AIBU that I am not happy that a group of people who have never met my ds in addition I have never met the person representing my son but they will make a life changing decision about his education?

[PeppasNanna]

As tge title says.
Ds is Autistic.
Hes 11.

His school have requested extra funding as they are struggling to met his needs.

Without the funfing his placement will cease in July.

I'm desperately looking for another school but no luck so far.

Can you imagine 'normal' dc being treated like this?

Perhaps Tara. I'm reading their comments on the long thread about the SN solicitor snd it's hard not to draw some very negative conclusions

Bore off, user. Passing an 11+ exam or not does nothing to change the life chances of a child. Many typical children can and do get good GCSEs, good A-levels and good life experience at a comprehensive school.

The children being talked about in this thread may or may not be capable of taking GCSEs, A-levels etc but what they can not do, even if they are capable of passing an 11+ (because severe SEN and high learning potential are not mutually exclusive) is access mainstream classes in either a grammar or comprehensive school without significant adjustments and support, if they can access those schools at all.

The decisions made here make the difference to whether a child with SEN can access a suitable education to an appropriate level at all. Many kids with SEN have language or mental health issues which require a highly specialist approach. These faceless people who have their secret meetings get to decide whether or not a child gets this specialist teaching or whether they are just left to flounder, learn very little and end up with even more pronounced difficulties. The type of education many children with severe SEN get doesn't determine whether a child ends up getting into veterinary college or settles for a biochemistry degree with less stringent entry requirements because they didn't make all the right contacts at their not a grammar school. It very often determines whether or not they'll have a cat in hell's chance of any degree of independent living as an adult.

Which makes your comparison of the OP's situation with 11+ exams really fucking stupid and ignorant.

Is it possible to report someone for being a general twat?

I believe goadyfucker is the official MN term ;)

It worked, but then I've spent a lot of the past hour trying to deflect goadyfuckery between the boys.

It is difficult to understand how anyone could be so spectacularly dim as to compare a severely disabled child completely losing a school place with an NT child not getting into grammar school, yet elsewhere User146etc claims to be a lawyer which normally requires a braincell or two. So the question is - goadiness or stupidity?

User - you really are being a total GF. Please stop.

Can the school really just end the placement? I know you won't want him to be incorrectly supported but I didn't think it was particularly easy for schools to refuse a child named on their statement.

Hopefully the LA will see increasing the funding is the only sensible solution.

User has an intetesting perspective!

My ds wouldn't be able to sit the 11+.
He has an I.Q of 136 but the writing skills of a 6 year old.

How I wish i lived in Users world...

User is not a real person - I have seen multiple posts with multiple family scenarios.

Back to OP - what is LA suggesting instead? They can't just wash their hands.
I well believe the lack of communication. Our senco is retiring and a replacement has been found. I got told by another parent. A group e mail explaining with new contact details would have been sufficient but oh no. And don't even ask me if the paperwork has been done for next year funding ...

Yes they can cease the placement. Eith very little notice too. Its an independent school, law onto themselves.

The LEA arent suggesting any alternative as of yet. If my ds was out of school for one year it will save my LEA in the region of £84k.

There are an enormous amount of SN children not in education.

I'm so sorry to hear about your predicament op.

I'm having a similarly shit time. Ds aged 4 is due to start school in September and his ehcp was written saying he required a special school placement. Special schools said no he was too able. Mainstream said no he wasn't able enough. Council have named ds nursery on the ehcp and sent it back to us and told us to go to tribunal to get the school we want (special school). They have been as useful as a chocolate tea pot the whole way through.

So now we have decided to keep ds home another year while a new special school in our area is being built and we will apply for a place there for the following year and hope for the best. If we don't get a place we are going to have to go to tribunal.

It's all such a shambles.

There are multiple user handles with differing number Mrspear

No idea re this one but it's a current mumsnet thing and is confusing

Not all same person though

I honestly have no experience with this, so I can't really give you advise. But I just want to say your son is lucky he has you! I was diagnosed with OCD and potentially ADD (this wasn't the focus for personal reasons) in ly late teens/early 20ies.
and when I think of the many warning sings my DM just ignored in favour of homeopathy...? How my mum said she knew I wasn't actually sick?
My dad ultimately being unwilling to go to court for this...

Soo, what I want to say is that your DC having you in their corner is already awesome, it sounds like you're doing a really good job!
Good luck!

Oh, and sry for any English mistakes, it's not my 1st language at all...

PeppasNanna

Very sorry to hear of your situation. You have my sympathy. I had to fight to get my son he place he has (in a special school). It is mentally exhausting to be constantly having to fight to be provided with an education, something that should be a given. I hope it all goes well for you both and I wish you the best.

The trouble will this is that these decisions are made purely on the basis of the evidence presented to the panel.

So although you know and the school knows your child needs more support than he has at present, if the school doesn't demonstrate that in the evidence they present to any panel, additional funding won't be guaranteed.

As a SENCo in a mainstream school, I worked with some young people who should not have been admitted to mainstream school and some who managed really well with support and achieved qualifications. Sometimes it just seemed cruel.

I'm sorry OP. You must feel really powerless, when strangers are making those decisions. Unfortunately, that's how it is- money driven. If the school can't/won't manage your son without extra funding, what do the local authority plan to offer?

My sons SENCO has applied for funding to pay for a 1-1 for my son. The SENCO had to meet a panel (who have never met my son) and explain why he needs money. That panel could then deicide whether or not the higher panel would hear my sons case. It's a crazy system!

I mean, even if it's really 'shitty' the fact that you care is already a lot... Not sure if I'm making sense. Good luck!

I'm with you now, so as it is independent of the LA there is no recourse if they discontinue a placement.
I'm fully expecting that we will end up with DS1 (ASD, yr5) at home when he moves on to secondary.

user[somenumbers] is a default username given to people when they first sign up, using the app. The fact that people don't notice the difference in the numbers from thread to thread makes it a problem. Not checked whether this user is the same one who is a lawyer.

The 'user' on this thread is a previous long-term prolific user of MN (name began with x), more than capable of sorting out their name if she wished to.

op, it's shit and you absolutely shouldn't be having to go through this.

My ds (14 years old, ASD) is also in an independent placement. In Y7 the school had the most penny pinching, nasty piece of work for a SENCO and he basically told us he could do what he liked (ie not provide statement provision) and if we complained he'd simply state they could no longer meet need and ds would lose his place. There are no ASD specialist schools or units in our LA and he knew it.

Thankfully, things improved, with a fantastic SENCO the following year, but you are constantly aware that you are powerless to protect your child's education and that you don't have the control/involvement in decision making regarding your child's placement and education that parents of nt pupils do. Between that and the fight for provision, it's exhausting to the extent it can and does break people.

I am dreading him reaching 16, as we have no idea whether they will continue to fund his place until he's 18 or try and shoehorn him into inappropriate state-funded provision within our area (which is what I suspect will happen). I am fully expecting, yet another battle. If we manage to keep him there, I am certain they will refuse to cover transport, which will make it impossible for him to stay anyway.

I found evidence online that our LA is basically turning down all top-up requests as a matter of course, regardless of the reason or child's needs. Only two out of 15 were approved last year. Yet the powers that be bleat on saying top-up funding is always available if required. They have also gone from placing around 23 pupils a year in ds' school to none and they no longer place more than about 2-3 pupils a year out of area, regardless of need ... but they don't have blanket policies of course - oh no! It's not about our children, it's purely about money - and it stinks.