I have been saying on and off for the past two years that my daughter has selective mutism but only in occasional situations outside home and at school. It’s perhaps gone on too long as it has not really been picked up by teachers.It came to a head on Wednesday when the head mistress gave a detention for not completing her maths work and only achieving one sum when to me this seemed harsh and also she must have been struggling to ask for help. Where do I get a formal diagnosis as for two years in her report they have labelled her stubborn and she is obviously uncomfortable in some situation. At home and in familiar surroundings she is fine but school isn't one of them. Please help!

It must be stressful for you all at present. The first thing we always suggest, if you haven’t already, is trying to talk directly to school, perhaps meeting with the SENCo to discuss your concerns. If you feel that you are not able to progress your concerns with school and you would like to talk to a Child and Adolescent Mental health (CAMHs) professional regarding your concerns you can pursue through your GP. Alternatively you may find it helpful to call the Youngminds helpline: http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_parents/parent_helpline We have had very positive feedback from families that have used this service.

I would be very grateful for your advice. My daughter has not felt able to attend school since January 2013. She is under Camhs for anxiety and panic. What are her educational options given that she has missed year 10 and 11 and her GCSEs? We have been advised to apply for her to attend school to repeat year 11, but she does not feel able to attend school. I would be very grateful for advice about her options. Thank you.

This is clearly a very difficult time for you and your daughter, the situation you describe is essentially one of the factors behind the drive for CCHS in applying to open a Free School, a small school for young people who need help to build resilience in order to develop independence. Provision for young people experiencing the difficulties such as those you describe is sorely lacking in most local authorities. We would suggest that you liaise with your local authority making reference to the document here: http://education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/statutory/g00219676/health-needs-education The local authority must work with you to support your daughters access to education and if that cannot happen within a mainstream setting, alternative provision should be sought. Some local authorities have a medical PRU or offer tuition at home with support for a reintegration plan back to school. What is clear from the statutory guidance is that the local authority must support your daughter to access education and if it is not possible to attend a mainstream secondary school some other provision must be made available. We hope this information is helpful.

I deliver education to medical needs young people on the internet. Do you have any 'best practice' examples of Personal Education Plans you could share with me? 

At CCHS we use a variety of formats to record planning and outcomes for individual students. The format we use is dependent on the nature of the work undertaken. We have developed these over the years and find that we revise and adapt regularly to ensure we can record the necessary information while aiming to limit time spent on duplicating information. We are fortunate enough to have an excellent database system that has been custom built to meet our needs. I will upload into the resources section of the website the formats we use. I hope you find them useful.