Sen transport to school stressing me saying ds is not eligible

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We live 2.2 miles away from the Sen high school ds is starting this September. The threshold for transport is 3 miles, if you live in this you may not be eligible for transport. They now want evidence of why ds cannot walk the 1 hour journey to and from school, other than his diagnosis of autism and not being able to walk this journey alone what else am I meant to provide ?!
He already receives transport to his Sen primary in which we live just under the 2 miles threshold.

I don’t drive so am not able to take ds to school, ds dad works and cannot be available twice a day to take ds and pick him up. We also have 2 toddlers who need to be in nursery for 9am.

I am so so stressed out, also I cannot get in touch with anyone from the send team, they still haven’t told me ds has got a place at the high school, I emailed and rang numerous time, all ignored, in the end I had to phone the actual high school and ask if ds was on the list. Please help.

Will they not advise about transport once his place is confirmed?
does he get any dla benefits you could use for a taxi?

Is there public transport that you could practice with him before September? Would he be able to do that?

The threshold for secondary school transport is, as you say, three miles, but I would have thought it would be different for specialist provision.

You haven’t explained why he can’t walk to school on his own.
Buy him a bike.

He cannot use public transport on his own, he is autistic and would get lost, freak out from anxiety, miss his stop etc. Yes he does get dla but I’m not willing to send him in a taxi on his own twice a day. I thought the local authority had a duty to provide transport for children with disabilities ?

He is autistic, he has no road safety awareness. He doesn’t pay attention, walks into people/things as he’s in his own little world most of the time, he cannot judge distance safely, can’t reliably look in all directions when crossing the road etc

he can’t ride a bike

Ds suffers from anxiety quite badly around change and routine, he would become very distressed going alone in a taxi

Then you tell them this, with any written evidence from hcp or primary school. However your toddlers’ timetable is not a reason not to accompany him if necessary.

A diagnosis of autism does not automatically mean that your DS is incapable of walking to school, so it is right that you need to provide evidence.

Has your son needed 1-1 care provided by primary school to stay safe on trips or in public? Do you have any evidence that he is a flight risk, or that he has a reduced sense of danger?

Does he qualify for the mobility part of DLA/PIP? If so, use the same evidence, or use that money to pay for his transport to school.

he gets low rate mobility. No evidence as such, I mean they can watch him attempt the walk if they want to and see how it goes ? He is on a Sen school, they have constant supervision

Can’t you start to take him a few times on the bus as practice runs now, so it becomes routine and he can do it alone later on.

How old are the toddlers? It sounds like below age of statutory school?
are they in nursery for you to be at work or are you home when they’re in? unfortunately you may have to take them out to do the school run until you get things sorted. But firstly make sure he has a place at school!

What type of transport would be suitable? I’ve only known transport to school to be provided via a taxi.

I think you are being very unreasonable. They aren't refusing. They are simply asking for evidence.

Besides, you say he gets DLA which covers taxi already. Isn't this transport? I used to live next to a lady with a severely autistic son. He gets the taxi to school every day.

You explain how he has no sense of direction, no spacious awareness is sensitive to noise, rain? Snow? Thunder? Cars or whatever else he is. Im not sure if your husbanda job and younger kids would be relevant but worth. Mentioning to them. Explain his vulnerable every little detail. You might have to use his money for taxi's for a while so be prepared for that. Its also worth starting to get him use to a bit of independence if you can. So let him take the lead if he can and pay for bus transport. Try to get him to cross the road safety and keep practising its a life skill he'll need anyway.

He has the place at school confirmed, no thanks to the local send team who still haven’t replied to my emails or voicemails from March regarding this. No chance I’m losing two nursery places over this. I’ll take it to appeal and show what a joke the whole department is ignoring parents for months on end.

Councils are being crippled by the cost of SEN transport, and there is not an automatic right for children with any disability. It is based on need. Honestly I think this is what the DLA is for - to cover the associated costs of disability related mobility restrictions. You shouldn’t need the same thing paid for twice because you don’t want to walk him.

And i’m asking what evidence can I provide ? Other than a diagnosis and a video of ds having a meltdown when I tell him his usual transport is stopping and he’s expected to travel alone to school for one hour twice a day ? You have to remember this isn’t a neurotypical child

Some children with autism can manage bus journeys. That’s why they are asking for evidence.

the sort of evidence they want might be:

letters showing he got transport to his primary
any letters or documents you have from school or the diagnostic process that show he suffers anxiety

some Sen schools do skills for life type stuff where they go out of school in mini buses - if he got example couldn’t do that due to anxiety

can you think of examples of when he has been out and got lost or similar?

It’s not that I don’t want to, I physically can’t. I shouldn’t have posted on this board with the amount of hate for disabled people on Mumsnet. I will get my post removed.

My DS used to have transport to and from school in a minibus which did a route picking up and dropping off each kid along the way.

Sounds like you are part of the problem here.
crossing the road, getting a bus are very low level life skills he needs to learn anyway.

Do you work op? Why can't you walk with him? How far is the nursery to the school?

If he gets low rate mobility then you’ve answered questions about this before.

dig out the form (I usually take photos of it before I put it in) and use that.

it’ll be evidence around can’t safely cross the road, is unable to remember and follow routes, doesn’t understand money at all so couldn’t use a bus, can’t ride a bike.

does he ever go out on his own? Presumably not, so say not safe to go out unaccompanied.

2.2 miles. Yes I work from home. I can’t walk home as I have two toddler to take to nursery for 9am. The walk is 1 hour both ways.