ASD and getting permanently excluded to get any help?

[whimsy]

We have had a nightmare time with school and DS2. He started reception last September and has never done a full day let alone a week! They said he had possible ASD but couldn't cope with him and when they physically restrained him he would try and escape which resulted in him biting or scratching the teachers.

I took him out between October and December as they were talking about permanent exclusion and I felt at 4 it was wrong. He went back for a couple of weeks just doing 1 hour twice a week but again the permanent exclusion chat came out and I said I'd keep him at home.

He went on a positive behaviour course at a pupil referral unit, Tuesday afternoons for 5 wks when he displayed some of the behaviours the school were finding so challenging i.e. walking out of the class room, shouting I'm going home but was quickly talked round and no physical intervention was needed.

We have had a CAF in place since April who has been useless a group of people who don't really know DS2 talking and we are no better off! The school basically don't want him :(

Anyway CAMHS completed a DISCO assessment on him at the end of June and they have provisionally diagnosed ASD with maybe an attachment disorder. They said until he has an assessment with his peers they can't write the full report? CAMHS said they had spoken to the school on the last day of term and said I need to send him back in September so they can permanently exclude him? Which the school told her they will have to do if he returns!

CAMHS have said he will get the help he needs then Once excluded he will be sent to a PRU and she can watch him there and from then the LEA will have to find him a suitable mainstream school with additional support.

I have applied for a parental Statement and have had a letter over the holidays to say; yes they are going to assess him.

DS2 hates going near the school now and won't go near certain teachers and has a meltdown if I try and get him in the same room as the deputy head and senco. I had to take him to see the Head once a week at 3pm while he was accessing the PRU but have found out from CAMHS that the funding for Behaviour support service was not allocated in April so they won't be getting any help from them this year.

I have looked at a mainstream school the other side of the city which is opening a ASD unit in September but they can't offer a place until his statement comes through, which I don't think will be before Christmas. By which time he will have missed 98% of his reception year and his first term of Year1.

I really don't know which way to turn, do I drag him back so he gets permanently excluded or just De Register him and Home Ed him which the CAHMS lady said would not help him and I should fight for a school. The LEA will have to help if he gets excluded and in the long run it will help him? What a mad system if the only way a child with ASD can get help is if the exclude him at 5 :(

Do not send him to the PRU.

ask the LEA to provide HOME TUITION for him.

Have you applied for a statement for him?

You also need the school to put in writing their concerns for your son returning to school and their exclusions threats.

some info here that may be of use.

I have my reservations about the PRU after some of the word's ds2 came out with which he'd picked up off a little boy, thankfully as he doesn't hear that sort of language he has forgotten it

I have applied for a Statement but they have only just agreed to assess him so I'm assuming that could take a while.

I shall have a look at your Link, thanks.

I just feel so alone and confused at the moment and just don't know what to do for the best! I know it's because we have only just got diagnosis but he is such a lovely little boy, I just wish these so called professionals could see it :(

ask CAMHS if there is a parents support network in your are?

Yes do you have a parent partnership officer google them -they can be useful sometimes.

Stay in the system (on roll at the school, tell the LEA and CAMHS that your child is school refusing if you have to, to keep him out the pru if you really don't want him to go.

Email as many other schools as you can and ask them if they can meet your childs needs and use their replies as evidence for the statement.

And see if you get through to IPSEA (google) they can be good or sossen (google).

Try googling ACE too. Someone answered my phone call 2 weeks ago. If your ds has a disability, they can still exclude him for the same reasons that they would exclude a NT child but they have to make reasonable adjustments for his disability (if I remember correctly). For that reason, my ds ms is putting into place schemes to show they are taking nto account his disabilty before they can exclude him (rather than supporting me in getting him transferred to a special unit).

I agree with the CAMHS lady actually, don't deregister him as the LA will be less motivated to help you. It's true that there will be more support available if he is excluded, sadly. It's important that any time out of school is recorded as an official exclusion, do not agree to collect him unless it is recorded as such.

Generally you can't get a unit place without a statement but the SEN COP allows for unstatemented children to get an emergency placement if they're going through assessment:

8:23 In exceptional cases it may be necessary to make an emergency placement for a child,
for example where:
a the child?s medical circumstances have changed suddenly, causing a rapid and
serious deterioration in the child?s health or development
b the parents, school, relevant professionals and the LEA agree that a sudden and
serious deterioration in the child?s behaviour make the child?s current placement
untenable or unsafe
c where a child arriving unexpectedly in the LEA exhibits such significant learning
difficulties as would normally warrant a statement; the LEA should consult the parents
and those immediately concerned, including the previous LEA, about the most
appropriate placement
d where a young person returns home from a secure unit or young offender institution.

Write to the LA and ask for an emergency placement to be made.

Whimsy

Do NOT send him to the PRU.

The LEA are trying it on by even suggesting that he shold be sent to a PRU. The LEA know that Dept for education guidance states quite clearly that the needs of children with longterm specail needs should not be met in a PRU. You can quote that to them. That should make them back down and start looking for suitable provision.

PRUs are all about managing bad behaviour. They are deisgned to get the child straight back into mainstream eductaion as soon as possible. they have little (no) expertise in SENs. A child with ASD will see some very unacceptable behaviour within a PRU and will almost ceratinly start mimicking it - that's how they learn. You'll have a son with even more problems on your hands than you did before he went to a PRU!

I know all this because my own LEA tried this on with me and my DS.

Say NO to the PRU as unsuitable for a child with long-standing SENS and quote the guidance.

Do not disenrol him from his current school.

If they permanently exclude then insist on the LA providing home tuition. If you do that you'll find that things get resolved swiftly as the cost tothe LA of providing one-to-one home tuition will make them start looking for a cheaper more suitable placement.

Hold out for the ASD unit attached to mainstream

Best wishes

Oh- forgot to say.

the LA can admit him to an ASD unit without a Statement - and they know that.

CAMHS should be told that you want a report from them now - they must do that.

Thank you all for the good advice, you've helped me feel a bit more positive about everything. If he need's to get excluded then so be it, but at least I know that I can refuse to let him be sent to the PRU.
I shall get onto the LEA this week before the schools go back asking for either Home tuition or an emergency placement.

Agree with everyone about the PRU. They are not suitable for children with an ASD at all. I would also caution against a permanent exclusion - your local authority should have an Inclusion Team who are there to guard against px's and should be able to support your need for the ASD unit place and really should be supporting the school too.

From bitter, bitter personal experience a permanent exclusion for DS (who was at start of Y5 so older) was devastating for him personally. He became so depressed that he tried to kill himself and was a school refuser for a while. There is NO WAY I would have sent him back to that school, but it would have been so much better for DS's self esteem if they could have explored other avenues with us and supported us in a managed move to a more apporpriate setting.