my son,Adam is 14 years old.He has lots of problems suffering from night time epilepsy, very poor reading and writing. He has difficulty keeping up with the school level of reading and writing. His literacy levels are about 5-6 years old, but he is a bright boy orally. Also physically he looks like 9-10years old.
as an EHCP at school and currently in year 9.
His epilepsy affects his concentration, focus, energy levels and his emotions.
Before we knew about his epilepsy he always seemed to be a happy and healthy child. Even after he was diagnosed at the age of 4, he was still very energetic happy, well mannered and socialized boy.
But by year 3&4 of his school I became concerned about him as he was at the level of reception class in reading and writing. Otherwise he seemed a normal and clever boy. However, I did notice his concentration and focus was poor from the beginning even from year one .
So after applying and “re-appealing” for statement of education needs at year 4, he finally got statements of special education needs in year 7 in secondary! Frankly I think this took far too long and didn't provide enough support early enough and he still finds reading and writing still very difficult which makes his learning very limited .
As he moved to secondary school he seemed more stressed about level of his learning compared to his peers.
In October 2017 he became so low on mood and his confidence went even more down as he was becoming more aware of his inabilities at school compared to his classmates. Plus he was also getting bullied by kids saying, “why are you like this ?“ or “you can’t read the signs and the board etc or that why does the TA has to write for you?”
At one point He didn’t even want to go to school anymore as it was stressing him not being able to do much at school and he seemed very distanced from learning and doing things compared to other students.
We had a battle nearly every day to send him to school. And this was worrying as he was always a happy boy in primary and loved school even though he still had same problems at primary. However he had lots of friends there. His teachers used to say in “each” parent consultation that he is very polite , happy, kind to others and a Popular boy in school!
So now he was becoming more sad and angry boy who most nights would become tearful before sleep just to think about school, while at school he had to act like a big boy and normal to other kids.....
We have been seeing school staff about his issues many times but the school would to say they are doing as much as they can and said that he needs special, tailored help for him which our school is not able to provide.This is why we don’t want him go to a mainstream school anymore .
We have some special schools in mind which the borough rejects and gives a list of other mainstream school to him which will be exact same situation for him as he is in now.
The fact that the school system and his educational needs are not being met has made a huge affect on his confidence, emotions and mental health. In fact it has become so bad that we have started seeing a psychologist at CAMHS , and we have full report from him if needed.
He suggested Omaid has anxiety and is developing anger problems....
Sadly he also discharged him last week after seeing him for about six months believing that he can’t help him until his academic needs are met and said that the reason for his mood and anxiety and “a few other problems “ is the education system that he has been offered throughout his life. He suggested that finding the right education provision is the main priority.
He suggested we get legal advice about how to get Omaid’s needs met in the best way and to know what rights we or he has for meeting his educational needs.
I really don't understand the system very well I could do with some really good advice.
I'm prepared to fight if somebody can give me ideas about who to turn to, the kind of information I need to ask for and how to put the pressure on.