Flexi schooling- mention on EHCP application?

[tigerskinrug]

I am in the process of applying for EHCP for ds aged 12. Long history of school refusal, he has been out of school for 6 years and officially home schooled. He has a complex medical history and ASD/ADHD. Is adamant that he wants to go to school (is isolated at home, mostly his choice) to meet people but only for 2 days a week

I'm not sure whether to put this on application or not? Would it do more harm than good? He will be going to mainstream but I am hoping for 1-2-1.

Does anyone have any experience with flexi-schooling?

Any advice for application will be very helpful. Thanks

Sorry I don't have any experience, but there must be others in a similar position. Are you on the FB group "Home Educating our Special Needs children"? Lots of traffic there so you may get some responses.

Do you know what it is about the school environment which appeals to your son in terms of meeting people? Perhaps there are alternative settings which could meet that need more flexibly. For example, if he wants something with lots of structure, maybe an after-school language class, or a special interest group, or a tutor-led study group for home educated kids.

Not trying to put you off the original idea, it just sounds like it could be a huge effort and delay to arrange, and then when he finally gets there it might turn out to be different from what he's expecting or hoping!

BTW in a couple of years you might explore what local colleges offer. Many have dedicated provision for 14-16 year olds. Home educated kids can dip in for just a few classes if they want. If the college accepts him onto a course, funding is automatic.

Thanks a lot Saracen. Unfortunately our colleges no longer accept under 16's, so that really isn't an option. We have tried local HE groups but they are full of pre-schoolers, a few primary aged and zero secondary school aged so for obvious reasons ds doesn't want to go back.

I feel like I have to give school a try so that we have been there, got the t-shirt type of thing. If it doesn't work out then at least we can say that we have tried. Ds isn't very co-operative with me at home so is not learning very much, so part of me wants to hand that side of things over to someone else.

Oh, pity about the colleges not catering for under-16s. That's a shame.

It's true that in many areas, the general HE groups don't cater for teens. That isn't because they aren't doing stuff together (well, that might be the case, but probably not). It's because teens more often have a clear idea what they want to do and who they want to do it with. They can't so easily be chucked into a park together and told to play. But there may be a group playing computer games together, or studying geography or chemistry. This wouldn't always be advertised.

You could ask on your local HE list, and mention any special interests your son has. This could be worth exploring in parallel with the EHCP process. I might be misunderstanding your original post - I got the impression that you aren't very optimistic that school will work out? In which case checking out the alternatives could be good. But it totally makes sense to try it since he is asking for it. You'll never hear the end of it if you don't let him try school when he is insistent that he wants to.