College provision for LD's and autism?

[MaryB]

Anyone have a college student with LD's and or autsm, both quite mild.
What provision are they getting in College?
My son has been assessed to go into a class for kids with autism and LD's but they all appear to be very much more disabled than him, they are insisting he belongs on that course but he insists he doesn't.
Does anyone join a mainstream group with help?
TIA
Vicky

[charles47]

Colleges have the same responsibilities to meet needs that schools have, and cannot discriminate, Vicky. If your son is saying the course is not what he needs, I'd want to know whether he's being realistic about it (as I don't know him) and what alternatives are available, including mainstream courses. And why the college is saying "this is the course". What happens at some colleges is they start people lower down the course options so they can hold on to them longer...

[MaryB]

Thanks Charles, it's very tricky because he does have LD's for instance he scored quite low on KS2 Maths 2010 paper I gave him, that's age 7-11 and he is 16. Thing is his autism presents as fairly mild, rigid thinking, literal thinking, anxiety problems, he also has a very poor working memory and pathological doubting. In his class the others are stimming, and making noises although higher functioning than my other son, ie they can talk, they can do very, very simple maths they are still more obviously disabled than my oldest.
He kind of doesn't fit into any category! I didn't think there was any obligation on the part of the college, his statement will finish in a couple of weeks when he officially leaves school and my understanding was we were now in a take it or leave it situation with further education.
Course that was pretty much how it was in school but I did have a right to complain and he had a right of appeal whether it got us very far is another matter, but the assumed protection was there.
He is quite depressed and really needs a peer group he can relate to, everyone seems to be either much more disabled or EBD with no learning problems. This isn't doing his confidence any good but then neither would failing in a mainstream class as we found in school.
Vicky

[Melly1]

Hi Vicky,

does your son have a Connexions personal adviser? They maybe able to help.

Would DSA be able to fund him some support to attend a mainstream course?
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeo ... G_10034898

Has the college actually assessed his needs or are they making assumptions/

Does your son know what course he wants to do? Does he have the qualifications to go straight on to that course or does he need this other course first to access the course he has chosen?

Sorry, I have answered your question with more questions ....

Melly1

[myra]

the special needs courses at our local college are for low/moderate functioning people, and the more able can access main stream courses but must fund support themselves the college only fund a few assistants for the SN courses.
it was my job for years supporting pupils from the school i work in on day release courses.

myra

[charles47]

Under the Special Educational Needs Discrimination Act (SENDA) and the Equality Act, colleges can't just dump people. They have to make reasonable efforts to meet their needs and enable them to access courses they are capable of completing. A Connexions worker should be involved, Vicky, and can help with this.

[MaryB]

He does have a connexions advisor but he told me that post 16 provision is even worse than school!
The problem we have is that my son is a very talented artist, but so are many people, he will be doing a btec because he can't make a decent job of the written work that's required in GSSE and above Art.
It's unclear whether a lot of his struggles are to do with the fact that he has never actually had a qualified teacher for anything, mostly mums as LSA's delivering the best they can, no one with any recognized ASD qualifications or experience, or whether it's down to his LD's or just a mixture of both. Either way the other kids on his course are significantly more disabled but he has been assessed by the college, don't know what that assessment involved though.
Myra I would say he is mild as opposed to moderate, definitely not low functioning though, he seems to be falling between two stools with nothing that's a good fit for him.
Melly he has no qualifications at all, we withdrew him from the Art GCSE at school because they said he would achieve a D mark, this is because of the written component to the exam and not his actual Art, having asked around I was told it would be better for him not to take the exam at all than have a D pass as it is very low, to the point most do not consider it a pass at all. As well as that he is self taught and has had no Art teacher in 10 years of schooling so his preparation for this exam has been dreadful.
I would describe him as a mildly autistic 16yr old with a severe anxiety disorder and mild learning difficulties, he is very spikey and verbal reasoning is a relative strength, so to talk to him he appears normal but he would not be able to buy anything from a shop or get on a bus or any number of things regular 16yr olds can do, but he doesn't stimm or pace, or anything obvious, he desperately wants to be normal.
Vicky

[Melly1]

Vicky,

whatever the connexions officer thinks of the support post 16, your son is still entitled to a learner support plan which should accurately portray his support needs, etc What course are the college pushing him towards and what course would he like to go on? He may be entitled to help with any written work or be able to dictate to a scribe. The special needs grant (as per link on my previous post) could pay for this if he is eligible.

Melly1

[Dipsy]

http://www.priorygroup.com/Locations/So ... indon.aspx

There are specialist colleges for people with autism, I went for a job interview for this one, its the only reason I know about it, but they do have accomodation.

[no1mum]

Vicki, my partners son is 16(aspergers) and connexions approached us in February regarding continuing education, all I can say is they have been absolutely fantastic regarding information and advice. Funding is already available for door to door taxi's and courses are tailor made to the students needs. Initially we were offered "independant living" course, which we considered totally inappropriate to F's needs, he has no concept of money, cannot understand bus timetables, can't cope with bus travel, crowds etc. With door to door taxi, our concern was "crowds of other students" at the drop off points, but staff meet the student at the pick up point and escort them into the building. As F's interest is computing and animation a course has been made available for him in this area, staff who will be working with him are fully trained in special needs. We had 4 different options available to us regarding the location of further education, all equally as good as the other. Our big concern now that F is always reluctant to get up for school(21% attendance this school year), it's a constant battle, and if this place is accepted and he continues to refuse to get up and go a place has been taken up that could have gone to someone who wants to go, not to mention the funding that is going into the placement.

Karen