Help needed please. New ASD diagnosis

[MrsBB1982]

Hello.

DS5 has rece been diagnosed with ASD. Was told to look at it like Aspergers as he has features most consistent with that.

Not sure where to go for support. He's ok at home but school is totally different. He finds all the social side and expectations in lessons too much I think. Loads of noises and jumping around or lying on the floor which disrupts the class. He tends to lash out when really stressed, his zone is 'invaded' or things don't go how he expected. School are trying their bed too, very supportive. But we're at a loss how to.help him best.

Advice would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

A friend of mine has an ASD son who lashes out when anxious in class. The school applied for an EHCP to get top up funding in order to apply for a one-to-one support for him in class. When he was on his own, he struggled to get through the day but with support he's calmer and able to engage in lessons more. I also know of another family whose DS was out of school in Y1/Y2 for a long period as he struggled to cope. He went back into school in Y3 with a (then) statement and full time one-to-one for the rest of primary. He's now at a grammar school and doing well surrounded by fellow geeks and minimal support.

Press for a Learning Assistant for your DS and if necessary apply yourself for an EHCP to avoid things getting out of control. Lashing out is a sign of "un-met" needs and an indication that a "Statutory Assessment" could be of benefit. To qualify for an EHC assessment you need to show that your DS "may have SEN" - which is the ASD diagnosis - and that he "may benefit from a plan" as his behaviour indicates "un met needs" and that he seems to be too stressed to "access the curriculum".

Good luck

Thanks. That's brilliant. We took him out of school for a while last year as the 'wheels fell off '. He's now at a private school as they've been able to provide more one to one support from their SEN teacher but it's inconsistent as they've got other kids that need help too. Can he still access tht sort od help when hes at private school?

EHCP's related to state education provision and indies don't have to provide support - although you may be wealthy enough to pay for it in which case it would be a matter of organising with the school!? Assuming that's not the case, some families manage to get their LA to fund the extra support via an EHCP while they cover the standard school fees. This is discretionary and depends on your LA's attitude, although if it is cheaper than providing a fully funded place in the state sector it seems that this route is often accepted by LAs.

If you haven't done this already you should look at IPSEA's website and book a call back from their free helpline. They will be able to brief you on what the basic legal situation is. I can highly recommend doing their Foundation Law Course (in person or online) as after that I was able to write my own EHC application letter and DS is being assessed now - after being told by uncle-tom-cobbly-an-all that we wouldn't get anywhere!

As you are at an Indie I suspect you will have to write your own letter and i suggest you aim to bulk out the standard IPSEA letter quite a bit. Put in a list of relevant professionals that they might contact; include appendices with recent reports and notes from school meetings. Show where your DS has SEN from the 4 areas of need (google the SEN COP). If you can show evidence/behaviours which show "un met needs" and "inability to access the curriculum" and "delay" compared to peers then do it. Describe how much help he gets and how that helps; also what happens when the support is not there. You need to make the strongest case you can and provide all the best evidence you have to get your LA to Agree to Assess, because something like 80-90% of assessments result in an EHC Plan. Why should your DS, out of all the applications they get, need a statutory assessment? If you can't explain that well; you end up with a muddled application and don't make a convincing case, you will probably get stuck in the appeals process which sounds like hard work. It would probably be worth highlighting if you want to keep him in his current school and that your are only looking for top-up support funds - if that is the situation. Good luck

Hi OP, hope you are ok. Just wanted to say that you've been given excellent advice from previous posters- I didn't know about the foundation law course. I am writing / applying for ECHP for my ds,who sounds very much like yours.
It is quite emotional and I procrastinated a bit. I've given lots of detail about how DS needs support from and 1:1 and what happens when he doesn't get it. For example, I've listed exactly how short his attention span is in minutes compared to another child his age. I've listed all the official bodies we have seen and what they have said and how that impacts in the classroom.
I wonder if you have applied for DLA? The reason I ask is that the notes I made after applying for dla were used to put together a request for ECHP.
I'm posting mine off tomorrow and I hope that we will get somewhere.
It's a difficult process and it's makes me angry that we have to fight for children to get the help they need.
I wish you well.

I'm pretty ignorant to all the terminology. What is DLA and EHCP? We are putting all the money we have sing him to this school and we have nothing left over. We couldn't afford to pay for extra we just decided to work extra shifts to pay for him to go to this school as they have been so supportive. We underestimated how much support he's need and they can't provide one to one all the time

I've just reread my posts. Sorry about the spelling. On my phone which makes typing tricky!

DLA = Disability Living Allowance
EHCP = Education Health Care Plan - it is the document that replaced the 'Statement' when the new SEN Code of Practice came in, in 2014 as part of the Children and Family's Bill.

How old is your ds?

I don't think think my advice is going to be popular but to be honest private schools rarely have the best interests of children with special needs at heart, especially long term. Of course every school is different but you may be better applying for an ehcp yourself through your local council website (you don't need the school to apply for you) and considering other schools - state schools, state specialist academies and schools- in order to have the ehcp upheld and get more 1 to 1 support.

Definitely apply for dla. If you google "cerebra" their website has a very good dla guide.

Can't offer much advice. We do seem to have exaxtly the same 5 year old, my ds is 6 next month. Things have really gotten bad at school - they r being amazing trying to support him but there's not enough staff or support. Schools trying to get him statmented as he needs a 1:1 but we have literally just started. Only got official diagnosis last wk