Hello,
This is for my little boy who is 6 years old and is in year 1. He’s had an EHCP since preschool, but has never been able to access mainstream education. He did his own thing in Reception, and at the start of this school years, the situation escalated sharply.
He’s been excluded multiple times for hurting adults while in crisis, is now on a part time timetable, and when he’s in school, he’s isolated in a ‘safe room’ with two TA’s and no stimulation other than an iPad and Netflix.
The LA agreed to a specialist autism school, but 18 schools across three counties came back as ‘can’t meet need’. There was a single school that had a positive response, but it’s an hour drive, and with my sons severe sensory issues, he was car sick on the way there, and the way back. When looking around, my little boy retreated into himself and hid in one of the classrooms. He hated it and begged me not to send him there. I promised we wouldn’t.
But the LA have completely ignored us and have just happily declared that they are naming that school as if they didn’t even hear our views, or our sons. It would require him to sit in a taxi with a stranger for at least two hours every school day. No 6 year old, let alone a severely autistic one, should have to endure that.
I’m absolutely livid. My little boy has been treated like a prisoner for months now causing a decline in his mental and physical health. He’s stopped eating and is now below the 1st centile for weight. He’s refusing the milkshakes that the Dietitian has prescribed. He’s only 6! This shouldn’t be his life.
I don’t know what to do. They’ve sent me this decision last thing on a Friday before a two week break.
Please, does anyone know the law on this?
Has anyone been through this, and what was the outcome?
