A Lanarkshire mum is embroiled in a row with North Lanarkshire Council after refusing to send her 'autistic' five-year-old daughter to mainstream school after the youngster was turned down for an Additional Support Needs (ASN) school place.
Danielle Ferrie fears she will have to give up work rather than subject her daughter Charleigh to "pure hell" by attending a mainstream school.
She applied for a place at Firpark School but the request has been rejected by the council's education department.
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The 26-year-old, a hospital clinical support bank worker, firmly believes Charleigh has low-functioning autism, the Record reports.
The youngster currently attends the ASN hub within Shotts Family Learning Centre and her mum has already deferred her start at school by a year to see how her speech and social skills developed.
“I’ve known since Charleigh was about two years old, my mum noticed things before me,” Danielle admitted. “I was a bit in denial and was like - ‘Don’t say that about my wean!’. But as she got older I could tell.
“She likes to sit herself and is in her own wee world most of the time. She rarely makes eye contact.
“When I try to take her anywhere she can have a full meltdown in public. She was meant to start school last year but we decided to wait a year to see if she progressed, but if anything she has even more issues now to cope with.”
Charleigh often needs to wear ear defenders and according to Danielle her verbal communication is limited due to echolalia, her speech is repetitive and often has no context.
She also uses a specially designed buggy which prevents her from running off, or onto roads, as she has no awareness of safety.
Danielle has already been waiting two years for Charleigh to have an official diagnosis, and has been told it could be another couple of years yet.
She continued: “Everybody that works with Charleigh on a daily basis, at nursery, and the health visitor, say she wouldn’t cope or progress at a mainstream school. If anything I’d be putting her into pure hell, she wouldn’t cope.
“She’s still in a nappy and can’t hold a conversation, she can’t understand or follow instructions, doesn’t understand why you need to stand in a queue, and can run out onto roads. She is a danger to herself.
"I refuse to put my daughter into a situation that is only going to distress her daily, it’s unfair and cruel.
“It’s heartbreaking, what is her wee life going to be like if I did send her [to school]?
“She would just be destructive and end up sitting somewhere herself needing to have one-to-one teaching. She needs to learn to be able to cope with other things in life first.”
The single-parent was “disgusted” to be told in February this year that Charleigh had been refused a place at Firpark in Motherwell and would need to attend her catchment school, St Thomas’s Primary. After taking advice from Govan Law Centre she made her own placing request but that has now also been refused.
Danielle intends to take the placement rejection to an ASN tribunal.
“We really shouldn’t have to go through all of this,” she said. “It’s people that have never even met Charleigh who are making these decisions. I can only work from 8am to 1pm each day just now.
"It’s hard enough getting shifts around looking after Charleigh as it is. If it comes to August and they don’t find her an ASN space then she won’t be at school and I’ll need to leave my job.
“I’ve been up to St Thomas’s and they’ve been really nice but why should I have to send her somewhere where I know she won’t be able to cope?
“I’ve no doubt I’d be called up to the school every day.”
A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council, said: “The review was heard by a panel compromised of head teachers, heads of centre, educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and other senior officers.
“It is a robust process and Charleigh’s case was considered via our Needs-Based Pathway Review process in Autumn 2022. In order to be thorough her case was heard by two separate panels. Following these extensive considerations, a placement in a specialist establishment was declined.
“We are fully committed to ensuring that Charleigh’s needs are met and that everything is in place to ensure a successful transition to a mainstream school. We are keen to work closely with her family to ensure that is the case.
“The family has the right to appeal the decision through a First Tier ASN Tribunal.”
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