mild autistic 6 year old.x

Frith

I can't speak for your local schools but my son's new school runs from 9am - 2.30pm.

Why not give them a ring and make an appointment for a look around?

It's not always helpful when staff and TA's look upset! On my son's last day, I was feeling a bit sad, son had locked himself in the toilet and I also ended up trying to comfort his TA who was crying.

Nicki

raq wrote: »

Question is:: How do I work round my other ds who will be in year 5 next year. Does the unit at the mainstream schools start and finish early??

You speak to both schools and negotiate drop off and pick up times for each child.

My DD goes to a special school which was 2 miles from my DS's primary school. She was actually picked up on the school bus from home and dropped off from the age of 2 (which did take a bit of getting used to :eek:) but she had a period of about 8 weeks when she got stressed out by travelling on the bus so i was taking them both to school in the car, and DS's school agreed I could drop him off 10 minutes early in the morning (staff are always in before school starts and he would sit in the back of a classroom or in the office while they were setting up) and DD's school were happy for me to pick her up 10 minutes early in the afternoon.

raq

aw thanks both, i will certainly look into the timing.

little bit better again
x

raq

hi all,

Okay, so sorry haven,t been in touch, tones going on.

As originally stated, yes the school does want my child out of the mainstream class. They didn,t beat around the bush either.

Kept telling me , "It is funding", when this has nothing to do with the school. Did complain about this to the learning education and they got onto the phone to the school the next day.

They are statying the following:
Not learning like his peers.
Not knowing the basic, colours or abc.
Great child, not naughty, very happy, mixing better, not a nasty bone in his body

They are stating also when he comes to year 3 and so forth ( this is in september 2014 ) he WILL NOT be able to cope.

I was crying in my heart. Didnt, show it though, cried when I got outside.

although he is mildly on the asd spectrum it is my dear sons learning aspect that they are concerned about.

It was there attitude and didn,t care look that upset me.

The EP was there, who was great and stated that my dear son will be assessed. ( This is next week actually )

So annual review in february. Also got parents rights group on board as we will need that professional side with us.

Can they do this , or shall we just pull dear son out of there.

So much to do and take it

raq

shegirl wrote: »

How old is he?

7 this year. We kept him in nursery for an additional year as he was the youngest.

peachyprice

This all sounds highly irregular.

There are parents with children that are far more than 'mildly autisitic' that have to fight nail and tooth to get their children into a special unit, children that are more than a little behind their peers, children that are beyond being taught in a mainstream school and this school is pushing your son out because he can't keep up? Disgusting. It sounds like all they are interested in is not having their league table figures disrupted.

I haven't read all the way back, but does he have a Statement? If he does, his extra needs are funded, if he isn't the school should be behind you pushing for a Statement. He either needs one and they will have funding for him, or he isn't that bad which case they have no reason to make him leave the school.

I don't know the answer TBH, do you stand your ground and keep him where he's not wanted or send him to a special school possibly unnecessarily?

Nicki

I don't think he will be admitted into a special school if he doesn't have a statement. As peachy says, places are rarer than hen's teeth, and certainly in our borough the starting point is that the child DOES have a statement but also that they have one of the highest bandings in the statement.

It also sounds like the issue is not his autism but that they are saying he has associated learning difficulties. Although the two can go hand in hand, they don't always and some people with autism are academically very gifted.

If he is about to enter KS2 and isn't even reaching the level expected of a reception age child though, I do wonder what benefit there is to keeping him in THAT school. Another mainstream school with better skills with children with learning difficulties OR a specialist unit would sound like a better choice to me.

Special schools aren't the end of the world by the way. Children have been known to leave my DD's school and return to mainstream (though this is rare) having been given the basic academic skills to hold their heads above water. And if a child is never going to get qualifications in mainstream due to not being able to keep up with their peers, there is a chance that they might get some in a special school with smaller class sizes and tailored teaching. Again at my DD's school, although everyone there has learning difficulties of some sort as well as autism, some of the kids do manage to achieve a couple of passes at GCSE (not all the children are entered for them if they aren't going to be able to attain them but they can be offered for more able students)

raq

peachyprice wrote: »

This all sounds highly irregular.

There are parents with children that are far more than 'mildly autisitic' that have to fight nail and tooth to get their children into a special unit, children that are more than a little behind their peers, children that are beyond being taught in a mainstream school and this school is pushing your son out because he can't keep up? Disgusting. It sounds like all they are interested in is not having their league table figures disrupted.

I haven't read all the way back, but does he have a Statement? If he does, his extra needs are funded, if he isn't the school should be behind you pushing for a Statement. He either needs one and they will have funding for him, or he isn't that bad which case they have no reason to make him leave the school.


I don't know the answer TBH, do you stand your ground and keep him where he's not wanted or send him to a special school possibly unnecessarily?

Hi

Yes dear son has been statemented since 2010. Has full one to one. Yes I also agree with you the school my ds attends is all full good reports all the way

raq

Nicki wrote: »

I don't think he will be admitted into a special school if he doesn't have a statement. As peachy says, places are rarer than hen's teeth, and certainly in our borough the starting point is that the child DOES have a statement but also that they have one of the highest bandings in the statement.

It also sounds like the issue is not his autism but that they are saying he has associated learning difficulties. Although the two can go hand in hand, they don't always and some people with autism are academically very gifted.

If he is about to enter KS2 and isn't even reaching the level expected of a reception age child though, I do wonder what benefit there is to keeping him in THAT school. Another mainstream school with better skills with children with learning difficulties OR a specialist unit would sound like a better choice to me.

Special schools aren't the end of the world by the way. Children have been known to leave my DD's school and return to mainstream (though this is rare) having been given the basic academic skills to hold their heads above water. And if a child is never going to get qualifications in mainstream due to not being able to keep up with their peers, there is a chance that they might get some in a special school with smaller class sizes and tailored teaching. Again at my DD's school, although everyone there has learning difficulties of some sort as well as autism, some of the kids do manage to achieve a couple of passes at GCSE (not all the children are entered for them if they aren't going to be able to attain them but they can be offered for more able students)

Thanks for your post.
I am coming round to the fact , "why would we want to keep our ds at the school when they don,t even want him there". that is the most upsetting part. The school that has been mentioned has 3 teachers to 10 children and majority of the time they children mix with the mainstream kids. It is such a good school it is very difficult to get into.

Got appointment on monday with my health visitor, who is amazing and she is gonna update me on everything and also of course get me ready and focused for the annual review

Nicki

Perhaps look at it as "why would we want to keep him at a school which up to now has failed to meet his needs" rather than a school which doesn't want him? From your initial post about him, it sounds like you believe his difficulties to be mild, and in that case what have the school been doing to allow him to get this far in the school without knowing his colours, alphabet, etc? If they had been focusing on his needs and working towards meeting them, it wouldn't have come as a surprise to you at the end of KS1 that he hadn't mastered this, and you would have known what strategies they were using with him in school and supporting him at home with those too.

My experience of a special school for DD is overwhelmingly positive, and my DS (her older brother) who is mainstream all the way was incredibly jealous of what a lovely school his sister went to, and always wanted to transfer I hope once you have got used to the idea, you will find his new school a change for the better too.