Questioning mainstream?

[Lizziewest88]

Hi

So my child is 6 with autism. He’s in year 1 still waiting for his final EHCP. In the last couple for weeks I’ve started to question if he needs a special school. He’s non verbal at school, holds a teachers hands all day due to being so frightened. Has two friends. Getting behind on everything due to his anxiety/ sensory needs. He has problems with his fine motor schools. He doesn’t participate in PE due to being scared. He’s out of the class lots doing interventions.
appreciate people’s thoughts. I’m lost really.
thanks x

Hi op, I didn't want to read and not reply. I would personally push for specialist provision... especially if that is what your gut is telling you.
The specialist provision would probably meet your child where they can thrive, as it sounds like your dc is quite overwhelmed and anxious in their current setting.
Have you looked at any other schools? What did the EHCNA indicate in terms of provision? Do your dcs current school feel they can meet need? Have the indicated that they can't?

Thanks for your reply. The educational psychologist states that he needs a lot of support for him to manage in his current setting. His class teacher does not think he will cope beyond KS1. There is a local autism school 15 mins from us. I just don’t know what to do for the best!

If you're questioning whether the current school is the right place, it sounds like it would be worth looking elsewhere, which will either help you to feel positive about the current school, or show you that there is something more, that could better meet need.
It'd be good to get prepared, so that you can be ahead of the game for KS2. The sooner you start looking, the quicker your dc would get into a specialist provision... Whereas if you leave it you'll just be starting further down the line.

My DC isn't non-verbal, but friends I've got whose DCs are non-verbal have all transitioned to specialist provision eventually, just at different stages ... Some for year R entry. Others at end of KS1.

The main thing I've learnt on my sen battle is that I should listen to my gut. ❤️

You could look at alterbatices, but to ke, the school looks like a great place for your son. You say he has loads of intervention and hokds the hand of a teacher all day, which means ge trusts the teacher, feels safe with them and uses them to help him regulate. Special Schools ultimately cater for very challenging children, so he would be surrounded by a lot of children who need a lot more than hand holding to regulate their emotions abd behaviour, and even most SS can't meet all needs, so behavioral problems and disruptions are not miraculously absent from SS, what can be very frightening for a sensitive, well behaving but abxious child. Even just having a lot of other children loudly stim can be upsetting for a young child who doesn't yet understand autism.

Have you looked at what SS are within travelling distance? Not just the one 15 mins away. Not all SS are the same. Not all have a lot of pupils who demonstrate disruptive behaviour.

Looking at the evidence collated during the NA will help. Not just the EP report, but what about OT and SALT.

Many have to appeal for SS, so you need to consider not just Y1 but as DS progresses through Y2 and into Y3. Particularly if DS is not spending much time in class.

I think holding a teacher's hand all day could be interpreted 2 ways... I think I interpreted it differently to you... although it's great that being close to safe adults makes OPs DC feel secure, on the flip side, they may actually be getting very little interaction. If they're sticking close to the teacher, but the teacher is ignoring them because they are doing whole-class input for the other children, dealing with other children coming up to them and saying he hurt me / I have a nosebleed / I don't understand / I need the toilet / someone said a swear / they took the pencil I had first ... etc etc, then the OPs LO is only really like a shadow and the teacher won't have the chance to actually invest in the child, because they're actually teaching and tending to all the other children, while the OPs DC just stands there, observing. It may be that OPs child is just being pacified by the hand holding, rather than actively engaged, meaning their anxiety is still really high. That was how I interpreted the hand holding 😢 A sad picture of the reality of mainstream and juggling the needs of 30 children in a class ..not that OPs DCs teacher doesn't care. ❤️

Thanks. Thats given me some questions to ask school. I think it’s just pacifying DC.

Good luck OP! ❤️