social services has discharged DS as he is AS and doesnt meet their criteria

[jenk1]

said the letter i received this morning
i have been waiting for a carers asessment for over 6 months now and have had excuses like short staff now he doesnt meet the criteria as AS is not a learning disability.

Im sure this is wrong and i want to take them to task over it, has anyone else come across this before?

Yes, got a letter last month stating that ds was being taken "off their books" as although he has Hfa he doesn't require their services,also phycologist has been withdrawn as they are over loaded and ds isn't a priority.She was the only one on my side

They have being threatening it here (Whole range of autism though rather than just AS) so far they have been held off but they might then change it to just the those with As diagnosis.Fiend works for sure start and they have been fighting it

I think it is common. Friend with a son with AS has just been told SS can't help.

When we started the assessment ds1 was in mainstream and they were unwilling to help, halfway through the assessment ds1 switched to SLD/PMLD and suddenly we had a lot of help offered. Obviously his needs hadn't changed at all but I've overheard conversations and he is now seen as being very needy (you know they have the scale -whwere 5 is immediate removal from home or something and 4 is requires enormous help at home- he was scored as 4). Obviuosly he's severely autistic, but I think often they don't really understand autism.

im not taking this, its like a blanket policy and im going to write to my mp.
Ds has now been out of school since Nov 2005 and home with me all day and i need some respite so im taking it further, will let you all know how i get on.

where do you live jenk1?

Jenk-I think they get out of providing services here too because they say AS does not fit the learning disability criteria. This is because by definition AS is given as a dx when the childs IQ is at least average or above average. Learning disbility criteria for social services requires the client to be below a certain IQ.

Poor you Jenk, it's so so wrong.

My dd does get help from SS but I am not sure if her dual dx of ADHD as well changes anything? Surely the fact you have dd as well with her sn must make a difference ffs.

jenk- be careful how you approach that though- if you say you need respite because he is out of school they will say that's nothing to do with SS, that's education and will refuse to fund. II wouldn't mention being out of school at all- if you do you will talk yourself out of funding.

I do know of a child with HFA who gets an enormous amount of support from SS (far more in realation to her needs when compared with what others get). I think that's historical (i.e. she's done well, but SS view of her has remained as she was when much younger) and alsmo because her dp's were awarded before system was put into place to ensure that dp awards were comparible and open to scrutiny- they were all a bit random to begin with.

josie, i live in northwest of uk

tiggi-apparantly according to the DRC, AS is classed as a learning disability because the legal definition of having a disability is one that is substanstial and that has lasted for 12 months and is likely to last more than another 12 months so im going to demand that they assess him.

gess-thanks for that, i hadnt thought of it that way, i wont mention him being out of school.

Interestingly just had the ss on the phone offering to send me details of support groups, so i just said oh thanks, i havent told them im intending to take this further!!!!

Hi Jenk,
Sorry you are going through this too - you may recall a thread i started a while back, saying exactly the same as you have here. SS could only offer me 'parenting classes'(despite the fact that I work in this field and the people delivering the course are colleagues)!!!
I just politely declined their offer and have had no contact since, and am still battling with the DLA too. The mind boggles - where is the intervention to 'keep families together' when I have a child who is now displaying psychotic behaviour and have even been given medication for it?
Just feel that the whole system has let us down and sadly, I am all too well aware that we are not the only ones.
Big hugs to you.
Take care.xx

jenk, i am in northwest aswell, and i had ds3 assessed for help last summer, i was told i didnt fit the criteria as he does not have a dx, but was told that asd is in the criteria so when i do get a dx to get back in touch with them, its all good and well saying as is not a learning disability, but thats rubbish, my ds3 does have above average intelligence for his age, when it comes to reading and writing and number skills, he is only 5 and only started mainstream last yr, but he doesnt understand instructions, and cannot understand things that he is told, surely that too is a learning disability, good luck on fighting it hun, i think its disgusting, and as i believe my ds3 is as, means there is no hope for the rest of us that are struggling, fingers x they listen.

i know people with a child with AS and they have been refused any help from SS.
we were assessed two years ago and have 3 with autism, we get 8 hours a month direct payments per child. SW has now done another assessment due to DH being very ill , she is asking for 25 hours per month per child, plus fortnightly daytime respite for each child, will wait and see what happens.