NEWHAVEN, Scotland: A widowed mother has vowed to fight through the courts for the right to send her autistic son to the school of her choice.

Veronica Rose, of Newhaven, Edinburgh, is the latest in a line of parents taking legal action against Edinburgh City Council over the right to send their children to the school of their choosing. Her move comes after the local authority refused her five-year-old son, Felix, a place at Donaldson’s College.

Mrs Rose said she believed Felix would not reach his full potential if he were sent to Kaimes special school, which is the only place the council has offered.

The mother-of-two, who lost an appeal to send him to Donaldson’s, said: "Felix has a autistic spectrum disorder and has a major speech impediment. He can repeat words, but he can’t do sentences. They’ve offered us a place at Kaimes, but that would mean him going on a bus with eight other children when he doesn’t speak. Felix has a phobia of sirens, bells and buzzers and Kaimes is on a main road."

Mrs Rose claimed that Kaimes would not provide Felix with the support he needed. "I wanted him to go to Donaldson’s where they have in-house speech therapy. At Kaimes, he would have to share therapy twice a week with eight others. He needs more than that to fulfil his potential."

Mrs Rose added that, within a month of her husband’s death, she had been asked to look at schools for Felix, but in the end had been refused a place for him at Donaldson’s despite a psychologist’s recommendation that he should go there.

"It’s as if carrots had been dangled and yet they weren’t available because they wanted to fill the council-run places. It’s disgusting," she said. " Thepressure is unbelievable. I don’t see how I can send him to Kaimes. Felix has specific needs and they will not be met, but then I will probably have the education board saying I’m withholding my son."

Mrs Rose is being backed by a support group, Independent Special Education Advice, in taking legal action. The charity, which advises parents of children with special-education needs, has revealed it is working with four other families who are taking the council to court.

Cathy Flynn, of Independent Special Education Advice, said the organisation was being contacted by a growing number of families who had been left angered by the council’s failure to provide places for them at special speech and language schools and units.

She condemned the education department’s solution of sending children with communication problems to mainstream schools where they are supported by a classroom assistant.  "We would like to see the education department plan provision for these children who they know will be starting school."

She added: "Many of these children would find it impossible at a mainstream school."

Last month, a council spokeswoman confirmed that it had turned down two-thirds of applicants for full-time places for five-year-olds set to start at the city’s speech and language units.

But a council spokeswoman said Kaimes did have in-house therapists, and added: "We are continuing to invest considerable resources in extending provision for pupils with speech and language difficulties. We offer specialist units throughout the city as well as packages of support within mainstream primary schools. Any parent who is not content with the outcome of a placing request has the right to appeal against the decision. We have received no appeals in respect of any requests for our speech and language units."

News of these legal actions came as lawyers have lodged applications at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on behalf of six sets of parents fighting to send their children to the same mainstream primary as their siblings.

The application on behalf of the six families is the first stage of a bid to force the council to provide places at Davidson’s Mains Primary for the youngsters who live outside the catchment area, but have brothers or sisters at the school already.