One year ago my son was an anxiety-riddled boy with suicidal threats related to school. All this changed after I managed to place him in a suitable school. I am a Chartered Psychologist but this won me no favours with school, the local authority or with Asperger’s itself. I was not heard and lived a life of dread and despair.
It’s been almost a year since my son started his new school and I cannot believe how well he is doing – he loves school, has made friends and is so much happier. Yes, he still has difficulties related to his Asperger’s but his needs are being met in a caring, supportive environment – he is developing life skills and his self esteem has increased:
- He is continuing to do well at school and is getting daily merits for good work;
- I no longer dread school meetings. I walk out of parent evenings with pride, overwhelmed by the fantastic things his teachers have to say about him;
- I was dreading his recent Annual Review, expecting it to focus on reducing his provision (as previous reviews did) – I was relieved when the meeting centred on his needs and improving his support;
- His knowledge of vacuum cleaners is empowering him instead of making him feel ashamed. Recently he wrote to Hoover advising them on how to improve their vacuums – they wrote back saying they will send his comments to their Research and Development Department and gave him a hand-held vacuum as a thank you. He was ecstatic!
As I see my son developing into a confident young man, the future does not look as bleak and scary as it did a year ago.
My struggles and expensive legal battle raises serious questions about special education in our schools. The main question for me is – “Why did I have to fight so hard for so long to get educators to meet my child’s needs?“.
As I celebrate our victory, I feel I have to advocate for those left behind.
Sema Cemal 
The question of why do we have to fight so hard is made worst in my mind, when the law states that every child is entitled to get a good enough education. It has been law, enshrined in the SEN code of
Practice. The LEA’s get away with not following the Law, forcing those who can into tribunals, only for us to win. We lose our sanity, and money trying to get the law that is there to protect our children implemented. It is madness and a disgrace in a civilised society that to give these vulnerable children the education they deserve we have to be brought to our knees. The new law will not protect our kids as the LEA still Holds the budget. Time for this flagrant disregard of our kids rights to come to an end.