Published on 12, July, 2020
My 17 year old young person is struggling to attend college for more than 1 day a week due to their autism. They have an ehcp. During their first half term of year 1 they were removed from their course because of a lack of attendance/engagement and put on a reduced programme because they were not covering enough work due to attendance issues. They stayed in this provision for the rest of the year struggling to attend more than 2 days a week and often only 1 day. They asked to repeat this again this year and we’re permitted to with the stipulation they did 2 days a week. They cover basic functions like personal development and life skills.
They now have done 3 weeks with only 1 day’s attendance and I had a call from attendance dept to say they’ve been removed from their course. I then got an email from their tutor to say they met with my yp and he ‘agreed’ it wasn’t working so he has been removed from the course.
I was not contacted for a meeting or annual review or to discuss or support my yo through this and they have said that they don’t want to leave they just said that to get out.
Has anyone had this experience and what do I do to avoid my yp just retreating further from society? Please help us!
Could your son cope with some kind of online study? Would he like to do that? Because it’s a possible option for those who struggle to go into college.
The EHCP is still valid if he is in FE college, so you are right, there should be a Review. Why is he not attending? It is anxiety or some other problem? Would a mentor help? University students can have a mentor funded by Disabled Students Allowance, but I am not sure it works with FE Colleges.