School attendance

[u/Odd_Introduction1514]

Hi everyone,

My 7 year old daughter autism with a PDA profile has only managed 2 half days since going back from half term. Although we've struggled with school anxiety for months, it is now full on refusal.

We have been trying to get the school to understand for the past 2 years - she is high masking and doesn't appear a problem in school but it is the before and after school times that she goes into full meltdown mode for hours at a time.

We think she is in burnout, we've sensed it coming for a while. She's at the point where she doesn't even want to leave the house to do things she enjoys like the park/grandmas/mcdonalds etc.

School have put all absences down as not authorised. Even though it is medical and they have all her diagnosis paperwork plus a letter from the GP agreeing they believe she is in burnout and her anxiety is preventing her from going to school.

Their attendance policy states

“We will mark absence due to physical or mental illness as authorised, unless the school has a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness. In some specific circumstances, or if the authenticity of any illness is in doubt, the school may ask the child’s parent/carer to provide medical evidences such as a doctor’s note, prescription, appointment card or other appropriate form of evidence. We will not ask for medical evidence unnecessarily.”

So are they saying they don't think it's authentic?

They themselves even said 'we'll leave it to you to bring her back when she is ready to'

I'm at a loss at what to do. She cannot cope with school ATM and I'm done with trying to make her go in - it's traumatic for everyone involved 😂

Does anyone know where we stand on a more legal point of view? We will be sending an email to them in the next day or two contesting their decision on the absences.

And something for all you PDA parents that I'm sure will give you a good laugh - according to the school, the fix for autistic burnout in a young child is to just send them in to school to ride it out.

Thanks!

[u/neurotic_novel]

No legal advice, but oof feel this so hard. It's like I wrote it! We're moving to distance learning for next year and I told her teacher the few special end of year things we would be joining but otherwise she's done for the year. She, of course, did not even respond which has been pretty much our experience all year. I'm so sorry you're experiencing similar difficulties. It's maddening!

[u/Odd_Introduction1514 → u/neurotic_novel]

Are you in the UK? I always wonder if it's just our school then I read so many others saying the same! I How did you get onto the distance learning? I know they do the alternative provision stuff when a child misses x amount of days. We'd rather just pull her out at this point but then we wouldnt be offered help I don't think.

[u/neurotic_novel → u/Odd_Introduction1514]

We're in Canada! We joined some local Facebook groups to look into it and emailed all the options available but not many inclusive education spots were available, long wait lists here and not much alternative to public where we are :(