A HALBEATH mum has expressed relief at finally winning a battle to get her autistic son the education provision she said he desperately needed.

Nicole Moore has battled for over five years to get support for Kayden, 9, who was put into a mainstream Dunfermline primary school.

After his mental health worsened and he started to self harm, the salon owner said enough was enough and, after taking him out of school, she pushed for a DAS (Department of Additional Support) placement after going “round in circles” without finding a suitable solution.

The youngster has now been placed in Primary five at Pitreavie Primary School’s DAS unit and Nicole shared her story with the Press in an effort to encourage other parents not to give up.

“He was in mainstream for education and for years on and off, I fought to say he required more support,” she said. “The amount of children in that school was phenomenal. It was overwhelming for him.

“As he got older, maybe the last 18 months to two years, he started having mental health issues. He was self harming, tying things round his neck, the things he was doing was horrendous, especially for the fact he was only nine.

“That led to me going to health professionals. They knew it was a cry for help. It was up to us to try and piece the puzzle together as he couldn’t express this.

“I was having to drag him to school and had to plead with the school to help me. At this point it was off the scale. I'd had enough. I couldn’t watch him struggle anymore. I chose to withdraw Kayden because it was a massive distress factor. He was being sick all the time, lots of things he was doing were unusual and not just a phase he was going through.”

After countless “wellbeing meetings” at school, Nicole then called for a multi-agency meeting involving education and health professionals in a desperate effort to help her son. I had one of the mental health workers saying we cannot keep putting him through this,” she said. “He is entitled to his education like every other child but they need to get that right. They were not getting that right.

“I asked to file for the DAS provision at Pitreavie. He was granted two full days at the DAS but they still wanted him to go mainstream the other days.

“None of us are autistic but he is telling us the problem and I think it is really important that we start listening. He was telling me it was too busy, it was the smell, it was the noise. What broke my heart was when he went to the DAS he said there are other boys and girls that are exactly like me. He feels it is more manageable.”

Nicole asked to up the hours and was told that the application would likely be rejected however she was pleased to see it was successful.

“I fought on and on and his application has been accepted both times,” she continued. “People don’t understand what it is like to fulfil the needs of an autistic child. He is not any less, he is just different. He is very, very clever but that education surrounding needed to be changed to what he would understand and that is what they can offer in the DAS unit. They cannot offer it in mainstream.

“The difference in him now is absolutely phenomenal. He has come off all medication, he is a much happier boy. I cannot wait to see how much he progresses now.”

Nicole is hoping their experience will encourage other families to keep battling for additional support. “You know your child better than any other professional,” she added. “It has hung over me for five and a half years. Never give up that fight.”