• Replies 19 replies
  • Subscribers 65 subscribers
  • Views 5862 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Can I refuse my son taking his GCSE

Scotty497

Hi All,

Struggling to start here and unsure how to begin so if this seems a bit jumbled and thrown together, please excuse me. 

My son has been struggling massively at school for years now, my wife and myself were convinced he had some type of learning disability and have been arguing with his school for years. today things finally came to a head, myself and my wife arranged for a meeting at the school after receiving his mock exam grade. All of which were grades g and u. For the first time today the school actually took seriously what we were saying after we in no uncertain terms made our anger and frustrations about not being listened to clear. The SEN teacher who has been assessing our son and was adamant he was just a lazy, moody teenager completely dissmissed the idea that there was anything underlying, although did point out that as he seemed to be a day dreamer he may have petit mal epilepsy and suggested we should visit the Dr just to rule this out. less than 2 minutes sat in the Drs office and that was dismissed immediately and we were informed that she believed our son may be Autistic. I am unbelievably angry that it has taken so long for this to be picked up. Autism is not something that we are to familiar with but it was something we asked the school to asses him for and we're told it was a definet no and there was no  point. it is now less than 4 months till his GCSE exams, and he is clearly going to fail them and i believe he has been massively failed by his school. At this moment my way of thinking is why should we put him through the stress of these exams only for him to try his hardest and take another un necessary knock to his confidence. His predicted grades u, f, E. Is anyone aware if it is legal to stop my son sitting his exams. I am not talking about pulling him from education altogether and we already had plans in place for him to go to college next year to complete his Key skills maths and English. Any advice anyone could give would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks

Scotty

Parents

  • That's not what I said though.

    Although I personally believe schools should have the awareness to raise concerns about potential autism in children, that is not their remit.

    So what I'm saying by that, is that schools should have sufficient training to advise parents to request referral for assessment from their GP, the ultimate responsibility lies with the parents - who have legal parental responsibility for their child.

    Many autistic children mask their traits pretty well at school, so staff wouldn't get to see the full range, such as the meltdowns, that the family see at home where the child feels safe enough to release the stress of the day.  The government states that parents are experts in their own children.

    My eldest child is 12, and I have been battling for about 5 years until she was diagnosed, the SENCo and the LA EP said she didn't show any signs (in those days I thought it was them that did the ASC assessment).  Their training is wholly insufficient and they aren't aware of anything other than the most basic and stereotypical views of what autism is.  If a child is high-functioning and autistic, they may perform academically adequately (or at least demonstrate the intelligence is there to be able to) but their traits which cause day-to-day difficulties can get attributed to other causes.  It's not right, but unless every teacher and SENCo has really in-depth (almost clinical level) training, which isn't happening any time soon, parents have to take the lead.

    Autism isn't a medical problem, it's a neurological difference.

Reply

  • That's not what I said though.

    Although I personally believe schools should have the awareness to raise concerns about potential autism in children, that is not their remit.

    So what I'm saying by that, is that schools should have sufficient training to advise parents to request referral for assessment from their GP, the ultimate responsibility lies with the parents - who have legal parental responsibility for their child.

    Many autistic children mask their traits pretty well at school, so staff wouldn't get to see the full range, such as the meltdowns, that the family see at home where the child feels safe enough to release the stress of the day.  The government states that parents are experts in their own children.

    My eldest child is 12, and I have been battling for about 5 years until she was diagnosed, the SENCo and the LA EP said she didn't show any signs (in those days I thought it was them that did the ASC assessment).  Their training is wholly insufficient and they aren't aware of anything other than the most basic and stereotypical views of what autism is.  If a child is high-functioning and autistic, they may perform academically adequately (or at least demonstrate the intelligence is there to be able to) but their traits which cause day-to-day difficulties can get attributed to other causes.  It's not right, but unless every teacher and SENCo has really in-depth (almost clinical level) training, which isn't happening any time soon, parents have to take the lead.

    Autism isn't a medical problem, it's a neurological difference.

Children
No Data