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Can my child be exempt from music lessons?

NAS91683

My daughter is autistic and has significant hyposensitivity to noise. She is now in year 7 and find music lessons very hard. She is an expert masker but comes home following music and dance

highly dysregulated. Yesterday, she came home and punched a single pane glass window in our house because she just didn't know how to channel her frsutration. She won't wear ear defenders/earbuds as she feels self conscious. I have requested that she can go to the school library at this time as an alternative but school are saying that she needs to access all curriculum subjects and that they do not have the capacity to supervise her for alternative arrangements. I am in the process of applying for her EHCP with support of my friend who is a qualified SENDCo. Her needs are complex and at her primary school she had 1:1 support for 70% of the timetable. I am at a loss as to what to do to help her. Has anyone had any similar experiences and can offer guidance? 

Many thanks 

Parents

  • Well if she needs to access music there is plenty of music theory stuff she can do in her own room that's not in a really noisy room. I understand that that may not be what they're going for, but it's also a completely reasonable way of accessing music. It wouldn't even be that much work as there are many music theory workbooks out there that someone can just work through independently.  

    I understand that the library may not be possible, but a lot of schools have a SEN room which is usually staffed for students that need to leave class suddenly. Or she could sit at the back of another classroom. Or if your school does isolation it can sometimes also be a good place if it's kept well under control. There are lots of supervised rooms in the school, she doesn't necessarily need to be in the one on her timetable. 

    I'd say that this is a very reasonable request. And that the school has an interest in accommodating, because however good a masker she is, she's going to boil over in music eventually if it's this high stress.

Reply

  • Well if she needs to access music there is plenty of music theory stuff she can do in her own room that's not in a really noisy room. I understand that that may not be what they're going for, but it's also a completely reasonable way of accessing music. It wouldn't even be that much work as there are many music theory workbooks out there that someone can just work through independently.  

    I understand that the library may not be possible, but a lot of schools have a SEN room which is usually staffed for students that need to leave class suddenly. Or she could sit at the back of another classroom. Or if your school does isolation it can sometimes also be a good place if it's kept well under control. There are lots of supervised rooms in the school, she doesn't necessarily need to be in the one on her timetable. 

    I'd say that this is a very reasonable request. And that the school has an interest in accommodating, because however good a masker she is, she's going to boil over in music eventually if it's this high stress.

Children