Advice on sen child please

[Emily20160]

Hi, sorry may be a bit of a long one but will try and keep it short with key points. Thank for reading any advice received would be amazing.

Bit of back ground for better understanding.

I have a high needs son who’s 5 and a half with severe autism, severe adhd, non verbal and all the other issues that come along with it. He hadn’t attended nursery as couldn’t meet his “needs” had a sen worker and on waiting list for him to start a special provision for September. Around 6/7 months ago the main stream school my other children attend said they could meet his needs. He started with a hour a day then went into 1 and half hours a day as of September he started full time, he has his own room connected to the other classroom (for him and a few more sen needs children) Amazing, he loves it there.

He has a very detailed ECHP and 32.5 hours of support. 30 hours of 1:1 then 2.5 hours to plan his week ahead. He is extremely dangerous to himself (not others). His escaping constantly from his class room and play ground then on Friday his 1:1 had shared he escaped the playground then by the time she got to him he was half way under the school main gates in which she had to pull him back under by his legs and was a it shook up as she was scared what may have happened if she was 30 seconds longer as it leads onto a busy street next to a main road. She has made several complaints about said fence in his area. I went to speak to head teacher who said that didn’t happen he can’t fit under the main gate. I 100 percent believe 1:1 she’s so lovely, and adores my son. I like to think I have a great relationship with the school but then as I had mentioned the fence I then got a comment back about “him pressing the fire alarms now is getting a it silly and it dispiriting other students .

He has a fixation on pressing fire alarms as he seeks out loud sound, this is even detailed in his ECHP. They have put locks over the covers but he snaps the locks and presses them. He had done this 5 times in one day. I’ve spoken to fire station over the weekend and they are getting a specialist to speak to me to see if there is anything that can be done about it.

But now I don’t even want to send him there anymore, first being the safety concerns of him escaping, second being his disrupting other students. AND THIS WAS MY BIGGEST CONCERN as to not send him mainstream and I had mentioned this several times but was told no, his entitled to a education and we will fully support him ect

If you want a change of placement, you should request an early review of the EHCP. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

Is the 1:1 detailed, specified and quantified? Or is it vague and woolly with wording such as ‘access to’, ‘would benefit from’, ‘or equivalent’, ‘opportunities for’..? I would question if 1:1 was being provided. The school week should be at least 32.5hrs so if DS needs full-time 1:1, he needs more hours.

Does his classroom door have two door handles. Specialist SEN classrooms often have two door handles one at the regular height and another at the top of the door. To open the two both handles have to be pulled down/turned at the same time. If the school hasn’t got this that’s a basic method to make the room safer.
Similar things can be done to playground gates etc.
Suggest you contact local specialist SEN provisions to discuss how they make schools safe for their students. I’m sure they’d be happy to advise. Mainstream provision are not always au fait with what can be done. Have staff from his current school liaised with specialist SEN schools for advice and support?

Suggest the school and you look at the benefits of social stories to explain in symbols/photos why fire alarms shouldn’t be touched.

Suggest that his classroom layout is such that he can’t ‘see’ the fire alarm when he’s on task as this would be so tough for him.

His access routes around the school to ‘avoid’ fire alarms where possible. Staff to provide distractions.

Behaviour support plan and sensory profile completed to assist him to have suitable noisy activities/ opportunities. Would a recordable switch work? You can get a Big or Little Mack switch that you can record sounds onto perhaps this might work? The fire alarm sound is recorded onto this. Does he use a schedule? He could complete his work task and then be given his recorded fire alarm noise on the switch. This should be done on a timer for however long as a brain break and then his next work task. Did something similar with a child. Work and then a preferred reward. Sounds can be re recorded. Cheaper options are the dog communication buttons that you can purchase. Smaller not so sturdy but basically the same principle but without the SEN price tag attached.

Hope some of this is useful.