My ds is to be excluded as there is no help for him. Also they are now looking at special needs secondary school.

[HappyNewYearFeet06]

He was down for a mainstream secondary and it was named on his statement. From a meeting at school last night I found out that his helper that he has within the classroom has resigned and is leaving tomorrow and that when she has left there is no other help and so he will have to be excluded should anything go wrong and that will build up to a permanent exclusion. As for secondary in Sept, they are now saying he won't cope with mainstream and will need something else. The Ed Psych has named a school that has spaces but I have been told about this school and haven't heard good things. So where do I go from here????

Thanks. xx

ok, got it, sorry if this is going to be long!

Ds will require an educational setting where he can recieve some 1:1 as well as small group support from staff skilled and experienced in providnig programmes of support to pupils withb challenging behaviour, whilst having access to a mainstream environment. Within a mainstream school he will recieve 15 hours per week learning support assistance from the school and local authority budgets, in accordance with the current local authority regulations.

This is what it states in his statement amongst other things.

Ok - does it say anywhere whether he has high or low incidence needs? This determines how much support the school is required to fund from their own budget.

dx?? Are you asking what his diagnosis is? I assume so. He has ADHD with autistic traits.

The mainstream school is approx 1000 pupils whereas looking at special schools they tend to be around 75-150 max pupils. I have yet to go and have a look and speak with them about how they would deal with ds once he is there and that is something I really need to do next week.

The special school suggested sounds awful, I have looked at the Ofsted report and also word of mouth.

I don't know whether just to push on with mainstream and see what haoppens once he is there???

dustystar, what do you mean from high or low incidence needs? Just trying to read through but its baffling!

My questions for the MS school would be what will happen to your son in 'unstructured' times, like break and lunch time. IME this can be a particularly difficult time for children with ASD/ADHD. Will they provide him was a 'safe haven'

Do you think that his currenet school is trying to get him more support by forcing the issue with the LEA via exclusion?

FWIW I have seen children with a similar dx to your son to very, very well on MS, provided they got enough support. Others, who didn't, fell between the cracks

One paragraph says that his statement will be maintained whilst his needs remain severe and complex and beyond Step 3 of HCC SEN Audit criteria.

But doesn't explain what this is.

In part 3 of ds statement there is a line which states that he has low incidence needs. This means that his particular needs are not very common and therefore the school only need to fund 5 hours of his support as the LEA will fund the rest. If he was classed as having high incidence needs it would mean that his needs were much more likely to be seen in other children and the school then has to fund the first 15 hours of support.

I don't know what that is either. I really think you should contact IPSEA and ask their advice. They were really helpful when i had problems with ds old school.

Thansk guys. Nothing in part 3 although that is where I got the paragraph about his severe and complex needs.

what is sossen??

Sos Sen is a charity which you can ring with problems to do with schooling etc for a special education needs kid. They are very good and will help you fight your case, plus they can tell you all the legal ins and outs to do with statements. Any LEA would be a fool to take on Marion from SOS SEN, as she is a force to be reckoned with!

Sos Sen is a charity which you can ring with problems to do with schooling etc for a special education needs kid. They are very good and will help you fight your case, plus they can tell you all the legal ins and outs to do with statements. Any LEA would be a fool to take on Marion from SOS SEN, as she is a force to be reckoned with!

Thanks very much for that info, they sound fab and I will get onto them tomorrow.

xx

I would visit the Special school and see what its like rather than going on word of mouth.

You need to ask what qualifications the children do (if Any!) What the structure of the day is like? What range of special needs the other kids have and class size.

Advantage of special schools is that everyone knows everyone. If a child gets lost they will take them to where they are supposed to be. Your child would be nutured in a good special school and wrapped in cotton wool.

Disadvantages is that there is often a limited choice of GCSEs. Dependining on the school there may be a lack of good role models and academical expectations may be low.

I think you are wrong to reject any option out of hand. Go and see different schools and then make the decision. Incidently MLD schools are often over subscribed, I would be surprised if your son could get a place for year 7.

do you want him in MS?

If so this will have to be accomodated unless there is significant risk to him or other childre by him being there. they cannot exclude him - this will be breaking the disability discrimination act and they can be prosecuted.

I think you are on the way to resolve this but if you eed the act to quote am happy to oblige.

Thansk BBBee. If I need help I will call on you. Everyone on here has been so helpful. I don't think he will cope in MS but don't want him to be sent to some dive of a school where they just give up on them.

We have come across a special needs residential school that sounds fab. It is a last resort but will be good for everyonr including home life. I am not trying to get rid of him, just trying to give him the best that we can offer him so he still does well. Will let everyone know how I get on with that school and also if I need any help with his school at the moment.

x

Happy, I know someone who works in a residential and day special school. He says that for many of the families the residential aspect can be a life saver, and that the children are often happier too, because the have the consistancy etc and levels of care that they need.

He works with two boys with autism, he has a permanent helper.

When I work with children with ASD they are ofetn in a class of 24, and if I'm lucky they have a lsw, they don't always have that support. plus my mate is trained properly to help the children in the school reach their potential. Most of what I know about asd had come from reading MN.

Yurt1 would be a good person to talk bout this, he son has benn in MS and is now thriving in a special school

Just an addition- I don't know about where you live (which could be next door for all I know!) but here there is a chronic shortage of LSA's. The reason locally is that the college where they have to attend to get their certs has changed from evening to day classes, which takes all the trainess- by far the majority of those looking for jobs- away from the system. They had 4 lined up for ds3, by the time his statement was confirmed there was only one left, and she only becuase she only wanted to work in the village- she'd had several offers.

So although needs are legally required, in a few cases atm its proving impossible.

(BTW I have 3 sons, 1 is NT, 1 is AS / HFA and in MS with lots of great input b ut problems in unstructured times, he ahs problems as well with severe dyslexia. DS3 is mroe severe and is in MS part time at the mo with FT 1-1 (he's FT from Easter with FT 1-1 as well), but being assessed to find out which SN school will suit him best longer term).

He seems to be alot better in small groups etc.... and yes needs consistency.

The school we have found is at the moment a school to approx. 69 or so I have found out on the internet with approx working groups of 5 pupils. This is what I have read, I am awaiting a prospectus. I have looked at their Ofsted report too. It will be a life saver, not just for ds but all of us.

He will not cope in a MS school of 1000 pupils and class sizes of up to 30 with no additional support.

Will try and find yurt1.

x

Hi HNY, I am so sorry to hear of your situation. I work in SEN for the local authority and the others posters are right about your child's right to receive the support that is on his statement. The school are in danger of contravening the Disability Discrimination Act by saying already that he'll be excluded when he hasn't done anything to warrant this and it is their responsibility to find someone to support him. They can't change his statement without going through a formal process either - we would not normally allow a secondary to refuse entry as the presumption should be that he will cope in a m/s school with support. If that is found not to be the case then they can call an early annual review in the Autumn term to assess whether a change of placement is required.

Your first port of call should definitely be your SEN dept at the council - you could also try Education Welfare (again at the council), the SEN Governor of your school and Parent Partnership who work for the council but are advocates for the parents.

Best wishes.

Hi splodgesmum,

I called Parent Partnership the other day and they have the relevant details. They are gonig to call the school and ed psych to see what their views are and because they were at our meeting the other day too. However, the lady who I spoke to said it could take up to 3 weeks for them to get back to me. In that time I need to look at other schools as well as our local MS school too see what their views are on the situation. Thank you for your advice and letting me know fo all the different people who I can contact.

Parent Partnership do work very closely with the LEA, I would also seek independent advice from IPSEA and SOS:SEN.

Thanks attila. Parent Partnership said 3 weeks to get back to me though and I keep thinking about how urgent it is that we get this sorted soon.

I will look up Ipsea and sos;sen too.

I phoned 2 schools today who are going to phone me back and the Ed Psych who was at the meeting last week was meant to be calling someone from our local council and getting back to me and hasn't so I gave her a call today and she is out until tomorrow. So haven't really been able to talk to anyone as yet.