Reduced timetable - how long can this go on for?

[Schoolworry]

Ds (12) has suspected AS. We moved to a new county 6 months ago and first had to wait half a term before ds could start school while support was being put in place - fair enough. After a month there he was put on a reduced timetable in line with his statement hours (22) as he was having his usual difficulties with other children at lunch/break times. We hoped this would be for a short while but he has now been on reduced hours since early December. School have been very good though,much better than any previous school. They have involved professionals straight away and we hope to get a dx in the next few months. He is quite bright, does attend most of the core subject lessons and does not appear to have fallen behind academically yet. He is now getting really upset though because he wants to go back to full time as he says he is missing out on the 'fun' lessons and only gets the boring one's . There is a professionals meeting being held this week - can we insist he receives a full time education (maybe a tutor for afternoons)? We are worried that if he goes back full time and something kicks off he will be excluded which will be worse than part-time. Any advice appreciated.

stand firm on full-time it's his legal entitlement, it does not matter what the statement says, they always have discretion to put in more provision and they have had 6 months to change the statement to ensure it meets need. Basically they are working to a statement which is clearly inadequate - but that doesn't mean that they can keep going with it!

The law says they must meet the special educational needs of the child. They know they are not meeting need and they must put in enough provision now to get him into school.

I am not clear whether there is a formal statutory reassessment process going on or not and a new statement is imminent? If not immediately request an emergency reassessment. At least then you are in a statutory framework. You get a right of appeal either when they issue a new statement or at annual review if they don't change the statement - you need to work out how you can generate a right of appeal

If they can't manage him in his present school they need to look at places that can.

Maybe start a thread asking about independent special schools in / near your area for HFA / AS and go and look.

But I think your original idea of school in the morning and afternoon with a private tutor is reasonable.

Also behaviour is not just an issue for school. Whats the deal here - its ok for him to be challenging out of school but not in school? Do they think his behaviour stops at the school gates?

Have they called in behaviour support? CAMHS? Does he even have a behaviour plan in school designed by a professional?

I can't understand the logic of taking him out of mainstream school completely as a way of getting him back into mainstream school. It sounds as though the school is perhaps not wanting to keep him? They don't seem to be fighting his corner.

I would start making noises about independent special schools - they will not want to pay for one and might start taking you seriously. They will want to try 100% 1:1 in mainstream before they pay for independent.

I would get some legal advice e.g. from IPSEA and figure out where you are in the statement process as you need to get this before a tribunal sooner rather than later. Otherwise I am worried they will be fobbing you off for months.

We are hopeful of getting a dx soon which school have said will lead to 'other options' so I guess that means ss.

Other options could well be having Autism Outreach into school to assess and give them advice as we have tried before but without dx they wont visit. It may add support to a request for more 1 to 1 hours.

A dx of HFA/AS doesnt necessarily mean an SS would be better. It really depends on the assessment outcome of the child.

My school were and are forever saying "surely there is somewhere else for him to go" Which had me looking into SS and more than prepared to let DS go there if it was the best place for him and his future if he would be happy.

We asked the centre if they would mention the need for SS in their report to help support a statement review fully expecting to hear he needed SS education, and we got told it would not be a good thing to do as he needs to be in MS for curriculum and he will cope there with adequate support. But they did say a MS with a SN unit attached would be a better choice so maybe look around and see if there are any in your area. Look at SS too the bigger the picture you form the more prepared you will be once a dx is sorted for him:)

Schools say a lot of things and you need to read between the lines and sometimes they dont look beyond the behaviour and see just what your child can achieve :)