A mother claims she had to fight "tooth and nail" for months to get support for her autistic son after he had a mental health crisis when he started at a new school.
His mum, Katie, said staff there could not support him with his additional needs, which led to him needing an emergency referral to mental health services and eventually moving to a special school.Katie said Charlie was referred to child and adolescent mental health services , but it took six months before he was given a face-to-face appointment.
Charlie said: "It was horrible because there’s a massive lack of understanding in mainstream schools of special needs and autism. "It was the hardest time of my life, because there was no routine, no structure, everything was stressful, and my mental health got worse."