My son, whose 9, has been out of school since September when we deregistered him because of severe anxiety about attending his mainstream primary.
We did not do this lightly, but felt we had no choice as he had stopped eating property, lost interest in hobbies and was constantly upset and complaining of stomach pains.
He has also stopped going outside the house virtually at all.
He has begun to recover very well, being gently home schooled, and has recovered his appetite, enthusiasm for hobbies and is a lot happier.
We had applied to get him into the local autism resource base last March but were refused by the L.A. We went to tribunal but had to wait almost A year for our hearing.
The L.A has this week finally relented and agreed to give our son a place at the resource base.
We are pleased they have finally acknowledged what we always knew, which was that our son needed greater support than was available at a regular mainstream school but the delay in reaching this decision has harmed his mental health and led to us having to deregister him from his last school as a result.
We are really torn whether to accept a place, which risks undoing a lot of his recovery, but also acknowledge that if it works, it could lead to greater independence and real friendships, which he lacks at the moment.
As he can't leave the house (we are seeking help to address this anxiety) he cannot start straight away but we believe he could start in a few months if he is able to emotionally cope with it.
Does anyone have experience of similar situations as we really don't know whether sticking or twisting would be better in the long run.
