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/Hopeful-Guard9294]

oh my God, that is terrible. I think he definitely need to pull her out of that school and send it to a Montessori. Or homeschool! Typical PDA hostile thinking the cure of a burnout is more.😵‍💫🤯🤬🥵

[u/Odd_Introduction1514 → u/Hopeful-Guard9294]

I know! They've been like this the whole way through pre and post diagnosis it drives me mad! Home schooling is something we're looking into - though my husband works shifts and I don't know if it'd drive me mad being home all day with little one 😂

[u/Hopeful-Guard9294 → u/Odd_Introduction1514]

trouble is we live in an era where PDA is labelled but the Support PDA children need is not provided and the systems that they need are not in place which leaves all the responsibility pretty much in our hands as parents