Why would the school block referral to SISS?

[moosemama]

Its long winded and back and forth, back and forth etc, so I won't go into it and bore you all.

The long and the short of it is that the school have blatantly lied to us saying that they cannot get the Specialist Autism/Social & Communication Inclusion Support Service in until ds has had his multi-dip assessment (which is not due until next April). They have barefacedly told me exactly that this afternoon.

I, on the other hand, have spoken directly to the clinical manager of the assessment unit and directly to SISS, oh and to the Ed Psych, all of whom have told me this is utter crap and the school should have referred ds back in January, as soon as they knew he had SEN.

So, why would the school do this? Is it something to do with funding? Do they get have to pay for SISS involvement via their SEN budget or something?

Its the school's fault that he is in the state he is in at the moment and now they are deliberately stopping him getting the support he needs to help him through it.

I am absolutely steaming mad, so much so that I have the headache from hell and stomach cramps. I have spent all week on the phone to one service or another and all but the school have been really helpful. I really wish we could just get him out of that school, but its just not possible, unfortunately.

Thanks to advice from the lovely lady at SISS, we are now seeing the GP tomorrow afternoon, with a SISS referral form ready signed and clutched in our sweaty little palms. We were already seeing her about something else to do with ds1, so its good timing from that point of view.

I so hope SISS will take him on really quickly. That will be one in the eye for the school!

It is always about money. It sounds to me probably like it would have to come out of their budget,and so they are trying to put it off for as long as possible. Or they are just useless, which is also very possible in my experience. Also, once he is "official", they may have to fund more interventions for him. You have done just the right thing in bypassing the monkey and going straight to the organ grinder.

Thank you.

I am sure its probably about money as well.

It makes me soooo mad. Where is the child in all this? Because they are so hopeless, I have ended up having to get an emergency Ed Psych referral and also a referral to CAMHS myself this week already. Every service I have spoken to has been appalled at how slack the school has been.

Words fail me. How can they not see what an anxious, depressed and struggling little boy they are dealing with. He is, no word of a lie, a different child than the child we had prior to the last school year. I was watching a video of him as he used to be the other night and the change in him is both obvious and heartbreaking. I turned to my dh and said - "where has that little boy gone? Because he's not the same child we have here with us now."

I've already had to bypass the school and go to the gp to get him referred for ASD assessment. He was given a verbal dx at his first visit with the paediatrician, who said there could be little doubt that he has a high functioning ASD.

Statementing is on our current to do list, but I am already up to my eyes in it and struggling to keep both mine and ds's heads above water and I'm sure they will do everything they can to not support that as well.

I'm so tired of fighting and yet the fight has really only just begun.

Sounds a real nightmare. I would start requesting a Statutory Assessment now as they take a good 6 months and you don't need to have a dx. Do all area's have a Social & Communication Inclusion Support Service do you know? This sounds like it would be helpful for my ds. Has social problems but after Ados test told he doesn't have an ASD.

Thanks Starlight, it does sound like that's what it comes down to. Can't think of another reason why they wouldn't want to give a child the support he needs. They seem to think that because he achieves well academically, they can get away with sidelining him and ignoring his other problems. They are in for a shock if they think I will take that lying down.

I have expended too much time and energy trying to stay on the school's good side, thinking that would make them more likely to be sympathetic to our requests/ds's needs and it has got me/him nowhere. I now have my hackles up and am in full-on fighting mode. I only wish I had had the guts to do it sooner.

fightingthela, dh and I were going to do it at the end of the holidays, but there has been so much else going on over the past couple of weeks, we just didn't manage to do it. Then we thought we would hang fire and see how he settled into this year for a couple of weeks as he does have two very good and sympathetic teachers this year. Well, it hasn't taken that long. Three days into term and we had already made up our minds we needed to go ahead. I'm still not sure exactly what to ask for in terms of specific help though.

I'm not sure if all areas have a S&C Inclusion Support Service, a lot of similar services at different councils/LEAs come up if you google 'school inclusion support service' though. Our local council has all the information about them, including pdfs of all their information leaflets and contact details etc. Tactical error by our school, as the council's website actually encourages parents to ring up and ask what the service can do for them.

Thanks Moosemama. Agree with you that because academically things are fine no-one is too fussed about helping you. When we saw paed for Ados test he actually said " why are you asking for statement if there are no problems academically?" I pointed out that ds had behaviour,emotional and social difficulties hence the referral for Ados test! Grrrr

Well, we have been to the GP today and she was appalled at the lack of support we have received and particularly with the way the school seems to be blocking ds getting any support. She said she has other children on her list who are awaiting assessment at the same place and have been referred to all the relevant services, including SSISS (sorry, spelt the acronym wrong yesterday) without question and without their parents having to do all the legwork and research their entitlements. Apparently SSISS is centrally funded, rather than 'bought in', so she said she cannot think of one good reason why the school wouldn't want to call them in to help ds.

She was absolutely lovely actually. Handled ds beautifully, was eminently patient and took triple the normal consulting time with us without once making us feel like we were taking up too much time or holding the clinic up. She has not only signed the referral forms for SSISS, but also underlined my reasons and written "I agree with all of the above" and then signed her statement. She is also referring ds back to his Paed for further investigations into his digestive problems and is referring him to CAMHS for help with his anxiety etc.

I was so relieved I could have hugged her!

Still not sure if SSISS will actually take ds on, as I now have a copy of their policies and procedures and the criteria for ASD Inclusion Support seems a little woolly to me. Still, we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

In our LEA there is no referral until you have a written dx of ASD.It is how our LEA rations resources. Without the right dx on paper there is no specialist support.

maybe each school gets allocated so many hours? - and they have decided to use it for a different child? our Health Authority allocates a speech therapist to each school, but they are only there one day a week, if then add in the fact that (for reasons best known to themselves), they don't take children at assembly time - presumably also not from breaks - and they may also sit in on annual reviews for children with statements on that day, time for catch up with SENCO or teachers - there is a limited number of children they can see in that day.

...or maybe, as you say, there is some twuntery afoot

Thanks Starlight. Normal crap service has been resumed this morning in the form of an appointment with an utterly useless dietician, who knew less than me and had basically just handed me a load of gluten free manufacturers leaflets and a pile of sheets she'd printed off CoeliacUK!

She wants to take ds off gluten again for a period of 8 weeks despite the clinical picture being muddied by him developing severe anxiety related IBS and reflux. Also, he tested negative for coeliacs back in June this year and that he had a 12 week gluten exclusion diet at the end of last year, which the paed acknowledged did improve both his symptoms and behaviour. He has just been referred back to the Paed to have all his digestive problems properly investigated, so I think it would be best to wait and see what approach the Paed wants to take first. I only went to see her to get some advice on making sure he has a balanced diet that is providing him with all the right vitamins and minerals, particularly as he is vegetarian, on a low gluten diet and what with having constant diarrhea and vomiting he is not likely to be absorbing nutrients properly. She looked through my meticulously kept food diary and didn't even pass comment, then just banged on about buying fortified cereals for hi and recommended Readybrek - two seconds after she said she wanted him off all gluten and oats! Aaaargh!

With regard to SISS, I have read the policy and procedures a bit more thoroughly now and it clearly states that they accept referrals from children dx with an ASD as well as those awaiting assessment from the multi-dip assessment unit. I now have the relevant page copied and highlighted in bright green in the front of the folder I take to school meetings!

I have also found out that, main/basic support is centrally funded, but schools can buy in more intensive and targetted/specific help and training if they want to.

I also had a revelation as I was putting together the referral application last night. I realised that the letter we had from the Paed last January actually says in big bold letters at the top: Diagnosis: Aspergers with Additional Concentration and Fine Motor Skills Issues.

So it would seem we do have a dx of Aspergers in black and white after all.