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need help/advice

sambonie3

im new on here so first of all i would like to say hi to all.

I am after help or advice on my son he is 10 and in a mainstream school he has ASD,ADHD,Dyspraxia but the school he attends wont statment him because they think he is to clever.Now i have to chose his secondary school and dont feel comfortable with him attendind a mainstream one.As althought he is 10 nearly 11 in age he is not inside and i am very worried,but have been turned away at every door in trying to get him into a specalised school as he has no statment.Can any one help me i have asked for a statatory statment to be done again but because he is a high end functioning autistic child they wont help me.He has been so unhappy in his school i cant put him through that again with childern that call him some of the most apauling names he doesnt always understand but i do very well. PLEASE can any one help meFrown

  • remembering back to that time - it was suggested ot me that I visit the secondary schools in the catchment area - speak with the SENCO - describe the details / challenges my son faced and asked them a) what they could offer b) could they do that in the exisiting budgets - or would son need a statement (or in his case an amendment to the statement). It became clear they all said they could meet needs - it was like a basic response mechanism, but when we discussed deeper - about how he would manage different classrooms /teachers / rules AND cope with the noise / crowds of 1000 + students - the 'successful' school and I wrote to the Local Autority and informed them more support would be needed. Along the way I learned that it wasn;t always about saying WE WANT THIS --- but X Y Z are not appropriate but A B C are ---- Statements may have changed / new laws etc - so my info maybe out of date. The NAS has a help line - numbers on the webpage. Good luck R

  • Where you mention very high functioning - although the area is well understood, the reactions individual parents can receive remains patchy, whilst the like of GP's can be indifferent. Could not agree more here with previous comments on intelligence and so on, and some schools and/or LEA's are more or less helpful, whilst it is clear us parents need to be resourceful on the subject itself, and use resolve.

    It is not impossible to get to formally know someone at your SEN department, this can sometimes help to feel attached to the endeavour - and the aformentioned Parent Partnership & IPSEA can help a lot.

    We have a child of 15 in a special school, and one of 7 doing very well in a good state primary nearing the decision on his statement. The younger boy is high functioning like yours, but has such obvious disadvantages as well. Our oldest son of 29 ( long gap ) graduated successfully at university with aspergers without a statement, they misdiagnosed him back in those days over a word blindness. But absolutely there is no reason why a bright child should be denied a statement where the case is correct. 

    As parents we obviously need to communicate the deficits our child have quite clearly, and appear to others to be focussed in the knowing of the predicaments that can impair a very bright childs future prospects.

    And today it is evolving - there indeed is some exceptionally smart children with aspergers at the top of classes, but social difficulty and the others remains the obstacle they need the statement for.

    Good luck and best wishes 

  • Intelligence, IQ and academic ability have nothing to do with statements, either they are ignorant of the law or are deliberately fobbing you off.

    As others have said you can apply direct to your LA's SEN department:

    https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs/overview

    "What special educational needs are

    Some children have needs or disabilities that affect their ability to learn. For example:

    • behavioural/social (eg difficulty making friends)
    • reading and writing (eg dyslexia)
    • understanding things
    • concentrating (eg Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
    • physical needs or impairments"

    Contact www.ipsea.org.uk or your local Parent Partnership for advice and support.

  • You can email the LEA and ask for a statement to be carried out.  They will then send you all the paper work together will timescales for each stage to be completed by.  I think you are in a strong position because he is transferring to second school soon, so he may well need extra support .

    To be successful you should gather as much professional reports as possible to send to them.

    It is not too late to get a statement.  Mine were slightly older and would not have survived school without it.  

    Also even if you do not succeed, the school can use its discretion and provide additional support.  One of my son's friends doesn't have a statement and is given a quiet place in which to do tests / exams

  • I have just applied for a statement myself using the letter template on here.  Primary did ask the Ed Psych twice but failed because my daughter was just above the border line on their stupid tests.  I've applied for it myself now rather than ask the school to do it for lots of reasons.  Intenseworld put a link in one of my posts for the template and lots of other useful help.  I'll see if I can find it.

  • Hi - from what I've read on here, you can apply for a statement yourself by contacting your local authority's education dept (s.e.n. section).  If you have a look around the posts + also at the headings on the home pg, there's lots of info.  Also there's a site called ipsea which can be useful to parents