What do I do next? how do I expain to my son about exculsion?

This is the first time I have posted on this forum but as soon as I read your message I knew i had to post. As a head teacher and mother to an 8 year old boy going through what sounds like the same situation as you and your son, I understand what you are both going through. As far as our school were concerned, my son was a 'normal, hard working, conforming, slightly quirky boy' until just after hs 8th birthday. Suddenly, he became a cross, angry, anxious, 'naughty', stressed child who was not safe at school. His school were fantastic. They reduced his timetable, put in place a one to one teaching assistant, took advice from specialists in ASD, made him a safe space, applied to the LA for emergency funding for full time one to one TA hours, started to increase the number of hours each week in school and applied for statutory assessment. He is now in school all day except for a half day on Wednesdays. He still has times when he cannot cope, but with his TA and safe space these times are managed safely, with dignity and in a manner that supports him. It has taken 8 months to get to this point and that is with a supportive school, so there is a long road ahead. My advice to you would be: * contact parent partnership www.parentpartnership.org.uk/ They will be able to support and advise *Ask the school to put in place a team around the child (TAC) by completing a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and ask for referrals to CAMH, the paediatrician and the local authority special advisory service for children with ASD special needs. * create as many good times for your child away from school, with friends if he can cope with this. * discuss with the school reducing how many hours a day he is at school whilst they establish ways of working that keep him safe and allow him to learn * remember that the school may never have met this before and may be out of their depth or they may know exactly what the problem but won't put the time and resourcing into resolving it. You could contact your local authority for advice about how to manage either of these situation. I hope you have a positive result when he returns to school.

This is the first time I have posted on this forum but as soon as I read your message I knew i had to post. As a head teacher and mother to an 8 year old boy going through what sounds like the same situation as you and your son, I understand what you are both going through. As far as our school were concerned, my son was a 'normal, hard working, conforming, slightly quirky boy' until just after hs 8th birthday. Suddenly, he became a cross, angry, anxious, 'naughty', stressed child who was not safe at school. His school were fantastic. They reduced his timetable, put in place a one to one teaching assistant, took advice from specialists in ASD, made him a safe space, applied to the LA for emergency funding for full time one to one TA hours, started to increase the number of hours each week in school and applied for statutory assessment. He is now in school all day except for a half day on Wednesdays. He still has times when he cannot cope, but with his TA and safe space these times are managed safely, with dignity and in a manner that supports him. It has taken 8 months to get to this point and that is with a supportive school, so there is a long road ahead. My advice to you would be: * contact parent partnership www.parentpartnership.org.uk/ They will be able to support and advise *Ask the school to put in place a team around the child (TAC) by completing a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and ask for referrals to CAMH, the paediatrician and the local authority special advisory service for children with ASD special needs. * create as many good times for your child away from school, with friends if he can cope with this. * discuss with the school reducing how many hours a day he is at school whilst they establish ways of working that keep him safe and allow him to learn * remember that the school may never have met this before and may be out of their depth or they may know exactly what the problem but won't put the time and resourcing into resolving it. You could contact your local authority for advice about how to manage either of these situation. I hope you have a positive result when he returns to school.