Dilema...Should I send my son to private school.. anyone else sent a hard of hearing child to a private school

[ReallyTired]

My son is getting bullied at school because he is wearing hearing aids. The school are doing sweet FA about it.

The school seem to think its OK to try and throw water over his hearing aids. He is not sufficently deaf to warrent protection under the disablity discrimination act.

Other state schools in the area are dire and I am thinking about sending him to private school.

He is in year 1 at the moment. If I send him after year 2 then there is the chance to try for a half scolarship, however I am tempted to pull him from the school now. Children who are already at the school are not allowed to apply for the scholarship.

Not sure what you mean about the DDA?

And the scool should provide a safe and secure environment for him regardless of disability. Do you feek as if you've explored all possible options with the school?
For what it's worth there seems to be a consensus that state schools are generally better with children with dialbilities than private - but every schiil is different.

How terrible for your ds. SOunds like the school could do with some deaf awareness training for both the staff and kids. How much do the school know about HI?

I work in a UHI attached to a junior school and our kids are NEVER bullied for having hearing aids. The hearing kids have seen hearing aids on their deaf friends, and have been used to deaf speech from a very young age. They see it as nothing odd.

We have regular deaf awareness assemblies and explain not only about the ways to help a HI child but also talk about the technology that helps them- we allow them to listen to hearing aids through a listening stick.

Just wondered if there is a local peripatetic teacher of the deaf who could come into your son's school and set up something similar.

Private would depend on the school. My dd is at an independent where they deal extremely well with special needs but not all are like this.

Smartiejake, my son's hearing loss is mild. He hasn't got a teacher of the deaf. Educationally he is doing alright without a TOD. His situation is similar to someone with glasses being called four eyes. He needs a school with guts who are prepared to take whatever action necessary.

He has a hearing loss of 25 to 30 db in his good ear and about 30 to 40 db in his bad ear. Its still possible to have a conversation with him without his hearing aids, but he mishears the odd word. My son is fanastic at lip reading and has very good speech.

And going to private school doesn't automatically protect you from bullying - sadly.

If there is a private school that you can easily get to that you like, then it is worth exploring this option.

What private schools can offer in your situation is a no-nonsense approach to bullying, small classes and a generally more peaceful environment.

We sent our ds to private school partly because he was hearing impaired (didn't wear aids though) - his problem was mainly his behaviour and that he didn't learn anything from the year he spent in state school.
We put him into a lovely non-selective private school with a great ethos of caring for everyone. He had a class of less than 10, which was great at keeping noise levels down. 2 of his classmates were also hearing impaired, and at least one of the others has special needs of some sort. He started enjoying school at last, and learning things, and his behaviour got much better.
I think it really does depend on the school though - we didn't even look at other private schools.