school phobia?

[rubyh]

Hi I'm new on here. I have a 11yr old boy with ADHD, social and communication problems and slight asd symptoms and a few other little issues. School has always been a difficult place for him but since starting high school in sept I think he may have developed a school phobia. I have recently changed schools again as I thought this might have been the problem but nothing has changed. His behaviour is bad and he crys all the time. He is difficult to get to school in the mornings and hes says he feels sick. I am sure it will not be long before he totally refuses to go. He struggles with the everyday parts of school life and I dont feel the teachers understand his problem and are not supporting him enough.
Any ideas?

Some initial thoughts:-

Does your son has a Statement?.

Is he still under the care of a developmental paediatrician, CAMHS etc?.

Have you spoken to the SENCO and his form teacher at his school, if so what was the response?.

Poor thing. Him. And you.

You need some professional help with this before the school refusal thing trips in and then it's a constant battle/worry.

CAMHS have been a big help to us but....we have a Statement. You know, that piece of paper they'll tell you you don't need. It's been a godsend to us.

I'd speak to SENCo and class teacher initially. What additional help does he need/is he getting? My son's not up to HS till 2012 but, the stuff they're drawing up on his Statement in preparation, makes me realise just how lucky we are. My son has ASD/OCD/Tourettes (not in a swearing way, more verbal tics).

He's also very clever but.....has no friends and is completely adult orientated. Could it be as simple as two moves to new schools? Does he have a buddy there?

It might be worth you reading up on home education as a plan B or plan F. Many families start out on this path due to their child's unhappiness with school. Go to the home education sub-section, in the education part of this site.

My son has school phobia among other issues. He was always difficult to get to school and more often than not wasn't there. He's been out of school nearly a year due to his anxieties.
The psychiatrist has since wrote a letter to get him a home tutor and put him on prozac to enable us to work with him. The psychologist was to do CBT with him. However as he's a complex kid it's not going to plan.
He also has specific problem areas which are not being addressed. The school also don't want to accept these problems. The school haven't been very helpful, however I have set up a plan whereby school will need to acknowledge these issues.
As others have said, seek help. I also hope by telling you about us you also have some other ways in trying to help this problem.