Please tell me how schools should apply support to ASD kids

[tipsycat]

Hi. I'm new to mumsnet and i'm having a problem with school. My ASD son is 7 and has a statement for 25 hrs support per week (band D). He's just moved into juniors and instead of mainly 1 to 1 support (which worked fine for last 2 years) school are insisting on him working in small groups with just 1 TA, except for 30 mins 1 to 1 per day. My son is the only one in the class with a statement, and i feel that school are taking advantage of him. He doesn't display any behaviour issues at school but is at least 1 to 2 years behind in all his work. He has very poor attention and needs constant prompting to keep him on task. Please tell me how your schools apply support to your ASD kids.

no advise but big welcome to mumsnet my ds is 3.6 with ASD so not at that school stage with staement etc yet

hopefully someone will come along with some advise for you

OK, this is not right. What does he statement actually say he should have? If it's 1-1 then he is legally entitled to it. Got to run, but contact IPSEA and PArent Partnership (google them) and the National Autistic Society for support. Small group work is appropriate for children with ASD to help with socialisation etc, but it sounds to me as if he really needs 1-1 when he is working in order to keep up academically. My ds is bright, and ahead in many ways, but I still insist that his 1-1 works with him as he needs a lot of help planning activities, keeping on track and keeping organised, otherwise he simply cannot even start his work, just like yours.

Thanks for your comments. The statement is vague about how the support should be applied, so it looks as though we'll need to call a review so this can be specified. I get so cross when I think about the amount of work it took to get the statement in the first place. Does anyone else have any experience of this, and advice about how to resolve?

The support can apply to group work AFAIK, but limiting 1 to 1 to only 30min a day is extreme for a child with 25hrs support. Especially if he is at a level 2years behind his peers. Question SENCO asap.

Someone once told me that they went to see the statementing officer and insisted that the 1:1 support was explicit on the statement. Maybe you could try that.