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Aspergers and EBD schools!?!? Any experience/views?!?

5 replies

sarah573 · 25/01/2009 12:26

Im looking at secondary schools for J (10 with AS). The LEA seem to deam the local EBD (emotional behavioural difficulties) school to be appropriate, and are encouraging me to send him there. The phrase 'Over my dead body' springs to mind!!! I can't personally think of a less suitable environment for him to be in!! Does anyone have any experience/views about placing AS/HFA children in EBD schools?

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Deeeja · 25/01/2009 12:30

Avoid at all costs, is also my point of view.
Completely unsuitable environment.
My hfa 6 year old is in mainstream, and has to share a lsa with children with ebd, and it is a nightmare. I am going through statementing for him at the moment, partly because of this. I would never put him in a ebd school.

sarah573 · 25/01/2009 12:54

The thing is DS can be aggressive, which is why they are suggesting the EBD.

Its clear that he's not going to be able to go to MS in sept. He's been out of school for 6 months now with anxiety and other issues and having home tution. He's not even coping with the demands that is placing on him at the moment.

I've found a MS school with an inclusion base which I think will be great for him, but its going to be some time before he's ready for it, and is going to need some time at a special school as a stepping stone back to MS.

The local special school has 3 sites, one is the EBD site, one is MLD (which he does not have), and the other deals with more medical and emotional issues i.e. school phobics etc.

I've asked that he attends the third site, its a lovely quiet small school, they have experience of ASD, it just seems ideal for him.

The issue is that because the 3 sites are all techically the same school, by naming this school for his statement they are saying that I am unable to 'pick and choose' between the sites and that J will be sent to whichever one the placing team decide to be most appropriate. The man from the SEN team (who hates me because I make his life difficult!), says that he will almost certinally be placed in the EBD because he can be aggressive.

I've worked with EBD children before, and J is completely different in his needs. He's extremely vulerable to other children, as he has no clue if people are being honest, manipulative, are genuinely being his friend etc! He would either be lead by these children and be out stealing cars and robing grannies, or he would be picked on. The busy, noisy unstructed environment of EBD would also be detrimental to him as he has big problems with noise, hustle, lack of routine etc.

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WedgiesMum · 25/01/2009 15:06

My paed and the CAMHS psychologist we see with DS (age 9 with AS) have been very vocal in their opposition to my (aagressive) DS going to an EBD school and have written to the LEA to say that it would be completely unsuitable and detrimental to his mental health and discriminatory because it is not dealing with his main issue - AS - only one of the symptoms IYSWIM - for exactly the reasons you put in your last post! Have you got anyone like that who could support you when it comes to the placing team decision?

daisy5678 · 25/01/2009 17:21

Avoid at all costs. J's current mainstream are trying to force him into local EBD school, for the same reasons of violence and aggression. My point is that those stem from anxiety/ stress/ autism a lot of the time and have improved over time in mainstream with good role models.Luckily the autism outreach team and LEA agree.

EBD is wholly different from autism and needs a different approach. I would take the approach that he needs staff who are qualified in ASD and EBD staff won't be, plus poor role models.

sarah573 · 25/01/2009 19:54

Thanks everyone, you have summed it up far more eloquently than me! In fact I think I may copy bits from your posts into the email Im sending back to the LEA!!

Wedgies - I think J's CAMHS psychologist will support me. This has only been an issue for a few days so I haven't had a chance to discuss it with him yet, but Im pretty sure he will recoil in horror when I tell him about it, and hopefully start writing letters to all concerned!!!

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