Kathryn Report post Posted October 22, 2005 Hi all, Those of you who are still battling with the LEA, this is what you have to look forward to when your child leaves school. Before you can even begin to apply for an specialist FE placement, your child has to attend an assessment at their local college to determine whether or not it can meet their needs. My daughter has this assessment on Tuesday, organised by her connexions advisor. She is meeting a woman who runs a course there for people with learning disabilities - not ASD specific - which involves life skills and academic stuff. I don't know whether to hope it goes well - I have heard good reports of this woman and L would rather stay close to home, if she strikes up a rapport with this woman and a niche can be found for her it may work out for the best. Or maybe I should hope it goes badly - L doesn't appear too "normal", displays her full repertoire of autistic behaviours on the day, they realise her needs are way beyond the scope of the college, they say "no way!" and we get a specialist placement without further ado- (subject to L deciding she will go, of course). I have grave misgivings - I don't think any mainstream FE college could give her the level of support and supervision she needs. I don't have a very high opinion of our local college anyway and wouldn't send an NT child there but maybe I'm just prejudiced. Has anyone else with an older child been through this assessment process? Her dad is taking her as I'm working ( ) and I want to make sure he's clued up on what to look out for and the kind of questions to ask. I've told him to give them no help in communicating with L or making it easy for her - they need to have a true picture of how she functions. The whole process sucks if you ask me - how can anyone with no professional qualification in ASD presume to determine whether or not a child will function in a college environment on the basis of one interview. And why should a young person be forced to fail an assessment before a suitable place can be considered. Very disillusioned and "autismed out" (what an excellent phrase!) K Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted October 23, 2005 All I can say is, that I refused to let Auriel be assessed by someone at a mainstream FE college who wasn't an Asperger specialist. The ###### cheek of it!! The last I heard, our mainstream FE college was going to have an EP who specialises in AS look at his papers, and hopefully a decision will be made from that. I'll let you know how this pans out... There is no way I'm going to let someone who has no specialist knowledge of AS assess my son...he would be traumatised, and this would have an horrendous impact on the rest of us Bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bevalee Report post Posted October 23, 2005 Hi Going through this with R at the moment. Our FE college says that it put alot of provision in for AS students. I spoke to 3 of the tutor's who would be taking some of his subjects. 2 hadn't even heard of AS and the other one said 'That's no problem, is it!'. After attending a specialist provision i know that it would be the wrong choice for him. But we will have to see. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted October 23, 2005 The trouble is, it may be this or nothing for us if L refuses to go anywhere else. She is feeling quite positive about going, whether that's a good or a bad thing I don't know. Bevalee, these are my worst fears - people who are well meaning and say they can cope but are completely clueless about ASD. Hopefully they will realise what a complex situation they are dealing with when they meet her. As far as I know she's only meeting one person on Tuesday, along with the connexions worker who she knows and it's half term so there won't be many folk around. I don't think she'll find it stressful, just baffling. I rather think it is the adults who will be thrown into confusion: especially if there is a replay of the conversation she had with the connexions worker last week - here's a flavour of it: connexions: what would you like to be doing in the future? L: I don't know. I could be very rich or I could be dead, but I don't want to be either of these things. connexions: When you look at the future what do you see yourself doing? L: I don't know. The pictures in my head are too big. connexions: How did you feel about coming here today? L: Pink with grey stripes. Connexions Do those colours mean particular things? L: They mean themselves. It's all perfectly coherent if you know her - honest! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kazzen161 Report post Posted October 23, 2005 Make sure they realise that her behaviour on a day when very few people are in the college, will be very different to when there are loads of people milling around. Would she cope with getting from room to room, on time? Would she cope in the canteens? What transition plan would they offer? Some colleges are quite good at helping our children, but some do not have a clue. I am also going through all this - if I can get hold of the Connexions lady - I last spoke to her in February (T's Review is in two weeks). So much for being the key person in all this! Karen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted October 23, 2005 Thanks Karen. I will be helping my dh to put together a list of things to ask. He can be very formidable in these situations so I have no worries about not going myself. L would not be able to cope at all without 1 - 1 support at the moment. She would have to be highly motivated by what was on offer to manage at all. My fear is that she will want to accept whatever the college think they can offer whether or not it is suitable. The Connexions worker regards L's views on her future as paramount, yet if it all goes pearshaped, who gets to pick up the pieces? Dear old Mum and Dad, not important enough to be consulted, yet always the fall back position. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kazzen161 Report post Posted October 24, 2005 >>The Connexions worker regards L's views on her future as paramount, yet if it all goes pearshaped, who gets to pick up the pieces? Exactly! Even NT children have to be talked through the pro's and con's of different options, but at least if things go wrong for them it is not totally disasterous. Karen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted October 24, 2005 I agree Karen. Our children have fewer options open to them anyway and are not as capable of taking life's little setbacks in their stride. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
barefoot wend Report post Posted October 25, 2005 How did it go? It's incredible that we really panic about our children visiting a place, let alone actually committing to going there on a permanent basis. I hope it was good.... I hope lots of things... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted October 26, 2005 Hi all, Just to say that after yesterday's assessment things are looking a lot more positive. I'd like to say quite a lot but I'm also trying to do some work right now(preparing lesson plan for tomorrow ) and shouldn't be on here so I'll post a proper update tomorrow. K Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
