Need advice as we just don’t know what to do.
Haven’t posted here in a long while but our 4 year old son moved in with us on the first day of lockdown last March. We were aware there was trauma there from birth parents and behaviour can be hit and miss. With foster carers, he was only doing 3 mornings of nursery but that was reduced when the behaviour was becoming violent to other kids. We knew because as well as getting to know us, it was all too much for him.
we Identified a local primary 5 mins away from our home who we thought were perfect. They said they understood the help that would be needed, reassured us etc. He moved in March and basically had 6 great months of getting used to his new home and is. It was a great time of bonding.
school is proving a nightmare, it was agreed that he would start with 3 days a week of half days and increase it over time. The behaviour has got a lot worse. Hitting, punching, spitting at both teachers and kids.
They applied and received higher needs funding of £15k to get a member of staff who would be 1 on 1. Great as the behaviour slowly started to improve. However, as of 2 weeks ago, that member of staff has now quit and we are back to before. I understand that with COVID they are limited on resources but we can tell that they simply can’t cope or know what to do with him.
They’ve put in an application of EHCP plan but that’s for later in school life. We’ve almost now come to the conclusion that we need to push for an ASD/ Austim referral to be able to access additional help. We agreed with that as we want to get the help he needs but the school seems to now just waiting for that before changes will happen.
i Was called into the office yesterday and shown for the first time, a list of 33 serious incidents that’s happened since September and given 3 options. Teach from home, exclusion or reduced hours.
We’ve had to concede on reduced hours but my frustration is building because I’m now realising that they don’t have the means to really support him. His teachers and environments change on almost a daily basis.
Yes there are behaviour issues there. Maybe more deep routed than we thought but we very rarely experience it at home. The odd spitting which is dealt with immediately.
we know what the results would be of any testing and ASD is likely. A lot of emotional challenges which is triggering the bad behaviour at school but I don’t know now before I have official test results whether I should keep him on reduced hours and start looking for a more specialist school locally.
I worry another school is another transition but it can’t be worse than the confusion he’s currently getting from the school and lack of understanding of his behaviour. He’s just considered the naughty child...