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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.

Does your child have a Statement?

Are their places available at this school?

So does he fit the criteria for entry to that school? And if you are seeking it as a placement remember that you have to be saying "it is the only school that can meet his needs" and not would be "beneficial". You need to include all the problems he is having with school currently. Is he making progress, is the gap widening between him and his peers. His current school have said [in writing?] that they don't think he will cope year 5. Do you have in writing each and every incident and how many staff members were needed to contain the situation? You need to ask that LA special school for a copy of their entry criteria, and you need to ensure that you son meets that criteria. If, for example, the school is for children working on Pscales and he is way above that, that would probably exclude him from the criteria. If it said the criteria was that the child must have a speech and communication disorder then you might need a SALT report. If the criteria is a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder, then you already have that. What you would then need a SALT report is to detail how much 1:1 therapy your child would need on a termly basis and how that would be delivered each day inschool, how many hours a week to practice the therapy programme, detailed on his daily timetable, and who would deliver it.

What kind of special school are you seeking. Do you have a specific one in mind. If so is it LA maintained or independent. And what is that schools criteria for entry.

This is an area i've always been concerned about and no GP or medical person is able to give me an answer. Like your sons, mine would not allow anyone to get blood out of him. And he would not sit and let someone give him an injection either. So if he needs work doing, how are they going to do it? He is under the community dentist, and when he had to have a filling he went into the childrens hospital. Even there they were saying that they needed to get a line into him BEFORE they could put the mask over his face. They did give him sedative tablets beforehand, and the numbing cream on his hand. I went with him into the theatre, and I asked the anesthiatist to put the mask over his face at the same time they tried to get a line. Because if he felt any pain he would be up and out of there. And they did do that for me. But I can communicate with my son, and he would cooperate up to the extent of going into hospital and going into theatre. It just is not acceptable for someone, anyone, to be in pain and unable to access services and no-one does anything about it.

I also don't know about PIP. But my son gets DLA and stays some nights residential. I've been told that if he is at home for any part of a 24 hours period ie. day or night of any day, that he would still get DLA for that day. The only time he would not get DLA is if he sleeps over in school and is in the school the next day and does not come home on that day either. So currently my son stays over on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday night and comes home Friday after school. He would only lose DLA for the Thursday as that is the only day he is in school for the complete 24 hours. And they only take that day into account after 28 days of staying over on that night. So if my son refuses to sleep over on Thursday his DLA would remain untouched. Does that make sense?

Have you had an assessment of her cognitive ability, so you know if she is MLD or not?

I would phone the EP and speak with them and ask them what assessments [named assessments], they are going to carry out eg. British Abilities II, WISC etc. And ask that the EP carries out the complete assessment [and see what they say to that], and then follow up that conversation with a letter. Eg. "Further to our telephone conversation today I would just like to clarify what we discussed. As you are aware, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal has ordered that our daughter is to be assessed to identify all her needs. You have informed me that you will be completing the xxx test [or confirm they have said they will not carry out standardised assessments - depends on the outcome of the conversation], but that you will not be carrying out the complete test as you won't have time. I want to raise our concerns about this as the SEND Order specifically says that the Local Authority must identify all her needs, and we do not see how you can do that if you do not use standardised assessments or only select elements of that assessment instead of completing the entire assessment, which would identify all her strengths and weaknesses and would highlight any other areas of need our daughter may have. As per our discussion, can you please confirm that you will carry out standardised assessments of cognitive ability so that we have a baseline measurement from which to measure progress, or explain to us in writing why you are not going to do that. Please also bear in mind that we have two other children who are both on the autistic spectrum, one being her twin, and it maybe that our daughter is as well. Can you also quantify and specify the support and provision our daugthter will require for each need you identify. Please follow the SEN Code of Practice and be specific in terms of hours of support, staffing arrangements, therapy input etc. Depending on the outcome of your assessments could you please recommend which secondary schools can meet all our daughters needs so that we are able to visit them." Or something similar, I think you get the gist. And yes, what your husband wants to do is to say what she 'needs', but you don't know do you. And it isn't your job to quantify and specify either. That is what professionals are for. That is what the SALT, EP, OT and other professionals should be doing. If they don't, that is what you appeal about and SEND would go on your reports recommendations, or if the LA/NHS professionals also attend they would ask them to quantify and specify in terms of hours/staffing arrangements etc.

Don't be drawn on saying what you want. Because at this point the professionals should be assessing and saying what that is. You don't want to say what you want, and be offered it, and then find she actually needs alot more than you agreed to. You then end up at a tribunal with the LA saying "Mrs asked for xxxx and we provided it and she still is not happy." So "What you want" is "I want my daughter to be properly and thoroughly assessed using Standardised Assessments to determine what ALL her needs [dyslexia, speech and communication, ASD?, dyspraxia, sensory processing disorder and any other things you think are relevent] are and to quantify and specify for those needs so that we can find the right educational placement so that she will be happy to go into school and will make progress and reach her potential."

My son has been on Sertraline for about 2 years. He started on 50mg, and that increased to 200mg a day, which is the highest dose they can give to an adult. My son is 13. His anxiety and OCD kept increasing, so the psychiatrist kept increasing the dose. We are now slowly taking him off it, and to be honest, we havent' noticed any increase in anxiety or OCD symptoms so far. So i'm not sure what, if anything, it was doing for him. Other people obviously have had different experiences. I think the thing to remember is whether medication is going to be beneficial for the person taking it, as opposed to no medication. Then you have to try it out, and sometimes it can take a number of medication changes to get it right - or sometimes you never get it right. My son had also been tried on prozac, and that made him more irritable and driven. There is one other medication CAHMS say we can try, but first I want to see how he is off medication completely. He is now on just 50mg a day. If there is no increase in his anxiety and OCD, then I might keep him medication free if possible. The problem is that we have been pushing for CBT for his OCD for years. Clinical Psychology have no finally agreed to get involved, and medication may help him use the strategies and approaches they will discuss with him.

It is not for you to say what she needs. You are her mum. They are the professionals, they should assess and tell you what she needs. They should quantify and specify. Regarding mainstream. I think the SENCO has spelt out how it would be for your daughter, and I think you can see she would not cope in a mainstream size class. However, a Statement is a legally binding document, so anything the Panel Order the LA to include in the Statement MUST be provided. The difficulty is going to be with things like class size. Would they see it as a good use of their resources to put together a class of no more than 8 pupils, so that your daughter had the right class size? And all the therapy and specialist teaching would have to be quantified and specified too. And with it being within a mainstream, that gives the school/LA the chance at every AR to reduce the provision/support, where that would be impossible to do in a specific independent school where everything was provided 'as standard'. I think it is also going to be very important whether she is on the spectrum, as that would give you access to other types of independent school nearer to home. And they would have to buy in specialist dyslexia teaching. That is what happened with my son. He wasn't mainstream material. We found an independent ASD school that costs £55K+ a year. They have SALT's and OT's employed on site. So we said that was the only school that could meet his ASD needs, but that they could not meet his dyslexia and dyscalculia needs. So we got quotes for a suitably qualified teacher [qualified to level 7 to both teach and assess], and SEND agreed that the Statement should also include additional funding for that teaching. So it is possible to achieve. This mainstream school is most likely to have other children with SEN in school that would need small class sizes, but they might be MLD rather than Dyslexia. Would the LA argue that having to set up such a class would not be a good use of their resources? It would probably be cheaper than a dyslexia specific school. And you would probably argue that your daughter needed these things [as per your reports] ie. small class sizes no bigger than 8, 1:1 dyslexia teaching of xx hours per week, practised daily with a TA etc. But what if she is on the spectrum too?? I think a worst case scenario is that you get all the support/therapy/teaching into the mainstream and see if she makes progress. If she doesn't you wouldhave that evidence that she needs a specific type of school because she will not have made progress. Are either of the schools your sons go to a possibility? Isn't one of your son's in an ASD unit?

I'm simply thinking of you getting stung by the tax man for 'working' whilst on benefits. Make sure you know what you are doing. You might be able to get away with a 'hobby' interest for sales under a certain amount. But at some point, you may need to decide if you are going to make a go of it full time, and whether to be a sole trader or a limited company. My Accountant gave us advice for zero to help us set up properly. He has charged £400 for the year end books, which were quite complicated TBH. And he hasn't charged me anything on top for all the advice he gives, and his advice saves us and the company alot of pounds. So i'm not complaining. We also could not get any loan from anywhere. So we used our savings - not alot. And the rest I have bought on balance transfers on credit cards, and when that balance runs out I simply move the balance to another zero percent offer. I know you cannot get credit, and again that might be something you need to work on. And it might be simple things like having a bank account, utilities in your name, being on the postal register to vote etc.

It is almost impossible to get an NHS or LA professional to quantify and specify. I think you need to know if she is on the spectrum. I also think you need to seriously consider that she is not coping in a primary setting in class sizes of 12 and she is not on a level 3 so would find it very hard to access mainstream education and how it is delivered [not ASD or Dyslexia specific] - and she definately would struggle with the class sizes and environment and the need to be independent in a mainstream secondary school. I think a SEND Panel would see that. But i'm sure your LA is planning on her going to mainstream secondary. When you visit the mainstream secondary you need to know what are the smallest class sizes they can provide. How would she access the curriculum on her current KS levels for maths and english. What amount [in terms of hours] of 1:1 support could the school provide without a Statement. What access she would get to SALT or EP via the schools budget [and ask what that is each year and for how many pupils] eg. it maybe something like 6 hours EP time for 2000 kids per term/per annum. And if they have a disruptive child they would most likely get most or all of the EP input. Ask what would trigger a referal to the EP or SALT ie. behaviour, low attainment etc. Would they refer your daughter on what you have told them? Most likely not. What specialist teachers they have in the school for dyslexia. What level are they qualified to [school probably won't even know what you mean. Contact PATOSS and ask them about the level of specialist teacher needed to both teach and assess a child with dyslexia. I believe they have to be qualified to level 7. Remember to also ask your LA for how many dyslexia specialist teachers they have. And again to what level they are trained and can they teach and assess. Ask if they go into mainstream schools. Ask how the school would access their input. Ask how many hours of specialist 1:1 teaching they could provide in school [they probably won't provide any - mine only gave telephone advice to school!]. Ask how many other pupils in the secondary school have a diagnosis of ASD and Dyslexia [co-morbid, not separate diagnoses]. Ask what the typical class sizes are. Ask what class size your child would be put in.

I think the best advice I can give is to have ground rules that you and your husband agree to, so that if they are broken, you also have agreed what the punishment for that would be for that child. So once there is consistency and agreement between the two of you, that then leaves the question "how do we handle it at the time it is happening." I think the best thing is not to get into an argument. I just does not help and escalates things. It may mean that the adult says something like "I am not going to argue about this. You have done x and the punishment for that is y. And then the adult walks away from the situation, or the child is sent to their bedroom to calm down. My teenage daughter can be argumentative an answer back. And I just say something like "stop answering back. If you continue the punishment will be worse, so go to your bedroom please to calm down. Children and adults need boundaries and that makes then feel secure. Knowing that certain behaviour will get punished also makes them feel secure. Shouting and screaming and getting aggressive will make them nervous or teach then that that is how you should behave. If your husband gets very stressed and aggressive that is not good. He needs to walk away from the situation. Not so that he leaves you to deal with it all. But that he says what needs to be said to the child and then does not get dragged into a slanging match. If he cannot deal with it at that moment, he can say something like "you have done x, y or z. You need to go to your room to calm down and I will speak with your mum and we will decide what your punishment will be." Don't know if any of that helps.

Well good luck with it. Just make sure you keep good records of your costs and sales. At the moment are you doing it has a private buyer/seller? Because at some point you will need to think about what you are doing and if it affects benefits, or whether it is worth registering as a business. I presume you could get working tax credit, especially as you probably fulfill the 'disability' element of that. My husband and I have our own business. At the moment we are paying ourselves a minimum way, actually less than the minimum wage, and sometimes no wage. But we are on WFTC, so that helps. We do have a couple of employees now and although we are not in profit, we are expanding rapidly, so should be in profit next year or the year after.

Firstly are the school acknowledging that he is being bullied? What is their policy on bullying. They should have a specific policy and you can ask to see it. You can complain to the Governors of the School. I would also suggest you speak with an organisation such as IPSEA to see what school should be doing by law. That would help inform you on how to write to the school Governors and then how to make a complaint to the local authority. If he is being bullied during break/dinner times, then school could allow him access to somewhere there are adults present, like in the library - or for him to go to any kind of club that is run during breaktimes such as computer club. He could be allowed to leave class/school earlier. You could ask for a 1:1 for him. It just is not acceptable for him to be bulled in this way. He is a vulnerable child and they need to protect him. I would not suggest having him retake a year again, unless this is a last resort. But if he is missing school and falling further behind his peers that is evidence of how this is affecting him and how he is no longer able to access education to the level of bullying he is experiencing. Are the kids bullying him the same age, or older?

I think it might be worth speaking with IPSEA about the LA assessing for a Statement. I presume, if it works the same way as with a finalised Statement, that if they issue a Note in Lieu, and you appeal, that the LA can decide to issue a Statement before the actual Tribunal Date. And of course that will depend on what evidence is coming in from their experts, and yours. It isn't fair that you have to keep paying for independent assessments due to a refusal to assess, then more so that you don't get a Note in Lieu, and then again to appeal the finalised Statement. I'm not sure how SEN law is changing this September. Have you spoken with IPSEA about that? If you can appeal the Note in Lieu, it might be worth waiting to see what evidence is in by the deadline. Even if all the reports are in the likelihood is that the LA will issue a Note in Lieu or produce a proposed Statement that will be pants anyway. I'm just trying to think of how you can save money and get reports once rather than again and again. And to time it so that your reports are the most up to date. If the LA does not get the LA EP and the NHS SALT to assess, then you have evidence immediately that they have not even attempted to identify all her needs, as per the Order from SEND. So you would appeal the Note in Lieu [if that is what they produce], and get your independent reports in before the deadline for submissions for that Appeal. And then if they issue a Proposed Statement that does not contain everything in the independent reports you've had done, you would appeal the finalised Statement too. And if you have another Tribunal hopefully your independent reports would still be less than 6 months old? Has your daughter been referred to the NHS Speech and Language Therapy department. Have you phoned them and asked for a speech therapist with expertise in working with and assessing children on the autistic spectrum?

I'm sorry, but this teacher does not know what she is talking about. The SEN Code of Practice specifically states the DIFFERENT types of SEN. It can be cognitive, speech and language and social communicaton, physical, emotional, sensory. My son is on a level 4 and is at an independent ASD specific school. It is nothing to do with academic levels - only to the extent that the child is cognitively able, but is not making progress. Whose "Criteria" is she talking about - the LA's??? Because whatever the LA may have as their own criteria for issuing a Statement SEN law trumps it. As you found out at your recent tribunal. The SEND Panel believe she has significant needs, which should be assessed to get a complete picture, because they think she most likely will need a Statement. I would speak with the EP to find out what assessments they are going to do. You want STANDARDISED ASSESSMENTS. Not just observations. And it must take into account her Dyslexia and the fact that she might be on the spectrum.

Maybe his appetite is due to medication as well? What we have noticed with our son is that he gets very anxious when demands are placed on him. But when those demands are removed, he often decides himself to do the thing he initially refused to do. I think that Pathological Demand Avoidance is something that most on the spectrum have to some degree. If Glen is able to associate certain clothes with certain events, then he should be able to choose clothes if he wants to go out. Unless he is especially rigid and associates certain clothes with a certain incident that upset him and would believe that wearing those clothes would cause a repetition of the event that upset him? Sounds like you are happy and confident with the staff. And i'm glad you spent more time with Glen on your visit and that you saw he was happy. I think you would be right to ask staff to monitor his weight. We all know it is easy to put on weight and much harder to lose it.

I think, like you, the LA are worried that the more they assess, the more they could find, and the more it will cost them to fund that Statement. But that is what the process is supposed to be about. So, my advice would be to get back in touch with the EP and say that your daughter has ONLY been assessed for dyslexia by a psychologist, and that you want a complete cognitive and emotional literacy assessment using standardised assessments. The fact that you already have two children on the spectrum means she should definately be assessed too. I cannot imagine how hard it is for you to have to consider that all three children are on the spectrum - but it happens. And as you know each child is different and will have different strengths and weaknesses. But you need her to be assessed, even if they definitely rule it out you will at least know she is not ASD, instead of always wondering if she is. And if she is, then she needs a diagnoses to get access to the things your sons get. Here is a link to the NICE Guidance, which will help you ask the EP the right questions, and even mention you have been reading the NICE Guidance for assessment/referral for diagnoses of an ASD. http://www.nice.org.uk/CG128 Yes you may well need an independent report at your appeal about the finalised Statement. BUT if an ASD diagnosis is a possibility, it needs to be looked at now, as it can take months to get a diagnoses.

Okay. Could you show him, using a stick drawing, what other people will see when they walk into the toilet and he is stood there with his trousers and pants down. Would he see the difference. Would he see the other persons point of view? We just use normal disabled toilets, not specifically those with radar keys. Most places have a disabled toilet that has immediate access to it. Not sure what to suggest about the clothes. This is a sensory issue. Does your son have a Statement?

If SEND Ordered that ALL her needs must be identified, then the LA must comply with that. Typically she must have difficulties with speech and language and social communication to be on the spectrum. So I would recommend that you write to the LA Inclusion Officer and ask that your daughter is referred for a Speech and Language Assessment. I would ask the LA which department they would use, and I would recommend you then phone that department. Ask to speak to the Head of the Department and ask that they allocate a SALT that has experience of assessing and working with children on the autistic spectrum. Say that you want them to assess his expressive and receptive speech and language skills. That you want them to do that using Standardised Assessments. And that you also want her social communication to be assessed as well. And after the telephone conversation, put that all in writing, along with a copy of the Order from SEND. You can ask the LA to refer to an Occupational Therapist, again for the same reasons ie. the Order from SEND to identify all her needs. See what they say. They may say the NHS has to do that. And I would then check that with IPSEA, as the SEND process is changing in September 2014. Regarding the LA EP. If you feel there are needs that have not been identified, I would speak with the EP and ask them to assess. Yes your daughter might have undergone a number of assessments. But the Order clearly says that ALL her needs must be identified. What do you think needs adding to the list of needs your currently have detailed in your reports? The EP is also responsible for assessing emotional literacy. Are you in the process of getting a diagnoses of an ASD? You are within your rights to list her needs - the ones currently identified, and ask the LA EP to quantify and specify provision to meet each of those needs [unless your reports already detail that, in which case the Statement should be a cut and paste job of those reports. If there are other needs you believe she has, which are not currently identified, then tell the LA EP that and ask him to assess. Again using Standardised Assessments [as that gives a baseline measurement from which to measure progress]. Does your EP report say anything about class sizes or the type of school she needs? Again this is something the LA EP should address as part of the quantifying and specifying requirement of the Code of Practice. If she has not made progress in a class of 12? She needs smaller class sizes. What does the LA EP recommend in terms of schools that are suitable for your to visit that have smaller class sizes than the current school, and which are ASD specific, but for children who are cognitively able?

Have you had any contact with the school SENCO, or the Local Authority Educational Psychologist or the Autism Outreach Teacher/Team from your Local Authority? If not I would recommend getting in touch with them all. Is he having lots of visits to secondary school to get him prepared for the transition? You need these issues to be discussed with those professionals and also with school. See what the school response is, but basically if he has an SEN, and these issues are part of his SEN, then the school MUST meet those needs with or without a Statement. My son has an ASD and also OCD. He used to take it even further. He used to remove all his clothes in the cubicle. And would then want to come out the cubicle to wash his hands BEFORE he got dressed again. Because, logically, if he has germs on his hands after using the toilet, he should wash them BEFORE touching his clothes, otherwise he contaminates his clothes with germs. He is much better now, but what we did was this. When out in public he ONLY uses the disabled toilet. In school, for a time, he was allowed to use a staff toilet instead of the childrens ones. We also got him into the habit of sitting down on the toilet for a wee or to pass a stool. That actually helped him as he often told us he would get the feeling to go to the toilet, but did not know what for. You need to talk to school about him not having a shower. The other kids might notice this and ask him why he doesn't have a shower. So you need to coach your son on what to say, if anything. But it should be okay for him to be excused. And maybe for the teacher to give him a job to do instead so that he is occupied during that time. Regarding the tie etc. Can you adapt the tie so that it is on elastic, but looks like a proper tie from the front? And also practice with him at home NOW wearing a shirt and buttoning it up. You can always get a shirt with a larger collar size. With all these things it might help to have what they call a "social story" that explains what he is going to do and why. And it should be written to be age appropriate for him. Is he doing okay academically at the moment, and that is why he is going to mainstream secondary?

Is there a definite market for this electronic item? Can you start small scale or would you need to be able to provide vast quantities of this product to any potential client? Have you made contact with any potential clients and were they interested? Do you need any special kind of permit to import?