DS (6, ASD) was excluded from mainstream in year 1. After a lot of fighting, we got him a place at a special school and he started last week. It is our closest school but the journey is an hour. Everyone told me special school would help but it hasn't. As of today he won't go in. He says it's too far and he gets travel sick on the journey every day. He won't eat or go to the toilet at school and he says the other children hurt him. He's having many violent meltdowns every day (as was the case in mainstream). At home he has smashed many belongings and often hurts us. He is under CAMHS but they haven't been helpful so far.
If he won't go to school, I can't work and we soon won't be able to afford our mortgage, bills etc. There's no way he will engage with any form of learning at home so I don't feel home schooling or EOTAS are options. He needs to be at school. He's very clever but as he's never been able to access actual lessons he's getting further and further behind. If we give up on school, he'll never even learn to read or write. He's miserable at home. While we were trying to find him a school he cried every day that he wanted to go and was bored at home. Now we have a school, he says it's too far away and nothing seems to have improved at all.
We can't afford to live closer to the school and that would cause even more problems in getting our other child to her school. She is really suffering from all the stress and uncertainty. DH has a chronic illness and is often at hospital appointments. I can't be in two places at once. I just don't feel like this is a life worth living for any of us.