school and buggies

[elliejjtiny]

My ds2 (3.5) has gross motor delays, hypotonia and hypermobility. He cqan walk quite well on a flat surface with nobody around (eg an almost deserted supermarket) but on surfaces like paving slabs or when there are people around he struggles and often falls over. Mostly he is in the buggy but he walks round the supermarket if its quiet or round town/the park when DH is around so one of us can concentrate on him. I also have ds1 who is 5 and ds3 who is 10 months.

Yesterday we got a letter from school saying that there were too many buggies in school at drop off time and buggies were now banned from inside the building. We've been told to leave the buggies in the playground and carry any younger children or let them walk if they can. I went to talk to the secretary this morning because DS2 won't be able to walk down a crowded corridor without falling over 2 or 3 times and I can't easily help him up when I'm carrying a 10 month old as well. She said that the buggy was a fire hazard and I would either have to drop ds1 off at the main door or take him to the secretary's office and she will take him down the corridor to the classroom. I wouldn't be able to take the buggy to the school fete, the christmas play or class assemblies either. DS1 isn't happy about that idea as he wants me to take him to the classroom door like all the other infants children's mums and dads do.

I'm going to talk to the head teacher about this but not sure if I have any rights under the DDA or not. DS2 has a blue badge and he did have an SN buggy although when ds3 was born we went back to the standard double buggy. Also he will be starting that school in september so I'm not sure how I'll get him into school then.

Talk to the headteacher . If your child has SN and needs a buggy to get around then they should be allowed to use one in school/nursery.

Show them his dx letter and his blue badge.
Your wee boy clearly has mobility issues and the school are being very unfair.
Its a bit different from a normal child using a buggy because they dont want to walk .
You might have to use your sn buggy and a sling for the baby though ,if at school fetes/plays ect.

If he had an actual visibly wheelchair-like wheelchair, then they'd be able to accommodate him and wouldn't be able to make the fire hazard excuse. Definitely request a meeting and make yourself very clear. Even if you have to go back to using the SN buggy and struggle with 10 month old in a carrier or backpack, he needs that help. If they can't provide that, then explain that you will have to bring him in very early or late, to miss the crowd while he's walked or carried to his classroom, or use a different entrance.

(my boys both have ASD and I drop them off and pick them up at the main visitor entrance, where they are met by their 1:1s - we time arrival just as kids are sitting down for registration and this avoids the waiting around and crowds which can trigger meltdowns in either or both of them. It's a reasonable accommodation to avoid difficulties due to their disability and all schools should be making reasonable accommodation for disabled kids)

if it was me id get sn buggy and buggy pod. they cant refuse the buggy if he has a medical/mobility need. if you dont get anywhere with head try parent partnership

I have to agree that using the SN pushchair is probably your best bet - there's not a lot they can argue with that, as to deny him using it is not making reasonable accomodation. ONE BUGGY is generally not considered a fire hazard . Yes, a bunch of them are, but not one. That frees you up to carry your younger child.

We have a Maclaren Major that we bring along for DS2, however, DS3 is often in it, and when DS2 needs to use it then DS3 walks (he's 2yo). It's absolutely the only way that I can get DS2 to school as DH works in the mornings during school run time. If the school kicked off about pushchairs (not likely as I'm reasonably certain they'd have a war on their hands from all the parents ), I'd have no problem making sure DS2 was in the SN pushchair when we arrive at school every morning to allow us to continue to use it. For him, we have to bring it along in case he needs it. Carrying a 5yo in full meltdown (or shutdown for that matter) along with a 2yo is not my idea of a fun time. It was actually be impossible.

Thanks for the replies. TBH I'd rather not go back to using a special needs buggy as the one we had couldn't go on the bus and it seemed to spend more time being repaired (or sitting at home waiting to be collected by wheelchair services so they could repair it) than it spent being used. Also we weren't allowed to put a buggy pod or buggy board on it because that was considered "tampering" and if we had tampered with the buggy then they weren't obliged to repair it for free. The SN buggy wasn't obviously a SN buggy either. it was this one I thought it looked fairly obvious but most people I tried to convince it was a wheelchair just said "looks like a buggy to me" even when I pointed out the exeter mobility centre sticker on it. I was quite glad when DS3 was born and I could send it back to wheelchair services. I've still got the prescription (not sure if it's the right word) for the special needs buggy so that I can prove he is technically a special needs buggy user. It's going to be interesting in september as there will be at least 4 with special needs in a reception class of 15-20. I wonder whether that's partly why the SENCO decided to take early retirement last year .

Its Equality Act now and yes you have the right for your child to access activities in the same way as others. Don't refer to is as a buggy refer to it as a wheelchair. It doesn't matter if it looks like a buggy / is a buggy, its purpose is as a wheelchair. I do that in restaurants, I say we need to bring in our wheelchair (we have a Maclaren Major and a SN 3 wheeler) and have never been refused. I cannot believe they would refuse access to a parent who used a wheelchair, or a staff member who used a wheelchair, so yes you should insist they make their school accessible for wheelchair users.
If they refuse then ask if they can contact the OT attached to school to arrange for a wheelchair to be available in school and you can drop your buggy at the secretary room and transfer your child into the wheelchair if the buggy is a problem (or you could offer to leave your SN buggy at school for this purpose if you don't use it at home now, bet they won't want to store the SN buggy daily). If you have to leave your baby in the double buggy in the secretary's care while you take your child or the secretary needs to push the wheelchair whilst you carry the baby down to class, so be it.
Re school fete etc I would just insist and if they stop you, just say very loudly my child is disabled and needs to use a wheelchair.
I can't imagine you will be the only parent complaining.

With your ds2 starting school next year, my advice would be to go back to wheelchair services and start the ball rolling for a small wheelchair for him.
It sounds like he will need to be taken to school in it and possibly use it during the day (if they go out for a walk or something).
It will be much better for him if the other children in his peer group see him in a wheelchair - if he is in a buggy they are likely to think he is a baby. Not necessarily meaning to be nasty; just associating buggy with babies therefore he is not one of "them".
That then leads to how you will manage a wheelchair and your 10mo - so you may need to discuss school transport as well.

wcs have to access you properly. that includes your needs and the baby. ask for a wheelchair that you can attatch a buggy pod to. the CAN do it!

I had this with dd's school. luckily there were usually parents I knew around in the morning and I could get one of them to watch ds in his buggy outside (it was a covered area outside the door so quite sheltered) while I nipped in to take dd to her classroom which only took 5 mins. Nobody seemed to mind as I would often do the same for others. Even without SN it wasn't always ideal for someone to have to disturb a sleeping baby just for the sake of 5 mins dropping the older sibling into the classroom , especially in the winter when they would be all wrapped up against the cold or under raincovers.

Mind you, if we'd had the Major buggy and blue badge at the time I might have made more of a fuss and insisted that there be an exception made to take our buggy in. It would have been more obvious to other parents and they would have had less chance to say "well if we let one in..."

Thankyou everyone. On friday I had an incredibly frustrating conversation with someone from the school transport department at the council. He said that if I fill in some forms, get a report from his paediatrician and then be assessed by the medical people at the transport department (and call me cynical but I bet they would watch him do his speedy limp-shuffle up a deserted corridor with lino floor and say he can walk to school) then maybe he would get transport to school although I would have to pay for ds1 to go with him and later ds3 as well. When I asked how bad he had to be to get it eg high rate mobility only or something he said he didn't know.

I talked to dh's auntie who has 2 adult DD's with SN and is a fountain of knowledge because she talks a lot . She said that the LEA/council are cutting a lot of transport and most people who were previously entitled to free transport now have to pay. I talked to a mum at school who's ds has spina bifida and who is more physically disabled than my ds2. She said that her ds used to get transport but this year none of the taxi companies were willing to do it for the money the LEA were willing to pay so now they just give his mum the money as a travel allowance (£2.50 per week, no wonder the taxi company wouldn't do it seeing as a child's weekly bus ticket is £13.60).

Today I went to talk to the nice school secretary (different one to the one on friday) and she said I could take DS1 through the visitor's entrance, leave ds2 and ds3 in the entrance being kept an eye on by the receptionist or a TA while I take ds1 to his classroom. I said that was fine but what happens when ds2 starts school in september? At this point the reception teacher came in and said she would organise a meeting with the senco and the staff at the playgroup to sort out the support that ds2 will need and whether it would be best for him to have a wheelchair/buggy at school or if he needs a ta to hold his hand going down the corridor at busy times. All in all I'm pleased that things are moving along.