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conformity or not???

elay

My son took part in a school outing, I accompanied him and he had some difficulties to begin with. .ie. When receiving instructions. .interrupted the coach to correct/comment on what he said. .behaved a hyper & also took a panic attack & I had to talk him round & support!  Anyhow towards the end of the session he had settled and was enjoying himself.  As it was only a 2 wk bkock I had agreed to accompany him as I want him to participate and he defo struggles to do so without support! I was then approached by the deputy head the day before he was to take part again that it was felt because of his behaviour he wasn't allowed to attend today!  After having a think about it and discussing with ky son to ensure he still wished to participate..I contacted the school..I spoke to the dep head who advised that the head teacher had said he wasn't allowed to go because of his behaviour?  I explained that it is part of his illness .ie social awareness or lack of it and she replied he needed to conform. Mi said no he needs to be understood.

He wasallowed to attend the session but towards the end had a meltdown. .hitting his head etc. .when I collected him from school the deputy head came and spoke to him and said how disappointed she was with him!  I just feel that they are not taking his diagnosis seriously and are treating him like a bad boy who has a choice in how he reacts! I also feel that they wish to exclude him on the basis of difficult situations arising so what opportunities will he get!  Are they right and should he be expected to conform to what is regarded as the norm? :-/ 

Parents

  • If the school was aware of his disability when he was enrolled, they are under an obligation to make reasonable adjustments to allow him to study. If they were unable to do this at the start, they shouldn't have taken him on, although then there would have been questions about discrimination. They must not place you in the position of having to find another school once he is settgled where he is.

    An outing is no exception. Indeed there has been quite a lot of discussion about this. For example an outing that involves going onto a surface into which a wheelchair could sink (eg mud or soft sand on a beach) is inappropriate with regard to disability, that is a school cannot set up an outing without regard to disability and then try to argue the nature of the trip is unsuitable and try to exclude a disabled child. They should accommodate disability in the design of the trip.

    It is interesting that you went along to give him support. That is highly commendable.

    The school on the other hand seems not to understand its obligations to you. You should ask to see their disability policy, or the local authority's policy if it runs the school. You should also challenge their behaviour, particularly their way of talking to him as if he should rectify his disability to fit in with them.

    Schools are at present rather hard pressed. They have to pass overly dictatorial OFSTED reviews, they have to give grades to pupils from certain backgrounds in order not to disadvantage them, they have to perform against league table - a whole gamut of unnecessary and disruptive procedures. Unfortunately disability is getting side-tracked again notwithstanding the coalition government has a Minister for Disability I'm not sure if it means much.

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  • If the school was aware of his disability when he was enrolled, they are under an obligation to make reasonable adjustments to allow him to study. If they were unable to do this at the start, they shouldn't have taken him on, although then there would have been questions about discrimination. They must not place you in the position of having to find another school once he is settgled where he is.

    An outing is no exception. Indeed there has been quite a lot of discussion about this. For example an outing that involves going onto a surface into which a wheelchair could sink (eg mud or soft sand on a beach) is inappropriate with regard to disability, that is a school cannot set up an outing without regard to disability and then try to argue the nature of the trip is unsuitable and try to exclude a disabled child. They should accommodate disability in the design of the trip.

    It is interesting that you went along to give him support. That is highly commendable.

    The school on the other hand seems not to understand its obligations to you. You should ask to see their disability policy, or the local authority's policy if it runs the school. You should also challenge their behaviour, particularly their way of talking to him as if he should rectify his disability to fit in with them.

    Schools are at present rather hard pressed. They have to pass overly dictatorial OFSTED reviews, they have to give grades to pupils from certain backgrounds in order not to disadvantage them, they have to perform against league table - a whole gamut of unnecessary and disruptive procedures. Unfortunately disability is getting side-tracked again notwithstanding the coalition government has a Minister for Disability I'm not sure if it means much.

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