We believe our son who is 11yrs old has Autistic Spectrum Disorder and we are starting the process for Statutory Assessment. He is currently at Secondary School which he hates and struggles with and he is on part time learning where he goes into school Mon,Tues & Weds. He has also been excluded 3 times since he has started in September. The school have informed us that he is on the highest level of support. The school has referred him to a Paediatrician, where he has an appointment on 16/04/12. Could anyone help us with the question how long it takes to get a diagnosis/report from the Paediatrician (the school Psychologist has done a report already and she has sent it Paediatrician and we also have a copy). Our question is when is the best time to send the letter to request a Statutory Assessment, should we send it now or wait until our son has seen the Paediatrician (we feel that we should be sending it now). We are so concerned for our son as he hates school and we are certain that he is going to get excluded again which is so demoralising for him and us. We don’t think we will get any information about the Statutory Assessment until September? We feel that we would like to take him away from this school, but if we change schools now will this affect the Statutory Assessment, but how is our son going cope with this school until end of July. Is there any school that would take him in the interim or is this a bad move. We also very concerned that he is falling behind in his education at this important time . We are trying to give him lessons at home on his days of exclusion and the Thurs and Fri he is not at school. We have requested work to sent home but this is hit and miss and we have to request it and understand their teaching methods as we are not teachers. We adopted our son at the age of 5 and he has struggled through school even before we adopted him where he was on a part time schedule then but he was full time when he started school with us after the adoption. But we have got him through Primary School even though it was a struggle and he was excluded a couple times then. We wish the professionals has given us more advice and help and we would have requested Statutory Assessment before now. We would be grateful for any advice on this difficult time. We are certain that once our son gets the support and help he deserves and needs he will flourish.
