Extra support for Aspergers boy

[jmb1964]

Our ds1, 6 in September, has recently been diagnosed with Aspergers, having struggled through his first year at school. We were told it was likely that the diagnosis would 'qualify' him for extra support (full-time special needs auxiliary) next year, but have recently heard he is only going to get 5 hours a week. He is continually being removed from the class and sometimes sent home for disuptive and aggressive behaviour, and it seems things might get worse next year as there will no longer be a classroom assistant in the class in the mornings.
We have been asked to write a letter to the Director of Education asking for more help than the 5 hours - dh is worried that by 'talking up' ds1's problems we might be paving the way for him being excluded at some later date, but I think we would be mad not to push for extra help now.
Does anyone have any ideas, or advice about what to put or not put in the letter?
I'm finding it hard to think about anything else at the moment..

JMB, there are others that know a lot more about this on mumsnet, and I am sure that they will have lots of good advice for you. In my limited experience of teaching older ASD children the more help they get the better. It sounds as if he needs the 1 on 1 and is not coping in the mainstream without it (as he is being sent home). My advice would be to go for it, will all guns, or your son may risk being sidelined. I know that Jimjams has a lot of experience at this.

Its dreadful that his support has been cut back. Inclusion is a farce unless it is properly funded and supported, and it seldom is.

Firstly you can appeal, so do so. Secondly being realistic about your sons problems is not going to make him be excluded from school-it sounds to me like they have dumbed down his problems and this is the reason for the lack of help. I am not the best to give advice although my dd has a statement of SEN. Jimjams does know alot more than me-just thought Id offer a supportive arm.

Jimjams where are you?

Hi JMB,

You don't mention whether your son is receiving the support via a statement of SEN (which quantifies the support he receives) or if he is being supported at the 'School Action Plus' stage of the Code of Practice. If the support is through the statement, then you have the option to appeal to the SEN Tribunal, if the statement was issued within the past two months.

If your son does not have a statement, then you may want to think about making a parental request for a statutory assessment, which would lead to a statement, which would give you negotiating input into the hours specified, and would also give you the right of appeal if those hours were not what you thought necessary. I won't go into more detail now in case you already have a statement, but if I can be any help then please say. DP is working away at the moment so my chances to get on mumsnet is limited, so bear with me for a response!

Don't worry about 'talking up' DSs difficulties, it is important that the school has as much information from you as possible. If a child has SENs then the school needs to show that they have taken all possible action to meet that child's needs, before resorting to exclusion - this would include putting in additional support, seeking advice from outside professionals - EP etc, requesting statutory assessment.

Your LEA may have a 'Parent Partnership' Officer or links to a local independent parent support group who may be able to give you advice or support. Also you may already be aware of The Advisory Centre for Education (ACE), www.ace-ed.org.uk which is an independent advice centre that gives advice to parents on a range of issues, including SEN statementing etc They also publish a Special Education Handbook which is helpful. Their advice line telephone number is 0808 800 5793

Hope this helps

Just to add my voice to those suggesting a statement is the way to go. When you have the statement the support detailed in this has to be provided by the school / LEA.

yes they were reluctant to statement my dd but I wanted her in a particular school and she NEEDED a statement. I am also moving to the other side of the country so hopefully it will come in handy(fingers crossed)

Jmb,sorry I can't offer any help with regards to Aspergers, my ds has cp, Jimjams is the one you need to talk to. She's been a bit quiet recently though. Has she gone away?

was wondering that myself lou

jmb1964, I'm really sorry to hear all this. I have no idea if you think this might help, but our neighbour is a clinical psychologist who is a real expert in ASD. He sees patients privately (though I don't know how expensive it is). As you live near me, you also live near him IYSWIM. If you want any more details feel free to conatct me via the fab bew "contact a talker" button. Since he's in Scotland, he'll obviously be highly aware of the system here and how to get things done.

Thanks everyone - maryz, once again your story fills me with hope, ds1 sounds very similar to yours. Last week he nearly got sent home for hitting someone in the classromm, and I was told that it was 'completely unprovoked', but it turned out he was the last of about 15 waiting in a line to get his maths worksheet marked. Even with his diagnosis, his teacher doesn't seem to realise that this is the sort of thing that, on a bad day, sends him insane. Like you, I believe an assistant would recognise potential problems like that. Dh is the same with traffic lights, come to think of it.
Tamum - thanks, I will try the contacting thing, as we've been wondering about seeing someone privately.
Kyliebump and others - statementing - the equivalent here in Scotland seems to be the Record of Needs, and both the school and the Ed Psych are firmly saying it isn't necessary at the moment, but I am a bit suspicious. I'm going to contact a couple of support/advice organisations about it.
So the letter is almost ready to go, complete with a copy of his end of year report, which declares his behaviour to be 'uncceptable', and doesn't even mention he has Aspergers.
Thanks everyone for your support, it means a lot, and I'll let you know how we get on...

my son who is 7 was expelled from school at xmas time for hitting out at his teacher for no reason according to school but she had promised him 10 mins on the computer then turned it off before his time was hence start5ing off an uncontrollable episode. He was diagnosed as AS in jan 02 but we have fought with the school for extra support but it took until this episode for them to actually listrn to me, now he has extra support not quite as much as i would have liked but its getting better.The school when they took him back said that they had no support for him at lunch times and he couldnt manage lunch times on his own at all well so they had me take him to school at 9 pick up his db at 11:30 from nursery then him from school at 12:10 to bring him home for lunch to take him back at 1:00 then pick him back up at 2:45 end of school day all this when i had recently separated from my partner had a new baby and was suffering from pnd, i wrote to our head of education explaining the situation and was promply given support for him at lunch times.so go on shout loud and keep shouting until your son gets what he needs.

Just read this - was away on holiday when first posted. Any luck jmb? Re queuing. My son recently went for a practice day at his school. He had to queue. When he reached the front he was going ballistic- his teacher bent down to say hellow and he smacked her in the face. I was talking to the SENCO about it later and she immediately said "oh really that was our fault- there really wasn't any need for him to queue". SOunds like your son's school need educating!

IPSEA are good- there is a seperate helpline for Scotland. Also worth following their link to RONA- some of the propsed changes to the record of need looks pretty scary.

Unfortunately if your child has AS or HFA you really do have to fight fight fight for support. Also worth contacting the NAS . They have some good factsheets.

Do you have autism outreach workers in your LEA? They may be able to come into the school and help educate the staff. Really if they are expecting your son to be able to queue for 15 minutes they have absolutely no idea (mine would be headbutting the walls by then!)

son has ADHD & ASPERGERS - on Concerta xl (methylphenidate-similar to RITALIN) -To manage ADHD.
School say they provide for him well and therefore not willing to begin Statementing process- however if i were to send him in to school unmedicated i am confident that his difficulties would be VERY obvious....where do i go on this one....do i accept that the medication makes him manageable and let the school continue to offer him NO extra help....or do i say we do not wish to continue to MASK his difficulties anymore and instead insist that they provide the 1-on-1 help he needs- at home we don't always medicate and i feel 'guilty' that we have to give him the tablet every school day (just in case etc) when sometimes if he had the support he'd not suffer some of the 'side-effects' he has.I AM NOT AGAINST MEDICATION- IT WORKS BRILLIANTLY- ITS JUST WHEN WE STARTED THE DRUG HE ONLY HAD A.D.H.D- AND WE NOW UNDERSTAND THAT IS OFTEN A 'SYMPTOM' OF THE ASPERGERS CHILD'S FRUSTRATIONS WITH HOW THEY FEEL- AND I WANT TO ADDRESS THOSE FRUSTRATIONS RATHER THAN 'CALM' HIM DOWN-THANX !

Difficult one isn't it. However you do not need the school to request a statutory assessment (statement)- you can put in a parental request for an asessmet. They don't have to do one- but the LEA do then have to assess to see whether an assessment is needed. If they decide it isn't you can appeal against that decision. The link to IPSEA below tells you how to put in a parental request (it's easy- just one letter- we used the template provided by IPSEA).

Could you talk to whoever prescribes the medication about coming off it- maybe they could writ a letter or something to the school saying that he will need extra support in place if his medication is to be reduced.

Hi jmb1964. Just thought I would let you know what I did, incase it would be of help.

We had ds statemented while still at nursery and I kept dropping into the conversation with various professionals that "I would not be sending my son to school without classroom assistance". I knew he would have drowned in school otherwise. It seemed to work as he has always had fulltime assistance and will continue to do so next year when he starts staying in later. (He is now 7)I know several other mums in my area, whose children seem a lot more in need than my son imo, who only get parttime help.

Don't know if it would be of help, but it has in my experience. Good luck and keep fighting!

Sorry, didn't realise this thread had been active while we were away on holiday.
We wrote a great long letter to the education dept in the end, and they wrote back straightaway saying it was up to the school to reallocate existing staff if they thought ds needed more than the 5 hours. That was on the last day of term, so nothing more has happened since then.
I phoned INSEAD then, but they had a recorded message saying they were overwhelmed and weren't taking on any more cases. Maybe I'll try again now.
Loobie - I can just see an episode like your ds's happening with us - maybe the school would wake up a bit then. We were asked to bring him home for lunch every day too, but with 3 others to worry about I said no, then they let him go to the school's lunch club, which is the only thing he really enjoys at school. He also gets occasional (once a fortnight or so) visits from the Visiting Teachers' Support Service to help the class teacher with strategies etc. But nothing seems to happen - they keep talking about 'social stories' but he only ever did one, and it only came home with him once, despite us asking for a copy to keep at home as well as the one at school. The theme was 'it was an accident', and it was good, but it's no help if we don't have access to it.
The fight is only just beginning I suppose, but the BBC2 programme the other night did fill me with a bit more optimism at least.
Meanwhile we're trying to track down an independent psychologist to give us a second opinion, but they all seem to be on holiday - grrr!
Back to school on 19 August - the holidays are running out and I'm dreading the new term. Hope next year's teacher will be a bit more clued up.