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7 year old HFA in mainstream

ProudDad

Hi there, I wonder if people can share with me their experience and advice?

I have a 7 year old who was diagnosed at 3 yrs with HFA, he also has hyper mobility Syndrome.

He has moderate DLA, and we have managed to work with his local primary to keep him in mainstream. He is known to Paed community services but not monitored by them as he has had no issues, and he is known to the SENCO teacher covering the school.

However, as he has got older the gap between himself and his peers socially is growing. He is very bright, a year to 18 months in advance of his peers in most subjects, but recently he has required ear defenders and his own desk to cope with auditory overstimulation, he also started making involuntary noises whilst processing thoughts and  Conversations.

he does not like crowds, assembly times, or strangers, often reverting to making clicks / sounds and strimming.

We met with SENCO today as they are trying various coping mechanisms in class and difficult situations, the primary he is in has only 20-22 per class and a head who has an a son with sapergers, so a great environment.

My concern now is there will likely be a time where he will need more intervention, and as secondary school looms in the next 3-4 years what we will do, none of the local schools have less than 1,800-2,000 pupils and class sizes of 35 and the senco says support is non existent without EHC's.

The SENCO said today the local authority will not give and EHC as he is Bright and meeting his yearly milestones accademically, also as we have also been coping without community paeds, OHC, or SLT we have no history to base our case on.

To some degree the primary are so good and putting lots of things in place to help, he doesn't need an EHC there, but in a few years we will need help as he moves to secondary. There is one school relatively nearby under the same LHA that is geared more towards his needs, class sizes of 25, vocational as well as pure education, they also are very strict and follow rigorous timetables that will help with his structure and need for routines.

However we are not in their catchment area and the senco said if there was a EHC she would happily campaign for that school on his EHC as it would be very beneficial for him, she agrees he will not likely cope in a mainstream large secondary.

So what do we do? there seems to be a void where HFA kids cannot get support via an EHC as they are bright and the LHA won't give them one, social issues don't seem to be  important to them. Without an EHC getting him into an appropriate school will mean us physically moving next door to the school, if we can't do that he may end up in a school he can't cope in and be pulled out of mainstream?

What have others done, is there any provision with EHC for behavioural / social side of HFA, or is it as senco said, because he is bright he will never help?

thanks in advance

  • Apply for an EHC Assessment yourself. I've posted on another thread about how I applied for my son (similar age and issues as yours). i put in a really detailed application and despite the school saying he was too able to qualify for help, the LA agreed to assess and it looks like a draft plan will be isued soon. 

    One of the main reasons we applied was so we could choose a secondary school on provision not distance. we got a psychologist to write to say they supported an EHCP for this reason. Get your paed to write something similar and include this letter with your application. Our school caused us a lot of problems and it sounds like yours has been a great ASD fri environment- nonetheless your son is still experiencing difficulties and will need similar support in secondary. Of course Secondary transfer is one of the few things that the LA can't delegate to the school so it's a legitimate need for an EHCP even if it is short term.

    there is a lot of research around now about how ASD kids need support to prevent serious mental health problems. I pressed this point in our application although I had examples of how a school not understanding ASD caused problems! Good luck

  • My daughter left school before EHC came in, so I cannot help with that, what I can do is tell you about our experience.

    Aspergers was not suspected until her last year at primary school. The school worked with the new secondary school to get help for her and once at Secondary school with the schools support we applied for a statement.

    We were turned down because the school was already doing too much and were not allowing her to fail. The local authority came up with a plan for her, which included less support and was closely monitored. This worked well for our daughter. When she got the diagnosis the school asked us again if we would be prepared to request a statement. At this point we said no as the plan in place was working for her and this was continued to be monitored through out her secondary education.

    Like your son it seemed that as long as she coped academically nothing could be done about the statement. Fortunately they were very good dealing with bullying. A couple of hiccups were sorted out by working with the school, or on one occassion getting a councillor to raise a concern with the local safeguarding board.

    The biggest hiccup was when the school became an academy and tried to introduce a home school pupil agreement. I refused to sign it as it allowed the school to keep her in detention for up to two hours without informing us. As she had never been in trouble or even had a detention they did not believe it was a problem. From our perspective knowing she had been chased home on occassion and a busy road between the school and home we were not prepared to wait two hours to see if she had detention or if something had happened. We eventually agreed that she could be kept in for detention for longer than 30 minutes but the school would inform us as soon as they knew she would be in detention.

    Leading up to the exams we got a call from our daughter who was upset because they had decided to keep the class in for two hours every day that week for extra English lessons. As this was just before she was due to come home I told her to go to the class and I would sort it out. 10 minutes into the class the Principle came in and told her to go home and told the teacher he wanted a quiet word with him. I had a meeting the next morning with the principle and the teacher. I asked the reason for the extra lessons and it was to help raise their levels by one grade. As she was expected to get an A at least I told them that I was not happy with the situation and did not feel the extra * at the end of her grade was worth the extra stress for her. Also I felt it was an abuse of the home school pupil agreement as the additional two hours was for detention and not for them to choose at will to extend the school day. The principle agreed and backed us on this. So she was the only one in her year that did not do the extra lessons and still got an A*

    My best advice to you is to monitor your son's progress as best you can while he is in primary school. The year before he transfers is when you normally begin to look at secondary schools. A lot can change and you may be in a position to get an EHC before then. If not still attend your preferred your preferred school's open day and talk to their SENCO and head teacher if you can. Explain why they are your first choice, it may help to get him in there even though it is outside your catchment area.

    Despite doing well throughout her primary school and did exceedingly well at SATs she ended up going to one of the two 'worst' schools in our area. At the time I was gutted over it. As it turned out it was the best thing to happen to her. She was well ahead of her peers and was put in the gifted and talented program which offered her opportunities she might not have gotten other wise. The school loved her and often went beyond what we expected to keep her on track. She went on to get a first at University and works on the shop floor of a busy London store. Had she gone to another school it is unlikely she would have done so well, our first choice, a new academy, quickly developed a reputation of excluding students with special needs.

    My strongest suggestion, what ever school he goes to, with or without an EHC develop a strong relationship with the SENCO and year mentor, if they have one. We never dealt with the teachers, except at parents evening, and dealt directly with support staff. Unlike primary school she had a different teacher with each subject and four in one year with one subject.

    I wish you and your son all the best for the future.