nix

Hi everyone, My son will be 16 next month. To cut a long story short we had a meeting back in February at which his consultant Phyciatrist recommended a 52 week residential placement at a residential school due to his anxiety levels regarding transitions. We have been through the usual channels of behaviour support through the council 5 times and it is felt that the behaviours displayed are due to the developmental disability rather than anything that could be altered through specific behaviour programmes by myself. He has little quality of life at moment, has an adittional diagnosis of deterioration of autism/catatonia and is on rispiradone. He is currently attending a generic special school with respite twice a week. The problem I am having is that the SEN department are refusing to follow legislation regarding consulting my preferred choice of school (Wilsic Hall) but on the same token are not even communicating with me as to what other placement they have in mind. There is no placement within our authority that can meet his needs. The social worker keeps on cancelling appointments. Has anybody been in a similar situatuation and have you paid for a solicitior ? I have quoted legislation to the council ie Code of practice but I am not getting any response. Ideally we wanted him to go to the residential school in September. Any ideas or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Nikki X

Hi there everyone could anyone give me any advice please. My son AS aged 11 has been attending his primary school since he was 3 years old. We live in Bradford but he goes to a Leeds school. I put the name down for the feeder secondary school for his first choice then named two other schools of my choice (just a formality). Anyway they have given the nearest school to where we live and none of my choices which is a total disaster as he needs to be with the few friends he has made and the transition is going to be hard enough as it is never mind changing to a school where he knows no one or never visited. I have been told there are no places in my school of choice and that the school given is the nearest school that can meet his needs which it is quite clearly not. On the admissions criteria it said sen (he is school action plus) comes first and did not mention anything about a statement which if I knew I would have applied for as i sucessfully was awarded one for my younger son who attends the same primary school. I am going to appeal but has anyone got any advice and what chance do you think we have got ? My son will not be able to cope at this other school at all. Thankyou. <'>

Thankyou so much that is perfect x

I am at my support group and I cannot find the bit where you printed the exact letter to request a statutory assessment something like "according to act....." i would be grateful if someone could tell me what it is so I can pass it in to my friend thankyou so much.

That is very useful advice thankyou I never thought of it like that. The problem is that he is superior intelligence and I thought that there would be many other children like him in a private school for good role models. There are chess clubs and computer clubs and opportunities to stay over with friends if he wanted to. He plays with a boy down our street who is diagnosed ADHD who is absolutely lovely but my son picks up on his bad behaviour but is drawn to him because of the same obsessional interests and I am afraid that he will be drawn to the "wrong crowd " at secondry school. Sorry hope I don't offend anyone.

Hi there have not posted for a while. My youngest was diagnosed two years ago with ASD and developmental delay he is now 5. My eldest who is ten has been diagnosed with AS and I am confused over which schools to look at. I have been looking around the mainstream schools and am unsure if these would be suitable. There is a lovely private school nearby which has chess clubs and computer clubs etc but it costs �9000 a year and we cannot afford this. Has anyone any advice or been in a similar situation ? Do you think I will be able to get a statement ? it nearly destroyed me getting youngest ones but I got there in the end and it is all specified and quantified etc so I know what to do but am unsure whether I would get one as eldest has superior intelligence and the autism is much more subtle compared to youngest . If i got a statement would they pay the fees ?? Thankyou .

Chinatown.

Thankyou phasmid it is just that sometimes I need to have someone to tell me everything is going to be ok I hope I don't sound ungrateful at all

Thanks Phasmid, it always makes me feel better with your opinions. The only thing I will say is that I am sure that if X did not go to that school there would still be an extra TA in the class as last year it was as such with 18 pupils. My argument is that I have nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to even get the statutory assessment never mind the statement itself which was issued originally in November of last year with the request for assessment going in June of last year so my point is that I may not have bothered if there s not going to be a person employed just for him. Where does the money go then ? In my previous posts I mentioned the annual review from the govenors rubbing their hands together at the "much needed" extra sen funding they received in April (x' s action plus money of 9000) I cant beleive they also said " if we have any disabled pupils we have funds available immediately". It sickens me that if x was in a wheelchair they would alter corridoors, doors etc but we are all left to fight for this and even when we are successful the money is out of our hands. I am sure that the school have best interests at heart but I feel that with x requiring this level of support they could spend the money on training or resourses etc but this is just not going to happen is it ?

Sorry about this but I am really worried. X is probably going to be pulled back a year as is nowhere near level of current reception class due to his learning difficulties. This in itself is not such a bad idea as it is a class of 32 with about 3 children with behavioural difficulties but not on sen register. The next reception class will only have 17 pupils. My worry is that they can count x 's 1:1 as a Ta and not have extra member of staff like they have done this year. Basically what I am trying to say is that if I took X out of the class there would still be 2 members of staff so really the person employed will not really be just for him and all the fighting for the extra money has been in vain and I bet it will be spent on those kids from his old class as they cause so much trouble it is unbeleivable. Does anybody know the staff ratio per pupils ? Any advice at all would be much appreciated. By the way x is currently supported by 3 different support assistants on action plus from the school LEA but when the statement is finalised they are employing a new member of staff who will go up the school with him. I am having a nightmare trying to get LEA to specify and quantify the 1:1 provision of ten thousand one hundred pounds which I am assured is enough to pay for someone just for him full time I have just emailed them to hurry them along and tried to explain my concerns about the money being spent solely on him,it is also out of LEA so you would think that they would want to protect the funding also.

Thankyou so much for your kind replies. I can't beleive it they actually said in our lea we do not specify provision in statements to which I refered to the letter from Ian Cotes, head of special educational needs and disability division, sent to all officers on Nov 15. She just could not justify her argument. I said if an amount of xx was enough to fund a 1to 1 then why would they not specify it in the statement and she just could not answer me and said she would have to go back to her chief officer. I also said I wanted the hours specified to which she said I hadn't asked for that in my email. They agreed to the salt and everything else though which is great I have minutes of the meeting made by my p p lady. How long would you give them do you think ? It is great idea about going to collect it thankyou. <'>

Hi there, I have my meeting tomorrow with head of LEA SEN and officer who wrote statement. I have been waiting since the first statement came in November for the statement to be finalised with my ammendments. They have just amended the statement with details of the salt but have quoted in the letter that they have another eight weeks to finalise it. Does this sound right and if not what do I say to them tomorrow? Also I am concerned about the amount of input in school from the Autism and communication dissorder teaching service at present it says regular visits but how much should it be ? The salt report says his comprehention and speech is 12-18 months. He has no friends but will tolerate them next to him now. He does not understand the time to talk social stories and the gap between the other children is now getting loads bigger. He cannot count or understand letters and he can only draw circles. He seems to be happy at school but of course he cannot tell me this. I am stressed out that he will be ok in mainstream even with 121 but this again is going to be a nightmare to try and get them to specify and quantify. They have quoted amount of ten thousand one hundred pounds is this enough for full time 121? Any advice at all would be very much appreciated.

Thankyou they haven't even agreed to that yet it is what I have agreed with the headteacher. They wrote all of the salt into part 6 which as you will be aware doesn't mean anything at all but it is specified and quantified and I already have an IEP from her which they are implementing. I am feeling really worried that I have made the right choice of schools, He attends a mainstream school which is out of our LEA as we were due to move house. His speech is very poor, 12-18 months and same for what he understands. I know he has learning difficulties too which the Autism teacher said were at least moderate. He seems really settled at school but has recently become an absolute nightmare at home with long bedtime rituals etc. My other concern is that the school seem unwilling to read much info that I have paid for out of my own money as they already have a child in year 2 with asd they feel that they are really up on it (x is no where like him). I don't know whether this is relevent or not but I got high rate for both mobility and care first time round until his 16th birthday. He is 5 in May. The other day I went into school to speak to teacher and I saw him playing by himself in the playground he was flapping his arms and brumming like he usually does by hmself and it really upset me. He has no friends but will go up to certain children and touch them inappropriately which they sometimes get cross at. He cannot answer any questions apart from no so when the children talk to him he doesn't respond. He is unable to sequence counting which I have only just realised, although he can count to 5 i is learnt like a nursery rhyme and when he tried to count objects it was in a funny singing voice and wasn't in sequence. He is currently on action plus from the lea he attends for 9000 pounds which through the deployment of staff is enough for his full time 1/1 support he currently receives.

Wording in provision for statement, Full time equivelent, 1/1 experienced support assistant(s). The assistant(s) will facilitate the programmes and strategies listed below and supervise X to ensure his safety. Dedicated experienced adult support during lunchtime and playtime to supervise x and ensure his safety. I cant beleive that they have sent another provisional statement with amendments taken out which we have agreed previously. I bet it is because the SALt have said 1/1 for their assessment. Thankyou so much for your help I am sorry I seem to be always asking and not contributing as much.

Thankyou very much for that HH is that the final statement ? Did you get it specified and quantified after this or did you not need to ? Thankyou so much.