JenRose Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Hello ive just joined, im mum to a boy of 9 who last year was referred to Clinical Psychology as the GP was concerned with his behaviour. Consultant Clinical Psychologist spent 2 hours with me and my husband and son and telephoned me the next day to say she thought our son was ASD probably AS or HFA. She referred him to a specialist Psychiatric Doctor who dx,s ASD. We had the appointment in Dec after waiting for 9 months and on Thursday she performed ADOS. No one has explained ADOS to us or what they are hoping it will tell them. What we have been able to get from our son is that he was asked did he have a girlfriend,does he go to the cinema, they talked about spongebob squarepants! and Star wars and he had to build something from blocks. He is currently out of school since Nov 05 as his anxiety levels have gone sky high and he was self harming and the Education Welfare are on our back but thats another story. Thanks for reading Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
helenl53 Report post Posted January 29, 2006 JenRose To protect yourself from the EWO - please get a signing off letter from your GP or Paed for your son Best wishes HelenL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Suze Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Just wanted to say hi welcome to the forum Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
annie Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Hi JenRose, Welcome to the forum My son was diagnosed overseas, so I don't have any experience of ADOS, but I've just typed ADOS into Google and several pages came up. I agree with Helen53 regarding the EWO. There are many of us on the forum who's children have been/are out of school for the same reason, myself included, so if you need any help, don't be afraid to ask. Annie <'> Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Thanks for the replies, i have had 3 different letters from my sons GP and his consultant all confirming that he does suffer from severe anxiety and stress and that he has trouble with socialising and peer relationships but my EWO said they are not good enough. She is rubbish and ive had to complain about her, she doesnt answer calls,leaves me messages on my answerphone threatening to start legal action so the other day id had enough and told her that i was sick of her threats and to get on with the legal action as i wasnt bothered anymore, she started shouting at me down the phone and accusing me of complaining to everyone!! so i told her i wasnt taking abuse and that i would speak to her superiors on monday, since Nov she has repeatedly said she will organise a multiagency meeting and we are now almost in Feb. I phoned my sons consultant and advised her that the EWO was saying her her opinion wasnt good enough and that my son cannot have home tuition which is what we would like for him to have as he just cannot cope with school at the moment, the consultant went very quiet and said "dont you worry this will all be sorted out" so i think she,s been on to EWO,s superiors and thats why i got the abusive call, this is so so stressful as you parents in the same situation will know, all i want to do is protect my sons health and im being threatened with court and other things and its very worrying. Any tips? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justamom Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Hi jenrose, welcome... as I am new to this too please excuse my ignorance what is a ADOS? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
annie Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Hi JenRose, Do the letters from the GP and paediatrician say that your son 'cannot attend school' due to his anxiety/stress???? Annie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullet Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Hi Jenrose You do realise that legally you are perfectly entitled to de-register your son and educate him at home. Legally you are required to provide your child with an education, there is no legal requirement to send him to school. You are also entitled to do flexi-schooling, which is part home ed and part school ed. I do not have any personal experience of this as my children are only 2.5 and 4 months. However, I do know people who home ed and they have mentioned a group called Education Otherwise. If you google it will have all the details for you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 29, 2006 One of them does it says "he suffers from anxiety and he is unable to attend school because of various anxiety symptoms" The one from consultant goes into more detail about his anxiety symptoms and that she considers that he will need therapy before he can go back into school, the first one the GP practically tells the EWO where she can stick her request because M has been under CAMHS since april 05!!!! Oh all sorts are going on at the moment, i dont know whether to put it all on here or start a new topic because some of its about SEN. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Hi Bullet, we did this last year and home educated him but he wanted to go back to school, mind you the problems werent as severe as they are now the thing is my daughter is disabled with Cerebral Palsy and Development Delay and i already have my hands full also, The Clinical Psychologist has done Psychometric tests on my son and he is in the top 1% of the country, he knows more than i do! and i dont feel confident enough to teach him Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullet Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Ok, I just didn't want you being bullied by this EWO without knowing your son's rights Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Bullett, i wanted M to go to school in the morning or afternoon and for me to educate him the rest but the EWO said i cant do that because he doesnt yet have a statement - is she correct? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullet Report post Posted January 29, 2006 As far as I know, you should be entitled to do flexi-schooling. You have to follow the National Curriculum but as NT children can do it statements have got nowt to do with it. Give me a minute and I'll ask someone who knows what they're talking about Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phasmid Report post Posted January 29, 2006 (edited) No she IS NOT! Phas jr is living proof. We did flexi-schooling and he was removed from PE lessons (details not really important) with the co-operation of the school. Do a 'google' and there is quite a bit on there about this. If you have a letter from a MEDICAL specialist declaring your son unfit to attend school for MEDICAL reasons I doubt, very seriously that the EWO has the nessacary qualifications to dispute this. She may be able to pass it on to a higher authority to look into but that's about it - and then she is just doing her job (no need for her attitude though or the shouting down the phone). Aspointed out you can legaly withdraw your son from the roll completely but as that wouldn't allow the flexi-schooling it won't help in your situation. I'd advise two things: 1. Contact IPSEA for advice. 2. Get in touch with the SEN/Inclusion officer at your LEA. After 15 days off school they should be looking into offering you support with this not threats. Meant to add: Phas jr DOES NOT HAVE, AND NEVER HAS HAD, A STATEMENT! Edited January 29, 2006 by phasmid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lisa Report post Posted January 29, 2006 JenRose The EWO is wrong. Your son definitely doesn't need a statement if you want to flexi school him. My daughter doesn't have a statement and isn't coping very well with school so we've looked into the whole home schooling and flexi schooling thing. I'm sure someone will come along soon who can tell you from first hand experience. Your EWO sounds totally cr*p. With the evidence from your GP and your paediatrician, let them take legal action, they're wasting their time. What judge is honestly going to over-rule the doctors and force an "unfit" child to school. Lisa Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Thanks phas and bullet for your replies. Here goes: In Nov 05 there was a meeting in school between me and my husband, the SENCO who is also M,s teacher,Parent Partnership lady,Learning Mentor and EWO lady. SENCO saying that M does not have special needs in her opinion and as such was not even on the SN register, Parent Partnership said he must go on as hospital are saying he has issues with socialising. They agreed M could attend school part time until xmas. After xmas i put him back in but he got so anxious and stressed out, making himself sick,soiling himself you name it so i phoned and told them that i couldnt bring him in while he was like that. EWO lady says we need medical evidence which i got in the form of a letter from the GP, EWO doesnt believe us and thinks we are making it up to get M a statement so she phones CAMHS herself and gets a secretary to pull M,s file and ask "Does he suffer from anxiety?" secretary "No" The silly woman told us that she had done this to which i said "who gave you permission because we certainly didnt" anyway that has now been dealt with. She said GP letter not good enough as it doesnt say how long M is going to be off- like how longs a piece of string, so i get his consultant to write a letter but because she doesnt say how long - thats not good enough so i go back to GP a different one this time and she says M is suffering from anxiety and she believes its brought on by him not being able to socialis at school, no still not good enough. Me anh husband request a copy of M school record last week and guess whats in it? an IEP set up last sep05 because M has difficulties with socialising and interacting with other children!! Now we knew nothing about this and the SENCO said to our face that M doesnt have SN. So we have sent a copy of that to the SEN dept along with a request for a stat assessment as school refuse to do one. Something has happened on Thurs/Fri to make EWO lose her temper with me and i dont know what it is but ive spent all weekend trying to work it out! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phasmid Report post Posted January 29, 2006 What's upset her? Easy. The fact that you have asked to access his file and will have read any comments she has made (raking open an old wound in the process by the sound of it - ouch!) and the fact you have applied for an assesment of needs which they will have to now carry out whether she likes it or not! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Hi, I've pm'd you because we have been in this position. Basically you have no legal right to flexischool but you can negotiate it and can have it without a statement. It is not for the EWO or SENCO to make the decision, ask the Headmaster he can give permission. Consultant is the best person to help you get it if school are being difficult, he/she could request it on medical grounds. The letter signing your son off school doesn't have to specify times. The letter the Consultant wrote for us said that A would be off for an extended period of time and so as not to waste everyone's time she would not continually confirm this but would write to them again if and when she considered A was fit enough to return to discuss a phased return and support arrangements. She also told the school that in her opinion A would not be able to return to school until there was full time 1:1 support in place and that they should apply for an immediate statutory assessment in order to provide this. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 29, 2006 She said to me "you complain about everyone" but i havent complained about her -yet , they wont get the letter until tomorrow morning im wondering if M,s consultant has rang because she sounded pretty annoyed when i told her that the EWO didnt consider her letter to be good enough, EWO said "Im on leave until Thursday so when i get back ill put M,s name forward for home tuition, im not saying he,ll get it though because he is classed as unathourised absence" Thats when i told her to get on with her threats as i was sick of her saying that he is unauthorised, she said that 2 senior EWO,s had been through his file and that he was classed as unathorised and that if it wasnt sorted out then she would commence legal proceedings, so i said "Go on then, im not bothered and thats when she lost the plot with me and i told her that i would speak to her superiors tomorrow Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
annie Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Thanks Phas JenRose, This is the link to the IPSEA website http://www.ipsea.org.uk/ If you call them and they are engaged, please keep trying. They are very busy, but are brilliant. In the meantime, don't de-register your son from the school. If you do, the LEA will not have any obligation to give your son an education. Also, Parent Partnership can refer your son for Education Other Than At School, so it might be worth having a word with them. For some reason though, nobody in the LEA seem to tell people that . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phasmid Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Make good with the threat to speak to her superiors. Better still put it in writing as it goes on record, you can do this by jotting things down as you talk and thens sending the a letter re:telephone call 30/1/06. Don't let her bully you - fight back youhave all the proof you need by the sound of it that he is ILL through anxiety. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cmuir Report post Posted January 29, 2006 Hi My 4 year old was seen for the first time at a Communication Clinic. This consisted of lengthy assessments with both a Speech & Language Therapist and a Paediatrician specialising in ASDs. We've been been advised that my son needs another assessment ? ADOS. I was given an information sheet which defines ADOS as being . . . ADOS is an assessment carried out by specially training clinicians and these include Paeds, SALT, Psychologists and Psychiatrists. The assessment is undertaken by two of these professionals, one of whom video the assessment for later analysis. ADOS takes about 1.5 hours to conduct. The assessment explores te child's language, development in key areas of interest in autism, such as sharing attention, play and communication. To an observer ADOS looks like a series of play scenarios eg forms of play such as bubbles, through to the providing of a story dialogue. Parents are then invited back on another occasion to discuss the findings. Hope this helps ? we're still got this to look forward to! Caroline. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oracle Report post Posted January 30, 2006 Hi JenRose My eldest had one sick note and one only from our GP. It was open ended no date and David was out of school for 5 years with that one note! Your EWO is telling you lies. If the note really does say that you son is unable to attend school then they really do need to get off your back now and start providing home tuition until they can offer some suitable provision. We finally de-registered David in his last year at school but until that point he was out with a sick note. May I suggest that you contact a lady called Anne McClean who works for a firm of Solicitors called Maxwell Gillott. She will be able to give you free advice and also tell you where you stand right now. Anne is a wonderful lady who has helped many of us who do Home Educate. But she also knows everything that there is to know about what LEA's are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do. I don't think they are allowed to bully people! She is very easy talk to and I do not mind at all if you tell her from whom you got her contact details. Here is some information about Anne and her contact details Anne has provided telephone advice on special needs and other educational issues for organisations such as IPSEA, and Resources for Autism since 1997, having become involved in the work since the birth of two children with special needs. She originally worked as an assistant for people with mental health difficulties, and has also run a specialist advice line for parents who are home educating children with special needs. She also provides full support on the specialist Telephone Advice Line, as well as working within the firm on cases involving home education and related issues. am@maxwellgillott.co.uk Tel 01524 840810 Hope you get some thing done soon. Carole (Rutherford) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 30, 2006 thanks for that info i will contact her today. Parent Partnership phoned me today to see how im getting on and when i told them about the EWO she said "if i were you i wouldnt complain, u probably caught her on a stressful day, just sit back now and see what happens" I told her that we have already sent a letter of complaint in about her and she didnt seem to think its a good idea Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oracle Report post Posted January 30, 2006 I told her that we have already sent a letter of complaint in about her and she didnt seem to think its a good idea No I bet she did not think that it was a good idea. Parent Partnership Officers are mostly paid by the LEA and she will be paid to stop people from rocking their boat. You keep rocking because they are in the wrong here. Carole Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 30, 2006 No I bet she did not think that it was a good idea. Parent Partnership Officers are mostly paid by the LEA and she will be paid to stop people from rocking their boat. You keep rocking because they are in the wrong here. Carole does this mean that they will inform the LEA of what im planning to do next, oh i hope not Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ksasnic Report post Posted January 30, 2006 I have just typed in ADOS and reckon next time round I better be a little bit more specific !!! came up with Abu Dhabi Oilfield Services !!!! all to do with what pumps they use etc... could be worth a shot if your interests lie that way !!!! lol back to the search engine... doh Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oracle Report post Posted January 30, 2006 does this mean that they will inform the LEA of what im planning to do next, oh i hope not She certainly should not. What did you tell her that you were planing to do? I think that you have reached a stage with your LEA now whereby you need advice, and the help of someone like IPSEA, so that you feel confident with whatever you do next. Please do not worry because from what you have posted here you have done nothing wrong - but the LEA have. <'> Carole Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 30, 2006 i just told her that i was going to complain, to which she advised me not to. i have already contacted IPSEA over M,s statutory assessment, can they help me with this too? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted January 30, 2006 Yes, they can help you with this too. Good Luck with sorting it all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 31, 2006 phoned IPSEA this morning and the man said that he didnt think that the LEA can refuse M home tuition as we DO have medical evidence, he is going to get back to me. Headteacher phoned, she hasnt seen a copy of the Consultants letter-surprise surprise, she said that M,s IEP was set up in Dec and that the computer automatically puts in the date from September, so i replied well at the meeting in Dec you were saying that he isnt SN, are you now acknowledgeing that he is as this date is wrong on the IEP, she went very quiet and then said "i need to speak to the SENCO and see this letter from M.s consultant" She added that he cant access home tuition because we dont know how long he.s going to be off... Still had no reply from LEA to my complaing letter re the EWO and how weve been treated. Carole- i emailed that contact you gave me yesterday so just waiting to hear from her. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted January 31, 2006 (edited) She can access home tuition, it has nothing to do with how long she's going to be off, it has everything to do with how long she's been off. After 15 school days off school she is legally entitled to a minimum of 5 hours tuition per week. This is a statutory requirement. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE GUIDANCE Download the document from the top right hand side. I had to make a complaint to the DfES to receive this for A. Don't be fobbed off. Put your request in writing and quote the legal requirement to them. If they do not respond complain to the LEA and if you get nowhere there, then the DfES. They are time wasting to save money, they probably haven't got the resources - their problem, not yours. Edited January 31, 2006 by Tez Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 31, 2006 Thanks for that Tez, you couldnt direct me to the SEN code of practice to download could you? i requested it and they sent me "how to spot if a child is being abused" instead and its going to be another 10days before they can get it to me thanks. Ive sent a letter formally asking for M to have home tuition as he has been off school for 2 months so i will see what their reply is. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted January 31, 2006 Here you are CLICK HERE FOR SEN CODE OF PRACTICE Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oracle Report post Posted January 31, 2006 JenRose Anne only works on a part time basis but she always returned all calls that she has received. But it sounds like IPSEA are on the case now so you are already in good hands Carole Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JenRose Report post Posted January 31, 2006 This afternoon on my answering machine was a message from EWO manager asking can "they" whoever they are come and see me and my husband on Friday re the letter that i wrote. Now im thinking that its for a meeting of she said-you said sort of thing and i dont want that at all, theres enough stress in my household at the moment without having rows with the EWO over what has been said. There has been too much talking and not enough progess for my likeing, i would rather communicate with them by letter now because what they say and what they do are two different things. Do i HAVE to let them come round or can i refuse? Thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted January 31, 2006 It's up to you how you handle it. You could write and ask that they respond in writing to your letter or you could agree to a meeting on more neutral ground, perhaps parent partnership offices and ask parent partnership to take minutes. I fully understand your desire to communicate only in writing, it's my usual way, but on the other hand, maybe this is not the time to build walls between you, and agreeing to a meeting outside of your home and with a witness might be less confrontational. If you do decide to agree to meeting with them make sure you write to them afterwards confirming your understanding of what was said and agreed at the meeting. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
