Son is now perm. excluded.. what next?

[morninggirl]

My son (6) has been through a managed move (it failed very quickly) and is now being permanently excluded from his school (that he 'moved' from). Me and his father have a meeting with some officials from the local authority on Monday morning, but I'm wondering if anyone here can advise me on what to expect now for my son's education?

He's in the process of being assessed for a statement, but unfortunately the report from the Ed. psych. isn't in yet, so they are waiting on that to continue on (and the reports are not due to go to panel until Feb 8th :( :( :( )

(My son is undiagnosed, but from various opinions from appts and observations it's either an ASD (high functioning), ADHD or PDD-NOS.)

Is there anything I should prepare myself with for this meeting on Monday? or take with me?

Thanks in advance.. my mind is in 100 places these days..

Really sorry to hear about this. My son was also excluded from primary school and it was a stressful experience.

To start with, I would print out these guides from ACE and make sure you put them down prominently on the desk when you go in.

You say that the managed move failed, is your son on the roll of any school now? Is there are particular school you want him to go to? Have you considered local special schools as well as mainstream?

It might be worth calling local schools to check which ones have places and what kind of SEN provision they have.

Do you agree that your DS should have been excluded? You have the right to challenge the decision if you feel that it was unfair due to his SEN.

He is entitled to a full-time education while he is waiting for a suitable placement - this can be home ed by a tutor, so ask about this. (I'm not sure of the legal details, but it's probably in the ACE guide).

The LA might suggest sending him to a Pupil Referral Unit, but they aren't set up for pupils with SEN and are unlikely to offer the right kind of support. So I would look up details of any primary PRUs in your area and be prepared to question them if they suggest this.

If you're attending with his other parent, I would suggest that one of you concentrates on taking minutes.

You might want to post again on the SN Children's section as you'll probably get more replies on there.

As he is beinga ssessed I would call both IPSEA and SOS!SEN (google)- tehy are wonderful and experts in this field.

And if you want a big piile of powerpoints about ASD dx and the whoke thing do send me a message and I will email them back to you.

And yes, post in SN: loads of people ben through this there, ridiculously common.

@ sugarcandymistletoe

first, thank you so much for responding, feeling alone in all of this is the worst thing! and then knowing I'm not makes it easier.

I am going to print those outlines out (and read through them and make notes as applicable beforehand).

My son was on the role of one school before the managed move, that school has made the choice to permanently exclude Calvin (though this hasn't gone before the school board of governors yet from my understand and is unlikely to be Christmas break). As of right now, me and my son's father have not discussed any other local school's, as I don't drive, it's a consideration (as the two closest to me were deemed unsuitable for my son by the LA's inclusion/exclusion manager) - The only special school in the area also does not seem appropriate, it leaves us in a bit of a lurch at least for the time being.

There's one local(ish) school that has a specialist unit attached but the LA have advised it wouldn't be suitable for our son.

I believe my son was unfairly excluded due to his SEN (even if undiagnosed, the school was well aware long before it got to this point, the headteacher only said that they were unwilling to have him back and therefore they would be permanently excluding him (which I did expect because of the failed managed move)

I/We will ask about home ed tutoring, thank you for the suggestion.. the only local PRUs are for secondary school pupils, the managed move officer spoke to us about this.
My ex is usually the note taker but right now we are struggling to find someone to watch our son while the meeting takes place (I have no local family nor does he...)
thank you again for your suggestions, it helps a lot, right now I just don't want to feel left in the dark/alone with things.

@SantasMooningArse IPSEA are on my list to ring tomorrow morning! thank you!
I will send you a msg, any help will at this point!!:)

have sent info

IPSEA are good but hard to get in touch with- SOS!SEN just as good but easier to get hold of. I would try both; IME they ahev equally good but different ideas.

There's one local(ish) school that has a specialist unit attached but the LA have advised it wouldn't be suitable for our son.

They most definitely cannot tell you that as they have not fully assessed your son'sneds - as they would have had to have done if they had assessed him for needing a Statement.

Assessment for a Statement is what you should be demanding - especially as he has SENs.

If you don't he'll be automatically labbelled 'bad' and 'naughty' and placed in a PRU as soon as he is old enough.

Focus on his SENs and demand that they assess him properly.

Best wishes

Don't dismiss schools purely on the grounds of travel practicalities - if your son gets a statement (which sounds likely), he may be eligible for SEN transport.

I would recommend taking a proactive approach to searching for schools - agree with SausageMonster that the LA cannot really advise you on the most suitable schools at this stage. I would also take their advice with a pinch of salt even after the SA is completed; they won't necessarily recommend schools/units which are full even if it was absolutely the right place for your boy.

It's worth calling some schools now and asking for a visit (although you may not be able to before they finish for Christmas) as it will help you think about what your son needs from a school. If you're close to a LA border, consider looking at schools in the next county as well. There is an online directory of special schools for ASD and ASD units on the NAS website.

Check out the LA policy for viewing specialist placements: here, you cannot go until the panel has passed it and then they act as intermediary.

HOWEVER

have a gander at a few websites of likely palces- there may be a school fayre or two coming up that you can use as a reccy.

And YY to transport; we ahd nightmares over that. ds1 (ASD) and ds2 (dyspraxia) are in the local school, ds3 (ASD) in a unit miles away, ds4 dur to satrt nursery at local school in September at which time we hope ds1 will go to a specialist unit but could be sent to a comp in the next city......

argh.

DS3's transport drops at the primary each afternoon and if ds1 goes to unit he will get transport; we can request (nd will probably get on safety grounds as the walk is alongside a river) a taxi if he is allocated city comp also.

@SausageMonster - I think the LA made that assumption while we were looking into schools for the managed move, I'm not sure what they are going to recommend on Monday :/

It an assessment for a statement that my son's doing through now, reading what I wrote, I didn't make that very clear! Although it's early days in this process and his case isn't due to be heard by the panel until Feb 8th at the latest :(

We've been through CAHMs whom at this point aren't able to offer any more assistance, next week he sees his paediatrician again. I'm probably starting to repeat myself, if I am I do apologise! this week has taken it out of me emotionally and physically!

thank you for your advice, all the words of wisdom I can gather now make this all a lot less daunting!

I'm going to reply to responses one at a time so I don't get muddled up!! (and because time is short sometimes but I don't want to leave it as you guys are being kind enough to write me back!)

@sugarcandymistletoe - The one school we think would be suitable for our son is full at the moment, but to be honest, I have no idea what happens now with my son and school as the managed move failed and the exclusion.
We're not close to the LA border, unfortunately. I know without any sort of diagnosis, I may not be able to sway my son's father into looking at specialist units as he wishes (as do I ideally) our son to stay in a mainstream school with support, but how likely that is going to be is a different story (as I see things), but my mind is going in a lot of directions with all the info I have now!! :)

@SantasMooningArse - When looking into schools we wanted to choose for the managed move, the other two closer schools to me both me and my ex deemed unsuitable for our son (unable to meet his needs as we thought they needed to be met without a statement), sadly, our choice for the managed move was the same :/

Travel in shorter distances is better for my son, especially if it's to school. If he ends up going to a school further away, as soon as I could, I'd look into moving closer.

All so much to take in! I'll check back in later, off to get on with a morning and afternoon of home learning with him :)

Thank you again so much, there's a lot of relief and comfort in knowing I'm not out here alone going through this x

"It an assessment for a statement that my son's doing through now"

Do you mean the LA have started a statutory assessment process which may lead to a statement? What is the panel meeting on Feb 8 for - is it to decide whether he will be given or a statement or a note in lieu? I'm just trying to understand where you are in the process...

they have, it started back in early November when my ex wrote the letter asking for an assessment, it was decided that he would be assessed for a statement - The Feb 8th (well the week of the 8th as I was told by our case worker yesterday) is when the panel will decide whether or not to issue a statement..

(I hope this clarifies things!)