School offer no support for child with ASPERGERS

[Bowbelles]

Hi MN

I'm new to this and have this is the first message I've posted.

Can anyone offer any advice to my friend? Been told that DS has Aspergers but gets no support from school whatsoever as they do not think he is bad enough.

Friend thinks that he needs help and doesn't know who to turn to as school do not want to know.

He is in Year 5 now and she desperately wants to get him some support/statemented if possible.

Thanks for any advice.

Hi there, I work with children with ASD in mainstream school. Unfortunately many children I work with who have been diagnosed with Aspergers don't get any support in school as academically thay manage well in the classroom but ignore the fact that there have huge difficulties with social interaction, aking friends etc...

It may be up to the school to support thr child without designated support from the LEA. Schools can often ask for help/advice from peripathtic specialsie teachers.Local SALT may be able to provide help with develping social skills. It really does depend where you live as to what services are available. Definitiely ge tin contact with the NAS ( national autisitic society to access the support and advice of other parents that live in your friends area.Good luck.

I would certainly agree with the first paragraah ellanevemum has written; this same sad scenario is happening to my friend's son. Its awful frankly, she's now thinking of moving schools as the situation re school is so bad. Again this child has no statement.

It is frankly awful of the school to say that there will not be any support as he is not "bad enough". School may perhaps put this child on school action plus but again as this is not legally binding (unlike a statement which is) this will only provide minimal support.

With regards to a statement your friend can herself apply to the LEA asking for her son to be assessed with a view to getting a Statement. She does not need the school's involvement to make the initial request besides which she can appeal if the LEA say no (school cannot).

I would also suggest this lady contact the NAS for more support and advice.

IPSEA are very good at this whole issue and I would urge your friend to also look at their website and phone their helpine. They could give her good advice.

Their web address is www.ipsea.org.uk

HTH and good luck to your friend.

"Schools can often ask for help/advice from peripathtic specialsie teachers"

Some schools indeed seek advice, well this is certainly done at the school DS attends. A specialist teacher from the LEA does gives advice and suggestions to my son's school re DS - BUT this is only because he has a statement. Children without statements in that school don't get her observing child in class. As it is as well the Ed pysch can only go into school three times a year and all services in thsi area like many others are being squeezed. Occupational therapist can only attend once in a blue moon and requests for his assistance are often made by school and ignored.

Its the fault of a system which is unable to cope with demand due mainly to financial pressures.

Hi my son has AS and gets little support from school. They are refusing to support me in applying for a statement.

Elanevemum - can you let me know a little bit more about what the local SALT could do. Can parents ask for this involvement.

The school have said they will give ds about five social skills sessions. They are given by a kindly but untrained LSA and IMHO seem pretty useless. For example the other week the session was organising with ds's one and only friend who is also quite immature (not special neees tho). The session degenerated and was a total waste of time. Ds also ended up being told off. This was entirely predictable.

I appreciate that other kids can't really be used as guinea pigs for my ds to practice with. They need to get on with their work etc. However I was wondering whether there were any more structured groups available anywhere?

I find the whole situation very upsetting and infuriating. It is always very helpful to chat to other parents in the same position so ask your friend to post here if she can. At least she can have a rant and get it out of her system, it certainly helps me!!!

Caroline3 - The SALT recently discharged ds1(6yrs) from her list as he is now ahead wrt language skills. However she also said that as he gets older he will probably need help wrt the social side of things. When that happens the SALT said that we should self-refer for more help. Parents can do this by phoning or writing to the speech therapy services and requesting an appointment with a SALT. They don't need to go via the school or GP.

HTH

Thanks a lot Coppertop I'm going to look into this now.

Thanks for the advice everyone I'll certainly pass it all on to my friend. The websites look helpful too.

It's the same old story - it all boils down to money and postcodes - it does make me mad! (wanted to insert an angry face here but couldn't work out how to it - ha ha).

Coppertop - how did you insert the smiley?

If you pan down to the bottom of the page it tells you how to do emoticons like the smiley as well as links and emphasis.

It makes me so angry when children don't get the support they need. I considered taking ds out of mainstream for a while as his behaviour deteriorated so much when he had ineffective support but now he has a statement and really good support he is doing really well. I wish your friend luck - I've no advice as MeerKat said it all as usual

Thanks Aminnixmum

Caroline3 Hope you get this haven't logged on for ages. You can refer you child to SALT yourself as mentioned before. You just need to contact the main SALT office in your area which will be part of your local primary care trust. Check their website for contact details. SALT have expertise in helping with socail communication skills and some specialist therapists run social skills groups in school and outside of school. Hope this is helpful