LEA want DS to go to PRU - bad dea?

[starfish71]

Had DS's tutor here this morn as usual and she tells me that she has been told there is a place for DS at the PRU and he could start in 2 weeks.

Think it is being pushed through as DS is getting NIL and know we are going to appeal. Am waiting for full details and to talk to them about transport etc and plan to visit it next week with DS.

DS has aspergers, undx but that is consensus with those dealing with him. He has very anxiety levels, barely leaving the house.

The LEA want him in there for a while then try and get him back to mainstream. He needs a statement to attend a mainstream with ASD resource centre.

Having a meeting with parent partnership tomorrow to discuss appeal and know she feels the PRU prob not suitable.

Bad idea? !!

PRU = VERY BAD IDEA
No suitable peer role models could lead to awful behavioral problems for a child on the spectrum! You couldn't locate a more totally inappropriate educational environment for an anxious aspie if you tried.

Do not under ANY circumstances allow this plan to go ahead. These people DO NOT have your child's best interests at heart. Laugh in their faces and tell them you'll see them at Tribunal!

You have the evidence needed to win an appeal for a statement as in making this offer the LA have admitted your child can't access mainstream education and therefore access to the NC & an "adequate" education without support above and beyond what a standard mainsteam school can supply from it's own resources.

To do list

1. Contact Ipsea for advice on how to appeal NIL. There is a time limit so act FAST.

1. If you are on legal aid get a solicitor, if not ask IPSEA, & SOSSEN for an advocate.

1. Go to GP and ask for an immediate and urgent referral to a neurodevelopmental pead to do an assessment for ASD. A cahms referral for the anxiety might also be helpful

1. See what advice the NAS come up with for you. They may have some advice on suitable private schools for your child (It's amazing what support can be rustled up by the state sector once an LA thinks they ma have to pay for an independent placement lo!).

Parent partnership are funded by LA - this can sometimes lead to a confict of interests. So take what is said with a pinch of SALT. Im so angry your child is being failed to this extent.

Thank you bochead, he is so vulnerable and it is not sounding right to me to put him in a PRU. So more evidence for me at tribunal? That's all good!

Just was getting bit panicked thinking if we turn the placement down then they will say we aren't co operating?

Thank you again, will get going on the list.

TBH it really depends on the PRU and how it works. How old is he?

DS is 13 bigtilly.

Will he be able to attend anyway due to his anxiety? Has he been signed off school by gp?
I agree you should appeal the nil and then push for a suitable placement. Have you seen the asd resource - is there a place? Start looking around at schools now to get a feel for what would suit ds.

This is it robot, I am not sure if he is going to be able to attend. DS has been home since Christmas and started having home tutoring in may.

He is under CAMHS, for anxiety and ASD assessment. DS is adamant he doesn't want a label so won't complete an ADOS.

Have been to the ASD resource and it is a good school, not sure if they have any places yet.

Feel pressurised

On phone in lunch hour so can't post much. This is interesting starfish. My ds,similar age,no Dx (probable AS) has started a course at local PRU today. We have been told he would be in a small group totally separate from the other children there and it was agreed that he doesn't go on their bus because of the type of children on it! I am not convinced it's the best place for him but some ,like tillymints can be helpful.
Update - ds just called and was shocked by the bad manners he saw e.g smoking and swearing. Gotta go but will be back later.

I have always been of the opinion that PRU's are not the right place for dc's with ASD, however they often have a number of un diagnosed dc's in them.

I have worked with a few children who have been to prus and their behaviour was really extreme.

Having said that, all the staff i knew from the pru's were fantastic and brilliant at coming up with inventive ways of engaging children.

Sorry i have no advice.

starfish

This LEA are really mucking you around aren't they?. Infact they are failing your son.

What Bochead wrote in her earlier post of 12.42.

Decline the PRU; it's not the ideal place at all for any child on the ASD spectrum.
Hold out for the statement.

Thanks desperately, let me know if you can how your son gets on today.

ineedalife this is what is worrying me, know DS is not going to be able to cope with any extreme behaviour from others. Even when in the car, not very often, he sinks down in his seat if we drive past even a couple of teenagers.

attila yes they are really messing me about. Am determined that we will get the statement, just dealing with this LEA is a nightmare.

starfish do you think your ds needs a dx, and would you go against his wishes? An Ados is not essential for a dx. My ds wouldn't cooperate with an Ados and the CP made a dx through a home visit to observe him (sounds like this wouldn't be necessary as he's already under cahms), and carried out an ADI with me.

Like others have already said, a pru (bar exceptions to the rule) is no place for a child with asd.

Wot Boch said!

Go to see the PRU before saying you won't entertain it. Three reasons: 1. makes you look reasonable to have considered it; 2. lets you write down exactly why it's not suitable 3. if it is an ASD/ADHD/OCD-special-school in disguise, the staff may have some useful info for you about where the previous dc ended up

PRU would be an over my dead body option for DS1.

I'm not sure what a secondary PRU would be like for a child with ASD but no major behaviour issues. There seems to be such a difference in different PRU's. Good advice above though.

Desperatelyseekingsupport, hoping your DS had a good or even OK day - would be interested to hear how it went.

Thanks everyone for your advice, really appreciate it.

I rang and spoke to someone from SOS SEN and did give me some good advice. She is going to type it up for me and email it over to me, which is great as my head is a sieve. Main points were that PRU is not an appropriate placement for child with ASD (as said on here of course!) and who has high anxiety levels.

Also said as DS has been out of education since December that he is not making adequate progress academically, socially, emotionally. She said that these are all grounds to appeal but we should really try and get DS to agree to dx. That is the hard part...

Spoke to CAMHS play therapist who had been working with DS and she was really shocked we have been turned down, will talk to consultant and see where we can go from here.

So will see what SNAP have to say in the morning. I sort of think I should at least go up to see the PRU next week, as mariamariam said, just to tick the box..

The other thing worth considering is that PRU's are in many cases only a temporary placement (check your local PRU criteria) many assess a child or work with a child with behavioural issues with a view to getting them back in to MS schooling or a more specialised provision.
If this is the case with your LEA what help will it be to your ds to send him to a PRU if not a long term solution & if he doesn't ahve behavioural issues to work on.
As the others have said in most cases not the place for a child with ASD

Well, ds is not over-impressed tbh. He says the kids there look like they belong on the Jeremy Kyle show and were swearing and smoking -this was while he waited at reception to go in his classroom. He is in a classroom of 3 children with 2 staff and they will be doing some Maths and English lessons but concentrating on social skills and team work mainly. They stay in the room and don't mix with the regular pupils. He says that staff have to check the corridor is safe before letting him go to the toilet. Apparently a boy kept opening their classroom door today and shouting 'f' off you w**ers at them - nice. He did enjoy p.e which is unlike him but commented on all the graffiti on the walls which had been painted over but he could still see the rude comments. I expect he will enjoy the low staff:pupil ratio and the activities they do but I do feel he is there because school don't know what else to do with him.
We have meeting with CP and EP soon so are hoping to get a dx. Starfish - my ds had an ADOS but he passed it and we were told he did not have difficulties in the triad of impairments so don't worry that your ds won't do it. Ask for observations and any other type of assessment as in my opinion ADOS is best suited to younger children.

deperately sounds like quite a day your ds had. Is he happy to go back there again tomorrow? Made me smile about the Jeremy Kyle comment,!

Oh god I don't know, really think ds will hate it but I have no idea what it is like up there. DS's play therapist said today that it is 'lovely up there'... For my own piece of mind am going to look at it and see how bad it is.

Am going to push that they give dx without making ds do any more assessments, all the evidence is there and it is going to get him the right placement hopefully.

What other schools are there that your ds could go to? any ASD resource units?

DSS, well it doesn't sound ideal, but I guess it could have been worse. Hopefully the adults working with him will get more insight into how he sees things/his mind works and this could help longer term? It's not easy, is it?

Well, they will be having input at the emergency review of sm so it could be useful. Also, as he's likely to much prefer the smaller class it may help with the decision for high school placement. We will see how it goes - he is at risk of permanent exclusion apparently and now says that he doesn't want to end up there......

Totally depends on type of PRU. Here we have one for kids with behav probs and another one for vulnerable kids with emotional probs. Latter caters well for anxious kids with ASD.