SEN, no statement, possible ASD, exluded for two days...what next?

[LaTourEiffel]

I'm so in the dark abbot what is going on, so if anyone outs prepared to help me unravel and maybe point me in the next direction, that would be great.

DS1 has had difficulties with emotional and behavioural development since reception. he's now in year one and having persistent and increasingly violent outbursts.

He was classed as special needs by the school in around November time (2013) at school action plus level.

He is performing very well at reading and maths, but struggles with literacy.

He has violent outbursts at school, which involve throwing of chairs and causing harm to others, both children and adults.

He attends breakfast and after school club at a local day care, who also experience some issues, but on the whole, they seem not as extreme as at school. We attribute this to there being less children, less demands etc.

Due to an incident last week, meeting was called this Friday with school, senco and local authority psychologist. I invited daycare to attend also so we are all on the same page.

He had a community paediatric appointment on the Thursday (referral made by gp after I went there for help). she said she supported my research that he could be on the spectrum, and had made referrals for salt, ot and two a consultant at the hospital.

we dropped him at school. after the appointment, and there was another incident where he threw a chair at a teacher. she wasn't harmed but they've excluded him temporarily due to physical abuse towards staff.

In the Friday meeting, which went ahead anyway, the senco has said that he won't get a statement because you have to be performing below expected targets and because he's so good at maths and reading, he won't get one.

We found out on the meeting that he has been having one to one support on the afternoons since Christmas, but we were unaware and have not meet her.

We also found out that the school has a support worker that does a lunchtime club that he can choose to attend, that builds on social skills, self esteem exercises, etc. He has set himself objectives to not hurt anyone He just doesn't seem to recall this when something sets him off.

What next?

We have a reintegration meeting on tues at 1.30. They said on Friday that may include a phased return to school.

They have also said they don't have the resources available to extend his one to one support into the mornings.

I've spent the last few months with my mobile constantly at my side, dreading the day I get a call to say something terrible has happened.

What do I do?

I have limited support available to me, my only support is mobbing out of the atra over Easter (which stays next Friday here).

This is all new, escalating rapidly, and I have very little knowledge of either special needs or the education system, never mind how it all fits together.

So much to think about, I have no idea if I've missed anything..

apologies for typos! I shouldn't have posted from my phone, but am hiding in the bath for a break!

clearly school are not meeting his needs. apply for a statement yourself directly to the LA. ipsea have great model letters that you can use and a great helpline that you can ring for advice.

I think you need to raise a request for assessment if the school won't.

The school cannot put him on a part time timetable. This constitutes an illegal exclusion, except where it is used for the child's benefit in exceptional circumstances as part of a planned reintegration plan. This is not the case here.

Put bluntly, if they are saying that they cannot cope with his behaviour without extra support, then they need to raise an SA1 (request for assessment). Plenty of children are statemented for behavioural needs who have no academic needs at all.

Have the school contacted the LA behaviour support service?

Has a Pastoral Support Plan been discussed?

'Plenty' might be pushing it a bit, but my point is that achieving academically does not mean a child will not receive a statement of SEN for behavioural difficulties.

I've not heard of a pastoral support plan, he has a behavior management plan but it's pretty basic stuff.

Not sure about local authority, the psychologist that came and assessed him is employed by local authority, school got us to sign him up as sen, to allow them to access more specialised support...

My thoughts are that school have proven they can't manage him (I can, by the way) so why would I even let him go back?

then you need to request SA and once a statement is issued name a school or placement in part 4 that you feel can meet his needs.
you can get a statement for behavioural needs as most behavioural placements need a statement to be accepted into them!

Firstly, itis not true that the child has to be behind to be considered for assessment of soecial needs which may or may not result in a statement.

My ds (ASD, ADHD) was also meeting or even exceeding targets in maths and reading in year1 but his other lagging skills in social and emotional development meant he was in need of an assessment at the very least. His assessment was requested on social, emotional and behavioural grounds not the lack of academic progress.

Ds got an initial statement of SEN with 1:1 for 20 hours and OT and SALT requirements included. This has been upped to full time 1:1 now as ds ability to cope has reduced as the demands become more challenging, resulting in more anxiety and distressed fight/flight behaviour. Mainstream is struggling to provide for his needs now and special school is on the cards despite the fact that ds remains on target academically for maths and literacy ( apart from writing)
No one knows if your ds will get a statement until an assessment is done
if you feel your ds will need ongoing support through school then its wise to have these needs and support defined so that you can be sure he is getting what he needs I order to have access to the curriculum.

apply for the statutory assessment, the worstbthat can happen is that the LA refuse to assess, whcih you can appeal.

any short term plans, like what do I do tomorrow (at the moment I'm going to work)

what about the meeting? should I have expectations or be going with the flow?

liltreacle, your ds sounds like mine, by the way.

Fight / flight is a great description of his responses, too.

Gets on fab with his brother x

You need to attend the rei tegration meeting.
State the school are not meeting needs whcih result in your ds distressed and anxiety driven behaviour.
apply for SA yourself as you will know that it has been done.

if school say they cannot cope with your ds full time without extra support that is enough to request a SA .

they shoild not be requesting reduced hours unless all other strategies have been exhausted.
My ds has had full time 1:1 and differentiated curriculum and still not coping and was excluded a number of times, so the only real option was to go to reduced hours to see if that helped alleviate the stress he was under.

The first time a pastoral plan was mentioned was when a planned reduced timetable ( rather than being called back before lunch every day to collect a very distressed and upset ds) was introduced......and only because the LA told school to do it otherwise they would be illegally excluding ds on ground of how he might behave.
we have the joy of part time hours until the end of the year potentially.

I am bemused why exclusion is used at all.

for children with SEN their behaviour is not likely to improve unless something about what school are doing changes to meet needs.....having some time off might reduce anxiety a bit, but it soon comes back whe they go back to school.

LilTreacle- your son's arrangement sounds like it could be an illegal exclusion. Are the school putting in tuition at home or have they made alternative provision to make up the 25 hours a week of education to which he is entitled? Has this been discussed?

How are they marking him in the register?

A reduced timetable being part of a PSP does not mean it is not an illegal exclusion.

Totally agree LilTreacle - in our view the only thing it accomplished was to give the teacher three days respite. Perhaps she needed it but it meant that child came back even more stressed than before the exclusion. My other advice is that if a reintegration interview is offered (it should be) make sure it is not used as a telling off session for your son - preferably ask that he is not present and use it to try and make the school give more support. I say this because ds2 reoffended within 30 minutes after one of these interviews but managed much better when I refused to have one.

I can confirm that statements can be given on behavioural needs alone as both my sons are statemented despite being academically above average. ds1 did end up being permanently excluded before his statement was issued but he is now happily settled in an EBD school where both his behavioural and academic needs are met.

Reduced hours has helped ds2 but make sure there is a fixed plan for either reintegration at his present school or that an alternative placement (with support) will be offered. We were coerced into accepting the reduced hours as the alternative was permanent exclusion with the only provision being given a tutor for 1 hour a day because the local PRU was full to capacity.

Good point, OneInEight- the exclusion should be the consequence for the behaviour, not the reintegration meeting. Far too many children are excluded again during their reintegration meetings due to them being completely mishandled.

As far as one hour of tuition per day goes, that is unlawful. After the sixth day of an exclusion, there must be 25 hours of provision in place (this becomes the LA's responsibility if the exclusion is permanent) If there is none available, the LA can commission private tuition agencies to make up the child's entitlement. Of course, this is costly and they are reluctant to do so, but this is part of their legal responsibility.

Part time timetables (and managed moves) should never be used to threaten permanent exclusion in this way.

Tethersend, a reduced timetable most certainly is an illegal exclusion, even if it is a part of a PSP. Children are entitled by law to full time education. If the school can't cope with a child full time, it's up to them to access further support so they can.

Sorry, Tethers, just realised that I misread your post and we agree on this being an illegal exclusion.

No need to apologise if you're agreeing with me, Nenny

According to the letter, he has been excluded for physical abuse towards staff, and the aim is to punish him for this behavior.

I am very cross.

I'm cross because they have put him in a position where he can cause harm.

He's also note missing out on a class visit to his proposed next school which is happening tomorrow. (convenient for the school).

I've not told him because he'll be really disappointed.

I've not explained the exclusion to him either, just said that school haven't got everything in place that they need to look after him properly...

right or wrong??

Have school put the reasons for exclusion in writing?

Have a look at IPSEA - they have letter formats you can use to apply for Statutory assessment. Contact IPSEA/SOSSEN.

I emailed IPSEA with a query last week and they got back to me quickly but they can be hard to get through to on the phone.

Write up the Friday meeting and email back to SENCO.

Make sure that you include the fact that he is being excluded from the class visit to the proposed school. Ask them when this will be rearranged for him.

Have the staff had any positive handling training?

What is positive handling?

I don't know if they have had training for it, they just say they've got extensive experience of working with children with special needs, and autism, which gives me the impression that they (think they) know better than us.

They did put the exclusion in writing, they gave it to me when I collected him.

He was very anxious when I collected him, and the day after...seems much better yesterday and today and more like how he used to be.... sensitive but not out of control...

I have consistently stated the non value to ds of exclusion, that the reason he is excluded is failure to meet needs, its descimination etc etc.
makes no difference.

we are just biding time till special school with staff who undrrstand ASD is available.

I would not subject ds to more time at school as he simply cannot cope with it, or , more accurately they do not know how to help him cope.
specific circumstances......not necessarily what OP is experiencing.

The school can and should provide up to 15 hours of support before they need top up money from the LA......the SEN budget is not ringfenced for use only for SEN so if they dont spend it on a child they can allocate is anywhere they like......so they miss it when it has to be used for its purpose.........

get the assessment requested, get the needs known and understood, and go from there.