Why don't Education Welfare Officers listen to parents?

Chops Younger has been school refusing for over two years, off and on. After what seems like an age being treated like the worst possible parents ( because GOOD PARENTS would find a way to get their child into school) it is emerging that, far from being the manipulative explosive child that the Education Welfare people assumed, Chops Younger probably has Asperger's Syndome. His school refusal has been fuelled by absolute terror/ social anxiety which was why the poor kid would suffer any sanctions and refuse any rewards to get him into school.
CY and I had a meeting with CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health people) on Tuesday - the Education Welfare Officer from school was there and CY's angel of a specialist, IM. The idea was to thrash out a plan to get CY into school even for just an hour. CY has problems with mornings and I didn't want this mixing with his school problem so we arranged an hour on Thurs afternoon, where we would be given a timetable for next week. We have had no violent incidents from CY for months now as he feels so well supported by us and CAMHS and I'm not about to start it off by suddenly changing the goal posts.
CY, bless him, got all dressed up in his uniform on Thursday and went to school, into their pupil support unit for an hour and was fine. We were beginning to think this could never happen, a simple thing like our boy going to school. I was sooo proud of him - it sounds like nothing but was a massive step for him. The teacher there was wonderful with him and then I was given the timetable for next week, as organised by the EWO.

She's organised for him to start at 10am.

Not the afternoon as we asked.

And she wants the transition done in 6 weeks.

Not 8 weeks as CY asked.

Fortunately, CYs school mentor has a brother with Asperger's and knows the deal. She said as long as he does his hour and a half each day, the time he gets there is negotiable.

Why can't Education Welfare Officers listen to parents? We've spent two years with the threat of court action hanging over us because we couldn't get CY to attend school even though he is a very intelligent kid. Both Mr Chops and I work in education and value it - we weren't keeping him off school so we could go shopping with him! Believe me, the past couple of years would ahve been much easier for us if we didn't have to take loads of time off work. Can't even describe the stress of waking each morning to face a child who has completely locked himself into a silent passive world just to avoid the trauma of school. Just as we are making progress, they treat our requests with a pinch of the proverbial, as if we are making outrageous demands to take the piss. No, really, my son has school anxiety and (awaiting diagnosis but the experts think so) Asperger's. When we ask for afternoon appointments we are doing this to ensure success, not to be difficult. Please listen to us, EWOs. You have a job to get bums on school seats. We've got to ensure our boy can learn to face the world. And if it means getting labelled as a difficult Mum in order to make that happen, then let that be.

The view from Chopsville changes quite quickly. Dark times only linger if I allow the conversation to continue, otherwise they pass on the next breeze. By the time I've written it, it doesn't matter anymore and probably isn't representative of my opinion anymore. Except views about the British Education system - these tend to remain strong and unwavering and are usually right.