Re: Ot. Pulling out of school

[Guest guest]

If you decide to educate at home then you have pulled him out of the system which you have every right to do, you are entitled though to put him back in the system whenever you want. I have taken both my boys out of school oldest at one point for 2 yrs, my experience is it is far better to fight the system from within unless you know that you can deliver everything yourself. What is the funding problem with part time if they are not paying for a home intervention? My oldest was allowed to be part time school because he had a diagnosed anxiety disorder directly related to school, is this something you could aim for? I'm not sure if a cranial osteopath would be the right person to get this from but you could ask to be referred to a clinical psychologist who may make the diagnosis, they then could not ignore. It's all about gathering evidence with these people.

Vicky In a message dated 22/04/2010 10:31:33 GMT Daylight Time, kirsty.allen@... writes:

Hi all,Sam has a statement and is full time in a special needs school. I have had enough of them just babysitting him and not teaching him anything. I have had him there just part time before and at home two days a week but they stopped me doing that due to funding.I pay for speech therapy privately and an hours tuition one to one to teach him how to write.He hates going to school, is scared of the other children, gets kicked etc quite abit and is now having sleeping issues in the middle of the night which my cranial ostepath has told me today it is anxiety from school. He has also refused to eat since he went back on Monday.Just wondering if I pull him out and educate him at home, what are the chances of keeping him in the system for the future (ie. Units etc)Has anyone experience of thisYou can email me offline if you wantThanks

[Guest guest]

Hi Kirsty,

I'm so sorry to hear of your problems with the school and how unhappy

your son is. I can't help on the home ed front, but I've been in the

position of having my child in a poor placement special school.

You seem to me to have a very strong case for fighting for a different

special school, outside of borough and/or private if necessary. I don't

know your circumstances or the severity of your child so this might not

be feasible. However, just to say that I had a very nasty fight, similar

circumstances to yours, and won a move from a State special school in my

LEA's area to a private special school outside of my LEA's area (Surrey)

but within commuting distance (just!!). The difference has been

remarkable - more than even I could have guessed.

You don't have to put up with this situation or take it on your own back

to resolve at home. Your son deserves the education you've most probably

been paying out for all your working life. The psychological impact on

your son where he is now is totally unacceptable. I think you should now

play hardball with these people if you haven't already. The time to

negotiate on this is obviously over. You need action and you need it now.

It's all about funding for the LEA's, but they have an undeniable legal

obligation to meet your son's needs, so if they are forced to they will

find the money to help your son - they have to follow a government agenda

that says " every child matters " and they must not discriminate against

your son because he is special need: but clearly they are by leaving him

in the position he's in.

You don't necessarily need lots of money to fight your LEA. There are

lots of organisations that can help - some with more teeth than others.

There is also funding available for expert reports for you to use as

ammunition. Drop me a line offline if you want to discuss what I did to

help my daughter.

On the home ed front - do be careful deciding to remove him from the

school completely. It is hard to get back into the system somewhere when

you've resolved the " problem " for the LEA, also bearing in mind that the

age of your son could mean there are no spaces in the units/schools. I've

done the well-worn trail up to Great Ormond Street before now for reports

as ammunition in my LEA fights, and there is a long waiting list of

children out of school for similar reasons to your situation. They have

priority but the waiting list is still months long. The LEA's know it

will take you a long while to get anough evidence against them before

they have to act - and by then the burden of proof will on you to show

that the problems came from school and not from home. Meanwhile they can

" save " a year or so's placement costs, and you might be struggling to

home ed. I tried home ed with my daughter when she was small and I was

surprised how bad I was at it given how motivated I was. That was a shock!

The whole thing stinks I know, but if you fight the LEA's the way they

fight you, you WILL win, because in the end you are in the right. They

have no defence other than lies and obfuscation.

Best of luck,

-------- Original Message --------

*From:* Kirsty <kirsty.allen@...>

*To:* AutismAspergersCheshire <AutismAspergersCheshire >,

Autism Treatment <Autism Treatment >

*Date:* Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:30:41 +0000 (GMT)

Hi all,

Sam has a statement and is full time in a special needs school.

I have had enough of them just babysitting him and not teaching him

anything. I have had him there just part time before and at home two days

a week but they stopped me doing that due to funding.

I pay for speech therapy privately and an hours tuition one to one to

teach him how to write.

He hates going to school, is scared of the other children, gets kicked

etc quite abit and is now having sleeping issues in the middle of the

night which my cranial ostepath has told me today it is anxiety from

school. He has also refused to eat since he went back on Monday.

Just wondering if I pull him out and educate him at home, what are the

chances of keeping him in the system for the future (ie. Units etc)

Has anyone experience of this

You can email me offline if you want

Thanks

Kirsty

Xx

Sent from my iPhone

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advice. If you need medical advice, please seek it from a suitably

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