SEN College URGENT HELP

[Zashdi]

Hi all, I really need some advice about what steps to take for my child who has complex special needs; he has autism and severe anxiety and is nonverbal. Sorry, this is going to be a very long post.

He is 19 and has been disengaging from education since his last two years of secondary school due to his anxiety. In his last two years of secondary school, he started to refuse to go on and off the school bus and enter his classroom, so he would work outside the classroom in the hallway with a TA.

Last year he started his first year of college however he never actually went into the college, he accessed home learning with a tutor due to his anxiety and no transition taking place between the secondary school and the college. The college tutor would come to the house twice a week for about 20 minutes to work with my son, which was challenging for him at first but became more productive as he began to build relationships with the tutors. This college offered home learning packages as part of their curriculum, and never worked towards transitioning my son into the college building. After two terms, out of nowhere (to us) they said that they would be ceasing his college placement due to his lack of in-person attendance, despite never raising this as an issue or working towards getting him into college.

This year should be his second year of college, however due to his previous placement breaking down he has been left without a college placement and is now just at home with his mental health deteriorating due to a lack of social interaction with others.

I have contacted his EHCP coordinator who has said there are no college spaces at the moment and have offered a home tutor for one day a week who works on early learning skills. However his EHCP has provision for his anxiety and social skills and this is not being provided. There is also no mention of getting him a college place for September or working on his anxiety and social skills which are the main barrier to him accessing his learning.

I am distraught with the lack of care for him and the fact that he only has a few more years left of educational input. Please can someone provide me with some guidance on what steps I can further take and what responsibilities the LA have to find my child a college/educational placement and help him to access this?

If you managed to read until the end, I greatly appreciate your time.

That’s brilliant to hear.

As a parent of a 17yo with asd/adhd/dyspraxia/anxiety, i do have to ask, why the choice to do college?

I hope it was simply due to bad advice.

My DS was not ready for college straight out of school, that was blatantly obvious, and he was advised instead to go for some kind of alternative provision.

We found a course where he only attends 3 days a week, but they focus strongly on social/emotional development over 2 years, with some maths/english and a couple of more vocational courses that they spend a bit of time on.

Once he's completed that, we'll be able to revisit if College is the right place for him.

I would honestly suggest at look for something similar, rather than trying to push academia at this point.

I'm assuming that as the 19 year old is non verbal.etc the college will.be a special needs college offering life skill type courses
Not A levels.

At 19 he isn’t a priority for education, so u need to look for other options.

You may get better advice posting in the SEN board OP.

I would:
A) request an annual review - if unhappy with outcome he/you will have your appeal rights
B ) complain to council about failure to secure provision and then pursue this to the ombudsman

I can’t offer an advice sadly OP.

My DS is 22 with an EHCP and has had no named placement for the last 3 years since his last mainstream college placement broke down in 2021. He’s only had temporary provision for a total of 6 months out of that time which did not fulfill Section F. Like your DS his MH has been massively impacted by being isolated from his peers and the loss of 3 years of suitable education where he should have been able to progress is massively detrimental to his future.

I found an out of area residential college (nothing suitable in our area) which would have been perfect for him and fought the LA through a SEND Tribunal for almost 2 years to get him a place but despite the LA not be able to name a suitable placement themselves, the Tribunal sided with the LA and DS is very unlikely to have a placement this September either. He only has a maximum of 3 years left on his EHCP and has been completely failed throughout his education due to unsuitable placements.

IME LAs will do whatever they can to get out of funding any post 19 education despite having a legal duty to do so to young people with EHCPs, including blatant lying and allowing colleges to discriminate. We could not afford a solicitor (the LA had a top barrister to fight us at Tribunal) and even though DS is entitled to legal aid in his own right, most law firms wouldn’t take his case and the one who did was as useless as a chocolate teapot.

If you can afford it, I’d try to get proper legal advice from a reputable SEN law firm. We were quoted £5k just to go over the Tribunal paperwork when I’d already done most of the work (!) so it may be prohibitedly expensive.

My Dd is enrolled in an ASD 6th form. They do A levels. Each student has their own communication mentor.

And??autism is a huge spectrum. The Op is talking aboutt her child who is non verbal with complex needs how is that in anyway relatable to your child who is able to take A levels??

She said he has had social anxiety for 2 years. So was verbal prior to that. This sounds like burnout.

My Dd is the same. I was just pointing out that people can have social anxiety or mutism and be completely capable of A level or higher study.

There is full support for her communication issues alongside study where she goes. That’s all l was saying.

Why such an aggressive attack?

In her first sentence she said he was non verbal some children will always be non verbal

OP said her DS is non-verbal (DC with SM may be mute (some or all of the time) but that isn’t the same as being non-verbal and non-verbal DC can have social anxiety), has GDD and is developmentally around 5. A levels are not suitable.

Op explained

"his SEN/disabilities are very severe, meaning he will not be able to work. He has global development delay and although he is 19, he is more at the age of a 5 year old with no sense of danger or ability to communicate even with sign language as he has motor difficulties."

Needs very specialised placement
Might be or not a 19 to 25 SEN college but should see what there is with8n reasonable distance that might fit
Or look to his interests whether something might be out there eg does he prefer to be outdoors? Like eg
https://www.c-o-t.org.uk/

possibly, its the language that threw me.

My DS went to specialist secondary school.. and the placement he is at now is not classed as college, its even referred to as Specialist Provision/Further Education on his EHCP. The word 'college' doesn't come up anywhere.

Regardless, i do wonder if considering his disabilities and limitations caused by his anxiety, if this 'college' placement the OP's DS attended was the correct decision to have made, the way she speaks about it, it still comes across as quite structured/lesson based and if the OP was given incorrect advice in choosing the placement, then the people advising need a kick up their ass.

My son went to the Sheiling. It’s an amazing college. He thrived there. I was absolutely gutted when the course finished but thankfully we found a place just as beautiful with amazing staff. Fighting the LA for funding was worth every penny we spent and every hair I lost !

What rubbish advice. My son stayed in education until he was 24. He learnt valuable life skills which enabled him to move on to a long term residential placement.

Currently my son’s care package (residential) is funded by NHS continuing healthcare but recently that has changed to a split between social care and CHC. He has no money outside of benefits. He will have to pay almost all of his pip and uc leaving him with around £30 per week. Thats to pay for everything , days out, activities, clothes, toiletries etc. His package is over £5k per week. My friends son has 2 days at a day centre and he contributes £480 per month. If your son doesn’t have to pay a contribution that’s brilliant. I’ve never come across anyone that doesn’t contribute towards their care package.

Well it's substantially less intensive than that (all he could cope with after a huge burnout). He has 2 PA visits a week, one focused on exercise and one on independence.

It’s dreadful you and DS have been put in this position. I imagine you already have, but it is worth challenging it. Sadly, CHC funding is like everything for those with disabilities, those who can advocate for themselves or have someone who can advocate for them get better support. Meaning the most vulnerable are failed the most.

He’s been NHS funded for 7 years. I’ve appealed once and lost, it’s been nearly a year of arguing back and forth. One meeting was 7 hours long 🤦‍♀️. I’ve told them I’m appealing again though as his needs are the same as they were 7 years ago. As they’re still arguing though and haven’t decided on the split he’s still fully funded until they do. As soon as they do I’ll start appealing again. They are completely ignoring parts of the legislation which I now know by heart!

Until the LA decide they’re ceasing the plan. At that point you have to appeal.