advice needed re further education and discrimination

[ThatVikRinA22]

i have an 18 yr old who has a diagnosis of Aspergers, dyslexia and dyspraxia.

he did not have a statement at school but did have access to a TA. She kept him organised and he got good GCSE results. School wasnt great for him but he ended up doing ok.

He has an above average IQ, and shouldnt have any problem accessing the AS and A2 curriculum, except the college he has gone to are being as unhelpful as can be. He has very poor organisational skills, very poor time management, very poor memory. All he needs is someone to help him organise his workload, someone to speak with at the start of each day to tell him where he is and when, and to help him access help from the tutors when he needs it. he doesnt have any of this and is floundering. he is now 20 pieces of work behind. He is capable, but very distressed.

The first year was a wash out. he flunked totally because he was simply left to it. I had several meetings with their SEN dept but they just kept saying that he, like lots of other students, was finding it difficult to access independent learning. They suggested he do 3 years at A level instead of 2.

i said i feared without anything changing the same would happen this year.

Well it has. they think they are fulfilling their obligations to accommodate his disability by giving him a laptop (that his tutors refuse to let him use) a dictaphone(that his tutors refuse to let him use on privacy grounds!) and they did give him a PDA which they have now taken back off him to give to another student.

i am at my wits end with this fucking college. I have contacted Connexions and they are getting an advisor with SEN experience to phone me on Monday, but have said they cannot make the college do anything if they dont want to.

this is blatant disability discrimination and i have told them so. They have asked for a meeting with me next week. i have not formally complained yet but i will if they dont alter their attitude to him. its as if they think if he cannot manage he simply should not be there.

he is into the second year now, with another to go. is it possible for me to move him to another college at this late stage? He says that each college follows a different exam board so he thinks this would be difficult, he has wasted 2 years so far, would he have to start again? if so, and he wanted to go to uni, would he still be able to do that at nearly 21? would he still qualify for student loans etc?

i dont know who to ask these questions to but i will ask connexions to point me in the right direction.

does anyone here have any ideas please?
thanks in advance if you can help. im tearing my hair out here.

Hi Vic

You know that they are in contempt of Disability legisaltion. You need to point that out to them forcefully.

Compalin in writing to the College Principal and also to whoever funds the Colleg - which may be the L&SC still.

You could also go to the papers / Equal Opps Commission or whichecer body it is that oversees dis discrm- but the threat of that may be enough to get them to realise.

You have to play hard ball.
You should be asking for all the things you listed above i.e.:

All he needs is someone to help him organise his workload, someone to speak with at the start of each day to tell him where he is and when, and to help him access help from the tutors when he needs it.

You could move college. It would be eaie if they followed the same exam board's cirriculum but it's not impossible to transfer between OCr and AQA for example if you request 'special consideration' for the other board's modules.

Connexions will know what courses are avaliable at local FE Colleges.

Plus the use of the dictaphone and laptop and PDA.

He will qualify for the Uni grants etc at any age - well it stops at 60 but he'll be there before then!

Draw up a plan of action:

1. Speak to Connexions - see if there are alternative colleges he could go to

2. Write to the College Principal demanding action and threatening them with the consequences of ignoring you

You need to stop talking to his useless tutors and start talking high enough up the tree for things to get done.

Best wishes

thanks wetty

thats the plan - id already planned to complain in writing. Can you point me in the direction of any legislation i can quote at them?

They are blocking his access to further education by not accommodating his special needs - i know that. They said they could take him, no idea why if they cant help him. They knew he had aspergers and their ed psyche dx'd his dyslexia! (as you know)

just not quite sure how to word the letter, but am working on it and itd help me if i had some legislation to throw at them and tell them exactly what they are breaching.

any ideas?

cheers.

It the Disability Act - the bit about making reasonabole adjustments.

I've got to pop out but google it and you find it.

TBH I'd be finding a good solicior too and making a claim against them

cheers mrs. will google. ta muchly.

hi wetty, is this too rambling to send? what do you think? i have a tendency to waffle i know - be brutal i can take it!

Dear Mr xxx

I wish to make a complaint with regard to my son, xxx. D has a diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome. The educational psychologist also diagnosed him with Dyslexia within weeks of him being at your college. A copy of that report is enclosed. (There are many other reports detailing the specifics of his other disabilities which college staff have had access to and should be in his college file)
Since beginning college D has experienced difficulty accessing the AS curricula. As detailed in the enclosed report under normal circumstances he would have no issue in accessing the AS curriculum. The fact is that his disability affects his ability to learn. The study zone had given D some tools for use in college in order to help him. These items included a PDA, laptop and Dictaphone. His tutors are not happy with the use of many of these pieces of equipment and the PDA has recently been taken back.
Within the first year it became apparent that the level of support that D needs was not forthcoming. The opinion of his tutors and the SEN coordinator was that he needed time to adjust to independent learning, as I was assured that many students experience difficulties in moving from school to a college environment. I have never shared this view and felt it was an issue of his disabilities not being supported as he needed, although was prepared to give those in the SEN department the benefit of the doubt and it was agreed that D should extend his 2 year course to 3 years. I was of the opinion that if nothing changed in the level of support D received then nothing would change in his performance.
D is now in his second year and it is very clear to me that this is indeed the case. He is now again very far behind in his work. D disability means that his organisational skills are very poor. His memory is very poor. His time management is very poor. His concentration poor. Nothing has been done with regards to addressing any of these problems in an appropriate way. What he needs is someone to help organise him. This would involve him having someone to go to at the beginning of each day, for them to programme his PDA, (if he still had it of course) to ensure he knows where he needs to be and when, and to help him access his tutors when he finds himself in need of help. (He currently has no idea how to find help as when he is free his tutors invariably are not) He also needs regular one to one sessions with either a learning mentor or his tutors. Some of these things have been granted intermittently but he cannot cope with times etc being changed and is at risk of forgetting where he is meant to be and when. When this has happened the view has been that he has wilfully not attended. On speaking recently to his tutors I do not believe that any one them understood or particularly cared what his disability meant in terms of making reasonable adjustments. I believe that to deny his needs is a breach of the disability discrimination act 1995 and if this continues to be the case I will seek legal advice on this breach.
I await your response to this complaint.

thats roughly what i was thinking of sending to the principal of the college....the SEN woman has asked for a meeting anyway - im going to speak to connexions first. would you send this in its current form? opinions welcome
ta muchly.

Hi Vic

It's fine.

Make it a formal complaint.

State that his tutors have prohibited him from using the... thus failing to permit him the reasonable adjustments he requires.

I will seek - make I intend to seek.

Got to take DS back to Uni - back after 10pm

thankyou for this.

have a good drive! how is he doing? is this his second year?

ill nip back on later too.

Vic

Its the Disability Discrimmination Act (DDA) that you need to quote. It covers education as well as the workplace - see
www.equalityhumanrights.com/your-rights/disability/disability-in-education/

The last para of this page explicity states he must be allowed to use aids.

Yep - he's still ploughing through Year 2 and working hard.

You've just got to get D over this FE hurdle and HE support is a doddle

thanks for that.

Im going to send this to the principal and conduct everything in writing, but i had sent another email to the SENco at college - she said id raised too many points to answer via email and wanted a meeting.

Do you think i should mention this in the letter, and still go anyway?

something has to be sorted. dont want to seem like im not open to suggestion by them, but also want to give a clear message that im through arsing about.

"she said id raised too many points to answer via email and wanted a meeting."

Hmmm - she's probably scared that if she answers it'll leave a paper trail!

I'd carry on and meet her but also send the letter to the Prin. You need to get above the SENCO - who so far has proved useless.

Oh - and in your letter I'd use the exact wording that appears on the DDA website about the ability to use aids.

Good luck - hope it goes well.

cheers mrs. will get that letter sorted tomorrow.

ill let you know what response i get. DS is really down at min. they took his PDA back off him so now he has no help with timetabling.

letter will go tomorrow.

Hi

Selby FE do A2 Computing

North Lindsey do BTEC IT

Hull FE does evrything

You're spoilt for choice.

I'd look elsewhere - start afresh with proper support - but don't let them off the hook yet.

i hate it when people seem to want to be a pain for the sake of being one. i would agree with all the advice already given.

even if a new college and starting over, is the best thing in the end. you can apply for student loans at any age.

the funding and help for special needs,at uni level is far easier to access. equipment that is allocated to him will belong to him, so no worry about it being taken away. depending on the level of a person needs they are given class aids, note takers, mentors, tutors, extra exam time ect. at uni they really will try to give you all the help you/your son needs.

i know this won't help with the current problems but once you can get past the A levels i wanted you to know it gets easier.

well connexions have just fobbed me off. she couldnt wait to get me off the phone - she says he absolutely cannot change college at this stage but wouldnt explain why. she said i need to speak to the college he is in - end of story and she basically wanted me off the phone. said she had to go for a meeting and had to go so absolutely no help what so ever. good old connexions eh.

ill ring selby now.

Get angry Vic - get very angry

He can go to any FE College that will admit him - so Connexions is talking bollocks (as usual). That's why she couldn't give you a valid argument against changing colleges.

So you've Connexions stone-walling you and the current colege SENCO whose refusing to answer your emails

If you can find the time after writing to complain to the College Principal I would also make a written complaint to the Regional director of your Connexions area.

Ultimately the answer lies with starting again at a College that you've interviewed and can assure you that he would be properly supported. Sticking with current College is flogging a dead horse.

Definitely get angry. I've got a dictaphone from uni, should I need it (haven't yet) and was told I DID need to seek permission from tutors, BUT that nearly all were fine with it, and they were.

They can't stop him using aids he's been given to help and should be helping him further. They're doing your DS a great dis-service.

well, selby college were lovely - but said it would be a funding issue at this stage - they apparently only get funding up to 19, she said in theory no problem in him moving but practically she said moving courses could prove more difficult for him if the exam boards used are different and could be problematic if they have done everthing in a different order.

but she got angry for me - actually said she wished she could come with me for this meeting.

anyway - at least now i know what i need to do. and im doing it. wish me luck.

Have you been in touch with SKILL? They have some useful information sheets here - the one on funding FE says that you can get funded up to age 25 for a first level 3 qual?

FWIW - I did the first year of my A levels at one college and then did the second year at another. It was (ahem) a while ago so funding rules may have changed a bit, but it sounds like nonsense that it's not possible to change colleges at all! My subjects were physics and maths too. I had to change exam boards (there were more of them back then) and ended up attending classes for both AS and A2 in the second college. Am a bit skeptical about the huge difference in exam boards - the laws of physics and mathematics are still going to be the same whatever board you go with!

Good Vic - somebody in 'the system' has confirmed just how badly you and D are being treated by the idiots.

Ok - so they pay up to 19. Then what - the course would be chargeable. If you're on benfits etc - which he is as DLA counts with our FE College the course would be free (or a small token amount payable).

Just need to find out if the credits for the exams he has taken are transferable between FE Colls.

There's also Hull where they have a big colleges.
they won't have done things in a different order if both Colleges are using the same exam board as the As and A2 content will be the same. Doubtful if it's in a different sequence for other exam boarsd either.

Just find out which exam board Selby uses then go on Edexcel / AQA/ OCR / WJEC websites and look at the syllabus. I spent many happy hours going through these when DS was doing his A levels (what a saddo i am )

Sorry sugar - didn't see you post. You've given Vic some good advice to follow up.

Of course peolple can move between colleges - what happens if your parents move house during your a levels - it happens all the time.

ok. am armed. ive got that meeting tomorrow. im taking with me the formal complaint to the principal and copies of his report, a list of questions, my sweetest smile and biggest cattle prod. wish me luck

Have you looked on IPSEA web site? they have a links site and if you go to disability discrimination it has key documents.

The equality and human rights commission also have a good web site with template letters etc. The have telephone advisors as well.

You could try the Equality Officer at the local County Council, they might be willing to mediate.

Ask the college for a copy of their Disability Equality Scheme, they are required to have this document, it sets out their policy on how they respond to disability.

The college should have a complaints procedure and should provide you with a copy on request. If they are resistant to change, go through the complaint process.

Good luck