Has anyone any experience of applying for residential school?

[peggyblackett]

Dd is now 8 and we are seriously considering this as an option for her in her teens. She has PMLD, and therefore this may be the best option for her and us (I wouldn't want the 51 week option, but the 38 week option so that she could be home for holidays). I feel terribly sad to be considering this :(

If you have a dc at residential school how did you secure a place? If you decided against it what other options did you consider? Are you happy with your decision?

At the moment it all feels pretty bleak.

in this area it is hard to secure a placement in residential unless you can prove that your child requires a 24 hour curriculum. we failed but now have short term respite every week which continues through the holidays so i get the best of both worlds, a break when i need it and the help that a residential school would provide. Firstly, you need to look at the statement and see about getting it amended so that you can change the placement. I would get a SEN code of Practice booklet and start reading, also if you can get health and Social services on your side they can all chip in to the costs. Good Luck and i hope your LEA are more understanding than ours.

Thanks twlight. I think that it must be nigh on impossible to prove that, although I expect that my dd will need a wraparound curriculum as she gets older. Sorry that you haven't had any joy with your LEA. What is heartening to hear is that you get a short break every week. I think we need to push for that - at present it feels like our world as a family is getting smaller and smaller as going anywhere with dd is impossible an utter nightmare.

If you don't mind me asking why did you look into residential school?

hey peggy, please dont feel bad. our asd son is only 5 and already we are thinking he will need to go to residential when he is of secondary age.

we are fairly rural, and the local social work dept party line is that they dont fund placements outside the district.

but they do!!! because we have spoken to families whose kids go to resi schools a good distance away.

its a fight for us to come. but i know i older boy with down syndrome who goes to a resi school in edinburgh (a good 3 hours away). he loves it, and his mum says it has brought him on so much. it is so encouraging. he leaves his home on a mon morning and comes back on a fri afternoon. so its not that long.

good luck. sounds like you're in england, and i know the system is all different down there. have you got a social worker?

You usually need to prove a 'social' need as well as an educational need. In DS's case we said that his ASD left him socially isolated so he needed a 24 hour residential placemnet so he could attain and practise social skills.

13tales- thanks. Yes, we're in England. We have just been assigned a social worker, having had a community lead professional for the past few years (no idea what the difference is!).

Where do we start? So far we've made noises to our paediatrician, dd's school and SS that this is an avenue we'd like to consider, but I've no idea as to how to get it off the ground and formalize our interest. How do you apply? What I'm scared of is being fobbed off at the first hurdle. I know it will be a fight but where to start?

WetAugust - interesting re. the social side of the application. Dd can access next to nothing in the community, even clubs and holiday schemes designed for disabled children won't take her :(

Don't know what the situation is down south, but up here you need to get a community care assessment for your child, and also ask for a carers assessment for you. This should highlight the need for resi school. Good luck.

DS (ASD) went to residential school at age 11 when he transferred to secondary. I felt it was the only option for him, as his behaviour was so extreme that all the local day schools refused to offer him a place. The only day school that would consider taking him was an EBD school, totally inappropriate for his needs.

We didn't have social services involvement, as we got the place on the basis of his educational need for a waking day curriculum, so the education dept fund the whole cost. We argued that he needs the consistency of a structured environment both during school hours and after school, which can only be provided in a residential school. You would need an EP to back you up on this, the LA will rarely fund it without professional backing.

It was hard to convince the LA to fund it - we needed independent reports, legal help and went to tribunal. But he has improved massively, he has real friends there and support for accessing social activities. He is on a 38 week placement and with the weekends home and regular phone calls, I still feel very involved and connected as a family. I do miss him but it's the best option for him; I think he now has a real chance of being independent as an adult, which he wouldn't have if he didn't have all the support he gets from a residential placement.

krystal Thanks for telling me about your experience - great to hear that it's been a positive one for you and your ds. I think the waking day curriculum is key for dd. She gets very distressed if she doesn't have absolute routine and 1-to-1 attention - which with two other sibs and a household to run is just not possible for us to provide as she gets older (well certainly not without a massive amount of detriment to all of us). The difficulty for us is that her current school is excellent, but obviously at 3 o'clock each day it's over to us to provide her care - and don't mention the holidays :(. Despite our county provisioning for disability holiday clubs etc. there is not one single one which will take dd with her level of disability. Like your ds I would want dd to go on a 38 week placement which would mean that we would still have her home for holidays.

thirteentales thanks - I will push for those assessments when we meet the new social worker.

eggy, whereabouts are you?

I am shocked, genuinely that there are no provisions for your DD. In DD1's school, the after school kids club takes all children whether MLD, SLD or PMLD. Even a child with a trachae can go. Children who require more support than is normally available can access SS funded support workers to increase the ratio. ie. if a child needs 2:1, they can go to the club and have a 1:1 worker, but then also have a SS agency provided supporter, so achieving the 2:1 they need.

In Hamspshire they have the gateway card for small breaks. I wonder what it is in your area?