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Does your LA routinely issue NILs? I know ours doesn't so once they have agreed to assess then a statement almost always follows. You would hope that having lost the tribunal on assessment they would not have the temerity to issue an NIL but if that is likely then any input you put into that will be wasted. If you want a DX then that is better done through the NHS - can you persuade your GP to refer you? I am not sure of the value of a formal DX obtained privately. OTOH of all the assessments we have had done it was that which was done by the psychologist that was the most useful (I don't think a psychologist can give a DX). All the DX says is "ASD" that gives little clues to his specific needs. The psychologist (who in our case was both a clinical and educational psychologist) is the one who went into detail into the strengths and weaknesses and provided the majority of the recommendations that eventually became his statement. We also passed the results of the tests and report the private EP did on to the LA EP which worked well as they were able to agree with the findings without doing much work and without having to do the tests themselves (which they don't have the time to do and often aren't qualified to do either).

If he is being bullied you really need to take it up officially with the school. Ask for a meeting with the SENCO and raise the issue head on. Check up on both the bullying policy and the complaints policy and pursue it in line with the complaints policy that will eventually get an official response. That will give you a route through the head to the governors then to LA and/or Tribunal. When you do complain make sure you make the point that this is related to his AS, both that AS children are particularly sensitive to bullying and that their AS also makes them a target. It is important to tie this in with his AS as it gives more routes to resolve the issue. If you do find an example of him being punished because of the bullying I would immediately raise a formal complaint about that action. Also standard advice, keep a log of all incidents you hear about, both the incidents and the school's response. Whereever possible get the names of the children involved. No school likes having a problem with bullying - so most are reluctant to admit to it., When you bring it to their attention they are likely to do one of two things. Either take is seriously and start addressing the issue or pretend it isn't happening, or blame the victim. If the school is of the first type then you are in luck - they should be able to get on top of the situation if you constantly. As Sally says, retaking a year at this stage is probably not a good idea, at 11 he is unlikely to have missed out on anything that he can't catch up on with the correct support in place. You need to use this as a way of assessing how the school is. Not all schools are keen to move AS children out, some are very supporting. As you discuss this issue with the SENCO you should be able to gauge their interest and understanding of AS children. If they don't understand or aren't interested then you should consider moving him to a school that has better support - ask around locally within parents of ASD children to get their opinion of the local schools. Does he have a statement? If not it may be worth thinking about that. If things are not great at school are you sure it is only the bullying, perhaps that is masking other issues that will also need to be addressed

As I am sure you realise - you can't really rely on the NHS (or the LA) for any help in this process. The NHS have neither the expertise nor the resources to assess fully, and the LA are a little stuck in having to rely on the NHS, who are often too little too late. The LA are not going to put anything in a statement that isn't based on an "expert" report so if they don't get the reports then with the best will in the world (and not many LAs have that) they cannot produce a good statement. It is almost certain you will need independent reports sometime - your only decision is when. You either do them now and feed them into the assessment process in the hope you get a half-decent statement or wait until you get the statement (or not) and then appeal again.

I think it depends a lot on the children in question. For a child with issues with social skills, or lacking self confidence, I think it can be a problem if they are not able to participate in current discussions, Much though we may dislike the current trends with children I think we may do damage to their social development if they are prevented from getting involved. However I am not sure to what extent primary school culture revolves around TV. As it happens our sons have watched very little broadcast TV and that has not seemed to be an issue.

Based on what you say I would be worried about sending him to a Mainstream school without good ASD support - I suspect the problems that are worrying you may just be the tip of the iceberg. On the specific issue of the toileting - our son always uses a cubicle whenever he goes to the toilet and we have not tried to discourage that. If you can encourage him to do that it may solve the problem as it is unlikely to be remarked upon, On the clothes front you can try to look for clothes that are as comfortable as possible. Collars don't have to be that tight, get them plenty big enough and he won't find it that confining, and will also find them easier to do up. He may find pure cotton more comfortable than the more common poly-cotton ones. How often will he need to wear the jumpers? Getting a blazer that it plenty big enough again should stop it feeling too confining.

Even if you don't actually want to take the money, you should consider going through the application process for the Enterprise Allowance and so on. You may be able to get free advice on things like writing a business plan that you may find invaluable. Once you can present a credible business plan other routes to funding may open up for you. I would have thought that the sort of business you describe could be started very cheaply - you clearly need a small amount of stock and then to find a way to sell it (can you start up on ebay?)

You won't pass many petrol stations in one of those. I know someone used to drive a Bentley years ago - reckoned he got 4 mpg

In my experience making friends at university is much easier than at home. The nature of university life (particularly on campus or where the university dominates an area) is that you are constantly together with a comparatively small group of people with common interests. So you attend lectures, eat in hall and so on on a daily basis. That also provides a lot of areas of common experience and interest to start casual conversations. On top of that universities tend to have a lot of organised clubs and events which are again good ways of getting to know people. If you attend any club regularly you have common interests to allow you to start conversations, and the regular contact makes it easier to build friendships with people if you are one of those who doesn't make a good first impression, or takes time to get to know someone.

It sounds as if things went pretty well. Don't forget that the panel have a lot of experience listening to LA procrastination and they are highly unlikely to be taken in by the nonsense LA try on with parents. I can't see the panel not ordering an assessment here, a combination of needs not fully diagnosed and failure to make progress make it pretty much an open and shut case. (But panels do occasionally make odd decisions!)

Each LA is different - in our area there is a (nominal) allowance of funding for 12 hours TA time per week per child on SAP. (I say nominal because I am not sure the school actually got that). So as part of our initial request to assess, and the appeal to the tribunal, we included evidence to show that the amount of time the school was spending exceeded that amount (and how it was spent). I don't think the council are likely to take that approach - but it seems to me the only way they can defend the appeal is to blame the school and say they are not doing enough, or that their use of the delegated resources is inappropriate.

I assume you have plenty of evidence of the needs themselves - the danger could be that the LA claims that the school itself is not doing enough

That's great news - the result must be almost a foregone conclusion - but don't get complacent

I think the "secret" of any relationship is good communication. This is even more so in the case where one partner is AS. The fact is he will not understand what you are feeling, and so what your needs are, without being told (many women feel the same about their NT partners), but his being As gives you an easier route into having the discussions. The thing to do is to talk openly and calmly about the issues. If he hurts you or you feel he is putting you down then tell him. If you need help and support then tell him that too. If he can take that on board then he should be able to start modifying his behaviour.

That sounds like a good outcome - I agree with you entirely about SS / Childrens' services - they make the LEA look like a professional, caring organisation. I hope your son will be happy with the arrangement - I think four nights a week could work well for him and allow him to settle in.

I think in your response you need to emphasise that the presence of the witness is not critical to the outcome of the tribunal. Since it is an LA witness say that you accept what is written in the report and won't be needing to ask questions.

I am surprised you are keen to keep him in a school that you think is not meeting his needs, and where he is only attending 50% of the time I fully understand the disruption of moving school, but he clearly is neither settled nor happy there and if you are not convinced that he will settle quickly then it may be worth biting the bullet again and moving him now rather than letting things drag on without resolution. I would also say that the assessment of a school for residential is very different to that for a day pupil. IMHO residential works best where the majority of the pupils are residential, rather than where it is just added on to a day school, the benefit is the way that the school curriculum can be extended to "waking hours".

I can certainly sympathise with the stress you are under. These processes seem to drag on for ages and most of the time there is nothing for you to do but wait for the next stage. Have you considered residential? If his current placement is not working and SS are considering accommodation then it would seem like a good idea to consider it now. If SS are thinking that accommodation is necessary they then should be willing to contribute to the additional cost of residential provision and that in turn would make it easier to get the LA to agree. The reports you hear from parents and professionals is pretty much universally that residential works well for ASD children. An appropriate school that can offer monday-friday boarding might be the perfect solution - and with the boarding/residential element that increases the number of schools within range.

It might also be worth pointing out that she has provided a written report and that you won't be querying/challenging what she says. So her presence should not be needed. I think tribunals tend to be fairly generous in granting adjournments but in this case it would hardly seem necessary.

I'm very sorry to hear about that - I'm afraid it is too far from my experience to be able to give advice. I have tried to have as little to do with SS as possible - my impression is that they have a very one-dimensional view and a very limited range of options that they seem willing to consider. As I understand it they can only make a Section 20 order with your agreement, and it would seem to be a very bad idea for you to agree without getting professional legal advice.

I don't think it really matters what goes in the initial application - all you really need to say that you are appealing. Eventually the appeal is decided by what is in front of the tribunal on the date of the hearing, so there is no benefit of putting in providing evidence earlier than the deadline - in fact the opposite because you give the LA time to counter your points. That said you have to provide enough information so the LA can identify the main points otherwise they will be able to delay, or submit late evidence. In general I don't think there is much need to point out the failings of the LA unless it impacts your ability to prepare the case

If the LA decide to cease to maintain the statement then they need to send you a letter telling you. That letter must also state that you have a right of appeal and set out the timescales within which you have to appeal. Those timescales will relate to the date of that letter. If the LA have not correctly informed you of those rights then you will be able to appeal later. Even if you have missed the deadline stated on the letter you should still get something in writing to SENDIST immediately - you don't need to get it perfect or complete to lodge the appeal (in fact it is a bad idea to do so) all you need is to state that you are appealing the decision to cease to maintain the statement. If you are late then include a short covering letter explaining that you misunderstood the deadline. The tribunal has the power to allow an appeal that is submitted late. Most important of all - don't panic

As I am sure you know - it is not up to the school to determine whether he needs a statement, but if he doesn't have one then it can't help here (and almost certainly too late to worry about anyway). It is good to here that the school are listening - I hope they go with the suggestion of the two French streams.

It may well be that the LA don't really care about defending the appeal - after all it costs them nothing to make you appeal and even if they turn up that does not really cost them money as that is their job. I think it would be unusual for an LA to produce professional evidence at this stage - to do so they would have to do the assessment they are trying to avoid. It may be that they don't intend to defend at all - or only make a token attempt. If they do defend they could try a few approaches a) That there is no evidence of need - i.e. that she is fulfilling her potential in school. That her needs are not "Educational" c) That her needs can be met without a statement - e.g. that the resources delegated to the school for SAP should be sufficient. It is important to be able to evidence the lack of achievement (this should be at least a year of IEPs, preferably more), and also provide a schedule indicating all the resources being dedicated to her at the moment - showing that it exceeds the delegated funding levels (in our area that is 12 hours a week - don't know if that is country wide)

Ah I see - I hadn't appreciated that there were 2 different areas. But I still think you should welcome the involvement of the school EP. If the school aren't coping then they need advice - and they get that from their EP. Also if you are out of authority then the school EP won't necessarily feel the same need to minimise costs and you may get a more open opinion from them. In our case we have found it very productive to get a range of professionals involved with the school because they can educate and advise the school. Over time that has built up a consensus of opinion among the school and LA professionals that meant that the move to specialist provision was easy because we had built the support. If you are worried (as you are right to be) about too many assessments you could ask for them to observe and then question staff rather than a direct assessment of her. I don't know when it comes to assessment whether the LA would use their own EP or rely on the school's.

Sounds as if the LA may have decided that they are going to lose the appeal so aren't putting any effort into it. There is a chance they simply won't submit any evidence and will concede once the evidence deadline passes (this is what happened in our refusal to assess appeal). I don't think it is a good idea to refuse permission to have her assessed by the EP - it is legitimate to ask what assessments (if any) will be carried out, and object to any that duplicate the work the independent EP has done. It gives the LA a good excuse for not having done their job properly. Eventually the LA EP is going to play a very important part in the process. I would also suggest allowing the LA EP to see the independent report - he will spend a lot less time assessing than the independent EP did and it you are lucky he will borrow a lot from the independent report.