DS struggling in Year 7

[JacquettaW]

My DS started in secondary school a few weeks ago. He was fine for the first week or so but things have started going downhill.

He's struggling with homework and how little downtime he's getting because of it.

He's permanently exhausted despite an early bedtime, which is affecting his behaviour both at home and school. On Monday he will be spending the day in the isolation room for slapping another child.

When he first started, he liked it but now he hates going and he's so unhappy.

I'm not really sure what to do

I should add that he has autism and ADHD. I meant to put that in the original post

Do the school have any kind of sen plan in place for him? You probably need to contact the senco with your concerns too.

Yeah he has an EHCP and the action plan the senco came up with for him is brilliant. I am going to have to speak to her again on Monday.

We're both finding things so hard at the moment. Everything is a major battle because he's unhappy

It is always a hard transition even more so with those with additional needs. Sounds like the senco is on the ball though. Hopefully a chat with her on Monday will help.

My Ds had undiagnosed autism in year 7 and really struggled with his transition too as nobody was aware of his difficulties. Good luck, I'm sure things will settle soon.

Thank you @Punxsutawney. We were lucky in that he was diagnosed at 5. It's awful that children can pass through the whole of primary school and no one picks up on their needs

Thanks jacquetta. Ds was diagnosed two weeks ago, age 15 and in his gcse year. This late diagnosis has caused so many issues. You are right, schools still have a long way to go in identifying and supporting those children that need it.

I hope your Ds has a better week, next week and starts to feel more settled soon.

I hope so too. I think sometimes it just helps to speak to other mums of SEN kids to know that you're not alone and make you feel better about things.

I hope your son will get the support he needs now, especially at such an important stage in his life

Thanks, school waiting for letter from paediatrician until they will draw up his send plan. The whole process seems to take forever! Talking to other parents who have children with additional needs does help. I went to a local parents support group for the first time yesterday and you suddenly realise there are others in similar situations. It can feel very lonely at times.

Did you speak to the SENCO @JacquettaW ?

Are things any better?