Autistic son starting school in September! Advice needed?

[Shootingstar2289]

My son, who is just 4 hasn't been diagnosed but it's obvious he is autistic. They aren't sure how long a diagnosis will take but he is going to have a Early Health Care Plan (statement) but have been told his takes up to 20 weeks which means it might not be completed into the Autumn term therefore won't have one to one straight away.

However, I had his first TAC meeting yesterday and the Senco at the primary school said there are two TA's in a class of 21.. Therefore will get support.

He is very speech delayed and often gets frustrated. He has a mind of his own sometimes and struggles to understand boundaries disrupting the class. I'm worried the school won't know what to expect with him. He's been so used to the pre school staff that I worry he won't cope at all. And coping at lunch time is a big worry of mine.

I really want my son to go part time for the first time but have been told that it's best he goes full time as he will get so used to leaving at a cretain time that it will disrupt him when he has to start all day.

Has anyone got any advice? And has any autism parents put their child in part time rather than full time?

I'm worried sick!

If he has only just turned 4 there is nothing stopping you from delaying his school entry until his EHCP is done!

You can defer entry for up to a year for children with special needs but it can sometimes mean going straight into yr 1 or having to skip a year later on!

Headteachers can with the agreement of the local authority agree to defer entry and still enter reception and not skip a yr later but I dont know how common this is.

Or he could start part time and see how it goes, it is your call! Be strong for your boy and you tell them how it is going to work not the other way round!!

I am sure you will get loads of support on this board it really is the best place!

Good luck

Not sure how much advice I can give, but we are in exactly the same situation. We are going against the general advice from the school and preschool. We will either defer until June or start part time. We are starting a home ABA programme and the consultant there suggested that often children with autism don't do well in reception because it's all about independent discovery and relationships - none of which our son has any motivation to do.

Star remember that each school has its own delegated SEN budget, so if dc turns out to need 1 to 1 support on day one )or two_ then they have some money before the EHCP is finalised and funding flows from the LA.

A transition meeting with school and nursery staff, plus you of course, could be a very good thing if the respective teams can make time. And a Transition Plan for how to manage the transition from one to the other.

These days a lot of people know a little bit about autism and assume it applies to every child. So it may be that someone has said that changes are difficult for ASD/C kids and they are thinking that it would be better to have one big change to full time rather than two smaller ones.

They may not be taking into account how tired your dc gets, eg because of the sensory difficulties he has to work with, or because of the endless frustration of getting hi,self understood. If you set out all your observations of dc on a typical day, a good day and a bad day then they may start to get it.

And if nursery can give you some idea of how they manage, and what challenges he faces that may give the new school a better idea of what they face.

How many days does dc do at nursery? Do you think dc can manage half days, or would it need to be less?

Actually, I fear the desire for full time may be finance driven, with the school getting more money for full time pupils. If this is the case you could offer to let him be listed as a full time pupil who may need to go home a lot eg just after the afternoon register, because he is just tired because of his SEN. .

Why would I suggest this approach? because you have a long relationship ahead with this school, and seeing things from their point of view has a value for dc.

You could add that this would give everyone the flexibility that is needed to optimise dc's learning, given that a mainstream class will be so much harder work for him than for his mainstream peers. You can say that it would give the flexibility for dc to stay longer on days when he is able, but to go home if he is overtired.

You know your dc and the situation best 0 but just chucking this idea in, in case it suddenly rings some bells

Good Luck

My DS started part time for the first term and gradually built up in the last few weeks, adding an afternoon per week, so that by the end of term he was going in full time.

I don't think that the school can insist your DS attends full time until the term after his 5th birthday.

Sorry - just re-read that. It is as clear as mud.

School could pay for a 1to1 out of the money they have. The EHCP doesn't need to be in place for them to do that.

The law says that a child's SEN must be met. If LA and/or the school say dc needs a 1to1 then the school should pay for it until funding from the LA is in place. That is the law.

So now you just need to find a way of making them pay up, ideally without having to go on the war path.

Good Luck

My son started full time without a statement and a full time lsa.you may find that once it's clear your child needs one on one support they may be more responsive especially if they have to fund support from their budget.i was asked if my son could go part time.i refused (I work and he has always done full days).The difficulty can be getting the school to agree to full time again.parents partnership are very good at giving advice so worth baring in mind.

I have a son who is autistic and currently in a mainstream primary school in fife. He has a full time pupil support assistant.

My question is: How much money (funding) is the school given annually for having my son in their school?

Just wondered if anyone knows the answer before I request a freedom of information request re this.

Thanks

Sorry first time on here. Not quite sure if Im posting in the right area

Holly they are on,y given extra money if your son is granted an ehcp they don't automatically get extra because he is autistic. That is the system in England anyway, not sure if diff in scotland

We're heading to mainstream next month with an ehcp and full time funding. School get given a budget of 6k I think (12.5 hours) per child with Sen that comes out of their budget they then ask the council to top up their funding. We're doing part time to start and will gradually build up the time. My other dd also has asd and they basically started us part time which went on for over 7 months and then messed about with her doing the odd full day. It was a mess. They seemed to have learnt this time around. There's no reason you can't do part time as they don't have to be full time until after the term after their fifth birthday.

Thanks both for your kind reply. Can u tell me what is ehcp?

Educational health care plan. It's a plan that lays out all their needs.