school

Hi again

Glad to hear things have settled down a bit.  It might be useful to make sure you keep an eye on whats happening for your son - so maybe making sure the school is monitoring progress - both academically and socially, so that if things go wrong again there is a record of what has been tried.  Making sure you get this written down can be really helpful too.

Zoe

hi zoe,

yes i got parent partnership involved which was great as there was 6 people on one side of the table and without parent partnership i would have been sat onmy own.

lewishas been ok but he thinks its only for a while even though ive explained it to him. he thinks in september hes moving classes with his friends but the school want him in new class but im going to siggest maybe trying what he is doing now as hes not as anxious and hes acsessing the lessons the school thinks he can do better on. im not sure if they will try this but its worth a go i think.

thanks for advice

Hi Runninglady

That sounds like a reasonable compromise, as long as your son can handle the new class.  You could ask what supports are going to be put in place for him to help him settle into the new class.  I'd also ask for a set of targets - these should be in your son's IEP....so ask them to specify what their objectives are in moving your son into the new class, how progress is going to be measured, by whom and over what timescale.  Plus what is the plan if targets/objectives arent achieved in the given timescale.

Did you get Parent Partnership involved?  I really do think it would help you if you had someone else with you to help you decide what you want to do and then to go to meetings with you.....it can be intimidating in meetings when there are lots of professionals there - even two can be difficult if you're on your own.  If not Parent Partnership, then perhaps another supportive parent from your local autism support group?

Zoe

hi there,

meeting was difficult as ed physc said hes in his comfort zone therefore will educationally and emotional stay at the point hes at and not progress so then the LEA man agreed with him so it was me outvoted. we sort of came to the soloution of the class hes in will be his class and he do a few lessons in the newclass because in sept he will be moving again...im not sure this will work i feel like ive not done the right thing for lewis....

Hi again

Only just seen your message - I guess you must've had your meeting now...how did you get on?

Zoe

hi zoe..my son has a statement and ive got an interim review on thursday to discuss class placement.as the teachers i have spoken to have said he must move and theres nothing i can do!!

their reason for moving him is his education and they say hes regressing, which i do not believe he is and in the new class a few of them are doing their gcses, yet lewis is working age 8/9 so i cant understand their reasons.

i really am opposed tothe move but cant seem to get anyone on my side..his doctor at camhs has wrote a letter but not sure if that will help.

my LEA is darlington!

Hello runninglady

Its not clear from what you have written whether your son has a statement or not and any advice people may give will vary depending on whether or not he has a statement.

I would write a letter (or send an email - as long as its in writing) to the Head of the school asking her/him to give written reasons for the proposed move.  I would also write that your son is currently very happy in his class and is likely to become very stressed if he is moved, so you need the school to be very clear about the impact of any move and how they propose to minimise potential disruption and stress.

Its difficult to know what else to do until you know why they are proposing moving him - there may be a perfectly legitimate reason for it, although if there is a legitimate reason, the school's communication about it so far has left a lot to be desired :(

Whether or not your son has a statement, I'd definitely get your Parent Partnership Officer involved.  What local authority area are you in?

Zoe

the school will not change their minds about moving my sons class. he has become very distressed at the thought of moving out of the class he loves!! i have an early review nextweek but not sure what it is and if it could help.

any advice.....please. im so stressed

Hi runninglady, 

Just wanted to add our Education Rights Service to the list of great suggestions. You can see more about the service here, if you'd like to call and arrange a chance to talk -

http://www.autism.org.uk/advocacy

And just to let you know that I've moved this discussion to the 'Education' section where it's going to be seen by more people addressing similar issues. 

That may mean that the next email update you'll get, if you get emails, will have the wrong address but then it should be fine. Oh and I'll change the name of this section, just to help avoid any confusion in the future. 

Good luck today, I hope things go alright for your son and the services mentioned are able to help. 

thankyou i didnt know about any of these helplines, much appreciated. ive got the numbers ready to ring tomorrow

I'd be calling the likes of IPSEA, ACE, SOS!SEN and your local parent partnership to see whether or not they can do this against your wishes, what the proper process is for moving a child out of a school and what you can do to block it. I would be surprised if the school can without any warning or consultation just decide to move your child elsewhere. I'd be wondering, and perhaps I'm a cynic here, they think a statement or something might be looming and they want no part of it.

Our experiance is that whilst local authorities know the law and the codes of practise, they are only too happy to flout them under the assumption you either don't know any better or won't fight.

As a parent you wield a lot of power, it's just that nobody tells you. Good luck!