Published on 12, July, 2020
Long post sorry, my son has been at a special school unit for over 2 years. In those 2 years he has maybe been at school 3 months in total. He started going 1 hour day and built up to 3 hours a day
He never went into the classroom, then they let him in 10 minutes a day. Therefore, at school he has built no lasting friends and not learning social interaction. He really struggles with this and his go to is hitting, kicking. He can go from 0-100 in seconds (note due to this it is difficult for other family member to bring their children, round and some have stopped their children going near him)
To increase his timetable, we were told he needed to be more in class and be able to do his work within the class environment.
The school stated they did not have funding from the local authority for 1:1 so they had limited resources to manage his needs.
The end of last year we had a meeting with the school as they did not change his environment or adapted anything to meet his needs. The time in school had become stale.
Once they tried some new things, suggested by us, there were slight improvements but not much.
He has gone back this year, and they have increased his time to 4 hours. Where he interacts with other children, and he spends time in class.
His time in class is going well but at play time he is becoming very angry quickly it has resulted in him throwing things, hitting and kicking.
Questions:
Yes have 8 years experience with both of these issues. My daughter aged 13 now is autistic but also PDA. She has not been in school full time since P1. She got excluded a few times in primary, some official, some not. Her hours got reduced every time there was an 'incident' between her and another child or when her behaviour was escalating. She also goes from 0-60 in a millisecond and it is hard to de-escalate when she gets triggered. She started S1 well and did mainstream the first term which of course the schools push towards. She then went into full blown autistic burnout and has not attended school hardly in the past year. Now in S2 wants to try it again. The school refused her any 1:1 and this is usually due to funding. At the last meeting I reminded them about the law and quoted about 9 laws they would be breaking if they do not meet her needs. I think they are being more accommodating since! You need to be firm with the school or else they will walk all over you. I wish I had been more assertive many years ago!! I wish you all the best. As for hitting, kicking etc I am not sure how to stop it, my daughter is physically and verbally abusive towards her sister every day. She masks more outwith the home now but takes everything out at home which is very challenging.
Every time a child is "sent home early" or whatever is legally an exclusion, and must be documented as such. Exclusions must be for genuine disciplinary reasons, not because the school does not have staff or reasons to do with the child's disability. I would suggest to any parent that the first time their child is "sent home early" or whatever they should "remind" the Head Teacher about the law on exclusion. If there is a second time, I suggest they contact the Education Welfare and Attendance Team (or some similar name) at the LEA and "report an illegal exclusion." You could also remind the Head Teacher and Chair of Governors that the new Ofsted framework includes a focus on attendance, and that as a concerned parent you will be drawing the school's illegal exclusions to their attention.