Withdrawing and Home Educating an ASD statemented child from school.

[dsisasdnotabully]

Can anyone help me with this please. I have the standard letter and I am going to email it to ds's headmistress tomorrow. What now?

What difference will it make that he is statemented it is not going to be as straightforward is it? Anyone done this? Or currently HE-ing their ASD child? Any ideas or advice gratefully received.

TIA.

I'm home edding my ASD 13 yr old ds - No need for anything other than a withdrawal letter unless he is in a special school

Advice - go for it and see if it works for you and your child ;)

Thank you. He is in an ASD unit attached to a mainstream school. But we have not even signed or agreed his statement yet, he has only been there two weeks! And it has been disastrous quite frankly. I am a bit blurry about whether or not a unit is considered to be SS or MS? So hoping it is not SS, just want this to be straightforward now. As far as it can be.

Which country are you in? England is straightforward, Scotland and NI can be really difficult with a statement as far as I understand. Think Wales is same as England, not sure how devolved education is there

Unit ought to be mainstream I think, but try looking it up on you council website and see how it's listed

Well it is not on the list of Special Schools but that list was updated in 2010 and this is a very new unit. I am in the UK. Fingers crossed that it is still considered mainstream, don't suppose I can find out now until tomorrow.

Hi

Are you in England?

Which standard letter are you using? Are you mentioning the statement in your letter? If you email, it's good to have some acknowledgement that the school has received it.

Unit attached to mainstream should be mainstream, as other posters have said.

I've got info about home education and SEN regulations on my website (applies to England) edyourself.org/articles/helaw.php#specialneeds

Yes am in UK. Was to use the standard letter on education otherwise. Should I mention the statement?

Good news about the unit most likely being MS, was worried about that.

When you saying UK, do you mean England? The regulations are different in each separate country of the UK. I'm quoting exclusively from the English Guidelines.

It's up to you whether you mention the statement or not.

If Part 4 of the statement names the school, this part will need to be modified to say you've made your own arrangements. Before the LA is able/willing to do this, it may require further information from you as to the provision you are making for your son's SEN. You don't have to be able to make the provision specified in the statement.

edyourself.org/articles/guidelines.php#statementSEN

3.21 Where the authority is satisfied that the child?s parents have made suitable arrangements it does not have to name a school in part 4 of the child?s statement. There should be discussion between the authority and the parents and rather than the name of the school, part 4 of the statement should mention the type of school the LA considers appropriate and that ?parents have made their own arrangements under section 7 of the Education Act 1996?.

We are in England.

Well it is done. I notified the LA in the first instance even though I am aware I don't have to do that. It was more appropriate as ds has only been in his most recent school for exactly 7 days!

Someone from CREW? is going to contact me by letter.

Can you tell me what to expect now please?

So its done and I am quite nervous especially as ds is just SO resistant to any education because of his experiences. However there isn't really anything left to try. I have been trying to put together some kind of a plan but am hamstrung by the fact that he is just so far behind. He is year 4 and can read, extremely well but his maths is pretty much non existent so I am thinking that I will just start at the very beginning and go forward from there.

Hi

When you say you notified the LA in the first instance, do you mean you have told both the school and the LA now?

What happens next with your local council depends really on where you live because practice is very variable.

I've got some info on my website here edyourself.org/articles/helaw.php#afterchildoutschool

The law isn't different for children with statements of SEN except insofar as the LA has a duty to maintain the statement and to review it annually while it remains in force.

All parents have a duty to educate their children according to age ability aptitude and SEN. The statement isn't binding on the parent nor are any learning targets or objectives. You don't have to have a "plan" although in a very broad sense you might plan "to rebuild x's confidence" or "to provide x with opportunities to practice his social skills" or "to focus on areas where x has a particular interest and use that as springboard for further study".

Small scale surveys of home educated children have found a relatively high proportion have some form of SEN, particularly autistic spectrum disorders.

Yes told both the school and the LA. The school obviously as a courtesy though after only 7 days they are not really engaged with him and actually can't wait to see the back of him. I told the LA because I do actually have a good relationship with his caseworker and she has always been very open with me right down to saying "well I shouldn't think anything you want to do with him will be a problem as long as you aren't asking for funding!" She was honestly trying to tell me how it is rather than be negative, which I appreciated.

My main plan is definitely to catch him up in maths and literacy and yes totally rebuild his confidence and try to engage him in enjoying education again gradually and gently. So that is very useful that you tell me I can put that kind of thing into my "plan".

""to focus on areas where x has a particular interest and use that as springboard for further study"." Also exactly this! So it is helpful to know I can use that kind of thing.

Thanks I will take a look at your website, you have been really helpful.