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Help wanted regarding Residential Care for Autistic kids

Charu

Hi, I'm new to the forum and am looking for some advice as I'm completely lost.

I'm a single mum, my son (6) was diagnosed was High Functioning Autism around 2 years ago.

I am finding it very difficult to handle my son on my own.  I suffer from Epilepsy and sometimes have absence seizures. I have to feed my son, as he cannot feed himself and he is unable to get toilet trained. I don’t mind doing any of this for my son but feel it’s getting too much. As my son’s growing older he’s getting more and more difficult to handle. He gets very angry when I don’t listen to him or give him what he wants. He starts to scream, throw stuff about and stamp his feet.  It’s difficult to calm him down afterwards.

I’ve heard about Residential School’s that help kids with Autism around the clock 24/7. They take in children with special needs and they help them according to their individual need. Because of my own medical condition and personal situation I am forced to think of other options.

I was wondering, has anyone heard about these schools or had any personal experience with them? I would really appreciate any kind of feedback or help someone can provide in regards to these special care residential schools for kids with autism.

Parents

  • hi Charu - sounds like you're both having a difficult time.  Before talking about residential schools, which I will in a mo, can I ask what support you're getting from school + social services now?  The right support cd alleviate your need to send him to a 24/7 school, so that's why I ask.  Please let us know so we can contribute with the knowledge of your present situation to guide us.

    Right.   My son went to a residential school.  It wasn't far from where we lived + he came home at wkends + all holidays.  That was our decision + his.   The school left it up to the parent as to when their child came home.  Christmas was the exception as it closed then.  We fought a 2 yr running battle with the education authority to get him there.  They are expensive, as is home-school transport.  They tried to rubbish 24/7 + put hurdles in the way all the time.  We cd have given up + nearly did, but we believed it was best for him.   I think my son went to a good school.  They brought him on.  He was in the "middle" ability class.  He's not aspergers. Because it's 24/7 they continue to "educate" after formal lessons finish.  The pupils are kept busy most of the time, with activities of various kinds, plus learning practical skills.  They do have a bit of time each day for themselves, but not lots.   He was there for 10 yrs.  He came home with an exercise book with staff comments for each day + we wd comment about how he'd been whilst with us.  He wd have an annual review at the school.  The head, his teacher, his sw, any other staff involved with him + ourselves wd attend.  Saying all that, no school is perfect so whilst your child is away you need to stay in touch + ring/visit etc regularly...talk to teachers, the head, care staff etc.  We found it worked out well, we felt he benefitted from it.  If he had shown signs of unhappiness, such as sadness, a deterioration in mood or behaviour or if he'd shown signs of being unwilling to return then we wd have tackled that with the school.   He had 2 or 3 issues which were short lived + which resolved quite quickly.   He was always ok about returning + at the same time enjoyed coming home.  We explained to him about the school, he visited, there was a waiting list, we battled the LEA, in the end they conceded, then he went as a day pupil for about 2 months to get adjusted then he went as a weekly boarder.  If you need any other info, let me know

Reply

  • hi Charu - sounds like you're both having a difficult time.  Before talking about residential schools, which I will in a mo, can I ask what support you're getting from school + social services now?  The right support cd alleviate your need to send him to a 24/7 school, so that's why I ask.  Please let us know so we can contribute with the knowledge of your present situation to guide us.

    Right.   My son went to a residential school.  It wasn't far from where we lived + he came home at wkends + all holidays.  That was our decision + his.   The school left it up to the parent as to when their child came home.  Christmas was the exception as it closed then.  We fought a 2 yr running battle with the education authority to get him there.  They are expensive, as is home-school transport.  They tried to rubbish 24/7 + put hurdles in the way all the time.  We cd have given up + nearly did, but we believed it was best for him.   I think my son went to a good school.  They brought him on.  He was in the "middle" ability class.  He's not aspergers. Because it's 24/7 they continue to "educate" after formal lessons finish.  The pupils are kept busy most of the time, with activities of various kinds, plus learning practical skills.  They do have a bit of time each day for themselves, but not lots.   He was there for 10 yrs.  He came home with an exercise book with staff comments for each day + we wd comment about how he'd been whilst with us.  He wd have an annual review at the school.  The head, his teacher, his sw, any other staff involved with him + ourselves wd attend.  Saying all that, no school is perfect so whilst your child is away you need to stay in touch + ring/visit etc regularly...talk to teachers, the head, care staff etc.  We found it worked out well, we felt he benefitted from it.  If he had shown signs of unhappiness, such as sadness, a deterioration in mood or behaviour or if he'd shown signs of being unwilling to return then we wd have tackled that with the school.   He had 2 or 3 issues which were short lived + which resolved quite quickly.   He was always ok about returning + at the same time enjoyed coming home.  We explained to him about the school, he visited, there was a waiting list, we battled the LEA, in the end they conceded, then he went as a day pupil for about 2 months to get adjusted then he went as a weekly boarder.  If you need any other info, let me know

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