ASD child reduced timetable primary school

[Redwineandcheeseplease01]

My ASD diagnosed son has just started reception at a mainstream primary. Has an EHCP and 1:1 due to impulsivity and lack of danger awareness. Since he started 2 weeks ago he has been on a graduated start, so he spends a couple of hours in school and then I pick him up. The other children are obviously in all day.
just wondering if any other parents of ASD diagnosed children who have also started school in this way would be able to please
advise on how long this approach usually lasts? I have had to leave my job to facilitate this and can’t afford for the household to be
down an income for long!

They absolutely can if they say that they can't meet his needs and he needs to be in specialist provision.

They still can't refuse to have him in school. It would be an unlawful exclusion.

He has an EHCP, they gave already agreed (or been told by the local authority) that they can meet needs. They are funded by the LA to support him but are choosing to use his allocated 1:1 for the benefit of the wider year group while this child’s family is forced to go without a parents wage!

in my (somewhat extensive) experience an email, copying in his caseworker, asking, or telling them, how long this transition can last. It cannot be open ended (which they’d like) and stress that you are losing wages. Caseworkers are much maligned in the ehcp process but are really valuable in insisting that the ehcp is adhered to.

we’d all like to pretend that the welfare of our children comes first but that’s pretty difficult when you’re not able to pay rent or mortgage

Contact IPSEA or SOS!SEN. It’s not so straightforward below compulsory school age (term after turn 5). You would have argue either EHCP can’t be delivered in part time hours so council is in breach of securing plan or disability discrimination. There’s no legal entitlement to full time education under 5. You can ask council to supplement provision to make it up to full time if EHCP requires this eg by attending an out of school provider or home tutor / therapist if child can’t cope with full time school. You could ask for social care to provide personal assistant to allow you to work (but legal duties to carers are frankly weak). You could put your child back in pre school until they are 5 if you think the school is messing you around and it’s really about resources and then get free childcare hours again but EHCP would need changing. You need to make it clear in writing you don’t agree with the part time timetable continuing and maybe ask for an emergency review to discuss options with social care involvement. You can self refer for a parent carer needs assessment. If the EHCP doesn’t provide for transition or part time then the assumption would be full time but it depends how well worded your plan is as many are vague. Was your child at full time nursery? If so maybe ask council for part time school and part time nursery. But get advice from one of the charities.

There are obviously procedures around this but fighting with the school to take a child full time when it isn't the best place for him will achieve very little. I know of several statemented children who have not been allowed to attend the school of their choosing as needs too great.

mine was half time for a whole year then he got kept back a year ( so now he is 6 years old in year 1 but goes full time, from xmas we are homeschooling him

It absolutely is if it's for the schools benefit and not the child's.

Part time timetables should also only be used for exceptional circumstances for a limited time (6 weeks).

Parents never have to agree one and one should not be put in place without their consent

The school could request an early review. Although the LA may not agree to one. The school can then object to being named/say they think they can't meet needs p, but the LA may continue to name them anyway (they often do) because non-wholly independent schools don’t have to agree to being named. If they are named in section I they must admit.

They could try to formally suspend or permanently exclude, but they would need to follow due process and there would need to be actual grounds to do this. OP would also be able to challenge it. And this isn’t something OP should be worried about at this stage.

Provision under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 doesn’t apply to DC below CSA, but DC can still attend school full-time from the September if that is what the parents choose as per the admissions code. Schools that refuse are acting unlawfully.

I think it depends on the school and what works best for you and your son. my son is on his third week of slowly building up hours. No way would I have put him in all day. But there was me preference for him.

You can absolutely do full days, but is that best for him?

I agree with what's been said. If you aren't getting DLA, apply straight away.

DC whose parents know the system/law and advocate for them get better support. It shouldn’t be like this but it isn’t going to change in the foreseeable future. Enforcing DC’s rights achieves far more than allowing schools to act unlawfully. Statements haven’t existed in England for years. Anyone’s DC who is being unlawfully, informing excluded can challenge the school. They don’t need to accept the unlawfulness. Parents of CSA pupils can also challenge the LA if section 19 provision isn’t being provided. And anyone with an EHCP can pursue that angle too via appealing to SENDIST for more/different provision &/or via enforcing the SEP in F of the current EHCP if it isn’t being provided.

It is easy to loose sight of what is actually best for the child and get caught up in what is legal.
I have seen it many times in work- parents who fight for their child to be included but actually it just isn't the right place and the child needs to be with staff who are specialised in SEN and who actually want to work with those children.

The child is front and centre in the law. Schools and LAs acting unlawfully are not acting in the child’s best interest. Even if the staff at the school believe the setting isn’t the right place, they should still be acting lawfully.

Would you consider trying to get specialist education for SEN rather than mainstream. I believe the right school that is set up to cater for children with fairly large additional needs, which your child must have if he’s already on a 1:1 EHCP at reception, can make the world of difference and know a few parents who have changed out of mainstream and are delighted with the difference for their child.

Honestly, and I am ND as are my children - for people saying their kid coped with full time nursery so full time should is OK.... its not the same thing. Its all new, new friends, new environment - a huge sensory overload and a lot of brain power is needed for learning and its exhausting. My son who turned 5 in the Oct of his reception year so one of the oldest was actually almost a sleep while walking out of school one day.
Talk to the school but ignore people who say its for the school's benefit - if your son has being diagnosed at his young age its quite an early diagnosis so he's likely to have lots of traits. You put him in an environment where he gets over stimulated or tired and starts acting up and having meltdowns in front of the other kids they are going to be frightened of him and stay away from him - once this starts happening then he becomes labelled and he will struggle to make friends. I saw this happen over and over and not with just ND children but children who were August born and so acting younger than peers - they were just tired but became labelled as 'naughty' children.
Just speak to the school about slowly increasing his hours if you think he is ready. Better to be cautious at this age and settle him in properly than trigger issues - school is for his learning rather then being just childcare like maybe nursery etc is

Many parents of ASD dc are having the opposite problem, getting the school to agree to a reduced timetable. Unfortunately many/most dc with ASD get so drained by the sensory stimuli and social interaction of a normal school environment that they present with meltdowns/aggressive behaviour or total burnout/school refusal. If you can't give up work, maybe the school could accommodate your dc needs for a reduced timerable by letting him learn with his 1:1 in a separate room some of the time, or in theory some of the learning support could happen at home, you could request 1:1 support for partial homeschooling/EOTAS and maybe work from home while your dc is tutored 1:1? Not many dc get a duagnosis and EHCP that early, so he must be presenting strongly and pushing him to do mire than he us able might lead to total refusal of school.

The law is looking at a cohort as a whole in line with equality legislation BUT a one size fits all approach does not always fit when you are dealing with individuals. By all means fight with the school and have them take him for the whole day as it is a legal right BUT that absolutely doesn't mean you are not harming the child by doing so.

Complying with the law is not a one size fits all approach. Schools and LAs acting unlawfully is not in the child’s best interest. I do this day in, day out. Sadly, many LAs and school staff incorrectly believe they shouldn’t have to comply because it is easier for them than following due process (including due process where they it isn’t the right setting in the school’s opinion).

DS was moved to a small unit in a mainstream school for children with additional needs, this was before he was diagnosed with ASD, but everyone knew he would be. He moved schools due to EBSA, so started off with half days and moved gradually to full days, this was with our full agreement as too much pressure on him would lead to a meltdown and not attending anyway.

I think we got him up to about 70% attendance, though some of the absences were due to him being late and missing registration. DH has been unable to have proper full time employment as he needs to be available to drive DS to and from school at random times - he's essentially self employed and trying to earn enough to cover his costs - running the car, mobile phone, etc, while I cover all the household stuff. Currently it would not be possible for us to both work full time, or out of the house. Which is a concern as I'm facing redundancy next year and I don't know how we'll manage as everything feels very finely balanced at the moment.

Whether other parents want a part-time timetable/flexischooling/EOTAS, doesn’t change the fact it is OP’s decision whether to send DS full time or part time until he is CSA.

I think we need the context here. What are school saying is the reason? If he genuinely can’t cope with the full day despite what’s in his EHCP then perhaps this is best for everyone concerned? But as others have said if it’s that the school need more support from external sources, or need to review his EHCP this should also be being considered. I’ve known some kids go on to a full timetable successfully but others need to remain on a short timetable right through primary.

I have a child with SEN and whilst mainstream is absolutely right for some kids it is absolutely not the place for others- I have seen many kids with ASD struggle on in mainstream for a few years and then things go really pear shaped. Things like not being able to engage in lessons at all, getting frustrated and becoming violent, simply just walking out of the class and doing things like eat berries etc (yes even when very closely supervised). Irrespective of the legal rights/ wrongs there is only so much that an underfunded state school can do for these kids. Sounds like it’s too early to judge for your DS but I would say that it’s better to look for an alternative provision sooner rather than later, for the child as much as anything.

Asd kids struggle with change.
They might have planned it cautiously. If its going well talk to them.

First off I'm going to say the school are breaking the law.
Now I will tell you our story when ds started school he only attended for 1 hour per day for the first year.
The school could not meet his needs.
During this year the school admitted they couldn't meet his needs and recommended a special needs school him.
Don't know exactly what happened but at his Echp review the named school was changed to the special needs school.

So even though it is breaking the law this is what was best for our child and it showed that they school couldn't meet his needs.