Autistic son, education provision

mumster

Hello everyone
My son, who is 6, has been in mainstream school with LSA support (20 hrs a week) up to Jan this year. Mainstream was not working so he transferred to a Special Needs unit (base unit) which was attached to the mainstream unit. Lovely unit which contains 6 other children, 2 of which are autistic too. My son is autistic plus ADHD with behavioural problems (kicks children, bits, spits, and goes into rages instantaneously without, seemingly, reason). He has language and is said to be on the "higher functioning end of the spectrum" and is extremely bright (advanced in maths) but his behavioural problems are overtaking everything else. The problem is, the other children in the base unit all have special needs, i.e. learning, autistic but on the lower functioning side of the spectrum, i.e. very little language and so, their needs are different to my sons. It looks like this unit will not work out either (these children are very quiet and my boy's behaviour is frightening them and threatening to the staff!!) and I am lost as to what to do next. Are there schools who cater for children like mine, i.e. autistic/adhd, learning ability and if any, very bright, but with behavioural problems. I feel I will be looking for a new school soon. I live in Enfield, Middlesex and am prepared to move house to make school work for my son. There is an autistic school in Enfield but it is for children with autism who, unlike Harry, are on the lower end of the spectrum, not suitable for his needs. Anyone know of any schools, be it, special or mainstream with an attached unit??????? I'd be keen to move to Hertford/Hertfordshire or anywhere which is not a million miles away from Enfield but I would love to hear from anyone with any ideas.

Thank you so much, I'm desperate here and would love any advice/opinions.

Thank you.
x

rev229

I fully understand you problem as we have and autistic girl aged 7 she is currently at maintream school but is way behind her class mates, she has 22.5 hr lsa also has medical problems. She had behavioural difficulties also. We couldn't decide where she should be educated ie mainstream/special school. when we went to visit the special schools we took her along with us but it just wasn't for her. She is very socialble and tactile and has fairly good language skills unlike some of the other children. We felt that for the present time and due to a lack of resourses for autistic children where we live (beds) mainstream was our best option and she has made progress however she will at some point have to be educated at a special needs school I don't think she will cope with middle school. You should contact your advisor for autism or your eduction board who provided the statement they should be able to advise you about the best placement. I used to work in Stevenage and I am certain that they have a school there for autistic children. Hertfordshire does have better special needs provision than bedfordshire but we are not in a position to move. The Schools in beds with provision are Glenwood in Dunstable but that is for all diasabilies including physical but have a autistic unit, Ramsey lower in Barton-le-clay near luton but this is only a lower school they move to middle school a 9. Silsoe lower which is a village betwwen luton and bedford have a small unit for children with behavioural problems this is attached to the mainstream school. There is also the ridgeway school in kempston again near bedford which caters for alsorts. There may be more but these are the ones in beds I am aware off. Hope this helps a little but schooling for theses kids is a bit of a nightmare. Try the ofsted website you might find something there or your local autistic group. Good luck.

Js_Other_Half

http://www.info.autism.org.uk/Pages/Index.aspx is an information offshoot from the national autistic society - http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=10. There is a helpline too run by them - 0845 070 4004 Monday - Friday, 10am - 4pm.

Does your child have a social worker or community care officer - it may well be worthwhile talking to them for advice who to speak to next. If your child is not succeeding in his current school, then the school shoud be helping your plan his transition to a more appropriate one. I do know the NAS have some schools they operate themselves - some pupils go on to higher education from them.

Oh - just found a special educational advice line run by the NAS -
http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=143
0845 070 4002

I hope you get the help you are looking for.

Rachel021967

It might be worth contacting your local NAS group. Local parents would be able to give their opinions on the local schools in your area.

Esmerelda

Have you heard of this place http://www.treehouse.org.uk/school.htm It is a school just for autistic children. I used to have a university lecturer who was associated with it and he thought it was brilliant.

andycarmi

Hi I have worked with many autistic children as a Behavioural Therapist. Have you considered ABA a behavioural therapy? I worked under a P.E.A.CH program.

The Programme has the following key characteristics:

The primary purpose of intensive behavioural intervention is to teach "children how to learn". The curriculum covers all areas of learning: language, play, academic, intellectual, self-help and social skills.
Behavioural techniques used to teach systematically; targeted skills are broken down into small, attainable steps and built upon.
The programme typically starts at home, until the child is able to interact socially with his or her peers.
Children are taught on a one-to-one basis.
Instruction is highly personalised and delivered by a team of tutors supervised and trained by experienced practitioners.

Children also have full in school support. All the children I worked with, funding was given from the LEA and was in there statement of SEN.

Heres is the website
https://www.peach.org.uk
Good look.

wonderfullife_2

Hi
Have you heard of ipsea, (Independent Panel for Special Education Advice) absolutely brilliant, will give you all the advice you need for education for your son and the legal provisions that the LEA have to provide, if your LEA can't provide the education for your son in their area, then they have to fund him so he can go to another county and they foot the bill.
We certaintly needed it with our LEA, they didn't even want to statement him, He's 9yrs old, non-verbal, low functioning, and their Ed Psych said he was fine, and to get his name down at the local primary. :mad: And this was all to save them money.

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

IPSEA is a volunteer-based organisation and many of the volunteers providing telephone advice and support at Tribunals are themselves parents of children with special educational needs who have been helped by IPSEA in the past. Volunteers providing a second professional opinion service are trained and experienced professionals working in special education, as educational psychologists, speech therapists, teachers, etc.


I wish you and your son well



Hope this helps

chickenlady_3

I have absolutely no experience of autistic children, but have been looking into home schooling for my eldest who is unhappy at school, and it seems that lots of parents of autistic children seem to homeschool because they cannot find the right provision for their kids. Just a thought. You can look at the Education Otherwise site (don't have a link, but you can do a Google) and there are other sites too.

mumster

Dear chickenlady, wonderfullife, andycarmi and esmarelda

Thank you so much for your replies. I had never heard of ipsea or peach, I have taken the links and will have a good old read. Thanks for your help.

Best regards.