sunflower1

I know an excellent and highly experienced advocate who supported my case to get my AS son into a spcecialst residential school. She was so good it didn't make the tribunal. There are charges but they are a fraction of the cost of a lawyer. She is absolutely amazing. Where do you live as she covers London and SE and Oxfordshire and maybe further afield. PM me if you want her contact details

Here you go, the Code of Practice link is here Happy reading Beverley Good luck. Let us all know how you get on Sunflower

The trick is demonstrating how the anxiety, anger, social communication. motivtion and self esteem issues (this could be my son!) prevent her from accessing the curriculum properly. So it is vital that you link her needs to problems in the classroom and school as a whole because it is about educational provision. If you widen it out too much (for example her behaviour at home) the LEA will say that her problems are not educational and therefore not their responsibility and direct you to social services! Keep your evidence education-specific with a classroom and playground/lunchtime emphasis. For example - my son would have problems with other children in the playground and then be so overwrought he would refuse to enter the class or engage with work so the whole academic day was lost to him because of a 'social' incident in unstructured time even though he was still in school. Are you getting any specialist advice for this for example from IPSEA or SEN!SOS? Both are brilliant organisations that guide parents through the statementing and tribunal process. Advice is essential unless you have a good grasp of SEN law. LEAs are notorious fdelivering statements that fail to deliver anything beyond LSA time. If you daughter has AS it is not unreasonable that she should have access to social skills groups or tuition weekly to help her understand social communication. If this is the case, ask for this and insist they make the provision specific and quantifiable. Reports from independent SALTs can support requests for provision of this kind. The sort of reports you may want to include could be independent reports/assessments by Educational Psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists (if relevant for sensory modulation needs). The LEA may have documents and report but they may chose to overlook/not include any reports that don't suit their purposes. Most LEAs will avoid writing anything into statements that is specific and quantified and involves funding. Include any supporting documentation that supportswhat you are asking for and explains the complexity of her needs even if you think they have these already. It is about you shaping the evidence to achieve the outcome you are after - don't rely on the LEA to do this. I included home-school link notes written bys school staff highlighting examples where my son was failing to access lessons properly because of anxiety and other problems. There were plenty of examples!!! PM me if you want to discuss this further All the best Sunflower

For what it's worth, when my husband was diagnosed by Judith Gould at the NAS (Wing) centre in Bromley she was very explicit - he should avoid psycholanalysis like the plague (for the reasons you have identified from the last time you underwent it) and focus on problem solving (CBT) style therapy for which there is a reasonable amount of evidence.

A couple of general points: 1. Annual Reviews are a bit of a misnomer. The school has to review them at least annually by law but there is nothing to say that you can't have them more frequently. Between June of year five and March of year six, for my son we had three 'annual' reviews - 3 in less than a year (June - year 5; October year 6; and March year 6) I asked for the reviews to happen when they were convenient for me! If you have a reasonable relationship with the school there is nothing to stop you doing this. Paragraphs 9.5 and 9:44 (interim reviews) of the Code of Practice may be worth a look 2. One of the challenges is trying to predict in advance how the LEA will react to a request to change the name of the school.It is a bit like a game of chess. And you do need to think strategically. If you are suggesting a relatively expensive independent school they will either try and defend the current placement or rake around for something less expensive than the one you suggest So and do your homework now on why none of the options they are likely to suggest can meet his needs (unless of course you are happy with the ones you are suggesting) 3. There is no restriction on time limits between DPAs at all -BUT you bombard them with loads one after another they insist they have given you everythng already and not respond so really you need to get one in now to get all the paperwork you haven't seen and then submit another once they start dealing with your case in detail when you appeal and start generating new paperwork associated with it! I should perhaps add here that my son was in mainstream primary from nursery and statemented from the age of 5. During year 5 I started, like you, to think about specialist independent schools and he is now a month into a new secondary residential placement at an AS specific school and it's brilliant. We appealed but the LEA caved in a month before the tribunal so we were very relieved. Loads of luck with you battle - you seem on the ball about it! Sunflower1

I don't think requesting copies now will jeopardise anything for the future. All you are doing is asking to look at his file which is your right in law. It is quite separate from SEN process. You will probably make the LEA a wee bit jumpy by asking for it but they are very tied up with secondary SEN transfers for year 6 pupils this time of year so will barely give it a thought. They may think 'oh, that case may be a problem next year' but they won't do anything pre-emptive because they are so busy and inefficient. The good thing about the DPA is that you can resubmit a request again next year. I would time a second request so you know that you will be getting something new from the request (eg: after they have started consulting schools for your son as you will want to see the school responses). You may need to submit a couple during the transfer period (November-Feb/March)to get the full picture.

About 5 years ago we tried to access an adult diagnosis from the NHS for my husband who was 48 at the time and in the middle of a breakdown for similar reasons you cite above. We tried the GP who said they couldn't make an ouy of area referral (there was no one in our area who had the inerest or the the expertise) so I started looking at various independent diagnositc experts. Here in the south of England at the time there were very few indeed. I searched and searched and eventually (after a few months) decided to go to Judith Gould at the The NAS Lorna Wing Centre for Autism The contact details are Elliot House 113 Masons Hill Bromley Kent BR2 9HT Tel: 020 8466 0098 Fax: 020 8466 0118 Email: www.autism.org.uk/discotraining Web link for contact: www.autism.org.uk There was a three month waiting list and it cost me all my savings £600 back then but it was worth every penny. Judith Gould was amazing (she and Lorna Wing devised the Diagnostic Interivew The Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO) which is a gold standard diagnostic tool. They also were the first psychologists to closely describe Asperger Syndrome inchildren in a landmark study in 1979 that paved the way for everything we know about AS now. I suspect the diangostic assessment costs more now and there is bound to be a waiting list but if you can afford it, it is worth it as you will get a sympathetic approach and understanding all too often lacking in primary and secondary NHS care (unless you luck out and find a psychologist who is interested in AS in adults!) The outcome was that my husband, who was on the point of losing his job due to his erractic behaviour/breakdown, was instantly covered by the Disability Discrimination Act. He retained his job and they made some reasonable adjustments and he still has the job today. I am not saying that life is a bowl of cherries now but it certainly helped me to understand him and the things and appreciate the things he found hard. The diagnosis enabled him to find strategies to deal with life better. We no longer live together but are still close and very involved in the care of our children (my son has AS too!) and see each other all the time but he is able to 'escape' to his small flat when things get too much. He is through the worst of the mental health problems..he still has down days but he manages so much better now. One strong piece of advice that Judith Gould gave us was that if he decided to get any therapy for his depression/anxiety he should only try Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (problem solving therapy) as there was evidence this was helpful in adults with AS. She told him to avoid at all costs other pyschotherapeutic approaches (Fredudian etc) as this explored interpersonal relationships/early family life/emotions and feelings which is hard and sometimes impossible for people with AS to manage!. If you go via NHS mental health services for a referral, there is a chance you will end up seeing a psychotherapist which may not be helpful. My husband has never regretted the diagnosis - it has helped him understand his past and the problems he faced (being told he was bad or mad or useless/disturned when young) and it has helped the family understand him too! Good luck. I hope it works out well for you Sunflower1

another tip - if you child's case has been before any panels such as Complex Needs panels or Resource Allocation panels run by the LEA to make decisions about statements, don't forget to ask for the minutes of these. You just need to ask for extracts from the minutes of any meetings or decision making panels where your child's case was discussed. You won't get much but you will be able to see how the SEN staff are framing you child's case to other professionals at the LEA, the decisions made and the reasons for those decisions. I found these the most useful items from making at DPA request. Also, if your LEA has been consulting schools for you child, you can ask for the consultation letters they sent and the school responses (as these will say why a school thinks it can or can't meet your child's needs). They have to provide all of these - but say you want these whether they are in hard copy letter or email form... YOu may have to send into a photocopy of your passport and that of your son as proof of identity too when making this request

Fab - thanks you lovely people! Spoke to my friend tonight and she seems ready to go into battle! Will defnitely recommend the book to her

Thanks Kazzen for rightly putting the issues into the correct perspective - it does usually come back down to the same couple of issues - I was getting sidetracked by the fact that the schools provided alternaitve therapies/steiner approach! And Kathryn, thanks for highlighting the rule change. I wasn't aware of that at all. I think my friend needs to do her research in detail on the schools she wants and those that the LEA will name at transfer and then get any specialist addtional reports to fill the gap so to speak! Will ring her today and pass on the info All the best Sunflower1

Dear all I have posted this on another AS/ASD forum without any response so am posting here in the hope someone might be able to help I have a friend who has a an 11 year old daugther with pretty complex needs. She is currently in an ASD base attached to a primary school. I don't even think she has a typical ASD diagnosis - but she used to have a lot of fits. Her mum has been using an alternative therapeutic approach at home which she is sure has led to the elimination of her fits. She is due for secondary transfer next year and her mum has identified two residential special schools - one in Ringwood and the other near Bristol which are part of Campshill Trust and which she says take the same approach to their child as they do. I want to give her some good advice on what she needs to do to set about getting our LEA to agree the placement. I understand the process well as I have just successfully persuaded the LEA to agree to an AS specialist residential placement for my son who is high functioning without a tribunal (after a long fight). But I want to know a bit more about these schools from other parents to help her shape her case. For example, my son's new school is DCFS (or is it DH?) approved for provision of education but she wants to know if these schools are. Does anyone have any experience of getting their child into one of these schools and what was the clincher that ensured you successfully argued that the school was able to meet your child's needs over and above. I know with ABA schools, parents ususally have to provide evidence to tribunals that the child has already shown progress with ABA interventions at home to get a place. Not sure how to do this for less established therapies/approaches? Any help or advice greatfully received. PM me if you can help in anyway

This is what it says on the SENDIST site 4. What if the LA or Responsible Body doesn't carry out the Tribunal's decision? The tribunal's decision is binding and there will be a deadline for carrying it out. If the LA (in SEN appeals) or the responsible body (in disability claims) does not do this within the time limit, you can write to the Secretary of State at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BT. If the LEA has failed to include important agreed specific provision or put information in the wrong place you need to point this out to them ASAP and politely but firmly tell them to put it right or you will be forced to tell the tribunal service to complaint that LEA has not carried out the tribunal's binding decision by writing the statement correctly. After the LEA folded in our case (before the tribunal) they just sent me and my advocate a copy of the working document statement and pretty much let us write it ourseleves. They only questioned a couple of small things and accepted the rest. With the tribunal decision behind you, you have even more clout. Good luck

As I understand it, you should amend the amended statement by moving the OT into part 3 and include everything that was agreed at the tribunal - use the decision statement as a guide along with the recommendations in your expert statements if these were accepted at the tribunal and confirmed in the final decision. When you have made the amendments as per the tribunal - send it back with a covering note explanining what you have done (and reference the evidence if necessary). If the expert reports were accepted then I think you should be able to include these in the appendices too. Check the Code of Practice on this but I am sure that is what you can do.

That sounds shocking. My maiin concern for ASD kids though would be the lack of structure - Steiner schools don't really believe in it...There may be a few ASD kids who don't need clear structure but most do including my son - he'd fall apart within minutes!