My son is currently in year at a mainstream school and has a diagnosis of Aspergers. There have been a few incidents over the last 6 months of him hitting other children and adults but his teacher is fantastic, as are his TA's and they have supported him to stay on there.
Now, he was originally going into mainstream but during his Annual Review in December, it was decided that he needed the support of an ARP. This is clearly quite late in the day and the LA have dragged their feet on it. There are only 2 ARP's in our county and one has already said no. We visited the other and the ARP head was worried that his behavioural issues could keep landing him in trouble and maybe that's not what he needs.
I'm worried about him going to a special school because he's very bright and I don't want him to get left behind or upset by the more severe kids because he copes very well most of the time but other kids with more severe Autism tend to upset him.
I am waiting for a call from our local SEND IAS who will provide us with inpartial information but in the meantime, the LA are putting pressure on me to make a decision and I'm worried about his transition.
There is a private autism school opening in the same county but with a different LA and that would be a battle! It would, however, be perfect for him but the LA won't want to pay if they think they can out him somewhere else.
Any advice would be very gratefully received!
Sarah
