Secondary School for child with ASD

[dayshiftdoris]

Have a little while to go yet as year 5 but been advised to look.

Son has a statement which I have been advised would be moved to a special school statement 'very easily' as it's already an30hr support statement in mainstream.

My son has ASD and doesn't have any academic needs other than spelling and handwriting. His statement, other than this is social and emotional needs.
At school he can present as very challenging at times, especially around accepting support as he was bullied in a previous school for needing help
His rigid thinking and lack of emotional literacy mean changing his mind on this is VERY slow.

On looking round the schools I have seen a couple of mainstream who had excellent SENCOs who were very forward thinking and robust systems in place... However they were stumped when I said he won't accept support willingly yet often crashes and burns without - current support is 'class TA' though is actually his but this is more difficult at secondary it seems (I can see how!).

I have seen a great special secondary who are confident thru meet his academic needs but I suppose I am looking for people's experiences, especially teachers, of kids resistant to support in mainstream... And how they did? Has anyone seen a school get round it?

Where are you?

Canbury school in Kingston supposed to be very good.

Somewhere with very little provision and in a LA that 'likes' children to stay in hometown... There are no mainstream schools 'known' for being particularly expert in ASD (I move in the right circles to hear)...

So it is just big-standard all the way

Bog standard even!

Where to start?! I would make a list of all possible schools (including those you would ordinarily dismiss for whatever reason), then speak to the head of SN for each school. I don't know what the official title is, but the person actually based there who is in charge - they can tell you what support is really like, and they should be open to you going for a face to face chat with them. You'll get a better feel for whether they can help your DS that way.

Is an independent school an option? We have a very good mainstream, non-selective indie that helps with SN (North East) and that might be something to consider? IME they really want your money, so they tend to go the extra mile.

Or HE. That is my plan if DD has my own issues (ASD) and no local school can help. You can still claim tax credits for childcare if you need to keep working, and you can fit the academic part of what he does in school into a couple of hours per day, then do GCSEs at college at 14-16 if you can't pay to do them privately. A lot of HE kids do a lot better academically than they were managing in school (I can probably find refs). The HE board here is amazingly helpful! I appreciate this is not an option for everyone.

Is your DS at primary? If so, maybe secondary will be such a big change that a dedicated TA can be accepted as a part of that overall change. Can you present it that way? Fortunately secondary school tends to have a fairly rigid timetable, so that helps.

Would a smaller school help? Less sensory/people overload? I had major problems with that at school, and smaller groups really helped. Just an idea. It may well not be possible in your area.

Thank you so much everyone

Indie is out of the question unfortunately... Financially impossible.

I have seen about 8 schools so far - some special, some unit and local mainstream. There is one small academy in the next town who felt that his level of need was too high for them (they actually showed me the door ). The rest of the schools are either 2000 pupil through schools or are older schools with insecure sites and many buildings which present a different set of issues!

The 'better' set ups seem to be the larger academies but they all have the approach of setting up support for them to access... He is completely rigid with regards to support though we are slowly changing that but we know he will not be ready and open to accepting support.

Any school would HAVE to do a robust transition - every school I saw brought this up themselves so very positive.

None of the schools could come up with a strategy to overcome him needing support but refusing to engage with it...
In primary they can set up an IEP to play a game once a week to learn to take turns and build this easily into his day as he is in one place, more managable... I am not convinced this is possible in secondary or that they will put any value on doing it if the need is not academic?

Lisa - my main question is do the teachers, as they change during the day change their approach to your pupil or do you provide that so that he doesn't get lost?

If theres any chance the teachers are trying to will you into choosing a SEN school, then I'd go for that. They're not usually supposed to recommend SEN schools outright, but I wish I hadn't second guessed myself so much, as my DS is yr 8 now (mainstream) but hasn't been since before Xmas. Its massively different to cope with, no matter how good the senco is.

The mainstream he's at, promised me all sorts of lovely things, how inclusive they were, etc etc. It was bullshit. The infrastructure just isn't there.
The whole thing just requires so much more autonomy than he can really cope with, and then there's the teasing from other kids, and individual teachers not having experience of ASD and undermining progress.

Branleus

Yes, in all honesty I think they are pushing us to special.

The issue is his primary school feel he could 'possibly' manage because they just about do (though he is violent at home at times).... His academic levels indicate mainstream

He's tricky

My heart says special but I almost don't want to do mainstream a disservice

What about a school with an attached ARP? (Additionally resourced provision).
There's a school near us with an asd unit, the pupils go to some mainstream lessons but they have their own space too and the curriculum is adapted to their needs.
I have a dd with asd but she has severe mh needs and goes to a school provided by her residential home. I also have a school classroom refuser who is not dx asd but would definitely benefit from an asd environment as he has severe social anxiety. Mainstream secondary is an alien world to my ds- I'd love to find the perfect school for him.

Meant to say- ds hates attention drawn to him so lessons with support are not an option! I think it's just the whole environment he objects to and no amount of 'support' will change that.

I've been told by various professionals who worked withbds in primary that they were desperately trying to get me to read between the lines in what they were saying. Its so difficult. My DS has now been turned down for the SEN school and I'm going to appeal, because they say academically he can cope. I say that's not the issue. He became a nervous wreck

Oh the mystery language of professionals!!! One has said 'he's mainstream boy' but ummed and ahhed when I asked if this was the case at secondary given that he was risk of exclusion 2months ago!

Ashtray...
That's interesting - my county calls their provision something different - they have 2 types - resource (mainly mainstream but support) and unit (educated away from mainstream but in the school)...

Unfortunately... Recent changes locally have left NO alternative provisions in my home town only special school - the nearest is 8miles away and they are the only ASD unit for 15miles radius... I have very little chance of a place and anyway the special school is actually lovely and feel they can meet his needs.

But I agree a unit or good resource provision would normally be great - he is currently in a resource provision but not worth the fight with such a good special school in town.