JenRose

Had a phonecall from consultants secretary telling me that she wants to come and see dd in the home in july. yikes.................................. we think its because we paint such a different picture of her than nursery do, nursery say everythings fine blah de blah and lie their heads off at sendist tribunals. they have insinuated that the problems are at home. which in a way is good because at least they are giving us a chance to let them see dd as she really is. also the consultant who is coming is the one who "eventually" dx,d ds with PDD so she knows us. im just a tad nervous though about it, has anyone else ever had a home visit from camhs?

asking me would i be attending a meeting today at 12.30pm. so i said no unfortunately i cant make it, and i asked about the evening meetings they used to have and she said well yes theres 2 but we thought it might be better for you if we had one in the day. ???????????????????? so ive stopped being invited to the evening ones for a couple of months now and got this invite last week for today, but all my friends go to the evening one so i dont see why i should go to the ones in the day. she was extremely nice, i was surprised cos usually she,s very very sarcastic and negative towards me. the cynic in me wonders if the lea have been on to her and asked her to try and talk to me as the relationship with us and them is at rock bottom Dave thinks they are panicking over the pictures yesterday and are trying to soothe things before we kick off.

yes they do lie unfortunately but i hope the panel saw through them. one thing ive remembered the chair askin us twice was the mainstream school that dd is due to go to, was that our choice , we said yes and he asked again, then he said had we thought about a special school and we said no. dont understand y he asked us that.

thanks pp. im feeling very i feel like we,ve let her down, i keep thinking i should have said this and that but it would have turned into a slanging match. dave said the LEA SEN manager kept sniggering and giggling to herself and he was very annoyed, i had to keep patting his arm, he was shaking. he was so angry when we came out that he said very loudly someone needs a shave, - told him off for it. i thought he was going to burst into tears at one point when they were saying such lies about dd. i dont know where i got the courage from to tackle the ed psych, i cant belive i challenged her! our psych was amazing, he really was, he sat there while they were ripping him to bits and going on and i could see he was annoyed and i wrote on my notepad blah de fXXXing blah and it made him smile, out of the 3 of us i was most calm and i thought id go to pieces. they did say a number of times "do you not think you should have explained xx and xx to the parents"? but the chair asked me had i observed dd in nursery cos they were saying how well she was doing and i said no and he said why and i said i didnt think i could. one of the panel had to explain percentile to me cos its never been explained, i did pull the psych over her report though, i asked her why she couldnt have phoned me or dave and talked it through and why it was unsigned, she said there wasnt time and it was emailed. i am really upset with the senco she just blatantly lied, dd has at times spent all day with her as she,s been too upset to mingle with other children and she denied it. our psych kept my spirits up though cracking jokes and making me smile but he was very shocked when he came out and said he,d never seen an ed psych allowed to give evidence on a last minute rushed report.

Hello well we are back. It didnt go as well as we thought. First of all the LEA included the photos of dd when they promised us that they wouldnt. The panel rejected their record of acheivement saying they didnt think it was relevant. They were critical of me and Dave saying it was obvious that dd has made great improvements and that we should be proud of her ! i said we ARE proud of her, but we cannot deny that she has some difficulties. The SENCO lied and said dd has been getting no support and has stopped crying last december when she was dropped off which i challenged and said she did it last thursday and she said oh well i wasnt in-SHE WAS. They let the LEA SEN manager rip our psych to bits calling his reports and questioning his dx, the ed psych said she saw no signs of an ASD and wasnt sure what tests our psych had done, she said dd doesnt show the behavioural problems in nursery that we talk about so i thought no thats not on. so i asked to speak. i said i know dr XXXXX says she sees no signs of an asd and behavioural problems, but my son was at school and people were saying the same, then he got dx,d with AS, just because a child doesnt show signs of it in school doesnt mean its not there. she immediately said Well it could be that dd is dx,d in say 3/4 years time im not a diagnostician. the panel asked the senco what help dd had been receving since she started nursery and she started spluttering and said "ask the parents" he said no im asking you, she said well i wasnt involved with her til she was 3 (lie she came to all meetings from when dd was 18mths old) and he said well you have all the documentation there, so i took over cos she couldnt say , she then said parents requested that dd stay in the baby room instead of moving up and i said ere no we didnt. such lies, unbelivable. i did feel that we were on trial and that they had already made their mind up before we got through the door. our psych said to us when we were having a break, lets wrap it up and go you are banging your head against a wall in there. he was very shocked and said no way should they have allowed the ed psych to comment on her report only done last thursday. they ripped him to bits, he gave as good as he got though. They did question as to why dd was in education all day-was that an education need and the senco said she wasnt sure, it was the headteachers decision, so he said well you are deputy head so must know and she said they had the builders in last week and thats why, so i said yes but this has been going on since march. he kept saying they have to weigh up the fact that dd has made such progress in nursery against the fact that she,s going to school in september but that they thought her needs which were toileting and possibly speech could be taken care of by medical people and by a teacher/LSA. so no i dont think weve won it but at least we did our best for her.

Aw Thanks! am just about to set off will be back on later to let you know how it all went. jen x

im calm. ive put away my tribunal papers, ive done enough now. our indpendent psych has just emailed me to say his statement and notes are ready and so is he!!! he says its going to be a breeze. DH has treated me to some lovely body shop goodies, ive got some new moisturising day and night cream, peppermint foot lotion and scrub, moringa body butter,perfume and lovely warming mineral mask which im going to put on and chill with and some new mascara and a lipstick. isnt he a darling!!!! it was their email that upset me, but then it was designed to, making me out to not be caring about dd when thats just rubbish, i dont know how these people sleep at night they are so devious and nasty sometimes but never mind................... some other good news is that mikes independent school have asked the lea to let their ed psych come in and perform some cognitive tests on him, now his anxiety has gone down they want an accurate IQ because they want to know if there is more they can be doing, also his key worker and teacher both phoned me on friday and said they cant 100% confirm it but they think he,s going to get level 5,s for his sats and maybe a level 4 for literacy!!!!! not bad for a boy who wouldnt come out of his bedroom for months and didnt go to school for 2 years!!!! im so proud of him, we are going to buy him a nintendo WII for all his hard work, cant wait to see his face!!!!! thanks again jen x

one thing thats confusing me is that theyve sent in this big IEP, apparantly its been running since the begin of sep 07. well we,ve never seen it and its not signed either so what could be the relevance of this? why send an iep if they say they have no concerns re her SN? dont get it!

i honestly thought they may have dropped out today like all the other 3 times but no. i dont know why im upset, i know we have a good case and an excellent Psych. this afternoon i received a reply from the lea about our complaint over nursery putting dd in education all day when we were paying for a daycare place in the morning and education is free in the afternoon. she says most parents view it as a positive thing that their child is going into education and just cos she has been going in there doesnt mean she has been receiving extra help, but they wont tell me what they have been doing with her or what days she was going in. i know they sent it today to stress me out and theyve succeeded. im not accepting their excuses though cos we signed a contract and have been paying nearly 100 quid a week for a daycare place when she,s been getting educated in the school bit all day. just rambling and feeling sorry for myself.

thanks smiley. have a query if anyone could help as im just rechecking all my notes. lea say dd wasnt known to them until oct 07 when we asked for a stat asess. but ed psych and ASD Specialist teacher have been involved starting march 07 when they visited her in nusery, so surely this must mean that the lea would have been aware? thanks

oh yes, this is permanently highlighted in my COP with a big pink sticker at the top!!! its on page 49, paragraph 5.27. i threw this at them in a meeting a couple of years ago when they said they couldnt accept what our private psych,s dx of ds was. there was silence in the room, when we came out our psych couldnt stop laughing and said "i think you got them there" and his dx is on ds,s statement right at the top where it should be! ive got the COP out all day checking it for the hearing tomoz so if you need anything else just ask and ill keep looking throughout the day. jen x

thanks freedom, so sorry that you are having to go through it all again. had a meeting with our independent psych today. he took one look at the ed psych report and said wheres the signature, i hadnt even noticed she hadnt signed it! same with the speech test, its not signed. he said what they have done is really bad and the panel wont accept it and will probably be not impressed at what theyve done. strongly worded letters are going to the chief exec after the hearing, asking why the hell this has been allowed to happen and asking for another ed psych to be appointed as we have no confidence in the current one. he said he cant believe they are going through with is cos they are going to show themselves up really bad.

went to pick up dd before, was handed a copy of an asessment that the ed psych did on her yesterday. presume they are taking it to the tribunal hearing on tuesday, so i phoned sendist and asked them what i could do about it and she said voice your objections at the hearing and it will be up to the panel to decide whether or not they include it. i cant beleive them, they have had all this time and they decide to do an asessment 3 days before? doesnt make sense.

thanks kazzen

thanks flora for your advice thats really helpful. am going through COP and it says perceptual and motor skills, not sure what that means or how it relates to dd. could anyone advise thanks

just found out that IPSEA wont be coming to the tribunal on tuesday. was going to go through all notes with the rep on tues morning and she would help me prepare my case but now thats not going to happen. so, its lea have refused to asess dd. her SN are: Speech and Language difficulties Incontinence difficulties (she,s not toilet trained) she,s being assesed for ASD at the moment Hemiplegia, which causes her to stumble and get tired quickly mild hearing loss ed psych from lea hasnt seen her since last july,but last week a SLT carried out an asessment on her, we knew nothing about this and the report is not signed. theres an iep thats supposedly been ongoing since september that we,ve never seen or signed. their ed psych disputes that she is ASD but does say she has a speech problem. the nursery blame us for the fact that she,s not toilet trained which is laughable cos i would have had social services on my back. our independent psych says PDD-NOS and she does have a a language problem. we have a letter from her paed saying she has incontinence difficulties and is going to require help and support from school. im worried cos the senco from nursery is going, and she tells lies and has told different people different things about what dd can and cannot do. thats about it really, if anyone can give me some advice id be grateful.

oh guess what. headteacher was locked away in her office this afternoon, so i stood outside it, she saw me but ignored me. so i went in to her secretary and asked her had she left any paperwork for me to look at as per my email of yesterday and she said she would check. she came back and said unfortunately the headteacher hasnt had a chance to look at any emails today, she,s been so busy, she apologised, so i said ok and went. so about 10 mins after that i emailed the exec director of the council and attached the photos, the report and the iep that we knew nothing about and asked him to explain. i told him we find the schools/SEN managers actions very serious and we intend on taking this matter further if a full satisfactory explanation is not given. i said to him, i dont need to remind you im sure that my daughter has hemiplegia which is a form of cerebral palsy and at times is very unsteady on her legs and this can cause her to stumble, why she is standing at the top of a climbing frame with no adult near to her shouting for attention (as per the notes accompanying the picture) is both irresponsible and is putting her safety at risk. so he,s replied back and said he,s noted the contents and a member of his staff is looking into it.

i phoned the sen manager yesterday and asked on who,s authority were pictures of my daughter sent to her department. she said "I ASKED FOR THEM TO BE SENT, YOU ASKED FOR THIS TRIBUNAL AND WE ARE ALLOWED TO SEND IN LATE EVIDENCE" quite arrogantly, so i said yes but you didnt ask us for our permission for photos that we have not seen to be sent to yourself, thats quite serious dont you think, this is a breach of confidentiality. she started spluttering and she was getting angry on the phone, so i said well i dont want to argue with you about them, we will save it for the hearing on tuesday, she said oh the panel wont want to know about permission for photos that will get in the way of the hearing, so i said well we are bringing it up anyway. then i asked her who carried out a speech and language asessment on dd last week, she said she didnt know and to check with nursery. so i said well we havent been asked or given permission for any asessments to be carried out and suddenly one just turns up in your late evidence, with no supporting evidence to say where the scores came from. she told me to ask the nursery, so i have, ive emailed the headteacher and asked her for a copy of the test and also a copy of our written consent allowing photos of our daughter to be sent to the lea. so we shall see what happens in a bit.

its getting curiouser. yesterday i told the lea that i didnt want any photos of dd included in their late evidence. this morning i got a copy of their late evidence that they are sending to the tribunal. also a letter dated for today which says Dear Mr and Mrs JEnrose We are writing to confirm that we have sent late evidence to the sendist tribunal hearing scheduled for 20may. blah de blah. now, surely they should send me a copy of the letter they have sent to sendist giving their reasons why its gone in so late, cos i had to and sendist told me that i had to send the lea a copy of it as well. so have they sent the late evidence or not? then 20mins ago i get an email from the SEN Asessment Manager, to her colleague talking about "arranging visits" and when did the papers go. so she,s either sent it to me on purpose trying to psych me out or she,s made a mistake. strange

they.ve never accepted that she has hemiplegia because "but she can walk,run and climb" as can many children with the same condition. the fact that she wears piedro boots, sees a physiotherapist and a written dx from her paed doesnt matter to them. the nursery is all one level, no steps so yes she must look like she can manage very well, but if she walks on an uneven surface of has to climb up steps then you can see the difference, she also gets tired very quickly and sits down which they probably havent realised. she only has 2 months left at this nursery then she starts primary school, they said in their appeal papers that they understand that we are anxious about how she will cope at primary school but that they want to monitor her first. well its not good enough. plus the fact that she,s been spending from 9am to 3.20pm in education instead of daycare in the mornings.

yes thats correct, although paeds letter was dated last november so they could say that they have been training her since BUT we were assured in writing by the head of SEN that no toilet training would be done without our consent.

sorry just to add i just phoned sendist, they said if we object to any of the leas late evidence we have to do that on the day.

never seen the iep, it is wrong info in it as it says she is showing responsibility for her toileting needs. she,s not yet toilet trained and we are waiting for the camhs psychiatrist/paediatrician to investigate if its down to just physical or emotional or both thats stopping her from training. also, the iep is not dated, it doesnt have our signature on it cos we,ve never seen it. 2 of the photos i find distressing. theres one of her in front of a block of bricks, she,s filling her nappy and looks like she,s just been placed there. i definately dont want that to go as that is upsetting to see. the other is of her at the top of a climbing frame, now she has hemiplegia and can be clumsy at times, she can climb well and she can run although she often falls, BUT there is noone with her,next to her and the writing says dd is at the top of the climbing frame shouting to staff to look at her climbing. i find that quite frightening and dh has gone ballistic saying who,s looking after her and watching her. so i dont want those 2 pictures sent, i dont see why they have to include pictures anyway.

yes a while ago so i dont understand why she,s asking permisson to send them as im sure we signed something a while back to say it was ok to use them for educational purposes. the other thing is she,s sent them to me by email and at the bottom are a number of IEP,s. now there were no IEP,s in their papers for the appeal and we,ve not been told about them or signed anything to say whether we agree or not, so suddenly cos they have a report from the independent psych who has carried out proper asessments of her IEP,s magically appear that we know nothing about. not sure what i can do about those.

telling me they want to send late evidence in and it includes photos of dd in nursery, some on her own and some playing with other children. she said the record of acheivement shows how far she,s come and how well she,s doing so i said thats fine cos we are taking a picture of her on the day anyway. she started stuttering and said do i not want to see them first and i said ok then, so she said she will come round to the house today to show them to me, so i said please dont make an unecessary journey you can email them to me or ill pick up a copy from nursery she said the hotmail server isnt working, (it is cos ive just emailed someone) i asked her did she have a date for the ed psych going in this week as dd wont be in tomoz as she has an appointment, she said she didnt know but would find out for me and phone me back. she offered to "talk through" what goes on at the hearing and i said no thats fine this will be our 4th so we know what goes on thanks anyway, she said oh is it and i said yes we had 3 with ds he,s in x/xxxx school and she said yes i know. now doesnt she also have to get permission from the other parents of the children in the photos to send them to sendist? and why is she so bothered about me seeing the pictures anyway?. also we wont have time to respond to what the nursery are sending in as late evidence now cos it will pass the 5 working day timelimit which is tomorrow. what are they up to? the sen asessment manager is willing to make a housecall to show us photos? curiouser and curiouser