Help with school support

[mrsg999]

Hello,

I am looking for advice on what to do. My son has a diagnosed learning disability, adhd, visual and auditory processing difficulties, speech and language disorder (not fully diagnosed yet), huge sensory issues, pica, irlen syndrome plus some others. He is struggling in school and not being correctly supported. He is going to leave school with no qualifications. School have passed the buck and blames him for not engaging. I am really angry at all this. It's absolutely ridiculous how long this has gone on for.

Info that I need is, how do I make sure the school are providing him with the support that he needs?

Can I ask for him to be assessed again with the learning disability side of things? He seems to be struggling more now at 15 than when he was diagnosed age 7.

Can he be diagnosed with dyslexia through school or the NHS? 3 full years he's been at high-school and they have not done anything to assess this despite him struggling massively in English.

Can we get a private autism assessment in North Scotland? Or can we visit somewhere for a couple of days for a diagnosis? He has so many signs but they refused to even try and diagnose it because he has the learning disability diagnosis. Autism runs in our family he has 1 parent, 1 uncle, 2 siblings and potentially other undiagnosed. Where is the best place to go?

What else do I need to ask? What do I need to state for him? What are his rights as a child with a disability with education?

Thanks in advance

[Winnie555]

Hi. The situation must be very frustrating and distressing for you and your son. By the sound of things it's rather surprising that he’s got this far without the school requesting a formal assessment of his additional support needs. Without knowing what help you've already sought, here are the things I would try in no particular order.govanlawcentre.org/elu-help...

The link above takes you to the Govan Law Centre's Education Law Unit and specifically to a template letter requesting assessment.

Enquire is an organisation which helps families of children with Additional Support Needs. Here's the link:

enquire.org.uk/resources/lo...

I would also read up on the law and statutory guidance relating to additional support needs so that you know what the law requires schools and authorities to do. A good place to start would be Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC):

gov.scot/policies/girfec/

and Additional Support for Learning: statutory guidance 2017

gov.scot/policies/schools/a...

Finally, the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) has a wealth of information for families and may be able to offer support with regard to your son's auditory processing disorder, the impact of which really shouldn't be underestimated but is often not understood by schools.

None of this has answered your question about getting an assessment for dyslexia but I hope that it might lead you to an answer!

Good luck. I hope your son gets the support he needs.

[Galwaybay2]

Following on from all the advice above, I would also add that any formal recognition of your son's needs before he reaches 18 will make support much easier to access when he's older. How has he been overlooked so long!

[sl20]

Hi my son had a statement of Sen whilst he was at school but he too didn’t get enough help at school. When he left school at 16 he went to a college of further education where they do different courses for students with learning disabilities. His GP referred him to the LD team where he had an assessment for a LD which then put him under social services. Again like you I thought he might have autism so a few years later I asked the LD team to do an assessment which confirmed it. So my point is it is never too late to get a diagnosis. The process does take a long time. I suspect your sons school won’t do much as he only has a year left. I think schools will only recognise a nhs ld/autism diagnosis but a private assessment may encourage your GP to do a referral.