Advice needed on Aspergers for friend at unhelpful school.

[Bart]

I have posted this on the special needs thread but then didin`t know if this would be the better place - have gone for both just to be sure!

A friend of mine rang up last night very tearful. At a meeting with sons teacher she had been told they thought her child has Aspergers. He has been experiencing learning difficulties for a few years now but these have worstened this year. The school have refered him to an ed psyche who told my friend that she never finds labelling children useful. The school have told my friend his behaviour is poor and needs addressing. They say they have no funds to give him any special help and so she must deal with him. My friend is doing her best but seems to have hit rock bottom. She has asked for advice and I dont really know what to say. The child is in Y5 by the way, this makes him 9/10 I think.

Can any one advise?
Has she got rights here?
Anyone know who funds what for special needs when the ed psyche seems too trendy to diagnose?

My friend is coming over next Tuesday with all her bits of paper/notes from various meetings. It would be great if a mumsnetter could point me in the right direction before then.

Dear jaysmum,
Thankyou for your response via Bart,who has been a fantastic support!Glad to recieve all your know-
ledge and experience,but I realise how much effort you have put into get where you are today.
Bart has helped me to form an action plan.As a result of this I have visited the gp surgery today,but unfortunately my own gp was on holiday and the one I saw said he would have to phone the school to see if they felt that a referral to paed
was necessary.I thought this may delay or indeed
prevent the referral,I could ring gp back and say I have decided to wait until my own gp is avilable
.What do you think ? I have also phoned the NAS and have given GP three cons paed who deal with the autistic spectrum.Also I am planning to compose a letter to the school including some of the points suggested by your reply and those sent by others.Would really like to talk to you over the phone but not really sure about how to go about this.It is very reassuring to know that someone is willing to help us.
Yours gratefully,
Crabapple

I think I would wait for my own GP. I'd also check out those suggestions from the NAS, we may know about them on SN, and make an appt with one as a safety net.

Thanks for much needed advice Davros, I was unaware that I am able to contact the consultant myself, I thought I needed the GP referral to do
this?