School transport for special needs

blessings3

Prudent so right - I have always shouted very loudly at school as a good education has always been my main aim for Harry as he is very bright
I suppose I have only recently let myself call Harry special needs and only since I have had my daughter and other son - realise how much attenention and time Harry takes up. My Husband had been retired early and was around alot to help when Harry was little and I had a well paying Job so no major probklems @home only school

But I have since had two more kids had to give up my job and now face the prosepect of my Husband going back to work as he is much recovered(fantastic but scary as I'll now have to cook lol)

I asked about holiday clubs this summer but was told no provison (live in a very rural part of mid wales) - respite care has been suggested but need to get a social worker involved which I am very reluctant to do

Thanks for your kind words of support.

I dont usually winge much (I think) just dont want to end up in debt and do find officialdom in general very unhelpful and reluctant to divulge anything

Savvy_Sue

Have you found IPSEA yet? Lovely people, very helpful!

blessings3 wrote:

I asked about holiday clubs this summer but was told no provison (live in a very rural part of mid wales) - respite care has been suggested but need to get a social worker involved which I am very reluctant to do

I do not think you should be scared of this. In fact I would be surprised if you don't have a bit of the same fight on your hands as you had on the educational front, because as a family you are coping at the moment, so SS will be happy to leave you to it and deal with more pressing problems. But as a carer you are entitled to a Carer's Assessment, ie what do YOU need in order to cope with your son, and he is also entitled to an assessment to check whether his needs (other than educational) are being met.

As time goes by you may also find that the more professionals you can muster 'on your side' the stronger your hand is in standing up for your son's needs!

I'd be surprised if the LEA would contribute to your petrol costs, even though that might make economic sense. Would an alternative be for a taxi to collect you and him, so that in effect you are his escort? They might accept that. Especially if you have only one car and your DH might need it for work, say?

Poppycat

Hi, we just got our eldest school transport even though we are only about 25 mins walk my daughter has difficulty walking far. I approached the local educational department in phone book, looked for the County council and there was school transport. Having spoke to them on phone we had to supply medical evidence which we got a letter from GP and from a consultant at the local hospital that my daughter sees.

The letter from consultant took a couple of weeks as he was away on leave, and about 10 days for county council to arrange transport. Orginally she wanted to go to school in a freinds taxi that the council pay for but that was full, in the end a local taxi company picks her up and takes her to and from school. Its a bit hit an miss they either a little late or too early and one one case this week the forgot about picking her up and she goes one day a week to local college even though they got teh timetables.

Hope you get sorted, dont give up, we are the same we have to fight all the time, and poor thing has to have an op soon, my heart bleeds for her.

kerryallc71

hello my son has special educational needs and he goes to a mainstream school he's in a special needs unit there. thomas's journey to school is by taxi/well local council transport its a 45 minute journey there by taxi and a 45 minute journey back by taxi. thomas has lots of special need problems speech and educational. thomas is delayed 5/6 yrs behind in math's,english,reading,writing and his speech is 3/4 year behind in spoken laungage,thomas does have other problems.thomas may also be autisitc.
we have always stated in his statements of special needs that transport should always be supplied. but the LEA have changed there policy. so you should look into it to see if transport is available in your area.i forgot to mention thomas is almost 11yrs old and its a primary school he is at. he goes to highschool next yr and we have got to fight for transport because thomas is not able enough to catch a local bus or get a taxi by himself. even if thomas had to go to a local school thomas would still need transport because he would not be able to walk. its all to do with our local LEA they can cause lots of problems. we have to go by there rules. and they supply our transport here in cheshire.


thankyou from kerry.

blessings3

thanks Savvy sue fab linl there is a whole atticule written this month my a solicitor on special needs transport! exactly the information I need

Will have to think about the ss - Harry had a whole year at school with 2 nta's who to be honest recked is little ego - it took us a while to cotton on but now he is with 2 brilliant teachers. What I'm trying to say is I would prefer no provision to badly qualified and poorply paid ''play workers'' or tier equivelent who might treat Harry just as a ''naughty boy'' I have and my Hubby has 1st had experince of the ss in our proffesional lives and can't say I've ever been that impressed(some stirling individuals but a general crapy system)

blessings3

Poopy cat and Kerry thanks for your support and my heart goes out to you to - sometimes a few words of kindness and understanding are all you need to get you going again - I needed them this morning Thanks

blessings3

Hi just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped and advised - after a bit of a performance lol - and a bit of me saying but dont the rules say - we have been givenn a milage allowance of 38p mile - It will make areal difference to us but also save the council £1000's per year on what an escort and taxi would have cost - so a great Win - Win situation

Poppycat

Glad you got sorted at least you got a contribution. 38p per mile is better than I got last week to take her 60 miles to hospital and back. I was paid 10p per mile plus £5 hopsital parking 2x£2.50 per hour, I was hoping to get away with £2.50 for 2 hours but we had to wait ages for an xray.