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AspieAlex

9 year old with Aspergers in police custody.

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Hello,

 

This post will be a bit messy because my head is a complete mess and I now feel overloaded. I have aspergers but this post is actually about my son who also has aspergers.

 

Today my wife received a phone call from our sons school to inform us that he had been disruptive and kicked a teacher in the leg/knee. The school he attends is a PRU (pupil referal unit) The staff at the school do not have specialist training with any ASD issues which can sometimes be difficult because they only seem to focus on the behavioural issues.

 

We were informed that the police had been called and he had been taken to the police station. A teacher from the school also went along to sit with him. The police didn't book him in but they did stick him in an interview room and interview him for two hours (no tape)

 

I don't excuse the act of kicking and hurting a teacher but it was a result of an aspergers meltdown and we notified the school this morning that our son was very anxious and on edge.

 

My question is, do the police have the power to take him to the police station knowing he is autistic and conduct an informal(ish) interview without one or both parents present? I didn't think they could if he was under 10 years old??

 

I hope this all makes sense, its taken me an hour to type this much sorry.

 

 

 

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During school hours the school is in loco parentis so I presume as a teacher was present what they did was legal.

 

However it is totally inappropriate

 

A PRU is a totally inappropriate place for an AS child - if he is anxious don't let him go in. You need an understanding doctor who will sign him off sick

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It seems as though the only place he has meltdowns now is at school and its mainly caused by the constant changes taking place and the staff not being able to identify what is behaviour and what is aspergers.

 

I don't know what other options we have as far as schools/services? we are in West Yorkshire.

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I'm presuming he has been to a mainstream school before he then attended the PRU?

 

There's the Lighthouse School in Leeds, but they only take them from high school age.

My local National Autistic Society branch did advise me that my son (9 at the time) could maybe be home schooled by staff from there and then could attend there at 11 - if the local authority agreed.

I haven't gone down that route so didn't look into it so I can't say that's a definite. Also, West Yorkshire isn't my LA.

We are now going down an independent school route.

 

Have you spoken to parent partnership about other options? My local one has been quite helpful.

We researched special schools in the area within an hours drive and looked around them to see which one we thought would best suit his needs.

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It seems as though the only place he has meltdowns now is at school and its mainly caused by the constant changes taking place and the staff not being able to identify what is behaviour and what is aspergers.

 

I don't know what other options we have as far as schools/services? we are in West Yorkshire.

They need to know they are adding more anxiety when they are changing a lot of the time. They need to him plenty of warnings of the change to help him adapt springing on last minute won't help his anxiety

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Ask your local authority for their list of maintained, non-maintained, approved and independent schools [primary and secondary]. There will most likely be an ASD specific school [probably secondary, and probably independent] that they already send some children to. But they won't tell you that because the LA has to pay the school fees, and children are usually placed at those types of school after an Educational Tribunal. But a PRU is not appropriate. And they know it. You need an ASD specific school.

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You can sue the school for not making the appropriate reasonable adjustments for his ASD and having him detained without your approval/knowledge. You should seek legal advice about this.

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By the sounds of it, the Police only became involved because the school notified them of an assault on staff. The reality is that whilst the Police might have some awareness of ASDs and may see your son's ASD as a reason for the assault, nevertheless, they will be acting upon a report by the school for a 'crime'. When children are taken into custody (or otherwise) by the Police a responsible adult must be with them – in this case, it's likely they will have deemed the member of staff to be the responsible adult. I think the school should have had a duty of care to call you in the first instance. A school can effectively act if a child is deemed to pose a health and safey risk to him/herself or others, which is fair enough. Clearly, kiddo lashed out as a result of not coping/his needs not being met. If this was a one off, then I think, on the surface, their actions were OTT. However, it could be that they're playing a strategic game and acting in his best interests. If they're struggling to meet his needs and not coping, then by reporting assaults, etc, then this should in theory make professionals, education authority, etc, sit up and take notice and force them to look at a more suitable placement. I'd arrange a meeting with the Headteacher and find out what the rationale was behind this. It could be that they're building a case to have him supported in a more suitable school. Of course, their interests will also lie with protecting their staff and other kids. Very difficult situation. I'd find out why they acted the way they did.

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