Yossarian

Really sorry Sally. Incompetence heaped upon incompetence Try and give yourself a night off if you can

Good luck Sally Advice from a friend who sits on tribunals: keep it to five or so main points Stay as calm as you can be - you can request a break if you need one Make sure you have an intro statement and a final statement Remember the panel is not interested in who said what to whom. They will want to find out whether the LA's provision is appropriate or not, and whether the provision you want is appropriate or not Don't let them distract you, bring it back to your child. Don't get into debating how great their service is etc, just bring it back to your child I'm sure you know all this. Will be thinking of you

Hi Scottiegal You will need to appeal the decision to the SEND tribunal service, detailshere from the above doc: When can I appeal? If you have not been able to reach agreement with your local authority about your child’s special educational needs, you may be able to appeal to us. There is a two-month time limit for appealing to us. The two months start from the date on the local authority’s letter giving their final written decision. What can I appeal about? You can appeal if the local authority: • has made a statement, or has changed a previous statement, and you disagree with one of the following. • The part which describes your child’s special educational needs (part 2). • The part which sets out the special educational provision (help) (part 3) that the LA thinks your child should receive. • The school or type of school named in part 4 of the statement. • The local authority not naming a school in part 4. It is the local authority that is responsible for providing the provision set out in the statement, not the school. It is for the school and LA to agree between themselves how the provision is funded/provided. It sounds like the school will be on your side. You will need to provide evidence that your son needs 30 hours - from school, and any other prof involved

Hi Lisa You sound like you are on the ball - part two should set out Leo's needs - that's all of them - and then part three should set out how those needs are going to be met. If anything is missing in part two or three now is the time to jump up and down about it. Have you read the Code of Practice? It sets out what should happen here

Hi Lisa It isn't really down to you to say what Leo needs. That is purpose the statutory assessment process. The local authority asks the experts - ed psych, SALT, outreach service, paediatrician, social services etc for their assessments, which will become the appendices to Leo's statement. The local authority SEN officer will then use those assessments to write the statement. The problems that can follow can be due to the experts not quantifying or specifying provision - something which they are allowed to do, but often don't because they are 'fettered'. The larger structural reason for this is that the local authority both assesses and pays for provision- so the employees are not independent when it comes to assessing a child's need - eg the EP knows what provision the LA has made for children with autism, and will only recommend that provision - not what the child actually needs. In case you are wondering LAs and SALT departments stitch these things up between themselves. SALT don't have the resources to give a child the SALT they usually need - many don't even offer any direct speech therapy at all- and so it is in their interest to go along with the LA. Whether you realise this or not, you are experiencing that already. Leo gets 15 hours of 1:1 support at nursery. Coincidentally that happens to be exactly how many hours children aged three can get funded at nursery under the free places scheme - I can't remember the exact name of it right now. Why does Leo need only 15 hours of 1:1 support - why not 20 or 30? Why not a home programme? (eg that is set out in ASD Good Practice Guidance). Why is it that Leo only needs 15 hours now, but will need 32.5 hours at school? Doesn't he need 32.5 hours now? The local authority is fitting Leo into the provision they offer pre-school children, rather than giving Leo what he needs. (I say this knowing very little about Leo, but the same thing happens all the time and the coincidence is too big.) If the LA write in the proposed statement "Leo needs access to 15 hours TA support" you can do one of two things: 1 push to have this specified properly, as Sally says, to eg"Leo needs 15 hours 1:1 TA support, by a TA qualified and experienced in autism " or 2 if you do not think this is adequate ie you can demonstrate that Leo has not made appropriate progress, then you would have to appeal the statement to the SEND tribunal. That takes you into another realm of getting independent expert(s) to assess Leo eg Ed Psych A standard next step is to contact IPSEA, NAS Education helpline, ACE, or SOSSEN and get them to look over the statement and give you their opinion. The helplines can be very busy but worth getting a sore finger for.

Hi Lisa Well done on getting this far. Just wanted to check - a lot of statements issued can be quite vague. You need to watch out for phrases like "will have access to" and "up to" etc. If Leo needs speech and language therapy it should be in part 3, not part 6. It is not legally enforceable in part 6. Statements that are vague cannot be enforced, so having everything nailed down at the start is advisable (ie quantified and specified) Can you check the exact wording and let us know what it says?

Indeed - what would be the point? It doesn't seem to make sense that you are under oath in a court of law, but not in a tribunal. Not wanting to derail Sally's thread, but do you know why that is Kathryn?

Hi Sally If by inclusion officer you mean SEN officer, then yes. The decisions are made by SEN officers, and professional opinion is advice. Generally profs do not recommend provision (even though they can specify following the CoP) they like to keep it vague. Profs assess need, and the LA have to (should) meet need with an appropriate placement (part 4 should follow from 2 and 3) Do members of a LA lie? Yes. All the time in my experience. Do they have expertise/ suitable qualification when it comes to our children? No. They carry out LA policy, whatever that may be On what grounds can an SEN officer directly contradict, say, an ed psych? None, but it happens. A tribunal can compel the LA to make a place available I believe. There is no duty to tell the truth at tribunal. You can request people give evidence under oath, and the tribunal can consider that request, but that has to be done at the time. A tribunal decision can only be appealed on a point of law, I believe. Not sure if you can do anything. I would try the usual helplines.

I suggest your son needs more help than the school can provide. Does he have a statement? Are outside agencies involved? If statemented, ask for an interim review. Ask for your son to see an educational pyschologist. Write everything down Sorry for short reply - school run

Agree with Cool Blue - Green Paper is due this month / next month. It may tinker or it may be radical change. My uninformed guess would be the latter. But let us suppose nothing is going to change. In order to have the best chance of getting a statement, and you are considering moving, ideally you would need to know if the LAs in your area delegate a high amount or low amount of funding to schools directly. The more an LA delegates, the fewer statements it tends to issue. Bournemouth, in your area, like Nottingham, is held up as an example of a local authority that has delegated a lot of resources: Bournemouth does not require statements for pupils with less complex learning or behavioural difficulties but they are maintained for all those with more complex and enduring SEN that need individually assigned resources. From The Management of SEN Expenditure (2004) link Not sure of the current situation in these two authorities - though I know Notts has a reputation for being hard to win a statement from. You can also work out how many statements each local authority issues as a percentage of the school population from data that is available on the DfE website, which gives you a more direct measure of likelihood of issuing statements. Of course the individual needs of your child will have the most direct bearing on whether it is appropriate to assess/ issue a statement. Send me a PM if you want some more info on this. For a discussion on SEN delegation v statements see here: link Living in an LA that delegates a high level of funding, you are being forced to go the appeal route, as discussed in the link above. It is practically the only way you will get a statement. You have to wait 6 months since you were turned down by your LA to request a stat assess: Request by a parent 7:21 Parents may ask the LEA to conduct a statutory assessment under section 328 or 329 of the Education Act 1996. The LEA must comply with such a request unless they have made a statutory assessment within six months of the date of the request or unless they conclude, upon examining all the evidence provided to them, that a statutory assessment is not necessary. (SEN Code of Practice) I would make a request as soon as you can. Once the LA turn you down again, you can appeal to the SEND tribunal. This is how you create an opportunity to appeal. It will take around 6 months to get to tribunal. In that time you/school will have collected plenty of evidence that your child needs a statement. Even if you move, you may well find yourself turned down for assessment by the new LA, so my advice is that appealing would be the best chance to get a statement for your child. A statement is like a contract with the LA. It must provide what is specified within it. A school/LA has no duty to supply provision at School Action and School Action Plus, and can change this whenever they choose, and a parent has no right of appeal (unlike a statement.)

Hello Katy Who has agreed specialist placement - was it a recommendation from the panel or was it the SEN officer? What do you have in writing? Panels only make recommendations, SEN officers make the decision. Often SEN officers try to hide behind panels, but it is their final word. If you have in writing your grandson needs a specialist place, then the LA have a statutory duty to provide one from the moment the statement is issued. They cannot tell you there are no places available - they have to find one, either by making more provision at the ASD unit, making out of area arrangements with another LA, or providing your grandson with a place at an independent school. I suggest you begin an appeal to SEND - that often focusses minds. You can keep talking to the LA whilst that process is underway - it takes 6 months. An alternative, if you have it in writing, would be to go to the Local Government Ombudsman who may well be able to get a result much quicker. (Worth a call at any rate.) Familiarise yourself with your rights - look at the SEN code of practice, which is available free. Unfortunately getting a statement can be only a step in the process, not the end goal. I suspect you still have more battling on your hands, though I'm sure you'll get lots of help on this forum. IPSEA has a good website for advice, as does SOSSEN. You may find, once you put them under pressure, a place becomes magically available.

oral evidence on the day by either side. It does help if you can back this up with written evidence in the bundle, though you won't be able to introduce new written evidence on the day. If the la are refusing to give written reports use the corporate complaints procedure (3 stages, will be on their website), then if exhausted back to the LGO Is there guidance from the Dyslexia assoc that you can point to with regards assessment? There is no other LEA maintained school that has any greater understanding of ASDs, and there is no school that has additional input or expertise for dyslexia. We are currently at the best the LEA has to offer it seems. If the school is not appropriate for your child, the LA has a duty to find/fund one that is. Have you looked at non-maintained? If you feel so strongly, then this is an argument you could make at tribunal. The tribunal will first look at the provision the LA says is appropriate, then they will look at the provision the parents think is appropriate, then make a judgement. It may work as a tactic, in that the LA may increase their 'offer' leading up to tribunal if they think they could go down for a £40,000 independent placement

Hi Sally - I've not been ignoring you. First thing to say is that I'm not in possession of all the facts, and I'm not an expert, and I can't really provide you with a clear path through your difficulties. However - to take your last point first: write to the head and make him/her aware of professionals involvement, and make sure you expect cop to be followed - in a nice way. I think, in general terms, first off your son's needs have to assessed properly. If the LA/ school are saying they have done this, and you disagree then, write stating your concerns and ask for proper testing. If they refuse, then you may need independent professionals/second opinion Then present them to the LA and see the response. If response is not to your satisfaction, then this can be part of your tribunal Another option is to consider moving school to one which will accommodate your son's needs better. Non-specificity of statements is a no-brainer and should be brought up in your appeal You need to be able to show in the paperwork you are a reasonable , so asking for dyslexia testing, then having the LA response will help clarify at tribunal. Remember the annual review looks at the written evidence, nothing else. So everything important needs to be on paper. Write your view and send it to local authority two weeks before review date. The tribunal takes oral arguments as well as written - big difference.

Hi Sally Sorry just lost my reply. Will try again: 1 What is your relationship like with SENCO/head? 2 Are you ever invited to review IEPs, and if so, are they SMART and does your child achieve targets? 3 If not achieving targets, this would seem to me to be a route to pushing for extra assistance outside of annual review 4 If this is not happening, you could write formally to SENCO/head setting out your concerns, and see what response is 5 If that doesn't achieve progress, you can write to professionals directly stating your concerns 6 Also you can write to the local authority This will, if nothing else, give you a paper trail if you need to go to tribunal The process around annual review is quite clear.This is the responsibility of the head: 6 ..Dependent on the pupil’s needs and the particular circumstances surrounding the annual review the head teacher should invite: ● the pupil ● an LEA educational psychologist ● health service representatives ● social services representatives ● in the year of a phase transfer, a representative from the receiving school ● other closely involved professionals 7. These professionals should, in the light of their involvement with the pupil over the past year, and the nature of the advice they can provide, consider the necessity of attendance at the review. They should also, where it would be helpful to discussions at the review meeting or as an aid to decision-making by the LEA, provide written advice. Collection and collation of information 9. The head teacher must request written views from the child’s parents, all those required by the LEA and anyone else the head teacher considers appropriate. The head teacher should also make sure that the pupil’s views are recorded. Schools should seek the advice of professionals on an individual basis in relation to the review of each pupil even where the LEA has arranged that schools send professionals termly lists of pupils whose reviews fall due the following term. 10. The head teacher should make clear that the reports should relate to the pupil’s progress in relation to the needs and objectives outlined in the a statement. All the written reports received by the head teacher must be circulated to the parents and those attending the meeting at least two weeks before the date of the meeting. I would be clear that you expect this to be followed. The purpose of the annual review: 1. The purpose of the annual review of a pupil’s statement is to make sure that at least once a year the parents, the pupil, the LEA, the school and all the professionals involved monitor and evaluate the continued effectiveness and relevance of the provision set out in the statement. All quotes from the SEN Toolkit. So you have a right to expect monitoring and evaluation and to look at relevance of provision. Can you or school demonstrate either progress or a lack of progress over the year? This is the starting point. If the school / LA are not willing to change the statement to reflect your child's needs and how they will meet them, then the only route I see is appeal. Is there discrepancy between professionals' reports and the LA provision? If you agree with professionals' reports, I don't think it would be necessary to get independent ones if heading towards tribunal (I would take legal advice on this though). If not, then I think you would.

Don't really have enough info to comment on LGO. The IPSEA point seems definitive to me (not a lawyer). There is no 'best endeavours' defence. This is discussed in "Cemented to the Floor by Law" here - useful publication. The same author has another publication, very useful, here