Am I being unreasonable? I have tried to maintain good relationship with my son school but I really feel like these are safeguarding issues and im geting more upset that he is being failed. What do you think?
My son has been struggling with serious self harm for a few months now. Recently diagnosed ASD and on pathway for ADHD. CAMHS think these behaviours are a result of unmet needs primarily at school. Fast forward to recently and he was suspended for hitting another child on Friday. He then ended up in hospital after a long weekend where he was emotional and had multiple behaviours. He attempted to tie a charger cord around his neck and was admitted to hospital.
His suspension ended on the Wednesday but I was told he couldn't come back to school as a risk assessment needed doing. I said that one should have been done back in May when the first known incident of self harm in school occurred ( he strangled himself, punched himself and threatened to stab himself)
When this incident occurred, staff rang me but I missed the call twice, they didnt ring my work number or dads number or work. I rang back and was told that teacher had gone home and to ring back on the following Monday, he was then sent to an external afterschool with no information passed over to their staff. Since then he has repeatedly scratched his hands, had incidents of self strangulation and hurting himself with rulers, rocks etc. The school said a verbal risk assessment had been carried out. I recieved a copy of this new risk assessment on Thursday this week and no mention of the self strangulation behaviour was included, the first line said he will hit his peers ( he has done this on two occasions only) the second line was he will break things and the third line was he 'may' self harm. (bare in mind I pick him up daily because of this behaviour so I dont think it should say may self harm)
There was also a school trip on Friday this week and no mention of it was made to me or my son, he found out from a friend. I asked school and they said err he's meant to be back Monday. I said no he's allowed back when the risk assessment was completed which is Friday. I said so what about the trip and she said she would ask the headteacher, he was only allowed to attend if myself or dad came. My son made the decision not to go as he felt he was being left out and felt it was unfair that his parents had to go. He has been accessing swimming offsite for months prior to this without myself or dad going and there is no risk assessment for leaving site either.
I have sent an email over but I feel like they are not taking this seriously. Camhs have said he is a real risk for severe injury/death. Ed psychologist had said she thinks it's related to sensory issues ( we are due to full report back in 3 weeks and asd advisory teachers believes sensory issues are contributing to the behaviours. We are also waiting for the report)
There are other multiple issues where his behaviour has stemmed from teacher issues such as being made to join in a sensory session when he has wanted to sit out. I asked the teacher about it and she said well sensory is about burning engery off and Joseph wouldn't join in so he was encouraged, this created a behaviour. Another incident, he was made to stand up for 10 minutes because he was swinging on his chair ( the chair was removed for safety which I agree with) but when he asked the teacher to sit on the floor he was told no you need to stand. He explained his legs where hurting and was made to stand.