Ok, applying for a statment for ds (ASD)....can any tell me what will it get us?

[Aloha]

Have decided to apply for statement as school is letting ds down quite badly IMO (see threads passim) and his paed will back our application.

Please, can anyone tell me what we might get in the way of help?
Ds has Aspergers, is five, and school say it can't cope with him in classroom sometimes (he has apparently been spending afternoons in the deputy head's office - without anyone telling us ) and they want us to take him out for at least two lunchtimes a week.

Anyone?

)Oh and the NAS can recommend some great poelpe to do an EP assessment)

Can I just add that very often the answer is not 1:1 necessarily?
I am a bit guarded about 1:1 assistance in m/s schools.On the surface it looks great but scratch a bit deeper and often the child and assistant are completely isolted from the rest o the cless in a way that they are not usually in a unit or special school. Can lead to a strange mix of ultra dependence and passivity.

What is needed is not necessarily more staff but better training of the staff who are there.

I work in a......place (don't want it to be identifiably by those who know me) with more staff than pupils which delights parents but is actually the worst thing that could possibly happen for many complicated reasons.It's a bloody mess.

I know that you are not thinking of special schools Aloha but just thought it worth flagging this up.

(I am a salt btw)

I have nothing against special schools moondog. I wish there was a special school for bright Aspergers kids (or Aspergers kids full stop_) that I could send ds to.

Yes.Those kids often fall through the net.
Education of the rest of the class re little quirks and ways is a great way of tackling this. Salts can help with this kind of stuff.I've gone into workplaces of folk with Aspergers' to explain the ways of the individual in question (with full consent.) Has worked very well.

MD Bibic dod that for ds1, went to his school and did training with the teachers- played games where the teachers didnt know the rules, that sort of thing.

I don't know how other statements are worded, but ds1's just says he gets 10 hours funded a week, From what I can see (DS1 not particularly forthcoming and neither is school) that's provided by a TA he knows well who sits on his table and concentrates on him, but is also available to his table. I think thats OK as it doesnt amrk him out- although she does all his wiriting now which I'm not convinced is ideal (although gives him a chance to concentrate on the work set without worrying about how to get it on paper I suppose)

WEll have applied for statement and am just girding myself to fight, fight, fight for ds. Why does it have to be so bloody hard? &

Hi - this is my first post so please be gentle with me!

I noticed your post and just wanted to say that the school are not allowed to exclude your son at lunchtime without making it official - it is illegal.

Sometimes there are short-term agreements between schools and families but it would only be recommended if it was part of a package of reintegration that was time limited.

An official exclusion must be reported to the Department for Education and Skills.

Good luck!

Can i just say that my son who is 8 has been coming home at lunchtime for months now at the schools request, as there is no-one other than dinner ladies to be there during his most challenging time-lunchtime in the playground.

They have worded it by saying that it will go down on record as me deciding to bring him home which i am entitled to do as a lunchtime choice, and that the 'time out' will calm him.

We have an appt soon with paed, if he gets an aspergers diagnosis there is no way i am continuing with this, as really if his behaviour is bad enough for an exclusion, its bad enough for a statement (head said if he doesn't come home at lunch he could be excluded).

IPSEA really are hopeless answering the phone, not enough staff probably but I have yet to get through after weeks of trying. Decided that in short term its no hassle bringing him home, plus he likes it and as long as he's happy...

Sue,if you are ringing and there is no reply,then that is not good enough.
I would take the time to write a letter and leave decent frame for response.If non forthcoming,sent it again with 'sent for the second time' written across it in large read letters.

Do that for as many times as it takes.

Just a note on lunchtime exclusions.

A child can be excluded for lunchtimes but it is treated as fixed term exclusion with parents having the same right to make representation. A lunchtime exclusion is counted as half a day and lunchtime exclusions for indefinate periods are not lawful.

Governing bodies must review all fixed period exclusions of 15 days or more in 1 term and decide if the heads decision was justified. (5 and a half days if the parents wish to make representation)

Children who receive free school meals are still entitled to them, so may mean schools having to provide a packed lunch.

Thanks both of you.

I think I may write to them, someone might ring me back if i leave my number.

Interesting about lunchtime exclusions...my son does, sorry DID, get free meals yet I now have to provide one...is it worth pointing this out to the head?
thanks for the help.

there are special schools for bright aspie kids Aloha. Southlands College in Hampshire - they take from year 4 (I think). St Dominic's in Surrey (take from year 5 upwards) There is another place just opening for Aspies also in Surrey (nr Godalming) and there is Stanbridge Earls School in Romsey, Forest HIll (???) and Farleigh College (both secondary only) in Frome. There are more. They charge loads (except for St Doms which is significantly cheaper). The best bit is that they have on sight OT and SALT, counselling, the works. When you go round you just think - wow I want this type of education for all kids. My son did a trial nd Southlands and there was only 3 kids in the class!!!

I cannot recommend enough paying for independent reports because although it is expensive, your child gets a 2 hour proper assessment with a massive report and proper recommendations from which you can write the statement. The timing has to be done right though if you are thinking of going to tribunal because if it is done too far ahead then they become invalid.

Your son's school need to realise that there are particular reasons why he is having wobblies at lunch time - the overload on his sensory system is HUGE. Lots of jostling, change, seeming little order, kids pushing, hubbub, odd food (even if its not his he might be put off by smell or sight of school dinners).

I do agree with Moondog about 1 to 1. My son had it all his primary days and its a biggie coming to terms with not having 1 to 1 anymore now he is secondary. Also, just like Moondog said, quite often they are well meaning mums and some are brilliant and others are useful, can't cope and bugger off (saying god knows what to the other mums at the school gate).

Sorry, I've wittered on again. BEst of luck.

Aloha / 1sue1 do your children have BSP - behaviour support plan?

Have school attempted to put stratergies in place to assist at difficult times?

If school is aware that unstructured times are problematic then steps should be taken to manage these times. Exclusion for persistent difficult behaviour has to be fixed (or permanent) never unofficial! Or if a very serious incident has occured - and then only for a limited time.

Schools can play to parents fears of having things "on the record" but if a child needs help then it is best (in my opinion) to get problems noted!

1sue1 IPSEA are all volunteers and completely overstretched. You need to leave a message and they'll get back to you. They will never answer a ringing phone as they have a huge list of people waiting to be phoned back iyswim. They may take up to aorund 10 days to ring you back; the only way that will change is if more people volunteer and they can afford to pay for training.

thanks gess, I will ring and leave a message.

tibni, he has an iep but it isn't much use really. it certainly makes no allowances for his problems.

I agree with you about the exclusion thing. I should be refusing to bring him home at lunch really, the only reason i am not causing a fuss about it is because if it forced an exclusion, it would be awful for ds. he likes coming home for dinner, I just get annoyed inside wishing school would aknowledge his problems more instead of pretty much saying 'he doesn't fit in so you deal with him' which is how it feels.

Anyway, got a paed appt in a month so hopefully onwards and upwards after that.

I REALLY wish that there was a set way for ALL schools to deal with children out of the 'norm'. From what I have heard there is no set formula and most have no clue.

Hi Aloha
sorry I haven't read all the post, but thought I'd let you know that we had a really bad year 1, two short informal exclusions for scratching other children, and I had to take DS home for lunch every day for three months.
Anyway, the result of the school not being able to deal with DS, was that we got a statement for 34.5 hours.
Year 2 has gone really well, because of all of the extra help, so although it was very distressing throughout year 1, we have ended up with a good statement.
We did have to work quite hard to get it.
Good luck.

isgrass can you tell us what you mean by worked hard to get the statement? thanks.

Hi 1sue1
we had to get on side with lots of people, chase up reports, work with the senco at school to ensure that all of the correct information was submitted.
We had to write our own section and I had to go back over all of the information we had from birth, all his old school reports, health visitor notes, reports form speach and language, OT, communication clinic visits, notes from his old nursery, anything that had reference to difficulties that he had experienced.
I had several meetings with the statementing officer, got advice from the NAS, IPSEA and the parent partnership.
Basically spent about two months pulling everything together and speaking to people, before we were happy with what the council offered us.
It rather took over my life for a while.

Aloha, How are things going?

I am waiting for meeting with Ds Pead and then may be following you down this statementing process so I'd be genuinely interested to hear how things are going.