Sen

[pumpkin9496]

What do you about school refusal . My child started of refusing to get on his mini bus to school , trying to get her on the bus led to meltdowns . So only way to get her to school was paying for a taxi - for me and her to Get her to school the schools about 8 miles away and costing about 35£ a day to take her to school . Now she’s refusing to even get dressed for school , she does have asd and goes to a sen school but she’s only 7 . I don’t know what the cause of the school refusal is and what I can do to try get her there .

I have a child at SEN school who is a regular school refuser so you have my sympathies! It’s tough!

Have you spoken to school to see if anything has happened which might be affecting how your child feels about going into school?

It is worth asking for a meeting to discuss with school to see how they can support you.

Is your child able to communicate to you if anything is upsetting them or making them feel unsafe?

What support is DD receiving? What is in the EHCP and is it being followed? Do you think the current school is suitable? When was the last review?

Transport should be non-stressful, so if individual transport is required rather than the minibus, that should be provided. Speak to the LA.

No she’s not able to communicate what the issue with school is . School have set up meetings with the LA transport and myself but the LA basically said not a lot they can do , as they don’t think it would make a difference . The last review was in December , she child has 1:1 and in a small class of 8 .

She will be entitled to a taxi paid for my the LA if it is more suitable or they can pay you a personal transport budget (PTB) so you can transport her to school in a car/taxi/public transport. You would need to contact the LA transport department to arrange changing to either of these.

Have school said anything about how she is when she is in school? Is it an issue at school that is making her not want to go into or is she struggling with the transition from home to school?

Don’t listen to the LA saying there is nothing they can do. There is. You need an early review of the EHCP. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use to request this. Other than the 1:1 and max class size of 8, what other support is in the EHCP? It might not work, but the LA could try individual transport or give you a budget. They can do this. Don’t be fobbed off.

Maybe that school (what ever it’s called) isn’t working. Either the people or the environment. If she is unable to go in whilst you are taking her to school via taxi there is more to add…..

If she was happy at the school she wouldn’t “refuse / be unable “ to go in. Can she communicate? Even drawing and you doing a yes or no game.
Is food an issue?
Does she like the 1 to 1 person?
The noise?
The other children? Any disruptive behaviour that she can’t cope with seeing.
The teacher?
The toilets?
The work?

There will defo be something and it could be a mixture of lots of things but don’t force her there if she isn’t able to. She would go in ok if the school could meet your child’s needs. But trying to push through will only make things harder in the long term / create more trauma associated with school.

Maybe try and talk to the teacher her 1 to 1 and find out what they think regards how she finds the school.