I am head of a small 6th form in a rural school. I have posted about this student before, and have had brilliant advice, so I'm hoping someone can help me again.
The student in question is an academically bright boy. He went to a different school for KS3 and KS4, but was bullied, so his parents moved him to us for KS5 - they like the fact that the 6th form is small and separate to the rest of the school. They didn't make this decision until after the start of term in September, and his previous school was expecting him back there - they had systems in place for his needs. We did not. The boy is an elective mute, and has a fixation with a particular (sadly commonplace) word, which stresses him and sets off fairly violent incidents (turning tables over, punching walls etc) He also has a habit of writing notes and has also sent offensive emails to random students on the school system. Our aim is to support him as best we can, so we have provided him with a quiet, safe place which he can go to when he is feeling stressed, and he has a designated person (6th form pastoral assistant - not specifically for him but she has experience with autistic students) to whom he can go at any time. She is the only person in school he will speak to. His parents are quite tricky to deal with - seem to be in denial, to an extent (Dad told us his son is not autistic) - we tend to deal with his dad as Mum is not an English speaker. They insist the boy is happy at school.
In the last two weeks, the boy has started to hurt himself deliberately. He is doing so during lessons and in the common room at break and lunch times. He has been repeatedly shutting his hand in a filing cabinet door, stabbing himself with a compass on his hand, arm, leg and neck, and pushing his knuckles into his throat until he gags and his eyes bulge. Obviously we gently try to stop him from doing these things, but I am very very concerned about it. I have very little experience of this sort of thing, and really am after some advice as to how best to handle it. I spoke to his older brother yesterday afternoon, after the boy was hurting himself at lunchtime. They kept him off school today. The father called today to ask if we need to have a meeting before he is "allowed" back in school. Keeping him off today was their decision, so there's no "not allowed" about it, but I do think a meeting would be a good idea.
Can anyone help please?