told asd son is borderline too high functioing for special school but not coping in mainstream any advice?

[autumnsmum]

hello again sorry everyone me again asking for advice my asd son is 6 and has asd and a history of school refusal .The local special schools outreach team are involved with him, he does not have a statement at present although outreach have recommended he has one . I think he needs more support than mainstream can possibly provide , he has no friends is extremely anxious etc , however as i have been told that he is average academicly he may have to stay in mainstream , i think this would destroy him any advice would be gratefully recived thanks in advance

autumnsmum

Go along with AO's recommendation and follow it through yourself. Would suggest you apply for a Statement yourself for him asap. As these can take at least 6 months to set up time is of the essense here.
A Statement would get his needs properly documented and its a document that is legally binding (unlike any other plan that gets offered to you). Statements are also used for social and communication needs, not just academic ones. If he did need a special school or even mainstream with an ASD unit attached he will need a Statement.

How helpful or otherwise are his current school?. What's the SENCO like?.

You would need to write to the Chief Education Officer at your LEA and give them six weeks to reply to your letter (mark that date on your calendar).

You my friend are your child's best and only advocate. No-one else is better placed than you to fight his corner for him.

www.ipsea.org.uk

Agree with all attila says but just to add that,although they are rare, special schools which give access to mainstream curriculum do exist.

You may be able to get a list from your local branch of nat autistic society of any schools which your lea have sent asd children to in the past.

Hi,

Where are you based? The best placement for your son sounds like a unit attached to a m/s school - unfortunately they don't exist everywhere.

We are having the same problem with dd2, we applied for sn school before she started resception but were refussed because she is too high functioning (no learning difficulties), so she started MS and we have had problems from day 1, she can't handle assembely, lunch times or PE due to the sound/noise in the hall, she has meltdowns and crys a lot. At the begining of term she refussed to go (had to cary her in). We asked dd's paed if we could reapply for sn school and was told they would say 'no' as she is ahead with her learning .

Dd2 is statemented for 30hrs 1:1 and is seeing OT and SALT, we also have outreach from the sn school but only when the school requests it (so far they have been in once).

It feels like dd doesn't really fit in anywhere, we have no ASD units near us and theres no place for her in sn school.

Some independent special needs schools for ASD's go from age 7. like eagle house, priory lodge. Very expensive so you will probably need a statement.

Not all mainstream schools are the same, and if they equally cannot meet his needs, there are independent ones that are good for children with AS or ASD who are academically able.

The LA is unlikely to tell you about those however as if you can prove that they do not have either a MS or SS that can meet your child's needs they will have to fund one of the independent places.

Unfortunately though, many independent schools are boarding, but not all, and some have day pupils.

hi everyone thanks for the advice im in waltham forest London ,marne ive been following your posts with intrest as it seems were in the same situation

ABA staff can go into mainstream school and deliver autism specific education in a mainstream setting. We use autism partnership they are pro HFA children in mainstream school and have a book Time for School or something which sets out how can do aba in mainstream. DS has statement of education otherwise ( aba) of which % time is in a mainstream setting. He does 3 half days in pre school ( just age 4) with aim to increase that to 5 half days and from there to fulltime. Works very well they deal with behaviour and anxiety / tolerance issues too. Expensive though you would have to get and then appeal statement to get it funded. Otherwise are some special schools including some aba schools which do take HfA or mainstream school with unit.our alternative would have been mld or sld school as there are no units here either. It took us 17 months from applying for statement to the tribunal ordering aba. And we had to demonstrate mainstream with outreach was not enough and also that aba would work ( by funding this ourselves). We were never offered place in mld or sld as DS too bright / LA never thought we would win.

Have a look at the NAS Autism Services Directory for nearby schools with units. You can look in neighbouring boroughs - if there isn't suitable provision in your own, you have a case for going out of borough. It doesn't necessarily have to be a school that your LA has previously sent children to, as long as you can show that it meets your son's needs.

I think you'll certainly need a statement though - even if he doesn't need it now to access a school, he's likely to need it when he's older as secondary schools can be particularly difficult for those with AS.

I know Hackney, for example, has three primary schools with ASD units attached, though the pupils in them tend to be at the lower-functioning end. But I've known of children with HFA do well in the ms part, because the whole school is better trained due to having the unit linked to the school, and they have still been able to access the unit to chill out even though they're not officially attending.