Hi all, my son, Jacob will be 3 years old in December and has a rare metabolic disorder called Glutaric aciduria type 1. In short, Jacob led a normal life and reached all his develpmental milestones until he had a metabolic crisis when he was 13 months old. Jacob's brain was damaged which has now left him physically disabled (Unable to sit, walk, attend his basic care needs and has a lmited vocabulary). Jacob has no learning difficulties and only a little behind with his learning. Now the dilemma is this....physio, OT, and consultant want Jacob to attend a specialist nursery, possibly looking at conductive education 2 days as well. However, education workers have assessed him and want him to attend mainstream. I have looked at the specialist nursery that was suggested and i love it, i think Jacob would thrive here and would much prefer Jacob to attend there. Jacob is currently going through the statementing progress and recently has the SEN Manager at my house who also states that she thinks Jacob should attend mainstream. Right my questions are:..... Who makes the choice, me or the professionals?? And what rights have i got as a parent to decide where my child attends school??? If they push for mainstream then what rights have i got and how would i appeal against this? Not sure whether anyone will be able to answer these questions but anything would be much appreciated, even if someone can direct me to an appropriate website where i can learn my rights. Many thanks and hope to get to know a few people on here xx

have you spoken to the nursery and asked them if there is a space for him? if so and they are happy to take him then when it comes to naming the school on the statement, put the one of your choice down. aslong as they are happy to take him it should go through smoothly. if the insist on trying to send him to a mainstream you can appeal the decision and push for him to go to the one of your choice, i would of thought even if it did have to go to appeal, you would win with the backing of his OT, Physio and paed

hope that helps and good luck xx

Lucy is spot on, but have you thought about a split placement? My son does two mornings a week at a mainstream nursery and 3 mornings at a special needs. The aim is to get early intervention so he can go to mainstream school, but keeping the support and links of the special ed. Introducing the social side of the mainstream setting, which is very different to a special setting.
Ask your professionals. Consider how he would manage the social side also.
Hope this helps x x

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Lucy is spot on, but have you thought about a split placement? My son does two mornings a week at a mainstream nursery and 3 mornings at a special needs. The aim is to get early intervention so he can go to mainstream school, but keeping the support and links of the special ed. Introducing the social side of the mainstream setting, which is very different to a special setting.
Ask your professionals. Consider how he would manage the social side also.
Hope this helps x x

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Lucy is spot on, but have you thought about a split placement? My son does two mornings a week at a mainstream nursery and 3 mornings at a special needs. The aim is to get early intervention so he can go to mainstream school, but keeping the support and links of the special ed. Introducing the social side of the mainstream setting, which is very different to a special setting.
Ask your professionals. Consider how he would manage the social side also.
Hope this helps x x
(This post was last modified: 11-18-2011 07:12 PM by MariaH.)