bjkmummy

I was in the school playground this evening and I know a boy in her class was undergoing statementing and he has dyslexia - also he has attachment disorder and he is adopted. I saw his mum and mentioned that my daughter has now been dx with dyslexia. she said her son has now received a statement for 13 hours TA time and 2 hours specialist teaching. she asked me what the school were doing for my daughter and ie xplained that they were yet to put her in the sen register, do an iEP etc to which she raised an eyebrow as she is the SEN governor! I explained that we intend to formally request it is done this week. with that she went and k teacher came out. I had a brief chat with her about her assessment last week and she was not interested which is also a worry as she is the senco! she was more interested in complaining that the specialist teacher had spent 90 mins with my daughter rather than 60 so my daughter was tired. they did do an IQ test last week so will be interesting to see the results when the report comes

she had her assessment with dyslexia action last week which we had to pay for as the school refused to refer her to an EP as the EP would refuse to see her as she was not 6 years behind academically - not sure how true that is but the LA policy on line says something similar - school suggested we get a private one done. of course the assessment ahs concluded that she is dyslexic - she is by all accounts a classic dyslexic so also has issues with her short term memory and she cannot process the phonic sounds correctly. the EP did do an IQ test but she didn't tell me the results of that but we will get a full written report in a couple of weeks. she did say that she will require specialist teaching. we have found a specialist teacher who is going into school for an hour a week which the school have allowed - her class teacher is also dyslexic. find it quite unnerving that every time I speak to the class teacher we have the class TA lingering in the background almost as if she is being a witness to what is being said? she is in a class of 10 and she is according to my daughter working with the year 3 kids rather than the year 5 kids ( the class covers year 3 - yr 6 - teeny tiny school) there is still no sign that the school will put her on school action/plus and no IEP either. to be honest im losing faith in the school, the class teacher keeps telling me the school will do all it can for her and I struggle to see that - however at the assessment the EP did comment on the report from the school that the school have put an awful lot of support in for her already - think its something like 6 hours support for her literacy - the report from school concluded that this is making much difference to her - hardly surprising if she is dyslexic as she needs different methods of teaching. not sure now if getting her an hours specialist teaching was a good idea as if she now improves it will be down to that rather than the school. its parents evening on Thursday so im sending my secret weapon in - my husband!!!

Yes I agree as well. This time last year I was in the midst of getting ready for tribunal. Now we have won the tribunal, he started at the independent day school in April and so far doing well. We've gone from no school attendance at all to so far only missing 2 days due to anxiety. It's still all a struggle for him but he is doing well. Just had his dla increased as well to hrc and we have also had an increase in his respite. Still a rocky road ahead especially as I can see a battle for post 11 and the LA trying to force him out of his independent school as a new free school due to open the year he would go into year 7. Elder sons annual review on Monday, he's gone from being level NC 2 to being on P scales he is in year 8. Plus my daughter is now approx 4 years behind due we think to dyslexia but school refuse to get EP to see her so next week she is being seen privately so although all is well in one kids life, life as a mum still as colourful as ever :-)

thanks sally - that is the plan now to wait and see what the test in 3 weeks reveals. one of the dyslexia peeps ive spoken to thinks as well she may have auiditory processing difficulties as well. im trying not to think about asd but may have my head in the sand on that one. she has always had quite poor eye contact and although quite a sociable outgoing girl she has always been on the sidelines rather than in the middle. I have found a dyslexia teacher who lives in the village she goes to school in and would be willing to go into school but its the cost of it - £150 per month is a lot of money to find. I viewed the nearest secondary school tonight and they made it clear - no statement no help whatsoever. she will be left to sink or swim and only if she sinks would they step in and help. wanted to run straight out of the school and scream. she has never had an IEP even now we don't have one but she has just been left to drift. current teacher did do the report saying how she is struggling so that's good plus the report from the dyslexia assessment as well will at least get me started on the statementing route - at least I now know where to go for experts!!!! I really feel that an independent dyslexia school would be best but they will involve boarding. there is one in the next city that is on the CRESTED website which is £10k a year in fees

i know not strictly asd but as I have two asd boys I think it might be all related. both my boys are statemented and in special schools. just as I was getting over a long year long battle with my LA my daughter has reminded me that she is still here! she is twin to one of the boys. after the boy won the tribunal to an indie school, the school he was at and where my daughter was fell apart for my daughter. it became clear she was dyslexic. school were not interested in her and she wanted a fresh start so moved her to avery small primary wth 20 kids in it - 10 in a class. it became clear that school had lots of concerns about her. they decided to put in lots of support and ifno progress come sept they would call the EP in. had a meeting with them and they now say she is 4 years behind - she is however not far enough behind to call in the EP as she would need to be 6 years behind. the school are being truthful here as I have read the LA policy on statementing etc and this is true. school did suggest that I could get a private assessment which will happen at the end of the month. I am expecting the report to finally confirm dyslexia - where I go from there I don't know - she is in year 5 but is the eldest so missed year 6 by days. although the LA the school is in has this policy she is actually in school out of county and the home county have no such policy. I feel she should be statemented but after seeing how hard it was to get provision for the boys I dread to think how bad it would be for her. also - dyslexia specific school - do they exsist for dyslexia only or do they have a mix of disabilities at the school - likely such a school would mean she would need to board so I expect I will have a full scale battle with the LA. she has no IEP, school are huffing and puffing about putting her on school action for some reason. however as each year goes by she is falling further nad further behind - school have put it in writing that their intervention has not worked and in fact things he had learnt she has now forgotten again - just wish life could be straightforward - even for just 6 months!

well after a weekend away by the beach and a honest discussion with DH i have decided that i am not going to complain. we have secured the placement we want and we both know that a complaint will get us nowhere and as we have 2 children with SEN our battles with the LA are still going to be ongoing for quite a few years yet. i am this evening going to put all of my files away into storage and up into the attic and that will feel like a weight in itself as i am fed up of looking at the piles of papers. we are now going to move forward and start the building work on the house which we put on hold and actually try and start to enjoy life for the next 2 years before my eldest then starts transition and youngest 2 (i have twins) start the journey of secondary placement. i am also due to start my law degree in october and want to start with nothing hanging over me. i want to enjoy this summer as after 2 years of fighting i can now take that step back. my best friend is moving to america next month so thats going to be a huge hole ripped into our lives so want to take as much pressure of as we can. whether i will regret it later down the line i dont know but feel for now this is the right decision for my family

I agree completely sally. I had school on the phone loads yesterday as he is struggling at the moment. It's early days and they are doing brilliantly with him and he has more support than he has ever had and yet he's struggling. Maybe it's just that the school are being completely honest with me and we are no longer just getting 'fine' Also I think you have also raised this in the past- when the LA EP assessed him just before the review he found nothing to concern him. It wasn't until our EP went in that the Lenny dropped. The LA EP knew the areas my son was strong in so just assessed those only so the results again made it look like there were absolutely no concerns. The outreach woman did the same. I was lucky that the head at my school was happy to stand up to the LA - bonus of academy status I guess plus his teachers as they had a supprtive head were also very vocal about his difficulties. I still haven't done the complaint. I found myself earlier realising that my children are now all settled after a lot of hard work from me. I'm no longer have anything to fight for. I trust each of my children's schools implicitly and all 3 are thriving. If I complain, I'm dragged myself back on the path for a full on confrontation with the LA where I won't change anything. At the moment, I have the upper hand and can hold my head up high and hopefully they will in the future be wary of me. If I challenge their past behaviour when the battle comes for secondary or post 16 they are much more likely to cover their backs. I actually don't want them to do that, I want them to make a c plate mess of everything like they did last time. So it leaves me in a difficult position. I'm off to the seaside this week so time for a Eric of reflection I think. I also have 2 other friends from cyber world who were amazed with your school and are currently about to start trying to get their children placed there.

My experience with the Inclusion officer very similar to yours sally. She just kept saying he was a mainstream child. They also didn't write minutes of the meetings either even when they increased his hours from 20 to 32.5. Kept saying no new needs identified and yet increased his hours. He was left with no education whatsoever from January until end of February. No one came near us. I don't know - half of me says just walk away, I've got the school placement but I was here the year before with my elder son and we had to use judicial review. The LA apologised to us verbally so we left it then and then bam - it all kicked of with the younger son and the LA made it personal i think as the got fed up of me trying to get them to do what I wanted so they took a stand. My DH is adamant. Should complain but I'm also tired of the fighting. All 3 kids are now happy and settled. My younger son is still having some wobbles but that's understandable as he's been out so long. But then if I don't complain the inclusion woman will continue to screw the next family over. Surely there is no way they can get away with being able to redact reports? Surely they must be held accountable for that, I had officers openly lie in meetings which I then made sure the comments were minuted. After getting tribal orders, it showed they were lying. It's just a mess but also I know if I complain I cold open even a bigger can of worms.

i think thats why i havent rushed to complain as the tribunal process is so draining i wanted to have a break and also concentrate on getting him into school. however i now know i will regret it if i dont complain. i fully expect for us to be ignored and be frustrated but they have done that to us for the last year so nothing really going to change on that front. i think the final thing was when my social worker came round after not seeing her all the time he was off school and i asked where she had been when she knew he was a child out of school and anything could have been going on. she said that sheknew he would be well cared for so no concerns. i then said how do i move on from feeling so angry about everything that happened, how do i deal with these people when i come face to face with them later when my eldest goes through the transition process - her reaction was that i just dont go to the transition events. by the little she said it was clear that teh LA feel as bitter as what i feel - she sits within the inclusion team so she would have heard everything that was said about me - the bit that really gets me is that the LA went for me - not my husband even though i did everything in both of our names. anyway going to get the complaint done and then this is all over and i can finally pack all the blooming paperwork away.

well its now been over 2 months since we won our tribunal on parts 2 3 and 4 and an independent day school placement. yesterday my son finally started school full time - the first full day he has done since june 2012. it has been a very lomg road and it feels strange now that i have reached the end. he has had to undergo a very long transition phase. he is still vomiting but is happy to go to school. he has had a few wobbles but they are being brilliant with him. he has gone from a mainstream school to a very small school. he is unable to cope with sitting in the dining room with 12 other children so eats his lunch in a seperate room. its hard now to beleive that he coped in mainstream for so long. i know that there may be other battles ahead - he is in year 4 and my husband feels there maybe another battle when he heads for secondary though hard to see where the LA can go as part 4 names a special school for autism and there is no other school around plus the statement is now worded so tightly. i now am about to begin the complaint letter to the LA about all the things that have happened over the last. not sure i will change anything but i need to have my say! he is also now goingt o have a re assessment by our social worker in light of the huge change in his needs so fingers crossed we may get an increase in our respite hours. once again a huge thank you to sally who was simply brillant - i dont think i would have got through this without her. her advice was invaluable - as i now begin my complaint i have all of the evidence in writing to back up each complaint so will be interesting to see them wriggle out of everything although im sure they will so now i have both asd sons in the right schools for them and my daughter has also changed school and is happy and settled. im sort of at a loss of what to do next!!! i have signed up to do an OU law degree in october - hasve found some inner confidence now after seeing off the LA solcitor and barrister and representing myself at tribunal. re read my tribunal paperwork last night and have to say i did a really good job with my case statements etc and legal arguments - now to go and do that complaint......................

Sally, I think I am going on a similar course in may and got excited thinking it could be the same one but just retread your post so. I not sure if it is. The one I am going to is in Nottingham in may. I am also going to start my OU law degree in sept and want to specialise in sen law. I am yet to do my complaint and I need to do it. My social worker came yesterday and my younger son is to have a new reassessment re his care needs so we may get more respite. He has now started his new school. On done 2 mornings so far but he is getting there and so far he is very very happy to go to school and we have had no vomiting. He is in a class of 3 children - the other 2 kids are just like him so he does have a good peer group. Another online friend has gone last week to view your school. She loved it and is now in the process of trying to get her daughter in there hopefully by may

i think i am still in fight or flight mode post tribunal as it was such a humdinger of a battle - i know i need to relax and chill but the dirty tactics used during tribunal have left me scarred and full of worry and doubt with my LA. in principle i think the new school is a good thing and could see my elder son there but by the time it opens i would not want to move him from his special secondary as he would be too settled there but if the go past 16 then i could indeed consider it. mad at myself really cos i blooming suggested it to the head that he should open a free school in my county and now he blooming well is trying. wheether it would be ready in 2 years is difficult to say and im expecting there would be some delays along the way

if your area which currently has no special schools, decide to open a free special school and your child is happy in an independent asd specific school, could the LA at a annual review try and move the child into the local free school? i have just won an independent asd school placement which is an hour away. now the LA have announced that they are looking at opening a free special school in 2015 - the exact time when my son should be going into secondary school so have a gut wrenching feeling that the LA will try and move him there as his secondary placement whereas of course I would want him to stay where he is. his statement states he needs an asd special school. the free school would be a generic school for complex needs children. im also guessing all therapies will be bought in by the NHS. the people opening it run a maintained special school in the next county that my other son goes to. maybe panicing over nothing as theres no guarantee they will be able to open it but just want to get prepared now for the next battle - my son has been in his independent school for two morning and here i am now plotting the next blooming battle!!!!

i didnt tell mine but then they barely spoke to me during the whole process from beginning to end

i will cancel it. what shocked me is how generic the appointment is - this will be the most basic salt appointment. he has already been seen by two SALT at his new school and they immeadiately saw his anxiety and were in total agreement with my independent salt report. i doubt the EP will come anywhere near - he said in the tribunal that he has never been to my school which i was very surprised about as the LA send quite a few children to the school. so far we have had 2 home visits from the school and joe has visited when the school was completely empty! we are taking him again after half term to meet his two class mates - only 3 of them in the class! then he will will only be part time 9 - 1pm alternatve days for about 2 weeks and then we will review it. its quite laughable that the LA are now getting upset that hes not in school fulltimne and there have been some very heated debates with the school as the LA put pressure on them for him to attend full time. the school have dug their heels in and said no - he has been out of school for so long that the transition will be at his pace. every member of staff who has now met him have all commented on how anxious he is. the journey to the school wasnt too bad - its about an hour. he seems very happy with the school. i also now think things happen for a reason - the other school i originally wanted i learnt yesterday that the head has already left the school as have quite a few members of teaching staff which is a worry as the school only opened in sept.

Had my tribunal in feb 2013 which we won an independent asd school placement. We are still awaiting for him to start as he needs a long transition due to being out of school now for such a long time. During the tribunal process we got an independent salt report. He hadn't been since for about 5 years. No salt report was obtained when he underwent statutory assessment. Our report said he had a dealy in his expressive language and other issues consistent with his asd ex. It recommended salt 45 mins a week plus a social communication programme. Report served on LA in good time for tribunal, we then at the last minute changed our school choice nd the LA then tried to use our salt report to get an adjournment. The tribunal said no, they had had enough time to get one if they wanted one and if they wanted to they could send my report to the nhs for comment. The LA did this and the nhs replied they couldn't comment as they didn't know our son. A few days after the tribunal the LA sent to me a referral for the nhs salt, the referral was awful stating that no one else had ever commented our son had salt needs. They accepted likely the tribu al would rule salt needed into the statement so report from nhs salt needed. We then won the tribunal and the salt was in the statement. The independent school have in house salt so it's part of the cost of the placement. The salt has already met him and has already indicated that the report we have is accurate etc and they will start a salt programme ASAP. Last week a got a letter from the nhs salt for an appointment in may - the appointment is at a children's centre and is just a generic salt appointment. It's not clear that she has any experience with asd kids. I don't want to take him as it means a whole day of school for him and nothing she is going to be able to offer will be as good as what he is getting at school now. However as the referral has been done by the LA I now don't know whether i should or if they could use my non compliance against me. I spoke to the new school and they feel that it would not be good for him to have a day off school when he's been out for nearly ahead and they are trying to do transition with him and for someone else to be seeing him when he has huge anxiety issues. The report this salt does will be so basic etc and will I guess be used to possible try and reduce any future salt input. I know I am battle weary from the tribunal and will never ever trust my LA again after everything we have been through but find myself unsure what to do for the best

Had my tribunal in feb 2013 which we won an independent asd school placement. We are still awaiting for him to start as he needs a long transition due to being out of school now for such a long time. During the tribunal process we got an independent salt report. He hadn't been since for about 5 years. No salt report was obtained when he underwent statutory assessment. Our report said he had a dealy in his expressive language and other issues consistent with his asd ex. It recommended salt 45 mins a week plus a social communication programme. Report served on LA in good time for tribunal, we then at the last minute changed our school choice nd the LA then tried to use our salt report to get an adjournment. The tribunal said no, they had had enough time to get one if they wanted one and if they wanted to they could send my report to the nhs for comment. The LA did this and the nhs replied they couldn't comment as they didn't know our son. A few days after the tribunal the LA sent to me a referral for the nhs salt, the referral was awful stating that no one else had ever commented our son had salt needs. They accepted likely the tribu al would rule salt needed into the statement so report from nhs salt needed. We then won the tribunal and the salt was in the statement. The independent school have in house salt so it's part of the cost of the placement. The salt has already met him and has already indicated that the report we have is accurate etc and they will start a salt programme ASAP. Last week a got a letter from the nhs salt for an appointment in may - the appointment is at a children's centre and is just a generic salt appointment. It's not clear that she has any experience with asd kids. I don't want to take him as it means a whole day of school for him and nothing she is going to be able to offer will be as good as what he is getting at school now. However as the referral has been done by the LA I now don't know whether i should or if they could use my non compliance against me. I spoke to the new school and they feel that it would not be good for him to have a day off school when he's been out for nearly ahead and they are trying to do transition with him and for someone else to be seeing him when he has huge anxiety issues. The report this salt does will be so basic etc and will I guess be used to possible try and reduce any future salt input. I know I am battle weary from the tribunal and will never ever trust my LA again after everything we have been through but find myself unsure what to do for the best

just wanted to say that i was in exactly the same position as you just under a year ago. we had an emergency review etc but ultimately we were forced into tribunal to get the school placement. everything sally has advised is exactly what you need to do. sally kindly held my hand as i fought to get the rights school placement and we did win at tribunal and secured an independent asd placement so it can be done - we also represented ourselves

there is also case law as well which stated that late evidence had to be served 5 working days before the tribunal so they are out of time on that as well. i will try and find the case name for you so that you can quote it - got it somewhere from my tribunal so will go and have a look. technically they should not serve anything once the 4 week before tribuanl deadline has passed but there are probably lots of us where we have experinced the LA try to admit it late.

What do I need to do? I have no idea where to even start. The LA response to tribunal was just a few paragraphs long which actually makes it seem harder as I have no idea what I am arguing against. The said they had consulted 3 schools but had no feedback since. Working document no where near finished and LA not agreeing a single amendment we have put forward. Last one I sent back as they had done it wrong and despite 2 emails chasing them , have yet to see sight of it again. Final submissions due 16th January soi really need to get on and do it .....

i had an ed psych report done - it did comment on his anxiety - he is currently in school part time and tribunal is next month bit whether it would be enough for you i dont know - could you maybe contact a couple and see what they advise?

thank sally and thank you for all of your help - time to put this all to bed so to speak. what i am concerned is that my OT cannot come to the tribunal - she is due to come in on 7th jan and do a follow up report. in light that the LA are not accepting nothing, will speak to them again. Alison has offered to come to the tribunal so i will see if she will do the follow up report and then attend the tribunal as i think i am going to need her. In january i will crack on with my costings plus will also sort out my school choice and get lots more in writing from them. the LA have yet to come back with any feedback of the 3 school they have consulted so think that will be a nice surprise in january unless they have done the letter today and it comes on christmas eve which actually really wouldnt surprise me. surely the LA have to agree to some amendments? they cant just not accept every single report? they have used very limited parts of their own OT report Have a fabulous christmas and new year. im going to try and now enjoy christmas as much as i can - not going to let it spoil the kids christmas then once we get to january its going to come at me very quickly so time to recoup and recharge those batteries

Recent reports from Occupational Therapists, May 2012, Sept 2012, indicate that Joe presents with a Sensory Modulation dysfunction. This will impact on his learning and development of fine and gross motor skills, independence skills and his academic learning above is what has been agreed in part 2

allof the OT recommendations are educational - they have agreed in part 2 that hes needs OT for his academics etc. they then just refuse to accept anything into part 3. everything is from reports and they have struck the whole lot out - pages and pages of it

yes i have the letter re the OT plus out of the blue they sent me another letter as they have been looking at sensory intregration and whether to buy it in and they have said no so it will continue to be unavailable even after a lengthy consultation process where my 2 sons cases were used as examples. i send the ed psych and OT reports on weds so they probably got them yesterday. also got the response from tribunal re the outreach question. they say it is a reasonable request and will help my case but as the LA have objected to previous requests tribunal have given them to 9th january to respond back my NAS helper has emailed me and told me to email them back and not accept this working document as the LA solicitor has done it in correctly. our amendments in bold they have changed to normal font and just struck through it all - theres pages and pages of it that has been struck out. they should just leave it bold so the tribunal can see who is amending what etc they said in the response to tribunal that all shoulds would be changed to will. in the first version they missed some of the 'shoulds' out so we changed them in the 2nd version but then in the one they have changed them back to should again!!! the final insult was how they struck through the name of my school choice :-( that leave his current school named as which we all know cannot meet his needs