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mousytrap

Going into battle (AGAIN) next Wednesday...

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Yes, another trip to SENDIST. I won't say any more at this point except that we seem to have the county panicking...

 

...and when it's over I might just start a "Dirty Tricks Pulled By (Unnamed) LEAs" thread...

 

Think people should be aware of the lengths to which they'll go.

 

mousy

 

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I know.

 

At any tribunal at SENDIST, I would keep it factual. You cannot accuse, you can only lay down facts. You cannot say people have lied etc, but you can submit all the evidence you have for the panel to draw their own conclusions.

 

I carried out a Freedom of Information Act search and found alot of incriminating file notes, telephone calls, emails etc. People had been meeting about my son [all LA employees eg. Inclusion Officers, autism advisory teacher, head of educational psychology, educational psychologist for his school, SENCO etc and the LA Inclusion Officer had altered some of their advice one that clearly stated "dedicated environment" ie. ASD only, to "mainstream". He also told everyone not to worry as he had worded the Statement in such a way that it was not legally binding! Eg. they had said that the Autism Advisory Teacher 'should' be involved. They were concerned because they only had one person for the whole of my LA. So the inclusion officer said that 'should' was not legally binding. And it wasn't, because she never was involved, and when I asked why they said that "should they feel the need for her to be involved, tha she would be." How they can dance around words! Anyway lots of other stuff came out too.

 

But do try to keep it factual. I was so upset and angry about what we had gone through for years, and then to find out it had all been deliberate. And all taken out on a young boy who was not copying in school and had been driven to attempt suicide. But at the tribunal all my expert witnesses told me not to accuse them of anything. You can cry. I did cry. It is so frustrating. But what I did say that was the evidence I had submitted suggested that they had been trying to look like they were doing something when actually they had been trying to avoid doing anything at all, and had not had my sons interests or SEN at the forefront that that we had come very close to losing him, and then what would they have been able to say to me then? Sorry??

 

Are you back at another Educational Tribunal, or is it Judicial Review?

 

Another thing I found useful was that I took an A4 picture of him with his sister whilst we had been on holiday the previous year. I was advised not to use a picture of him looking sad or upset. That they needed to see that he was capable of being happy, which he had been. And that the photograph with his sister showed that he was part of a wider family. It helps everyone to focus on the child, and for you to keep drawing everyone's focus back onto what your child's needs are.

Edited by Sally44

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Have you carried out a Freedom of Information Act request on the school, LA [all departments that have had contact with your son ie. EP/Autism Outreach], NHS services [sALT/OT/ClinPsych/CAHMS etc].

 

If you haven't I would wait until you have lodged your appeal, and the LA know you have lodged it, give them about another couple of weeks, then send in the FOI request. You may get alot of useful evidence via correspondence between professionals and file notes etc.

 

Is the actual Tribunal next Wednesday?

Edited by Sally44

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The deed is now done (see Dirty Tricks thread also).

 

Just waiting for the result now and we're feeling quite optimistic. Think the county came across very badly, and we were very happy with the panel we got. Much less formal than last time and we were getting quite a good indication about what they thought of the other lot!!! Probably not much different to what we thought of them.

 

We shall see.

 

Meanwhile it's all gone pear shaped at school for our second autistic son, so now we're onto that and no rest for the wicked etc...

 

mousy

Edited by mousytrap

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Our rep rang them twice on Friday and up til then called lunchtime every day. They are probably sick of hearing from her, but she has several cases to chase so has to keep them on their toes...

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... meanwhile we've had our celebration BBQ today without actually being able to celebrate...

Edited by mousytrap

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Oh, that's utterly cruel...

 

Surely there should be some recourse to the Ombudsman if they don't keep to their own legal timetables...

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But the Decision was in our favour, so TBH I didn't even think about how long it had taken them.

 

I did lodge a complaint about the fact that our tribunal had been cancelled twice. Once with less than 24 hours notice. And that due to the length of time between we lodging an appeal and the actual appeal [over a year], and because SEND Judge had ordered that no paperwork in the 'core' bundle [there were core and supplementary bundles due to the complex nature of his diagnoses], we found that even some of our independent reports were more than 6 months old and the SEND Judge had said that no reports over 6 months should be in the core Bundle. So I asked that SEND paid for the second reports we had to commission to go into the Core Bundle. And we won that.

 

It is a very very stressful time. Hope you get the Decision letter asap and that it is in your favour.

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Exactly. Certainly doesn't help that we've got various other things pending that need to be sorted after that, including our younger son's statement which is near finalising.

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Oh yes... Nearly calmed down now. Panel said he needed both ASD specific and residential. Sounds like the EBD school (with possible casual respite not formally offered) and no academically equal peer group didn't come close to the mark...

I suppose I've got to sew lots of name labels in stuff now... :cheers:

mousy

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That is excellent news - and very encouraging for us as we expect to have a similar battle shortly.

 

How did you argue for residential?

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Fantastic! Can I ask if the peer group is the same year group as your child or whether they considered the ability in older years?

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Will come back to you on those things. Went away for a few days camping but have been beset by a bug ever since getting back at the weekend... (not a computer one). Good thing only the elder autistic child home...

 

mousy

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