"Learn to Look After Myself" post 18+ course for ASD - does this exist?

[SleepWhenAmDead]

DD is in lower sixth and very bright academically. She struggles so much in daily life that I think she may lack mental capacity. We are working on managing a £20 budget, and leaving the house on her own without an adult to support her.

She absolutely loves the structure of school and we cannot think of anything she can do afterwards. I have suggested a gap year to focus on developing adulting. She does not want to stay at home with no structured provision.

Is there any such thing as this course? I would travel if needed? My local authority has cut pretty much all provision.

Thank you

OT is what you need.

Does DD have an EHCP? What about a specialist college?

Thanks for your reply. We do have OT. It's the Educational Provision that I am struggling with. We were declined an EHCP because she is keeping up academically. She is at an extremely supportive, very small school and they go the extra mile to keep her happy. This is also part of the problem as nobody treat her like that out in the real world.

There is no specialist provision in our county for children who are academically able. They are all mainstreamed, home schooled or out of county.

I was hoping for some recommendations for colleges or other placements for academically able ASD teens to learn to live independently as that is her aspiration. The council suggest the local FE college during something vocational. She will never tolerate the business and the noise.

A college that is going to help her live independently, is likely to be a more specialist placement. And for that you will probably need an EHCP.

Ds has an EHCP and attends a specialist placement. He is very academically able, so it's definitely possible to get one, for a young person who is.

Is she thinking about a residential placement, as there is nothing local to you?

Declining an EHCP is a mistake, it is about far more than academics, OT can be included in it and should be educational provision - anything that “educates or trains” is educational provision. My DC with EHCPs are younger, but the type of independent living and self care support and learning you are talking about is in their EHCPs, and it is in section F as education provision.

I was hoping for some recommendations for colleges or other placements for academically able ASD teens to learn to live independently as that is her aspiration.

As Punx posted, this is likely to be specialist provision for which an EHCP is required.

You also need to consider funding. DD is unlikely to be funded by education without an EHCP if she has level 3 qualifications already. Additional courses on the same level, that do not allow “educational progression” can be funded in exceptional circumstances, but it is exceptional. You can read the funding regulations here.

For independent travel look at your LA’s independent travel training offer, although many require the student to have an EHCP.

You can look out of area for for placements. You can search for schools here. To start with look at some of the Aspris schools and colleges, Alderwasley Hall school, some Aurora ones, some of the Cavendish trust schools, some NAS schools. Also consider EOTAS.

Thank you for all the posts and information about EHCPs etc. We have kept the situation under review, as she has done well. I assumed she would leave school and get a little job but recent events have shown that's not realistic. It was agreed to apply for EHCP to make educational provision up to 25 years old.

I was hoping for specific recommendations of courses or colleges. I don't mind travelling or boarding or may be even move if it will really help her. I was looking for a short cut, as there are so many and I am not sure how to filter them. I will need to make a suggestion. LA certainly won't suggest anything out of county and our SENCo is very new and doesn't have any suggestions either.

Be careful with moving. If DD gets an EHCP and you move LA the new LA will review and potentially amend, reassess or even cease to maintain.

In case you haven't seen it already, the Natspec website is really useful for looking at specialist provision post-16.

https://natspec.org.uk/colleges/search/

My son did a Skills for Living course at college. He’s just left now at 21 and has got a part time job after attending an extra 12 months on a Supported Internship.

He has asd, poor memory skills so, needs lots of reinforcement and at times, crippling ocd. He has been assessed and does not have a learning disability. The life skills part of the course covered budgeting and shopping/living independently skills.

Part of his EHCP centred on “the future”. Does school not have this in the plan? It should be in there. The “what’s next” part.

Please can someone tell me what OT stands for?

Hi

Thanks for all your messages.

OT stands for Occupational Therapy

@TheRussianDoll the problem we have is there is no suitable provision. I would love a Skills for Life Course like you have described. There is no provision locally. The LA Specialist Teacher and SENDCo said to look out of county as they don't really know about out of county provision. Our LA is in special measures (or whatever the current term is) and local provision is very poor. If you wouldn't mind sending me a link to that course, I would be so grateful.

Thank you.

OP What area are you in?

Northants/East Midlands

OP, I don’t know how to do a DM. Sorry.

My son went to a rubbish school. Mainstream with asd attachment. It was a horrendous experience. However, he then went to the local college and he was doing entry level maths/english and skills for living. Other colleges must offer it; it’s not unique. I wish I could be more helpful. The college then suggested a program of supported internship. The whole experience of college was just under 5yrs but he missed a year due to ill health and hospitalisation. On the internship, he had a learning mentor and day release at college and 3 days as an unpaid intern at a local business. Can you ask your SENCO if there’s anything like this available to you locally? He had an EHCP so, technically, his education could run up to age 24.

Did you apply for an EHCNA?

The problem is lots of these courses, even when delivered by a mainstream college, will require an EHCP. Even if the course doesn’t require an EHCP the content of it will not be anywhere near the extent of the provision that can be delivered to students with EHCPs. And then without an EHCP there is the funding problem.

Our Local College used to run these courses and they finish this academic year. The students who were previously on these courses with very small classes and lots of life skills etc are now expected to join a vocational course like childcare or sports and get extra maths and English. She needs life skills, she can do the maths and English. She can't do big classes in mainstream college.

The EHCP is in hand. The SENCo and LA teacher have advised me to look out of county. It is advice on specific colleges or courses that I am looking for, please.

I don’t know of any other suggestions other than those I mentioned in my pp, sorry. But you can search for specialist schools and colleges using the link in my pp.

Are you looking for her to get another level 3 qualification after sixth form, or it is purely life skills?

We have a couple of life skills provisions near us and they are much more community based. Not a college or school. There is work experience opportunities for the young people there and lots of life skills training. An EHCP is needed to access these placements though.
It maybe that you need somewhere like this nearer to you, rather than an actual college or school.

Thank you.

I have gone through the suggestions and contacted some of the colleges. They are all far away and a lot of them offer Level 1 and 2 qualifications only. She is in lower sixth so there is time to keep looking.

I don't need my daughter to get another Level 3 qualification and I wasn't aware of community options. My daughter is super-rigid. That is her main barrier. She functions well in her school, and can get a bus from home to school but will not take the bus anywhere else etc. She does not go anywhere without me. She is very emotionally immature and we don't think she could cope with a job as she is overcome emotionally if she makes a mistake or given feedback (feels she is told off). We have been looking round Universities, but I am in agreement with her teachers that she couldn't handle the lack of structure and she finds the size, noise and business overwhelming.

DD has always been happier at school as I am unable to provide the same level of structure and consistency at home. She is reluctant to take an OU course and stay at home. I agree this would not really help with her becoming more independent.

I don't actually care what qualifications she does and whether she is at college, uni or in the community. I understand she needs more time than other girls her age to mature emotionally and socially. My question is what to do for her so that she is happy and settled and her time is well spent. The local provision is already oversubscribed at the same time they are making cuts due to funding issues. The LA also split into two last year which seems to have resulted in even more chaotic SEN services.

Thank you for all your support. I will keep looking and talking to people to see what is available.

All of my suggestions have schools/colleges that offer level 3 qualifications. Although if DD will already have level 3 qualifications and the focus is going to be on daily living skills it isn’t so much of a problem what level qualifications the provision offers.

The local provision is already oversubscribed at the same time they are making cuts due to funding issues.

Unless the provision is wholly independent being oversubscribed is irrelevant for admissions via EHCPs. Full is not defined in law and being ‘full’ on its own is not a lawful reason to refuse to name the provision in the EHCP.