Autistic boy's parents win right to choose school

Samantha and Damien Hilton refused to accept East Sussex County Council's decision to send their son Max, seven, to a mainstream school full time.

They wanted him to attend an independent school they helped set up specifically for autistic children but were threatened with prosecution by the education authority for sending Max there two days a week instead of his agreed State school.

In February the county council ruled Max, who is starting junior school next month, should attend Wallands Junior School in Lewes because it has a specialist speech and language unit.

However, a special educational needs and disability tribunal in London agreed with the family that Max should attend the independent special school Step by Step near Crowborough two days a week and Herne Junior School in Crowborough with one-to-one support three days a week.

Mrs Hilton, 35, of Green Lane, Crowborough, said: "I couldn't believe it. We have been battling for this for four years and finally we have got what we have known is right all along.

"Wallands is a good school and while Max does have speech and language difficulties they are only one part of his autistic problems.

"It is an enormous school and Max would never have coped with the change."

The appeal tribunal, which praised Step by Step, agreed that Wallands would be "distressing and difficult" for Max and that it would "not be appropriate".

A spokesman for the National Autistic Society, which backed the Hilton family, said: "We have never seen a case like this before where an autistic child's education is divided between the public and independent sectors.

"It sets an important precedent and shows that education authorities can get it wrong. Parents usually know their children better than local authorities. Autism is a broad spectrum disorder so every child must be looked at individually."

Max was diagnosed with autism four years ago and the family spent two and a half years setting up Step by Step school in Sharpthorne, near Crowborough, after getting frustrated with the lack of provision for autistic children.

Mrs Hilton said: "Autistic children's brains work in a different way so they have to be taught in a different way and there is really no provision for them in East Sussex outside Step by Step.

"The school provides individual programmes of teaching and learning for each child which you don't get in mainstream schools."

Last year an earlier tribunal backed the council decision to send Max full time to Whitehill Infant School in Crowborough.

When the Hiltons refused and took Max to Step by Step two days a week the county council threatened to prosecute them over his non-attendance at Whitehill.

Mrs Hilton, who has two other children, Josh, 11, and Charlie, six, said she intended to complain to the ombudsman about the education authority.

She said: "They should not be allowed to get away with the way they have treated us. The last four years have been hell.

"I just want to be a mum. I don't want to be a lawyer or fighting machine spending hours on the phone and computer."

Councillor Meg Stroude, lead member for children and families at the county council, said: "From my point of view I feel very strongly that these children do much better integrated into normal schools if their autism isn't too severe.

"We provide a service to the very best of our ability and bend over backwards to really look after those in our care but sometimes it won't be perfect."

She said the council accepted the tribunal's decision.

Autism is a brain development disorder which causes problems with social interaction, communication, imagination and behaviour.

There are more than 500,000 autistic people in Britain, including more than 100,000 children, according to the National Autistic Society.

The Government has encouraged councils to educate children with special needs, including autism and other disabilities, in mainstream schools, saying than an "inclusive" approach is better for their education.