tribunal.

 

You need to get as much evidence as you can of your child's needs and how the current school and LA cannot meet those needs.

 

For example, my son has ASD and also Dyslexia, so I wrote to the specialist teaching service and asked them what involvement they had had with my son - answer nil. What input they had had into his Statement - answer nil. Whether they had ever met and assessed him - answer nil. What qualifications their specialist teacher had for teaching children with dyslexia - answer nil. How often the specialist teaching service went into his school - answer never. What advice school had sought from their specialist teaching service - answer nil.

 

So the above clearly demonstrated that his school had not been concerned, eventhough he was dyslexic and 10 years old and unable to read or write. That they had never sought any advice. That during the Statementing process their advice was not sought and they had no input. That they had no specific expertise or qualifications at all. That they clearly could not and were not meeting his special educational needs.

 

I went to tribunal and represented myself. I had an independent SALT, OT and EP report completed and those reports were submitted just inside the date for final submissions to SEND. Those professionals also attended tribunal as expert witnesses.

 

I also had support from www.network81.org and Eirwen from that organisation helped me get my case together and she came with me on the day. She does charge for her services, but nothing like a solicitor would.

 

You need your son to attend the independent school of your choice for a trial period of 3 days. They need to offer him a place and confirm they can meet his needs. By law the LA must go with the parental choice of school UNLESS they can prove it is not a good use of their resources [ie. they have something similar and cheaper].

 

But you already have evidence that he was being taught in a special school environment. The LA then changed it to mainstream. They had no professional advice or report that recommended that did they. Mainstream has not worked. You have the evidence of that. So your case is that your son was never mainstream material. That he was successfully attending xxxx school until his placement was changed by the LA, and that no professional from the LA or NHS recommended that change, and therefore you can only assume that the change of placement was due to funding issues. There is no evidence of mainstream working as your son is unable to engage or cope in mainstream classes and has been taught separately for xx months.

 

Get Clinical Psychology and CAHMS on board to put in writing that his behaviour and anxiety is related to his diagnosis and the fact that he is not coping in school and has become so anxious that he is refusing to attend.

 

The LA/school have to prove that your son has made progress where he was. He hasn't has he. How can refusing school be seen as any kind of progress. And progress should be in ALL areas ie. academic, social , social communication, emotional, play skills, sensory etc.

 

At the appeal my son's former school argued that he had made progress. I could demonstrate that he can lost skills and made no progress. The SEND Panel agreed with me and asked the SENCO "can you please be precise and say where there has been progress", and the SENCO said "emotional progress", to which I replied "how can a child that has refused school for a year, and who vomits at the mention of school, who now has OCD and an Anxiety Disorder directly relating to his inability to cope in school be seen by you to have made "emotional" progress? The Panel found in our favour and they awarded that he would be placed at the school of our choice [part of the SENAD group], and additionally they ordered that the LA was to pay for a specialist dyslexia teacher to go into this independent school 3 hours a week for 1:1 teaching. He also gets 1:1 SALT and OT therapy each week.

 

So don't give up. The LA are just trying to ignore you and make you feel intimidated. Just make sure you get all the evidence on paper to SEND because they only know what they read in your evidence. And they go by Government law, not LA internal criteria. And they will ask the LA and school some very searching questions. Just try to find out as much of the answers as you can before the tribunal and submit them as part of your evidence.

 

If your son has received any therapy input eg. 15 hours per term of SALT therapy. Has that worked. Has he made progress. Did he met targets. Or has the gap remained the same or widened?

 

Our NHS SALT tried to reduce the number of termly hours of 1:1 therapy yet she admitted to me in an email that she spent significantly more time on my son than was detailed in his Statement. Plus I could demonstrate that he had not made progress across all areas. So I could ask the question "why is the SALT reducing his therapy hours when she admits she actually spends more hours to meet his needs. So the hours in the Statement should be INCREASED not decreased as the Statement is supposed to be a true reflection of need." And I also argued that the real reason for the SALT reducing hours was due to the lack of speech therapists within the NHS, and that at our parental choice of school the level of speech therapy he needed would be provided as standard and there would not be a constant attempt to reduce provision due to lack of funding.

 

So don't drag your son to school. Get medical advice in writing from ClinPsych and CAHMS. If the LA or EWO say anything refer them to the ClinPsych or CAHMS. Agree to work with everyone to get your son into school. But also get in writing what Clinpsych says is appropriate. No parent should have to drag their child to school. He is refusing to go for a reason. You just need that reason to be put in writing. And if you get independent reports they should detail that.

 

Make sure any professional you use has experience of writing reports for SEND Tribunals, and also experience of attending as expert witnesses.

 

The cost you mention is typcial per report and per professional attending - so it is expensive.

 

Do you have in writing that the Academy has said that they cannot meet his needs? If not write to them and ask them to put that in writing. That is a gold ticket. You say everyone agreed - who is everyone and have they said that on paper?

 

You need everything in writing because you cannot go the Tribunal and say "xxxxxx told me this, and xxxx said that." You need it on paper. Currently, if you go to appeal the only thing on paper is that your son is refusing school and that the LA and EWO believe that you were bad parents. You need to get your evidence on paper because on the day the Panel can only go with what is in the Bundle of papers infront of them.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Sally44

[Mandapanda]

Hi scatty

 

I can't really add to Sally's excellent and thorough advice, though the following organisation are very helpful:

 

http://www.ipsea.org.uk/