Hi everybody,
I am looking for a specialist residential provision for autism that supports A levels in maths, physics and chemistry. I think this may be impossible. Please prove me wrong!
My son is 18 years old and has had a disrupted education since year 8 when he was exited from mainstream. He attended a PRU until year 11; they supported some education but at too low a level for him, so the council provided tuition in the school. This was only very part-time. He came out with Entry Level GCSEs in physics and chemistry at a very high level 5 (well above the grade boundary, but it's capped at a 5) and maths at grade 7. Since then the council has supported further tuition in various places though his EHCP. We have tried the following:
- Online education via King's Interhigh to resit GCSEs at the higher level. This didn't really work, my son needs somebody with him to encourage him to engage and sort out any IT issues. (Both my partner and I work part-time, and don't have time to educate him ourselves.) Also we really didn't like the online system for exams, though he did come out with a grade 7 in physics.
- Tuition provided by the council, based in a newly opened autism unit in a local mainstream school. I was hoping the school would allow him to try out mainstream classes and access the science labs from time to time, but they didn't, and wouldn't enrol him as a pupil in the school. Consequently, all he was allowed to do was sit in one room with his tutors, with no interaction with other kids. Unfortunately the school has now told us it needs the room and my son has had tuition based at home since Easter. So again, no interaction with other kids and no access to science practicals.
- We have visited the two other autism units that are in driving distance and my son couldn't access the buildings.
My son has extreme sensory avoidance to smells, which is very hard to manage in public buildings and also means he can't access a taxi. He is also very sociable (though doesn't always know hoe to go about this). There is one local school where he was able to access the science labs, but they didn't have a small intervention room for him to have 1:1 support at other times. He is also developing some potentially serious metal health issues around aversion to "contamination", which is on a trajectory getting worse, not better. He rarely goes out of the house any more and is usually grumpy.
He is now 18 and a short way through A levels in maths, physics and chemistry. His (twin) brother will be leaving for university in September so I feel my autisic son could be ready for residential education, which could give him the interaction and therapeutic support he desperately needs. Starting the curriculum from scratch wouldn't be a problem. However I am struggling to find anywhere that can do this as well as support A levels. It is as though he is too autistic for anywhere that supports high-level education and too academic for anywhere that supports autism. We live in Milton Keynes and it seems to be an autism school desert.
Please help!
Many thanks
