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reasonable adjustments to school life

Jannia

my lovely 13 year old son is struggling more and more at school. He is refusing to attend. This has come to a head recently and has been remedied by him being able to wear different trousers (black chinos so not that different to school trousers) and trainers to school on the days that he has felt anxious. He has many sensory issues with clothes and has only a few sets of clothes he feels comfortable in. These chinos are one of the few pairs of trousers he wears so they are constantly washed. His trainers are blue and grey and bless him he has size 12 feet so they aren't exactly small and inconspicuous. The school began by allowing him to wear these trousers and trainers on those days that he felt uncomfortable. This has progressed to being almost every day currently. Probably because he has been going through end of year tests and is feeling very anxious. The school asked for a letter from the GP to back up this sensory issue and when they recieved it (it asked them to be mindful of his diagnosis and work with him on those days he felt anxious) they have now decided that "in order to support him and help him get along in the real world" they will not allow him any adjustment to school uniform and he will recieve the same sanctions as any other child. 

He was diagnosed by the community paediatrician and hasn't seen her since diagnosis as he hasn't needed to. I feel like the school thinks the whole issue is down to bad parenting and that they feel the need to help me sort him out!

He is achieving in school and doesn't have a EHCP currently. I have asked for him to be referred for statutory assessment and I feel that since I asked for that they have closed ranks on me and don't want to help.

This is a 13 year old boy who just doen'st see the world the same way as everyone else and he is being punished for it daily. He doesn't melt down in class very often, he tries hard to be part of the crowd and then gets it wrong because he misses the cues to stop, so then he gets punished as they can't be seen to treat him differently.

How do i get through to them that he is different and with the right support, he will be happy.

any help appreciated.

Parents

  • There is another reason the school may have taken this line. If the doctor's note specifies the condition as autism or asperger's syndrome, and the school has looked this up.

    Most explanations of autism use the Triad of Impairments, which is really a diagnostic tool that excludes things which might be confused with other conditions - sensory issues is one of the exclusions.

    Consequently many websites explain autism simply in terms of the triad of impairments, and may or may not explain sensory issues - which often appears as an 'also ran', and may not be sufficiently explained.

    The school may therefore not have found any reference to sensitivity to clothing as an issue.

    I keep having this argument with NAS and I keep coming up against a brick wall. The Triad does not adequately explain living with autism.

    Although NAS mentions sensory issues and sensory overload, and has pages explaining hypo and hypersenstivity and the different sensitivities, this appears as something separate from the main body of 'evidence' presented in the Triad.

    I will repeat this mantra to my dying day - "the triad doesn't explain living with autism" - but I bet NAS will still go on using it, without giving adequate emphasis to sensory issues.

    But it is possible the school has simply argued that they know nothing about sensitivity to clothing - because all they've found is the Triad.

Reply

  • There is another reason the school may have taken this line. If the doctor's note specifies the condition as autism or asperger's syndrome, and the school has looked this up.

    Most explanations of autism use the Triad of Impairments, which is really a diagnostic tool that excludes things which might be confused with other conditions - sensory issues is one of the exclusions.

    Consequently many websites explain autism simply in terms of the triad of impairments, and may or may not explain sensory issues - which often appears as an 'also ran', and may not be sufficiently explained.

    The school may therefore not have found any reference to sensitivity to clothing as an issue.

    I keep having this argument with NAS and I keep coming up against a brick wall. The Triad does not adequately explain living with autism.

    Although NAS mentions sensory issues and sensory overload, and has pages explaining hypo and hypersenstivity and the different sensitivities, this appears as something separate from the main body of 'evidence' presented in the Triad.

    I will repeat this mantra to my dying day - "the triad doesn't explain living with autism" - but I bet NAS will still go on using it, without giving adequate emphasis to sensory issues.

    But it is possible the school has simply argued that they know nothing about sensitivity to clothing - because all they've found is the Triad.

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