Specialist School Placements

dizzyblonde82

Hi,

I am after some advice regarding specialist school placements. My son is 7 and is currently in mainstream primary school, he is statemented (from aged 5) and has a diagnosis of Autism and Attachment Disorder, he is also being assessed for ADHD.

We have just had an emergency review of his statement and they are putting forward a recommendation to the panel for my son to receive a permanent placement at a specialist school.

My son has already changed schools once after reception class as he couldn't cope with a class size of 31, his current class is 17 children and the recommended school has just 6 children per class.

My son is very bright but struggles with communication and often lashes out, then he requires 3 to 1 intervention to remove him from the classroom and calm him down. School are concerned that he will not cope with keystage 2 and the increase in workload.

I have concerns about moving him to a school with an 80 mile daily round trip, we can't look round the school until it has been to panel but it is very clear to me that he can't stay at his current school.

Does anyone have a child who has to travel this far too school and how does the child cope with it? I just feel like all control has been taken away from us and not sure how to deal with it all mentally. My son is unaware of the possible changes so trying to carry on as normal with him and school.

Thanks
Sarah

Frith

Not quite 80 miles but my son has a 60 mile a day round trip. (He is 9 and in year 5).

He was in a mainstream primary school and it took over 2 years to diagnose him with Aspergers Syndrome (he was diagnosed last Tuesday!) As the workload increased, it seemed all his classmates were more able to look after themselves and he looked more and more the odd one out.

With a change of head and class teacher in yr 4, things took a massive downward turn and he got so stressed he took to walking out of class and hiding. School refused to put him in for a statement and when I finally said I would put him in for one myself, they excluded him. (Swiftly got that overturned!!)

Once excluded he was sent to a short stay school and has been there 6 months now. His statement was just about completed (I was just choosing a new primary) when his diagnosis came through so now I am waiting to see if he can join a school with an autism unit. His short stay school has up to 10 pupils so he started off in a class of 1, then 2 and is now in a class of 5.

Anyway! He copes really well with his commute. He does the first 10 miles in a taxi (we are 10 miles from the nearest town) and finds that most exciting. He then gets in a mini bus which takes him the next 20 miles with other young pupils who attend his unit and also some high school age pupils who attend the high school equivalent.

He has always been a good traveller and is happy to sit looking out of the window. After a few days, he asked if he could take his DS with him and it turns out some of the other boys take theirs too and they all log into the same game and play against each other. :-) Sometimes he borrows my ipod to listen to or he just falls asleep for a bit.

The taxi drivers have always been very good with him and there are always 2 members of staff on the minibus. Obviously we ran into problems with the snow (over 50cm in the last lot we had) so he had the occasional day off when there was no transport running. One day it took over 2 hours to get there so the bus stopped at a cafe so they could have a drink and a break.

D&DD

Sadly you have to do most of the research regarding possible placements have you looked on NAS' website theres a list of schools by areas there.
We were offered Brighton as a last resort as there were no suitable placements for my son nearer but we refused as we live near Croydon.

I visited about 15 schools and the one we wanted was too over subscribed so we had to compromise and go for an ASD placement in a base within a special school,I wanted Autism specific schooling.

Try to work with the LEA officer and use parent partnership if your borough has it,my son's move was also an emergency placement as a result of a breakdown at 9.
He ended up being placed in an ASD base that didn't even have his yeargroup open as it was new but he thrived there.
Placements can be found if you are persistent.

Good luck X

dizzyblonde82

The education board have identified one school in particular as it specialises in children with behavioral problems, it is a school of 49 children and some also have autism/adhd.

His current hey have been receiving outreach help and advice from a short term placement school but they do not want to place my son in a short term placement as they feel the upheaval will be too much.

My son is very bright but often refuses to do the work, last Friday he scored 15/15 in a difficult spelling test. I am worried that a special school might not push him enough academically.

D&DD

Sadly a lot of our kids are labelled as having behavioural problems but when given the right support and level of work it magically disappears..by then the placement is all wrong as its not behaviour they need to address.

If he is HFA (high functioning autism) or aspergers and has no learning difficulties then I would push for a place that meets these needs and NOT behaviour problem/EBD schools.

Often as they get older you find out why they struggled with X,Y,Z but its often not for years..it's all guesswork here usually!

We narrowed a lot down to his sensory issues and the fact he's a visual learner but can't absorb/process stuff he hears at all.
He didn't read til he was 7,tried everything and had limited success with words on coloured paper rather than white then he taught himself to read through the subtitles on spongebob..go figure lol.

dizzyblonde82

He is brilliant at reading and using a computer but when he finds things too difficult he hits out, throws things, swears and spits.

From the meeting I get the feeling that they feel if he could learn to deal with his behavioral issues and stress build up then he would find completing work easier.

He is advanced at reading and maths, he has some speech problems around pronunciation and thoroughly dislikes writing anything down.

His teacher says he often sits in his quiet corner in the class room but still picks ups what is being taught in the class, his memory is fantastic - unless you ask him what he did in school or what he ate for lunch

I am trying to do some more research into Attachment Disorder as I feel at the moment it is all being put down to me not bonding with my son when he was a baby. Due to financial issues I had to go back to work when he was 6 weeks old and my nan looked after him in the evenings whilst I work. 18 months ago I cut my hours down to school hours only so that we have lots more time together.

D&DD

Aw now don't go down that route it's not anything you've done and don't let them tell you any different.

Lots of ASD kids have low muscle tone which makes writing and co-ordination difficult,dyspraxia often gets diagnosed because of this.
Typing up work helps instead of writing,it's not giving in to his behaviour it's him learning a coping strategy..he has to do the work so if it's more comfy typing it then so be it,that sort of thing?

Receptive and expressive language is often a problem too the processing of language is skewed somehow,my son still has no concept of time at nearly 15 but will recite mythological characters to you!
He may have very senstive hearing google auditory processing disorder this explains it a bit more,when they have sensory issues they have trouble seperating noise/voices hence the need for small,quiet classes

ETA heres the link for NAS http://www.autism.org.uk/directory.aspx

shegirl

Ds isn't a normal case at all but as there was nowhere in the city suitable (always been in special schools though),he's a very complex boy and he isn't able to be in class with others,he is funded for his own classroom with his own staff (currently three) and the curriculum and approach is completely tailored for him.This is in a special school.Because he's seperate from the other kids they can work with his ability.

So,although that's an extreme case (and it costs the LEA a bomb),it shows that it's possible to find alternatives.

D&DD

Glad to hear he's finally getting the right support Shegirl he must be growing up too how old is he now?

gizmo111

An excellent book on attachment here http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/190369910X/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1403948267/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and a short introductory book here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1843109573/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Frith

Apparently, Attachement Disorder is the "in thing" at the moment. One of my son's professionals decided he had it. All the others thought not and his paediatrician was very sniffy about it and said people are being diagnosed with it right, left and centre! He also pointed out that Attachment Disorder is temporary and children would (if they had it) get better once their bond/their situation improved.