Parents who claimed their autistic son was denied the support he needed at school feared he would end up being prescribed Prozac.
Mairead Murray and John Hutton have taken seven-year-old Caoimhin Hutton, who has autism, out of school and are educating him at home.
Caoimhin, of Dalgety Bay, displayed behavioural and speech difficulties at nursery school and was recently diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder.
However, when he went to primary school Mairead claimed the additional support provided, which included appointing a pupil support assistant, was not enough.
Fife Council insisted the support did meet his needs, but Mairead and John complained to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
It found their complaint was taken seriously but there were failings in how it was handled and recommended Fife Council apologise.
Mairead decided to speak out about their case as she believes many other families face similar struggles and wants to show them there are other options.
She said Caoimhin, who has an older sister Caitlin, was so anxious he would cry every morning before he went to school.
She said: “He just couldn’t cope with the situation without having someone there to help him through the day.
“I know of other children who are on Prozac for anxiety and I could see this was the way things were going.
“He does need one-to-one help.
“He is very intelligent but if you walk away he will wander off to do his own thing. He doesn’t stay on task.”
Mairead insisted she would “not settle for second best” and will only consider his return to school if the “right support” is offered.
She said: “For now, this is working for us. He is quite happy and we don’t feel he is missing out at all.
“It is very disappointing, though, that he will have a different education from his big sister.”
Eleanor MacGregor, council area education officer, said: “Parents have the right to choose home education for their children if they feel this is the right thing to do.
“The Scottish Government sets down guidance for how this must be managed.
“Ms Murray was within her rights to take Caoimhin out of school.
“However, we know that the support programme that we put in place for him was able to fully meet his needs at that time.”
The council’s head of legal services, Iain Matheson, said: “We have received the recommendations from the Ombudsman and will take steps to ensure that the actions which gave rise to the complaint are not repeated.”
A complaint by the couple was also upheld against NHS Fife regarding a delay in assessing Caoimhin.
The Ombudsman said there had been “continued, frequent and supportive contact” and could not fault the community paediatrician’s care but considered the 10-month wait for Caoimhin’s first assessment as “excessive”.
NHS Fife apologised to the family and said that the recommendations had been accepted and an action plan would be taken forward to address issues raised.