Published on 12, July, 2020
Ok, so my two boys age 11 and 6 have been diagnosed with autism and now their school has got in touch with social services over my youngest sons behaviour. He will shout, scream and attack people when he is in a bad mood and I have no clue whatsoever how to handle these meltdowns he had. He is a sweet boy most of the time but now I find myself getting depressed and anxious as to whether social services will just take him away as he can be quite brutal to his older brother at times. Can anyone advise me if they have been in this situation before please?
I agree with the advice given.
Social Services cannot just take your child away for being autistic.
The issue is that SS are not trained or qualified to deal with autism. Google charities that can help and give advice on SS involvement.
There's a book by Dr Ross Green..The Explosive Child. You will find it v helpful and he gives strategies that might help your son.
Also Dr Tony Atwood.
Don't be intimidated by SS and get yourself an advocate. MIND for example do the service.
Get an email address for the one your allocated and correspond via email
Hi,
Welcome to the forum, I'm really sorry that you are going through this, did the school raise any concerns with you prior to contacting social services?
Does your son have an ehcp? And if not have the school assessed his needs at all? If he is shouting and screaming at people at school then he is having a problem there which means they need to address it. They may have contacted social services as a way of trying to pass the buck.
It may not be all bad a social worker may be able to get more support in place for your children, do be cautious with them but they have far more access to services than we as parents do.
Are you keeping behaviour logs? These can be a great way to demonstrate your sons usual behaviour and Show that although he can lash out it is more isolated behaviour. They can also serve to highlight if he is worse following any incidents at school.
I would suggest calling the helpline for some advice, and asking for a meeting with the school senco and social worker to highlight any concerns and what can be done. If you haven't already, read the education rights pages and the sections on social workers