Trying to access an education for my Daughter with complex- special needs ?

[angelsfly]

Hi i am new to mums net, so if i get the link wrong please advise me?
My daughter is 14 years old and was going to sit her GCSEs this year. Unfortunately she suffers with Complex regional pain syndrome, which affects mainly her ankles legs and hands. This means she is in constant pain and can on some days make it impossible for her to weight bare at all and use her hands to write. Because her condition has deteriorated since September she has been unable to attend school. The school which she attends and social services want her to be classified as unfit to attend school in order for her to access home tutoring.
Despite me highlighting my concerns; that she would be totally house bound, socially isolated and cut off from her friends because she lives in a rural area; they took no notice. They could not tell me either how many hours she would be taught. all my daughter requires to get an education is an appropriate wheelchair which the NHS cannot supply and we cannot afford, someone to help support her in school and someone to teach her at home on the days when she cannot weight bare. because this type support is not available in the county of Devon, my daughter lays on the settee each day socially isolated cut off from her friends and unable to access an education. Can anyone advise?

have you asked your GP to sign her off school?

Thanks cornsilkidy,My daughter wants to do is go to school get an education, sit her GCSEs and see her friends. Since September of last year she has been housebound, cut off from her friends and feels totally isolated from the rest of society. However the school and the social services want her to be signed off from school as they do not see it as their responsibility to provide an enabler to help her with a wheelchair access to and around the school a wheelchair. Social services say it?s not social care and the school say it?s not learning difficulties as she does not have a learning difficulty. I say it comes under both umbrellas?. It in the interest of her health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally to attend school; and by not attending school she has a learning difficulty as education is none existent.
So it is not in my daughter?s interest to be signed off school because it is easier or because it?s too much like hard work for them to find funding and provide for her.

(Warning long story but tried to keep it to the point)
My daughter is 14 and has chronic regional pain syndrome in her hands ankles and legs making it impossible to weight bear at times, due to swelling and pain; and at times is unable to write.
She requires an enabler and a wheelchair to get her to school. All disciplinarians cannot agree who will supply this help. So she has been left uneducated isolated and housebound since last September.

Thank you to all whom have offered advice. However over the past two years, i have approached CAB for a solicitor no joy too complicated for them to sort out, contacted my local MP; The LEA; Social services, the Health Authority, GP, health visitor, ACE, charities, probably every person you can think of apart from going public and taking her story to a national paper.
We have a meeting at the school next Tuesday, with the head teacher; the school nurse; SENCO; her specialist (paediatrics); social services; her occupational therapist; and the educational welfare officer.
However i have been on the phone today to both the Occupational therapist, the SENCO, Social services and told my daughter will have a wheelchair in the next five weeks, so could they sort out an enabler. i told them she required a person to help her to get to and from school to help out at school with wheelchair assistance, doors; but also she required someone to write for her when her hands are in pain and swollen. And to collect work and go over it with her on the days she is unable to attend.
as soon as i asked for this help they all started to say it was not there responsibility to provide an enabler. One says its social care the other it?s educational; they continue to pass the buck.
I told them i was sick of them sitting on the fence of what is and is not legal; and if nothing is sorted out in the next meeting; i would be taking my daughter to school myself and stand outside with the press until they find someone to help my daughter get to school and get an education.
if anyone has any advice, which i can use at the meeting please advise me?

Go online to the Council of Disabled Children website. They have an online version of "Disabled Children A Legal Handbook" by Steve Broach, Luke Clements and Janet Read. Chapter 2 Deals with Legal Fundamentals and Chapter 4 deals with Education.

Re read your OP, it looks like that you have already investigated a lot of avenues already and gone down the legal route with no success.

meeting will be very interesting!
Hi Zebrafinch i will go on line and have a look. my experience has been the problem is the wording of the law. Such as seen to be making reasonable adjustments this can be seen as anything. Sending work home via a computer; changing classrooms even if the pupil is left on their own. However before my daughters condition became worse, she used crutches to get around the school. Places which she could not access, she was left in a room on her own with no work to do for hours at a time. When her condition got so bad she could no longer weight bear due to pain and swelling; she became housebound as the NHS could not supply a suitable wheelchair. The school started sending work over the internet after a very long battle. This worked for the first month, however she had fallen so far behind it was an impossible task trying to catch up. The as work load increased due to her GCSEs and got harder to understand. The work stopped coming as she could not complete it due to not being taught it and our lack of understanding.
As long as the school and the social services are seen to be doing something even sending a letter a phone call can all be seen as doing something; they are not breaking the law. It?s so frustrating.
I JUST CAN NOT BELIVE THEY ARE GETTING AWAY WITH IT AND I AM LETTING THEM; The next meeting will be very interesting! :)