More of a WWYD - school issues/special needs

[Nicknameinvalid]

Ive posted this is Special needs as well but really need some feedback/advise.

Backstory: DC (aged 8) has ASD, he is medicated for anxiety and after a long fight was settled in mainstream school - by fight I mean I basically lived at the school for early pick up's etc.

Last 2 years he's had an amazing amazing teacher - had no prior knowledge of ASD which if I'm honest worked well as she had no expectations and worked with ds as an individual not a label..

Cue this year.. We have been back at school for 2 weeks - ds is a WRECK.. He's melting down daily, screaming fits, self harming etc.. I'm at my wits end.. This is going to sound awful but he's bordering on feral at the moment on school days - he spent 4 hours trashing his room, absolutely hysterical, threatening to kill people.. I honestly thought we were going to have to get him sedated..

Last Friday I spoke to DS's teacher and begged asked what could be done.. It then turns out that ALL of ds's support has been withdrawn.. All of it - he is being treated as a NT child in a typical environment.. There reasoning? In his class are 8 (neurotypical) children that are considered behind and so the TA is working with them solely to bring them to where they need to be..

I'm fucking livid.. DS last year had 15 hours of 1:1 (1:5 on occasion for table work) but was the focus of the 1:5 if that makes sense?

Ds's teacher says that KS2 you don't get as much support? How is this possible? The bastard head teacher assured me last year that this very thing would not happen and that we didn't need to apply for a statement for DS as 'they only issue statements for over 16hours and DS is managing very well with what school is able to provide' what the fuckwit didn't tell me was that it might all change!!

I am now pending a meeting whereby I should find out this week if they have 'allocated him' extra hours.. Meanwhile I will just rock my hysterical child some more shall I?

His teacher wants me to 'leave it with him' but I just don't know what to do - am I unreasonable to go straight over his head? My concern is that due to ds's needs I really need a good relationship with this teacher and I suspect going over his head wouldn't be the best start.

Actually I'm not angry, I'm absolutely devestated - I'm literally watching every ounce of work me and his last teacher put it just disappear and with it my little boy who was coping with mainstream.

God that ended up long! Sorry!!

School will be looking at how he is doing academically & behaviourally & presumably at the moment is ok there without the support? This may well not last but it won't have been the teacher's decision, it's the head & SN co ordinator that you need to talk to. And definitely push for a statement. BTW, with budgets being cut schools hands are often tied.

Sorry to those objected to it being posted in this forum. I did also post in special needs but wanted a more 'rounded' opinion if that makes sense.

I have never seen the school senco - I suspect she hides when she knows I'm at the school

Have made notes of what's been said and am going to insist on the statement being started - it was allegedly started last year but then ds started on medication which the head then said would make the lEA refuse the statement as they would want a period of time to reflect on how the medication impacted on his need for support, I now suspect I've been taken for an idiot .

Redhelen, academically he's one of the brightest in his class, they get SOME behaviours (running from school) but mostly ds waits till I arrive and then either has a meltdown in the playground or waits till I get him home and then it starts. The meltdowns are directly related to school though as we don't have them at weekends or in holidays.

You need a statement, without one the school does not get any funding. Even with one the school is now expected to meet the first x hours so only those with large statemented hours actually obtain funding.

Lots of schools have made TA's redundant as without the SEN funding they cant afford them and just have the class teacher.

You need a statement. You can apply on a statement as a parent rather than going through the school. We were also told we would not get a statement because our boys were succeeding academically even though we had reached the point where they were being excluded because of their behaviour. We did at first attempt and now ds1 is in a special school and ds2 is on medication and about to start in an ARP unit. The difference appropriate support has made to ds1's behaviour is amazing. Help on applying for a statement can be found on the IPSEA website and lots of people will give you help in MNSN. Even if you do not succeed at first attempt it forces the school to get their paperwork in order & outside agencies involved so you have a better chance of succeeding another time.

Have made notes of what's been said and am going to insist on the statement being started

Wrong approach.

You take control here and write to the LA requesting an assessment that may lead to a Statement.

You don't leave it to school to do this. They will likely say - he does nor need one / he will not get one / there is no money for one / LA don't issue Statements - all of which are lies.

School has lied to you and let your son down badly.

The only way to retrieve the situation is for you to apply for a Statement yourself - and don't be dissuaded.

I would be surprised if you got help tbh if academically he's on track & his behaviour in school doesn't merit it.

But definitely you need to arrange a meeting with the Head & senco to discuss the situation.

I would be surprised if you got help tbh if academically he's on track & his behaviour in school doesn't merit it.

wrong wrong wrong!!! Academics do not come into it in that respect. DS1 was at the top of his year in MS and got a statement for 25 hours 1:1 (and the school increased it to 30hrs out of their own budget as he needed it). It's about NEED - which can cover social/medical issues as well. Not once was it even mentioned that DS1 wouldn't get a statement due to his academic level.

What all the other posters said.

Plus, until you get the Ed Psych involved (and consider going to your GP too, your son's distress needs dealing with quickly), how about CAHMS?

Also, he should most definitely already have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) and should be on a stage of some kind - School Action or School Action+.
The problem is that the school will have to fund your DS's support until a Statement happens (which may take a long time) and even if he gets one, they still have to cover part of the cost. I fully appreciate this isn't your problem, but that's why they're dragging their heels.

Try and get everything in writing - take notes at meetings. And get the Governor who is responsible for Special Needs involved as well.

Good luck!

Hugs etc.

Time to take the long view. I have managed one SEN child through mainstream (school action plus, the famous 16 hour version) and another through SEN school (fully statemented).

DC is 8: in 3 years he will be 11. Puberty and the secondary years are fast approaching. Rather than using this process to rip your HT apart (tempting though these things always are) I think you should be giving the message that you are concerned that the existing plan to wean him off intensive 1:1 has not worked out well; that things will only get worse for him and for the school if it is left too long; and that you want now to work on a transition plan to secondary which includes not reinforcing the most challenging behaviours by reducing his support too fast at this stage.

You dont know if a reduced level of support might in fact work out very well for him in a year or so; what is clear, though, is that going cold turkey has been a failure. It's not so clear if the HT has been told this yet, or if he has, if he has yet worked out what to do about it. At your meeting, I would pretend you assume that he is going to reinstate the support as soon as he hears the facts. If funding is an issue, hard though it is, I found an approach that said, "help me to negotiate the right funding for you to do what I know you want to do" is better than "I am now going to kill you".

and- apologies for drip posting- if DC's challenging behaviours happen mainly at home, its not surprising that the HT may have thought it was safe to reduce support at school. If DC manages to hold it together during the day and only melts down at home, that will need careful explanation both to school and any funding agency, that his school experience is directly related to this. On the principle of never thinking its a conspiracy when it might just be a cockup, I would start by assuming that the HT would not have wanted this to happen and will be keen to put it right.

I do get the reduced support thing. Overall, the aim is to make our kids as independent as we can. That's why support even for profoundly disabled kids does get gradually reduced as they get older- just as for any kid. But you have to reduce it at the speed that they can cope and learn from it. SEN schools do this very well, but even we have blips where attempts to promote independence lead to a lot of lost coats and grated fingers and so forth.

I expect you are angry and scared. By all means look into a statement, as part of planning his post-11 provision. I'd start looking now, so you have a plan. It feels a lot better when you know where this is all going.

if DC's challenging behaviours happen mainly at home, its not surprising that the HT may have thought it was safe to reduce support at school.

The problem also is that this was all done without the OP's knowledge. The support should never have just been withdrawn - it should have been discussed with the OP, then a gradual schedule of reduction agreed upon, prior to it being implemented, so the OP could monitor her DC's progress and keep the school advised of the progress.

Sorry, but it sounds like the school just yanked the support without any regard for the child and then tried to convince the parent not to request a statement, so that they wouldn't be locked into providing appropriate support. It's certainly not the first time a school has been less than helpful.

yes, I agree Trigglesx, they have cocked it up by not thinking this through properly. They may well be rubbish at this. But long experience and a lot of talking to HTs has convinced me that most of the time it is cockup and not conspiracy. I dont think we are helping the OP by saying that it is necessarly true that she cant trust the school and that she needs to go in with all guns blazing just yet.

As an example, I was recommended the autistic unit of our local comp for DC3 at 11- who, although he is autistic, mainly suffers from a very profound learning disability and some physical disabilities. He would have been eaten alive by what the local authority thought they wanted. I got his specialist to write saying that it was wholly unsuitable and risked making him much worse, and they funded a place in SEN school without a murmur.

We probably recommend the same thing- become an expert and own the medium term plan for your DC. Know the system, know where you want this to be going, know what your DC is entitled to.

*I dont think we are helping the OP by saying that it is necessarly true that she cant trust the school and that she needs to go in with all guns blazing just yet.
*

Really?

This is an 8 year old with anxiety severe enough to require medication who, up until now, has received a high level of support which school has suddenly withdrawn and you still think it might just be a 'cock up'.

Wrong. Very wrong indeed.

That child should be on school's SEN radar at Schools Action Plus - the last step before deciding whether to assess for a Statement.

To have withdrawn all support to a pupil with that level of need either deliberately or accidentally is negligence.

School has a statutory duty to identify, assess and support.

In this case it has identified, partly assessed and ignored. That is a disgrace for which the parent has every right to 'go in with all guns blazing'.

well, Wet, we obviously differ on the best way to get things done. We dont differ on whether it matters, though.

Wet's advice is pretty much spot on.

Apply for a statement. He will be assessed and allocated a set number of hours for ta support. This will be particularly important when he reaches secondary school

I feel very sad for you! This sounds awful. DS just got his statement. It took at least a year and you have to go through it. But right now the need is to get the school to put your boy's help back in place. Only you know your child's school and what kind of approach will achieve this... But blazing guns may or may not be the most effective. Big good luck!

He will be assessed and allocated a set number of hours for ta support.

He may or may not be allocated TA support depending on how the assessment goes, they are not a given.