SharonS

That all sounds promising. Good luck with the meetings next week.

Sorry, I haven't, but I have heard it is a very good school.

Maybe get in touch with the South Hampshire branch of the National Autistic Society http://www.shantsnas.org.uk/

Good luck for tomorrow. If you're not ready to hand over your written response tomorrow then don't worry, just tell them you will be sending it in the post. When you write to them make it clear that this is your response to the proposed statement. Don't know if this link has been posted previously http://www.sossen.org.uk/reports/Check_statement.pdf gives details of what to include in your response to the LA. If you want to see an example of a written response, we did ours back in January, PM me if you want to exchange email addresses and I can send it to you.

Don't worry about trying to name the school at the moment, just describe the type of school you need (if you can) - e.g. Small, nurturing school that caters for cognitively able children with high functioning ASD/Aspergers, SALT and OT fully integrated into school day, teachers with experience of teaching children with your son's needs, broad balanced curriculum differentiated to take account of learning styles of children with ASD etc. You said you have meeting on Thurs to discuss disagreements. I presume you have already put in writing your response to the proposed statement? When they issue final statement, they must attach your response to proposed to it - sometimes LAs seem to forget to do this.

And can I send that off with my appeal, or do I have to lodge my appeal, wait for date and then do the request for changes?

Can anybody help me, cathcart said above that there is a form on tribunal website to request expedited hearing, but I can't find it!

Thanks cathcart, I'll look that form up. It is so difficult to find an appropriate school in the right location. I know of schools that are 1 to 2 hours from here in every direction that could be suitable, but just too far away really. I am hoping the school we visit next week will be the right one for us because it is only just over 10 miles away, probably a 25 min drive. Have you searched for independent schools as well as the LA's schools?

Thanks Sally. We have seen a clinical psychologist at CAMHS, this is who did the ASD diagnosis, but CAMHS don't offer much after diagnosis although psychologist has been happy to talk through issues on phone with me. He will tell me verbally what he thinks school needs to provide for im, but they seem very reluctant to put things in writing or talk to eucation people irectly! I will talk to the psychologist again though. We actually listed the psychologist as someone we wanted the LA to get evidence from as part of statutory assessment, but there is nothing from him, so I should follow up with LA to see whether they even tried to make contact. The psychologist had put some recommendations at the end of his ASD diagnosis report and suggested a specialist school was needed, and yet LA still initially turned us down for assessment! We also saw a psychiatrist at CAMHS in the hope of getting this elusive letter! But his letter expresses his concerns about my son and says that there is a danger that his attendance will remain very low for some time and it will have an effect on his education, and that he suggests further educational assessment (this was at the time we were putting our appeal to not assess together). I probably need to get in touch with I'm again and try to get another letter. The LA's proposed school placement is mainstream with an integration package via Access to Education - so they seem to be saying that some integration/home tutoring is needed and that he won't just be able to walk straight back into school and yet the still don't get on and provide him with any education. Obviously I need to keep chasing and follow this all up. Just gets tiring when I'm also dealing with a child at home all day and am trapped in my own home and am having huge struggles with his sleep pattern etc. We haven't specified a name of a school yet. We have a few independent schools that we are hoping to visit soon and have sent all paperwork to them. It is likely that a Priory school for high functioning ASD/Aspergers is going to be most appropriate, and is also fairly local - we are seeing this next week.

Good luck cathcart. I do hope the LA back down. I think we were quite lucky that the LA backed down a week or so after we submitted our appeal and agreed to do statutory assessment. We now have proposed statement and are expecting to have to appeal when we get the final. In one of your previous posts you mentioned a form to fill in for an expedited hearing. Where did you find this form, or what do you have to do for expedited hearing? Did the LA ever agree to give your son home tuition or have they helped him in any way with an integration plan? My son's been refusing school for a similar length of time and has not had any education. It seems like LAs won't educate a child at home unless they have the exact magic wording in a letter from a consultant - and consultants don't seem to like to write that a child is unfit for school, and I suppose they're right because it's not so much that a child is unfit for school and more a case that they need the right school placement in order to access education! This is all such a difficult stressful ride isn't it. I know I sometimes feel like I just want to give up, and the longer my son's out of school the harder it's going to be eventually getting him settled back in to an appropriate placement - of course LA have recommended mainstream comprehensive, it's laughable. Have recently had an independent speech and language report done which really highlights his difficulties as well as his strengths, there's a huge gulf between these areas. Let's hope your LA backs down so that they can get started on the statutory assessment for your son ASAP.

I do have the names of some independent EPs that I know others have used, but I think they are all based in south-east or London. Let me know if these would be of any use. Cost wise, expect to pay about £700 - although some may be twice this. Sharon

Hi Teresa I would recommend giving SOS!SEN a call, this is a charity who give independent advice. They'll be able to advise on best timings for EP report and they should also be able to give you a name of an independent EP. www.sossen.org.uk I think it is normally recommended that you hold off on spending on independent reports until you are appealing, so that the reports are up to date for tribunal. So it would be a good idea to line up an independent EP for around the time you expect the final statement - 8 weeks after the proposed statement. If it turns out that they are not going to write a statement, then you'd want to book EP for as soon as you can ready for that appeal. You don't need to have EP report at the time you put in your appeal, you can say that will be sent in due course and you can also send in your own further comments on the EP report at that time too. Sharon

https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school - the answer to your question is here. You can leave school at 16, but then must be either in full time education, an apprenticeship or full time employment with part time education.

Give one of the helplines a call - either SOS!SEN, IPSEA or the NAS Education helpline. Also check their websites for info. Sharon

Hi madsadie I think you need to get some advice on your specific situation, either give IPSEA or SOS!SEN a call. I have used the SOS!SEN helpline and found it brilliant. Although you say your son's main problems are anxiety based, his anxiety may be an effect of underlying problems - perhaps relating to social communication for example and so maybe a speech and language therapy assessment is required. I think unfortunately the local authority have probably not done a thorough assessment of your son (as is often the case). Ideally you are going to need independent EP, OT and SaLT - as it sounds like you really can't do this then do get advice from one of the helplines about what your best approach is. Sharon

If you have a letter stating that your son is medically unfit to attend school at the current time, then I believe that the law states that the LA must provide a suitable education - if they're saying that they are only going to try with a home tutor 3 times, then they'd better have something else up their sleeve to try after that! It sounds unlawful to me and I would definitely bring it to your local MP's attention if that's how the LA are working.

Hi cathcart Sorry, I don't know anything about the pilot. Ideally you want the LA to now say that they've reconsidered and will do the assessment without going to tribunal. I would recommend writing to your MP and Area Education Officer (who is above the SEN Education people at the LA), and either your local County Councillor or the Leader of the Council. Send them your appeal and a 1 page letter highlighting that your son has been out of education since last Dec despite your best efforts as parents, that you have accessed the help available to you through the school and that your son's education is now being further delayed due to the LA's refusal to conduct the statutory assessment and that you now have to wait till Feb 2013 for the tribunal. Make it clear that he is obviously not making the adequate educational progress to which he is entitled by law. Also mention his deteriorating mental state and that the quicker action is taking the more hope there his for his future. Hopefully then these people might be able to give the SEN people a poke and make them see sense.

Hi cathcart3303 My 12 yr old son started a new school last Sept, then wouldn't go back after Oct half-term. Found a new school for Jan and stumbled through to Feb half-term - haven't managed to get him to go back since. We have seen CAMHS who diagnosed ASD (high functioning). We're also going down statementing route. Same as you, were turned down at the 6 week stage. We put our appeal in a few weeks ago. Also wrote to MP and Area Education Officer - this is worth doing. Have just heard back that they will now assess, so we won't have to go to tribunal at this stage. SOS!SEN helpline and their walk-in clinics were very good giving advice http://www.sossen.org.uk/ - helpline not open again till 6th Sept. Also the book 'Special Educational Needs: Getting Started With Statements' by Tania Tirraoro http://specialneedsjungle.com/welcome-to-the-special-needs-jungle/ is good and there is an example that is very relevant for children with Aspergers/ASD. Have you ordered a copy of the SEN Code of Practise: https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DfES%200581%202001 - you may want to quote from here in your appeal. Sorry my reply is quite brief, I think I am just so exhausted from the battle! If you want to know any more about my appeal then do ask.

So, we received the ASD diagnosis from CAHMS. They've offered no follow up support and now that they've diagnosed they've closed the case. The request for Statutory Assessment went to the panel yesterday. Phoned them today to find the outcome and they've turned us down. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that he's hardly attended the current school so they won't have been able to say much about him and also because he's refusing to go to school at the moment and the LA would want him in an education setting for an EP to assess him.

Thank you for the replies. Yes, Sally, I have mentioned the sleeping pattern to CAMHS but the psychologist did not think it was depression. My son definitely struggles with the social side of things. Clothes are a major issue too and there are only a limited number of things he'll wear out of all of his clothes, and certain things have to have tags cut out. Hair cuts too are a problem. We saw CAMHS psychologist again yesterday and he continued with the ASD assessment. Hopefully he will call me soon to let me know what he thinks and then he is planning to write a report I believe. Yes, the independent schools he was attending, we were paying for. The school has now written to ask for a statutory assessment. Should I also put something in writing to the LA?

Hello everyone, I'll try to keep this as brief as I can. I'm new here. My son is 12yrs old, Yr 7 at school. He always struggled socially at primary school and we struggled with his sleeping and behaviour at home. However, he got through primary school and did well in his SATs (he had an IEP for literacy and was taught in a smaller group for that and also attended a social skills group at times). For secondary we chose a small independent school that we hoped would suit him. He started there in September and seemed to make a good start, but he would not go back after Oct half term. He turned his sleeping pattern upside down and stayed awake all night and slept in the day. We saw a private psychiatrist while we were waiting for CAMHS referral and her diagnosis was oppositional defiant disorder and although she could see autistic traits she said he was not on the spectrum (this was based on a questionnaire we, as parents, answered and then she input this into a computer program) We didn't know quite what had gone wrong with the school, but it was a long drive from home, a long day and also they did a lot of sport, so we assumed it had all been too overwhelming for him. We found another independent school that was not far from us and was a more specialist one that catered for children who had struggled with mainstream or had various learning difficulties but were of average ability. My son started here in January. Every morning he would say he needed to sleep more, but we got him to school each day at some time. We stumbled through until the Feb half term, but after this he made it in for 2 days and then wouldn't go again and hasn't been back. The only reason he gives is that the other children ask him where he's been if he is late or misses school. He has also gone back to staying awake at night and sleeping in day (although during Easter hols he did sleep more normally and we were able to go out during day) We have now had a few appointments with CAMHS - all very slow going. The psychologist is doing an ASD/Aspergers assessment and he is quite convinced that this is what it is - however the diagnosis is going to be tricky because my son mostly answered 'I don't know' (e.g. to questions like 'What makes you happy'). The psychologist is going to continue with the assessment next week. At the moment the psychologist's point of view is that a specialist ASD school is needed and that my son has just found the social demands of secondary school too overwhelming. He also does not agree with the Oppositional Defiant Disorder diagnosis. We have also involved the EWO - my son barricaded himself in his room when she came to visit! CAMHS are also going to talk to her. My next step is to apply for a statement. I have seen a suggested letter to use on the Parent Partnership website. The letter looks fairly simple. I'm just not too sure what wording I should use for my reasons for applying for an assessment and how much detail I need to give in this first letter. can anybody give me some advice? I'm finding this a very difficult and confusing time. Thanks, Sharon