If your child has been diagnosed with AS, does she/he also have a statement/TA etc?

[UnderWater]

We are currently starting our assessment with ds re AS. CAMHS, who has been very reluctant until now to assess, has finally agreed to it and in the same breath directed us towards the Daisy Chain and the NAS to find support groups and meet other parents with children on the spectrum.

At the moment, it is clear ds has some communication and social issues. Our SALT has done some tests and what she found (even though it is always well within the average) is congruent with a child with AS too.

However, I don't feel that ds really needs special support at school. I am very aware that this might change and I want to teacher to be aware (to avoid the 'he just didn't want to do it'...) but I am not convinced he would really benefit from that.
So do most children diagnosed actually also get a statement/get on school action etc? Is there a need I haven't quite grasp yet?

How old is he?

Nearly 8yo.

I know that his social issue will prob get worse in the next year or so and that's why I pushed for the diagnosis.

What did you want the Dx FOR?

I want a dx to protect ds from 'well meaning' teacher who decide that he is lazy/doesn't put the effort in etc... when actually he hasn't understood/is scared and/or confused/doesn't know what to say.

I want to be sure he will get some support re 'friends' so that he isn't staying on the side of the playground on his own.

Atm, on an academic pov, he is doing OK hence the fact I am not sure he will benefit from a statement etc... Or did I misunderstood the whole point of a statement?

No. Not all children with a diagnosis need a Statement.
They are two separate processes anyway - the diagnosis is the 'Health' bit and the Statement is the 'Education' bit. If he doesn't need one to help him in school, then nobody will apply for one for him. That won't prevent a half decent school making appropriate provision for him in his areas of need though - social situations, for example, as you suggest.

You actually are your child's best - and only - advocate.

Statements can also be used to address social and communication needs. With a statement in place there is legal protection not otherwise given with other things like SA plus. As outside agencies are involved your DS should be on SA plus in any event.

Also you need to think longer term i.e secondary school. Many children on the ASD spectrum if their needs are not fully met at secondary can find that type of school particularly difficult.

The move to secondary school and the fact things are likely to get more and more difficult for him are the two things that have made me push for the assessment. I know they could both prove a very difficult time for ds. Otherwise I have to say I would probably have been happy with me 'knowing' he is on the spectrum and find my own way around it.

When you say that he should be on school action plus, do you mean that a report from the SALT saying there are some issue re language/communication would be enough to ask for it?
And is a school action necessary for the school to take the social/communication needs of ds?

I have two HF ASD and both are on SA+ at MS secondary. Tried but failed to get statements (at tribunal).

They are ok academically and both quiet at school (they save the meltdowns for home, so despite evidence of self-harm when stressed this did not apparently qualify as EBD.

They have some TA support (shared) and access arrangements for exams (separate room, and scribe for DD who also has dyspraxia), but that is about it. Nominally they are registered with the LEA Autism Support Service, but the only intervention they made to recommend that DS always sits near the teacher as it helps him concentrate.

But the school is excellent for pastoral care, and mostly they are doing OK. They actually get on better with the rigidity of secondary timetables and different rooms for different subjects than they did at primary. There are problems with the odd teacher (PE dept in particular) but I can usually get it sorted.

My DS is HF (aspergers) and does well academically. he doesn't have a statement and doesn't need one. He is on school action plus and is about to begin a speech therapy programme to try to work on his selective mutism; this is written by SALT and will be led by school TA. Academically he is top sets though does less well with literacy because despite being very very good once he gets started he ruminates and worries about ideas etc and often writes little in the time provided. He has also had a social understanding group (when he was on school action), an IEP, and has handwriting practice 3x weekly. I can't see the point of taking the LA to tribunal (which it would definietly come to) to try and get him a statement when I don't really know what it would provide that isn't already happening. However if things stop happening for him and he flounders, then I would reconsider. I worry about secondary school - we live in a grammar school area, he passed his 11 plus and is going to a small secondary (4 form entry) - one that is not popular with the highly academic aspirational parents- which allowed him special exam arrangements with very little fuss, so I am hoping they will be open to meeting his needs. We will definitely need to plan secondary transition carefully.

I would add that a diagnosis and a statement does not necessarily protect a child against a teacher or a TA deciding they are 'lazy' etc. Understanding does this.

School action plus is just a list of kids who have some additional needs and external professionals involved in meeting them. So your ds should already be on the SA+ list, as he sees SLT.

Have you ever had an IEP? With targets setting out what he is working on, and how the school will help him meet his targets? (sLT can have input too)

Dd2 was statemented in the UK. Se has an iq of 142 and is working 5 years ahead of her peers. A statement does not have to be about academic ability, but about how a child with additional needs can have their needs met in an educational setting.

Ds1 is also 2e (ie has a recognised disability and gifted tag). He has IEPs to meet both ends of his needs, as does his sister.

You can't say he doesn't need help in an educational setting and then set out a list of reasons why he needs help - it doesn't make sense. It's possible his needs can be adequately met n SA+, with an IEP, and that he doesn't require a statement, but that isn't the same thing as not needing support in a school environment, whether for communication, social skills, or, indeed academics.

Some kids have physio, OT and SLT in their statements...

So what is the difference between being on SA+ and an IEP?

SA+ is just a list.

Kids on SA+ often have IEPs. An IEP is an educational planning tool.

SA+ is just a notional list that means a child has external support.

SA (School Action) is just another list where a child needs some support to access the curriculum, but the support is school-based, no outside agencies involved.

As your child has SLT, they will be on the SA+ list. There is no legal recourse for the school to do anything just because a child is SA+. The only legally binding document that delineates support is a statement of SEN.

Kids with aspergers or autism (or indeed any other disability) are nearly always SA+, because they have external agencies involved with their care (paed's, whatever). Some of them require high levels of support to acces school. Some don't. A statement is a document that describes the need, and how it will be met in an educational environment. Kids who are doing well at school and don't have overarching needs (educational or otherwise) won't have a statement. It doesn't preclude an IEP though.

Depending on the school, IEPs are used at SA, SA+ and statement of SEN. It's not an either/ or. It's just a tool to use to clarify targets and how years will be met.

Some schools also use IEPs for gifted kids.

If you google 'smart targets for IEP' there's stuff all over the net.

IEPs should be reviewed twice a year your child's age (usually termly in yr r) but tbh, some schools do it termly anyway.

IEP targets can be social as well as educational - more often with aspergers or asd. It also gives the school the impetus to think about how they will ensure the targets are met - ie they need to think about how they will support. So, friendship groups, 1-1 or small group work, circle time, counselling etc etc.

But, if he's doing ok, then they might not bother. I'm just a bit sceptical because of the " he doesn't need anything', followed by a list of what he struggles with / the teachers are vilifying him for...

Thank you for all the comments. Very helpful.

I'm just a bit sceptical because of the " he doesn't need anything', followed by a list of what he struggles with / the teachers are vilifying him for.
Actually that's a very good comment. I am probably guilty of minimizing his needs at school there. This is probably both because the school says very little but also because I have in mind that school responsibility is about academic results and nothing else (and he is doing well in maths, not as well in literacy but could be linked with the language issues).
It's difficult for me to say what sort of help he needs because ds doesn't say a word about what is happening at school. Neither good or bad. So to try evaluate his needs at school, I can only go with I see (how he is on the playground when I drop him, what his db says...) and what the teacher says.
There has been a few instances where it has been clear something wasn't right but I am getting the feeling that insisting with the teacher will only antagonise her.

I'm afraid antagonising the teacher is inevitable sometimes no matter how hard we try to avoid this.

My dd was only diagnosed last year at the age of 13. We had concerns about her behaviour from her being 18 months old but dismissed it as terrible 2's and then challenging behaviour as she was "fine" in school. Primary always said when asked that they saw nothing of the difficulties that we did. Apart from daydreaming and reluctance to write things were great. I also didn't realise that school wasn't just about the academics.

Roll on secondary school and it all went really bad. My dd was subsequently diagnosed with ASD with ADHD traits, demand avoidance, auditory processing difficulties, mild dyslexia, significant impairment of motor skills, hypermobility/low muscle tone and sensory processing difficulties. My dd is now in a special school despite being academically above average. She is still struggling there and I think we may need ASD specialist provision.

The fact was all the difficulties were there in primary but they were supported/dealt with automatically so therefore weren't seen as a problem. No one considered how she'd be in a different setting despite me voicing my concerns. The transition to secondary resulted in her going n to shut down and she lost skills that she had developed previously.

I was told her behaviour was so bad at home as she just wasn't coping and using everything she had to get through the school day.

School is not just about academics. Completely wrong.

If he is struggling with communication and social behaviour, they have a ton of tricks and an blog action to help him with those.

All three of my children are 'gifted'. Two of them also have disabilities that are recognised and should be supported by school. Academic success does not mean that the school can ignore the problems he has.

Sazale - your poor daughter. Our experience has been very similar. We got a statement early despite a useless school not 'seeing anything' - being silent for most of the time is not a problem to teachers.

Even now with a statement and carefully set out needs and provision and a wonderful head, I still deal daily with a teacher/TA who will say he did this or that with surprise when he puts a foot wrong or can't cope with a particular thing one day. Yet while he is coping, no one says a thing and, gradually, you can see all the support and props fail til he starts panicking again.

This is largely because he is doing well academically and is not disruptive - generally. But the long term effect of lack of support means that skills aren't learnt and confidence isn't built.

Fortunately for us the secondary school were amazing. She spen the whole of year 8 in student support unit while they did fantastic input. They really knew her and saw the difficulties we saw. They also presented their school report for SA to point towards speial school as both they and us knew that was what was needed. The SEN provision in her mainstream school was outstanding, more than available in the ASD resource available in our town but as she couldn't access the lessons she was missing out on a lot and she needed more.

We were going to push for independent provision but decided to give he only lea special school a try. She's been there since October but they don't have enough knowledge of the complexity of her ASD unfortunately and we still face the same problems as in mainstream (before she went into the student support unit) and she gets less ASD specific provision there despite it being in her statement. It is a lovely school but she will never develop the right skills there unfortunately.

I also have a DS 5 in year who is having difficulties and he is very compliant (unlike dd who has demand avoidance issues). We're not sure if he has ASD, if he does he is very high functioning and already had many more skills than dd. He is selectively mute in school and a rule follower so they will never have problems from him but this means that he gets missed. He has a phonological speech disorder, phonological processing difficulties which means he's barely reading or writing, social anxiety/selective mutism which means he doesn't communicate well and hypermobility that is making writing virtually impossible. He also has tics. School tried to fob me off but I've learned my lesson and I'm on them constantly. I am determined that history will not repeat itself!

It's so frustrating isn't it inappropriately that you fight to get the right statement and then the battle still isn't over!

Ds is in Y4, he was dx HFA last summer. He now has full time support 27 hrs.