Teen - school exclusion and ADHD and SPLD

[Duritzfan]

Hi , I have a 15yr old ds who, quite honestly, a really good, sweet boy .. He was dx'd with Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder aged 8 and put on school action plus .. His primary school were exceptional with him so we didn't ever need to go down the statement route ..when he started secondary we asked for support from the SEN dept - never got it.. He was then bullied- very badly for a year until we removed him from the school...
Finally moved him to a new school to place him with his peers from primary - after a fight got him into an out of area school with his friends ..
Have been increasingly worried about his mental health and have been to the GP's and been referred to CAHMS .. ( GP wrote to school asking for an ed psych evacuation as GP suspected ADHD )
However - school didn't ever organise an assessment
Finally ds was suspended - poor behaviour - lack of respect for teachers etc ..
We asked if he could have a"leave of absence " which we waited for CaHMS referral ...answer was no..CAHMS referral is said to be six months away at least ..so we chose to bite the bulletandgo fora private consult ..
Private consult confirmed ADHD and ds now on medication ......
School have now excluded him ...

Don't know where to head now -can anyone help?
School knew all his issues when they agreed to take him - it took them 4 months to put support in place for him, support was in place for one session before they excluded him..
Have been to governors - they have upheld decision to exclude .trying to decide what to do next ...

Help ! The meds are really really helping him ... He is so much calmer ... I feel he has been so let down by the school system - he's such a clever boy but at the moment stands to get kicked off his course ( he's 15) and ruining his chances of decent GCSE s...
I'm so angry, frustrated and scared for him ,...

do you still not have a statement? If not apply for one yourself, model letter here and info on exclusion here put your foot down and get forceful with them, they may try to put you off but don't accept that. You can also look here and here for support.

I would second bigcar's advice to apply for a statutory assessment for a statement immediately. It also sounds as if the school may have unlawfully discriminated against your son by excluding him rather than seeking to make reasonable adjustments to support his special ed. needs.

Partnership with parents, and ipsea will offer good advice.

Also he is entitled to 25 hours home tuition or support in a pru if he has been formally excluded.

Also just to say you will get more responses to any future questions if you post on the sen children section ( there are many more regular visitors there)

i would write if you have not already asking for them to asses your DS and try and get his statement , they can uphold the exclusion but i was in a sim situation so i know how annoying this is and what a worry can you speak to the LA's inclusion officer and school ect and get a multi profeshional meeting together so you can air all this also asking as i did and i got it for a home tutor so your DS doesnt ruin his exam chances not ideal i know but a home tutor temporarily would be better than this if they only send one for a couple hours twice during the week to make sure hes keeping up with his studies and so he can ask questions or let her know where hes been having difficulties (are they sending work /books ect home) they should be? because you need to let them know (everyone know) about his possible adhd and mental health issues as they have no proof odf this atm they are just going on his original DX , i found they are very harsh too towards my DS and my predicament the only other thing they might do is let him attend a PRU in mornings whilst hes off school but not sure that will help concerning GCSE's

Check to see if the followed their own procedure for exclusion. For example government guidance states only the head should exclude and only where there is no alternative etc. There is far more to it but you need to check the schools published policy.

If they have failed to follow their own policy to the letter which is common then you may well have a case for unlawful exclusion.

Good luck