Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
Where we live there is only one local secondary school which is an all through academy that my son has attended since the nursery age. He is not able to keep up with the work as he is very low ability in all subjects. The school don't want him to stay there but have applied for an EHCP application which is being assessed at the moment. I have had no advice or help with what other options I have for him. I am aware that any specialised schools require an EHCP plan to be put in place first for the 0-25 team to then be involved and these schools are miles away? I cant home school as I need to work. My son suffers from high levels of anxiety and stress especially as he is now realising himself that he cant cope at the school but he is also extremely reluctant to want to consider moving as its the only place he's ever attended. I really don't know what I can do to help him? What have other parents in this type of situation been able to do please? I am so confused and feel helpless?
Hi Dottie,
Thank you for sharing this with the community. I am very sorry to hear that your son is struggling at the moment - this must be causing you a lot of stress.
You may find the following information useful. The following page contains a lot of helpful information about education for a child with an autism:
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/education
This includes information regarding getting extra support for your child in their education setting.
You can search for schools that cater for children with an autism spectrum disorder on our Autism Services Directory: https://www.autism.org.uk/directory
You may want to contact our Education Rights Service who provides information, support and advice on educational provision and entitlements. Please see the following link for further information:
https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support/education-advice-line
You may like to contact our Parent to Parent service who offers emotional support to parents and carers of children or adults with autism. This service is confidential and run by trained parent volunteers who are all parents themselves of a child or adult with autism .
You contact the team on 0808 800 4106. Please leave a message and the team will call you back as soon as possible at a time that suits you, including evenings and weekends. Alternatively you can use contact the team via web form: https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support/parent-to-parent
You may also like to contact our Autism Helpline team who can provide you with information and advice.
https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support/helpline
You can call them on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm.Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an adviser.
All the best,
ChloeMod.