Special schools around SW London for 7yo with severe delay but no named disorder?

[litdog]

Hello, I wonder if anyone can advise me please?

Our 7yo has a chromosome problem which means severe global delay (though she has no physical probs) and no speech at all. She can get a bit frustrated as she's quite bright underneath, and hates not being able to talk.

She's at a lovely mainstream school now but they say that moving in to year 3 might be tricky for her as the other children play far less and will be sitting down working a lot of the time, which will result in her being excluded.

So they said we should look at other schools to see if there's anywhere that might suit her more.

She's not autistic, and quite sharp despite her massive communication probs. She's also very sociable.

Has anyone got any suggestions of schools we might look at? Our local special school is awful - I know a couple of mums there and they say don't come here - and I just can't find anything googling that looks at all suitable.

Thank you if you have any suggestions!

Blossom House?

Thank you. I rang them but they are only for specific probs and so said they wouldn't be suitable.

Thanks for the suggestion though!

ABA schools can be good, mainly for autism though so not so good for social kids. Chelsea group schools?

Lit, - they always say they aren't suitable. No idea why. I don't know anyone who sends their child there that weren't initially told it wasn't suitable.

But, of course that doesn't mean it is.

I would second strongly an ABA school. The method of teaching would give your child a really good boost. ABA isn't for children with autism, it is just used with them because they are least likely to respond to random wooly teaching.

I wouldn't recommend an ABA school for a sociable child tbh (and my son is at one).

The vast majority of children who go there will be severely autistic, and while the academic side can be catered for with an individualised curriculum there will be no suitable peers for play/ interaction and I think that would be detrimental.

At ds1's school the majority are non-verbal, so it can be tricky finding someone to pair him with for work, but luckily (ha!) he has v little desire to socialise so that is far from being an issue at the moment

Thanks all. V interesting. The more I look into it the more flummoxed I am.

I went on one website and it suggested boarding schools which made my tummy lurch in fear - she's SEVEN!

Have booked a few to look at, state and private, including Chelsea Group which a friend recommends.

The case officer at our council (Hammersmith adn Fulham) has been beyond Sh*t. How are these people employed?

There is a private mainstream in Epsom which also takes a lot of differen kids with Sen, at the milder end

Kingswood House

NB if I am v honest, I would not be accepting what your mainstream is saying

The child doesn't have to do the same lessons as the rest of year 3, that is where he differentiated curriculum comes in. The only reason a kid can be chucked out of ms is if hey are "disrupting the efficient education of others". Not just because they are not clever enough

I have a friend with a child v like yours - who also doesn't really fit into any neat SS box

She is clinging onto her Y3 mainstream, albeit with an LSA trained in ABA, or trained full stop really

I disagree with ABA schools not being suitable for sociable children. You don't get much more sociable than my dd1, and she is at an ABA school.

It can be tricky re: peer group, but then it depends ultimately what you are after. dd1 can get the social side of things from playing at home, with her siblings and their friends. but she wouldn't get the education she is getting at a different school where there might be so-called more suitable peers. it's all a balance.

and, tbh, once you are past school, there is not so much insistence on your peer group being exactly the same age (or within a narrow band) anymore. most of the mums I socialise with at dd2's school are a good 5-10 years older than me, so it doesn't bother me so much that dd1's 'peers' (by which I mean the people she plays with when not in various groups/engineered settings) at school are her tutors.

Kingswood HOuse only take girls up to 7, don't they? (or did when we were in Epsom)

I suppose it depends on the individual child.

I know 2 families of children with developmental delay (not ASD and no precise diagnosis) and after looking around our school they decided it would really affect their particular children if they were constantly trying to approach other children to play and being rebuffed. I'm such a fan of ABA that I felt that would be a small price to pay (and yes, what are the alternatives re schooling!) but they were pretty convincing in their arguments.

I suppose it would be like my NT dd and ds2 being put in that environment all day. For them, interaction with siblings at home would simply not be enough. They would have a fundamental need to be with suitable peers who they could develop their play skills with and it would be hugely to their detriment if they did not have that.

Ds1 on the other hand gets more than enough socialising from being around his siblings in the evenings/ weekends. For him that is completely adequate

Thanks again for all replies - it is so helpful to have all these different points of view.

Her school isn't chucking her out, just warning that her frustration at being different (which she feels when she's not doing the same as her classmates) might get worse in Year 3 when they're spending a lot of time working at their desks... They have said we can keep her there for as long as we want but I don't want her there if they're not 100pc behind her being there.

One concern I have about special schools is what if there's dodgy behaviour - will she copy it? Will her behaviour (which can be a problem when she's frustrated) worsen because she's witnessing other children mucking around?

Not sure if I'm strong enough for that!

Having said that, I love the idea of her going to a school where they've seen it all before and know what to do with her. Her current school is great but they have no experience with non-verbal children so often ask me, and I have to say I haven't got a fricking clue sometimes...

There are sadly very few fantastic SS around, especially when a child has a non-standard diagnosis. I would cling to that mainstream place like a limpet. She does have an LSA, yes? Yes hadn't realised Kingswood house is no good for girls post-7 - my pal has a boy!

Three more school names given to me today by a pal who has done a lt of research for her own (non autistic, hf, mainstream) boy. Not sure if relevant but might be helpful , all Surreyish. More House, Frensham. Bramley and West Hill (Epsom)

You would expect your dd to have some useful language by now, "severe global delay" isn't normally sufficient explanation for being totally non-verbal. There may be an additional specific diagnosis to explain the imbalance. It might be that her chromosome issue is linked to particular language problems.

I think the 'which school' question is a red herring; the main issue is 'how might she be taught to communicate'. And then you find the best place for her.

Afasic has a list of schools and units, ICAN even have their own school, here's a report on speech/language/ communication education.

I would definitely recommend ABA for getting a child talking and it irks just as well (in fact better/quicker, ime) when the child is not autistic

Works not irks!