Hi, my son is 11 years old, and was seen by an educational psychologist Dec 2009 because of his behaviour at school. In September 2009 my son started a new school, because his last school were going to exclude him.
My son has a moderate hearing loss in both ears, and is supposed to wear his hearing aids on a daily basis. However, when wearing the hearing aids hes gets overloaded with noise and destroys his aids.
When seen by the psychologist there was a concern that my son could have aspergers syndrome. Nearly 2 years on, we still have no official diagnosis. CAMHS have been involved and did the ADI-R with me, and came to the conclusion that because my son developed within normal limits, but shows autistic traits in the communication and social sections, he doesnt have any form of autism.
I know theres something wrong with him, at the present time he is not attending school as he cannot cope with it. When i try to get him to go, i get punched and kicked, but educational welfare aren't listening and are going to fine me.
He was seen by an autism specialist who went into school to observe him for 2x30 mins sessions, and she said he has no signs, because he was using eye contact. I think what they havent thought about is that with my son having a hearing problem, that he lip reads!!
My son got a statement for 20 hours a week 1-1 or small group sessions, but has not accessed this because of the none attendence at school. His statement review has gone through and is now not being reviewed till May 2012, which means he will have been in a mainstream high school for nearly a year before they review it. Another educational psychologist and the high school have raised concerns about the transition to high school and think that my son will not be able to cope with the constant moving from classroom to classroom, and having 13 different teachers a week, so they have wrote letters to the LEA to see about provision for him at a special school.
So at the moment i don't know who or what to believe. The DISCO assessment was mentioned by the original psychologist, but the psychologist i saw last week said it wont be done because the ADI-R has been completed.....feel like screaming!
I understand that one of your concerns is regarding the lack of diagnosis, but I'd like to pick up on something you said about your son's statement review having gone through and the statement won't be reviewed for another year and therefore he's stuck in mainstream, but unable to access it. If I've understood this correctly I think you are saying that you have had an annual review and the local authority haven't amended the statement. If this is the case they must tell you this in writing and tell you of your legal right to appeal to the Tribunal. You must submit the appeal within two months of the date on the letter. If I've misunderstood what you mean by a statement review, I am sorry, but if you are in a situation where you have a statement that is less than two months old you still have a legal right to appeal to the Tribunal against the contents of the statement - including the placement. I hope that in addition to the educational psychologist writing to the LA to request a placement in a special school, that if you do have a legal right to appeal to the Tribunal you consider using it.
I understand that one of your concerns is regarding the lack of diagnosis, but I'd like to pick up on something you said about your son's statement review having gone through and the statement won't be reviewed for another year and therefore he's stuck in mainstream, but unable to access it. If I've understood this correctly I think you are saying that you have had an annual review and the local authority haven't amended the statement. If this is the case they must tell you this in writing and tell you of your legal right to appeal to the Tribunal. You must submit the appeal within two months of the date on the letter. If I've misunderstood what you mean by a statement review, I am sorry, but if you are in a situation where you have a statement that is less than two months old you still have a legal right to appeal to the Tribunal against the contents of the statement - including the placement. I hope that in addition to the educational psychologist writing to the LA to request a placement in a special school, that if you do have a legal right to appeal to the Tribunal you consider using it.
