A mum says her six-year-old son has been denied the correct education after North Yorkshire County Council placed him at a mainstream school instead of a preferred special needs one.
Casey Dickinson, 30, from Northallerton, has a six-year-old son who has autism and is currently at a mainstream school. The mother-of-three claims she has been battling to get her son a place at a nearby specialist school for two years, but despite having an EHCP she is being denied a place by the local council.
She says she has been offered an alternative placement for her son at a specialist school further afield. However, the school in question is over an hour away from where she lives and is therefore inappropriate as she has two other neurotypical children at the mainstream school.
The distressed mum says she is also having difficulty getting wraparound care for her son at the mainstream setting he is currently at because none of the local providers can meet his needs. This is making life increasingly difficult for Casey, a soon to be qualified nurse, who without morning and after school care for her son, will not be able to accept a full time nursing job.
She said she feels as though she is being discriminated against and that her son needs to be in a setting where people understand him. The student nurse said her son was diagnosed with autism when he was three-years-old and at a private nursery, therefore he should have never gone to mainstream school.
Casey feels herself and her son have been “let down”. She said the situation is causing her severe distress, and even affecting her health.
Casey said: “I have a severely autistic six-year-old who is being denied the correct education by the council. I’ve been fighting this for two years now, it’s affecting every aspect of my life. I have multiple sclerosis and the stress of all of this is making it so much worse.
“Nursing is all I have ever wanted to do, even more so after my diagnosis but I’m at breaking point. I’m burnt out and exhausted with all of this. I’m so close to qualifying and I just feel like I want to quit.
“I’ve lost motivation to finish university, I’m just constantly worried about my son and about the future. I just want him to be in a setting that can meet his needs and where they will understand him.
“I just keep being told the same thing, the settings that can take him are either full or can’t meet his needs. His needs are always either too high or too low.
“He had a childminder up until Christmas where he went before and after school, along with his siblings, but then they turned around to me and said they can’t take him anymore. I can’t find anywhere else that can meet his needs and without that support I can’t continue with my studies or get a job in nursing.
“But if he was in a specialist provision, where he should have been placed all along, then I would have access to the before and after school club there and I’d know that they had the staff and facilities to care for him.”
Casey continued: “It’s put me in an awful position, it’s been going on for almost two years now and I feel like there is no end in sight.
“It’s even affecting my daughter. She is constantly worrying about him, she doesn’t want to see her brother upset like he gets because he is triggered being in the wrong setting.
“It’s affecting her academically and socially as well because her friends talk about her brother’s behaviours and meltdowns. It’s not fair on anyone. She wouldn’t have that if he was in an appropriate school.
“The schools they have offered me are over an hour away from where I live and I still have my two other children to get to mainstream school as well, it’s just not feasible.”
North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for inclusion, Janet Crawford, said: “Whilst we are unable to comment on the details of individual cases, we are absolutely committed to supporting children and young people with additional needs and ensure that they get the support they require to thrive and succeed in all aspects of school life.”
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