Advice required re emergency transition

[Andy]

Hello,

 

Our DS attends a locally based Resource base. He is equivalent Year 4, and has had Autism diag since 3, Sensory processing disorder and Dyspraxia diag jan 2012.

 

The resource based is attached to a mainstream primary with the view that the SEN children will have opportunities to integrate into mainstream classes.

 

DS will face a new teacher in September - his 5th in 4 years. That reason is partly due to the school not recruiting teachers with the necessary experience, and recruiting young NQT's with lots of patience, no experience with SEN children, who inevitably fail, and move on. I am sure this is a funding issue, but it makes my blood boil!

 

It has taken us too long to make a stand, but we finally have, and have challenged the school. We have been to see two other schools, - one a residential school in the local authority that ticks all the right boxes, and can meet DS's needs. The second is out of area, but again seems amazing in comparison to the current provision.

 

We have mentioned our viewing to the school senco, and she has contacted the local authority.

 

 

The headteacher and the Senco have admitted (verbally) that they cannot meet DS's needs. They say they realize they are not meeting the needs, or making the progress they hoped for. They also admit that the mainstream attachment is actually contributing to DS's anxieties.

 

Even with this information, the local authority have communicated that he cannot move without a tribunal hearing.

 

I was quite shocked to hear that, but i support it is just par for the course,

 

What sort of information and evidence due you think we would need to gather to gain a positive outcome at tribunal?

 

So far, DS has been assessed by independent OT, who say verbally that this is not the right setting, but they have been bought in at the LA request, and have been very careful not to be too critical with written reports.

 

Just hoping someone may have been in a similar position and can point me in the right direction.

 

Both schools would take DS at Year 5 or 6.

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

[Sally44]

Does your child have a Statement?

[Andy]

Hi Sally,

 

You were a huge help a while back, when i was trying to sort out DS's OT needs. - thanks for replying.

 

Yes, he was placed at this AS resource base with a statement at reception, and this has been reviewed and amended each year. I haven't been able to ask whether the school agree that they are not meeting the statement requirements, or whether they simply feel that the school setting/environment does not meet his needs.

[bed32]

when is the next annual review due?

 

That would be the nornal way to get a change of school. You need the right to go to tribunal and the easiest way to get that is after the annual review.

[Sally44]

You can either seek amendments to the Statement at the Annual Review, or you could call an emergency review, and have a reason for calling it.

 

Basically the Statement should detail all the child's needs in part 2, with provision to meet each of those needs in part 3. So part 2 and 3 add up to the only placement that can deliver the Statement and meet the child's needs.

 

So it sounds like the Statement is either not a true reflection of his needs, or is not being delivered by the school. So which is it?

 

The school should not be a position to say "we cannot meet his needs". They should be saying "we cannot deliver the Statement", IF the Statement details everything your child needs. And if it does, and the current school cannot provide that with their funding, you need to complain to the LA as they are responsible for the deliver of the Statement. So if the Statement says 5 hours a week 1:1 OT therapy in school for Sensory Integration Therapy, and the current school do not have an OT, or do not have the hours etc, then the LA must fund it because that is what the Statement says.

 

If that is not the case, then it sounds like the Statement is not a true reflection of need. So what is missing from the Statement that the current school cannot provide?

 

Statements are basically a cut and paste job of reports. So do you have up to date reports, and do those reports identify each and every need and do they quantify and specify the provision the child needs in terms of class sizes, teaching styles, SALT and OT therapy? And are all those recommendations included in the Statement in part 3?

 

You also look at the child's progress. Lack of progress should trigger more intervention, more therapy, or a different school. Something significantly different and additional should be on the table so that the child does make progress.

 

And if the school placement breaks down, then you are definately looking for somewhere else. And unfortunately you often have to get to that stage to prove that the current school is not meeting the child's needs. Usually the placement breaks down because the child is too anxious to attend.

 

So he is in year 4 now. You already have an idea of the school you want your son to go to. The time to really pull out all the stops - additional independent reports/expert witnesses etc is for the transition to secondary school.

 

And currently the school placement has not broken down has it?

 

You can certainly seek the placement you are after as an amendment to the Statement, but you need to consider if you can afford to get all those reports and go to tribunal and fail to get the placement, and then have to go through it all again at transition to secondary school.

 

You can definately test the waters and ask for the placement at the next Annual Review, or if an emergency review is thought to be needed. And see what the LA does. Most likely they will first try to do something additional at the current placement, which is not a bad thing, and if that also fails it means you have additional evidence that the school and LA provided x, y and z and your child still did not make progress and still did not meet as his needs ie. needs a, b and c.

 

Your child can definately move without a tribunal hearing. What you need is a review of the Statement. Then the school and professionals and yourself would recommend that he attends the school of your choice [or they don't agree to that], and that information is sent to the LA for them to issue their Decision Letter.

 

The LA may or may not decide to amend part 4 [the placement] on your son's statement. Once the LA has issued their Decision letter you can appeal their decision [which most likely will be not to amend the placement].

 

Once you lodge your appeal with SEND you are in the process towards an Educational Tribunal, but there is nothing stopping the LA agreeing to amend the Statement before the actual Tribunal. All the Tribunal does is tell the LA to do what they should have done anyway. The Tribunal Panel issue an Order, which is a legally binding document and the LA must comply with that Order.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Sally44

[Andy]

Thanks Sally, looking at your explanation, P3 of the statement is very poor with very little quantification.

 

I also now realise our OT report is nearly 2 years old, should I request that he is re-assessed, or should I wait until closer to trasition and get them done independently?

 

SALT discharged DS some 18 months ago. She led me to believe that because DS had clarity and not articulation problems, then her time should be better spent with those with more severe difficulties. I now realise somewhat foolishly that SALT should be a key part of the therapy needed as DS suffers massively with communication problems and anxieties.

 

I am not sure whether we can re-engage with SALT, perhaps this is the one we need to do independently to move things along.

 

Many thanks,

[Sally44]

The best time to have any independent reports done is when you have lodged an appeal and you have the appeal date. You need your independent reports to be the most up to date ones submitted to SEND.

 

But do search now for who you think you would want to do those reports if needed.

 

In the meantime, yes you can ask the NHS OT and SALT to re-assess.

 

The excuse the SALT gave was just that, an excuse. It was said to make you feel bad about the time you were asking for your child when they were telling you they had other clients "with much more severe need".

 

The Statement is supposed to detail each and every need in part 2.

Part 3 must quantify and specify provision for each of those needs including school staffing arrangements, therapy in terms of hours per term/1:1 each week. Plus additional time needed to plan, observe, train, take notes, carry out annual reviews of assessments and submit updated report for the annual review of the statement.

 

When the provision is quantified and specified in the Statement the LA becomes responsible to fund that. So if the NHS does not have a suitable SALT available, or your child needs more than the NHS typically provides, then the LA has to fund the difference. That is why it is so important to get the Statement right because it ring fences the amount of money your child needs to fund their Statement.

 

The SEN Statementing process is changing, I think from September. I would seek clarification on what those differences are going to be. Somewhere like www.ipsea.org.uk should be able to give you that information.