Flexi schooling?

[Hedgyhoggy]

I Have a 5 year old with moderate ld and at present we are just deciding whether to move him to ss or continue in his fab ms school. I think he will have to go ss at some point but whilst he is happy, has friends it just doesn't feel like the right time yet. Just pondering the idea of flexi schooling. Do any of you do it, how does it work? Your thoughts really. He is in a small rural school where recept are in with nursery in the mornings, which is great, but he is having to be basically removed in the afternoon when recept are taught alongside yr 1 to do completely differnt activities at his level, so not really as inclusive as I would like. Thinking of flexi schooling a couple of afternoons/days a week. What do ms schools think about it?

We don't flexischool but do have a split mainstream / ABA placement (well actually it's fulltime ABA but only part of it in school so he only goes PT). It's not been a problem in terms of him not being in class FT as we choose the most appropriate sessions (mostly literacy and numeracy + PE and music because he enjoys those and helps his social skills as he has autism). We skip RE, assembly, phse etc as those would be pointless and he would have to be pulled out for those lessons. He goes to ABA provider at those times and does 1:1. The children are used to his schedule and just accept it.

I might look at the quality of 1:1 and whether that's working well enough - my sons 1:1 sessions are crucial and support what he does in mainstream - why do you feel this isn't a good use of time or you could do it better? Maybe more specialist input is needed? Or I might explore if he could stay in nursery for the afternoons if you think that would be better.

If you want to flexi school then go for it but if you are doing it because things aren't working I'd perhaps tackle that instead.

I spend my time arguing my son needs more than fulltime school (he does 35 hours a week / 48 weeks a year) so have the opposite problem!

Thanks for replying Agnes, does your dc have a ld? My ds is working at a 2 year old level, he is very sociable but he has a very low attention span, stays on a task that he is interested for minutes, does not count name colours etc he is due to start yr 1 in sept ( he has already been retained for a year). The school have been proactive in gaining advice from key learning centres but I think they are struggling with how they will cope with this transition without him spending most of his time being taken back in to the nursery class for small group work or in 1 to 1 sessions that he is more than reluctant to participate. Perhaps it could be argued that I am doing their job for them if I do take him out for some of the school week however, I feel that it will create a balance between structured formal schooling and the informal, physical play based learning that he enjoys. I'm not saying that I'm right.

Does anyone else know anything about this?

It depends how you define LD! On IQ score no but functional IQ definitely. He probably was at similar level at 5 but he rote learns easily and can read etc so that helped a bit. As he in effect has a special school education in mainstream via ABA it's worked out ok but I agree mainstream staff have been clueless and if we hadn't done ABA I may well have flexi schooled too! At times I have stepped in and taught stuff myself because school wasn't willing or able to adapt work enough. You can teach a lot of the basics yourself and just send him to school for social side

My son has moderate to severe learning disability with ASD and ADHD. He was refused a statement at starting reception despite being assessed at the 2 year old level (later he was assessed on centile but it was put in years of delay at the time). He sort of coped in reception, but frankly he regressed somewhat in years 1-2, despite joining the reception class much of the time. He was just lost. His language improved. When we eventually got a statement we tried for a split placement with the SS, so that he could keep up 'friendships' with local children but was refused on the grounds that it would be confusing for him. I think they were right - at least with our local MS where he would have got almost no support. Once at SS - a lovely MLD he was much happier and the other children were learning mostly at his level (or above) The classes were much smaller (Ds being more LD than most of the others was in a class of 5-7 with 3 teachers/TAs. DS had developed lots of attention seeking and anxiety driven behaviours whilst in MS, which come back very easily. I think it depends very much on the MS and how they support a less able child. For Ds those 3 years almost in MS did so much harm I would hate another child to have to suffer that, so if your gut is saying get him out of there do so. You may be able to keep friendships with local children through clubs /church/ local activities - Ds attended a small mixed age afterschool club (via county transport - it was near enough our house) on their quietest day (usually Monday or Friday) so that he kept up with some local children. Even now (mid teens) that contact is useful as village kids and several adults -know who he is and understand he has learning disabilities and look out for him a little bit, now he is beginning to do things like go to the local shop alone ( well I am close behind but he is safe to run ahead, knowing the shop staff understand!).

I don't know if I have helped!