Parents in West Dunbartonshire say they will have to homeschool children due to lack of ASN places

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Parents in West Dunbartonshire fear that they will have to homeschool their children due to a lack of places in additional support needs units.The Lennox understands that there were more than 50 applications for just 31 places at the area’s four ASN units for P1 pupils due to start in August.Worried parents of youngsters with autism now believe they will be forced to homeschool their children, rather than send them into mainstream education - with an Alexandria dad saying he isn’t prepared to put his son through the “trauma” of mainstream education.Gerry McGinty spoke out about his son’s situation, and was joined by other parents who asked to remain anonymous.He told the Lennox: “My son will be five in June.

He was first identified in nursery by his teacher and the educational psychologist. They said that he wouldn’t be able to cope in mainstream school, and needs a specialist placement where they’d be able to work on his speech and language.“My son is still in nappies, he can’t communicate.

He doesn’t even know his second name.“He would get swallowed up in mainstream education.“Initially we had asked if he could get a third year at nursery.

But he was two months too old for that.“There are four units across West Dunbartonshire; two specifically for speech and language at Balloch Campus and Renton.“We had put Renton as the preference.“Initially we got an email that said ‘congratulations your son has been granted a place at Renton’.“We were over the moon for a couple of hours.