Lewis....

I feel I should give a back story for my 3 youngest, so here goes....

Lewis

Lewis is 14 and he was diagnosed with ASD (autistic spectrum disorder) at 7.

He started his educational journey at the local primary but it soon became clear that he was struggling and I made the hard decision to pull him out and homeschool. This worked well for 4 years until I started to worry that he was missing out socially.. so i worked with the local authority to get his 'statement'. This is a legal document, all about the child and their struggles, which unlocks a package of funding. In our case we needed this for a special school. A school was chosen and he was excited to start.

 Unfortunately they got even the very basics wrong. Springing surprise trips on the students...no warning of a planned fire drill...little or no planning or preparation for lessons. This caused some of the students to meltdown and they would then use restraining as a method of control leaving Lewis with bruises. I pulled him out.

I then fought for a place at an expensive independent special school. It took a lot to convince the local authority but eventually they agreed to fund it. Lewis was very happy there for 2 years, but for reasons i'd rather not say here (nothing to do with Lewis...it was the school) I was left with no choice but to remove him.

So for the last 5 months he has been at home again. He misses his school and badly wants to start another, which is amazing after what he has endured. His 'statement' (now called an ECHP, education care and health plan) has been updated so we just need to find him one!

Watch this space!!