Severe & Moderate Learning Difficulties - Would you put a child with an IQ of 111 in a school like that?

[Candlewax]

Because that is what our LEA want to do!!! The barstewards have finally conceeded that mainstream is not the place for ds. We have found, after extensive searching/researching a school that ds loves. Trouble is, it is expensive. So, the LEA in their wisdom are suggested that he goes to a school for SLD/MLD and communication disorders which is a lot, lot cheaper. He is AS so does have social/communication problems like any other AS child but his academic ability is fine - he is starting GCSE tuition for science a year earlier than most! He does stuggle with English but his reading/comprehension level is at the ceiling height. His spelling is at the lowest virtually. He can read, he can write but he cannot spell. I have said I think he is Dyslexic but no one wants to listen to that!

I am fuming.

We are going to SENDIST anyway, just it means the goal posts have moved. We are no longer having to prove that mainstream does not work, we will have to prove that our choice is much better than their choice.

I always thought that if a child had an average or above average IQ then a MLD/SLD was not an appropriate school. This is one of the reasons by DS goes to a non LEA SN boarding school. He sounds very similar to yours and is sitting his GCSE's next summer.

How can they justify sending him to a MLD school - does it have an ASD unit with children at a similar ability/level. If not, then I would fight this. My DS's reading is at 18 yr old level but his comprehension is much lower. His ability to transfer knowledge is also limited which is causing problems with maths GCSE etc.

Good luck.

It is not AS specific but the one we want is. It apparently groups its children by abilities and not peer groups. In the AS school the children are all of similar IQ's within their peer groups so that they can interact/work with each other. It could mean that my ds is with children much older than him and I am not sure that this would be appropriate. The AS school does do GCSE's but this other school appears not too. My ds is capable of getting GCSE's.

I shall be fighting this all the way. My ds has been out of school for over a year due to not being able to cope in a mainstream setting and the last thing I want is for him to go somewhere else that would cause him mental anguish.

Is is possible to find a school where he will be in specific year groups. My ds's school has them in year groups, I think he has nine in his class and then they are streamed for things like maths and english. There was a child when he started there that was so good at maths that he was taken to a local college to do an "A" level.

I think it is better that they are in their year groups when they get to secondary school. My ds went to a S&L SN primary school where they were put in classes according to their language level/ability so he spent his first 2 years in the same class but it didn't matter that much when he was only 5/6 and his language level was at a 2/3 yr old.

Would you contemplate him boarding - my ds has benefitted hughly from this. He has been boarding since he was 9, it helps him with friendships, independence skills, behaviour etc. It would also give you more choice of schools. My ds boards weekly, going on a Monday morning and coming back Friday afternoon. He looks forward to going back every week !!!

The more I come across issues like this the more I realise SN education provision is virtually non-existant. They insist on all children doing the stupid national curriculum instead of concentrating on dc getting an "education" that wil give them the best life skills.

Candlewax get your local mp on board to help if you can.

An MLD school normal caters for children with IQs between 50 to 80. Most children don't sit any GCSEs yet alone sit GCSEs early.

There is no doult that your son would rot and learn nothing in such an enviromnent. You need to fight this tooth and nail.

Countingto10 - It is actually a weekly residential school that we have identified. DS has been there for an assessment and they have offered him a place. He absolutely loved it there! The LEA at first said he did not need a residential place and stuck with mainstream and now when we have put in our evidence to SENDIST, they have backed down on that just 6 weeks before Tribunal. Told us they had reviewe DS's file . Our choice would be brilliant for ds and it is down to money now I believe because I cannot understand how they can suggest a MLD/SLD for a child with AS who is capable of high achievement in the right environment.

As I said previously, DS has been out of school for over a year. This has been a year of struggle for us all as a family too. Why do LEA's have to do this to parents and children?

I would ask to see a copy of their policies that states it is appropriate to send a child with IQ of 110 to school that is there to educate dc with and IQ of 50-80.

It's disgusting.

I forgot to clarify - after a four month struggle, the LEA gave DS home tuition. That is why he is still doing lessons. Must have been confusing to think I was saying he was doing GCSE's early and out of school too! Mind you, he only gets 8 hours a week and we had to get a solicitor to fight for that too as he was only getting 4.25 hours a week up until July.

Sorry they have made such an unsatisfactory suggestion. Go and see the inappropriate school anyway - hopefully you can get the head on board with reasons why the SLD/MLD school is unsuitable.

I assume you have evidence of your son's IQ/ability so would it not be better to go to tribunal. They have agreed that he cannot go to mainstream as that has failed and the school they are suggesting is not suitable in anyway.

When I first tried to get my son a suitable school place at 5, I was in a similar position. There was no way he would have coped in mainstream, the ASD unit didn't want him/a more suitable child for the place, the S&L unit didn't want him because he was too autistic and he had an above average IQ so MLD school was out of the question. When I suggested an ICAN school (Fees £23,000 per annun for day pupil in 1997) they said we will see you at the tribunal. That was said to me in a face to face meeting with senior SN education officer at LEA. I got home and within the hour she was on the 'phone saying they had had a rethink and were going to fund a place. I got her to put it in writing (I still have the letter) as the headmistress of the school said that was unheard of.

Once he was out of the LEA system and into "out of county" it has been much easier and I didn't have any problems with funding for his next school.

I think I saw one of your postings for info on Phillip Green Memorial School. If this was you, this school caters for MLD/SLD pupils so in that respect the LEA could argue that they can provide the same "within county". My son attends St Dominics in Hambledon which caters for specific learning diabilities for pupils with an average or above IQ. Maybe you should be looking at this tyoe of school.

Please accept my apologies if I have got this wrong.

I've been advised to go and see it because apparently the Tribunal panel will not be impressed if I have just turned it down without seeing it. I only hope the HT when we meet realises that she cannot meet ds's needs.

The Philip Green Memorial school is the one they want me to consider Countingto10. I know the St Dominics school, it is not far from me! I had considered that originally but the HT there said they did not have a place anyway. I have also looked at Unsted Park which you probably know but ds buried himself under the bed when I suggested an assessment there. He has made up his mind it is the school we/he wants or nothing.

Forgot to say we do have evidence of his IQ ability. He was tested very thoroughly by an EP using the Weisher scales (sp). Two of his IQ scores would mean that Oxford would take him now apparently! But, as he has a spiky profile, his base IQ comes out at the 111 level.

He has come on in leaps and bounds since the original assessment too. His home tutors are very impressed with him since this September. He is learning advanced Algebra and other things (over my head) in maths too and they want to start him on GCSE maths after half term as well.

God, this is all such a mess. It has been the most stressful year of my life I think and his. Why can't the LEA just give him what he needs?!! And yes I know the answer, because what he needs cost money.

Funny that you should say involve your MP CarGirl because that is what CAMHS said to us at the last visit! Maybe it is a route I should go down.

From the website it doesn't look like an LEA school so their decision doesn't make sense. The fees are similar to my son's school fees and I assume, the fees of the school you want your son to attend.

I would go and see the school (it is obviously some distance from your home) to fulfil your obligation as far as the tribunal is concerned and then "put all the facts on the table". IMO they will probably back down at the last moment.

I hope it all goes well for you - we are currently looking at colleges for DS to attend next year and are going to have to applying for funding for that (not LEA this time !).

My friend got her dd allowed to repeat a year and therefore be out of year, this is unheard of in Surrey. It was allowed on 3rd appeal with the backing/support of her local councillor. So I think having someone like that on side can really help.