Helen_1980

Yep, evoke the Data Protection Act. I forced the LEA to cough up my daughter's file this way.

I'm so sorry <'> If you think the tribunal failed to consider all the evidence you can appeal to the high court and get the decision over turned (this happened in the case of a child whose parents wanted him to go to a specialist school for children who have dyspraxia). Never give up!

My daughter is a passive type and it has meant that some people fail to understand the full extent of her difficulties. They think that she must be fine because she doesn't scream Currently she is home educated using ABA and we're hoping for successful school integration. It is a frustrating thing but there are so many stereotypical ideas about autism which make our lives more difficult.

My advice would be to consider that you may not be writing your representations for the recipient only (ie the LEA), but also a panel if you end up going to tribunal. So it's worth thinking about how you would want the "third eye" to consider your representations.

They will have a number of weeks to issue the final statement - I can't remember exactly (does it say in the code of practice?) I think you are doing exactly the right thing. I doubt arranging a meeting with them will do anything but give them a chance to start making arguments against what you will seek in your appeal.

It's not really for the tribunal to judge how it was that you got there and why, but to look at the evidence on the table and decide whether the LEA's provision is appropriate or not - and you can make your views clear without having to meet with them (which would give them plenty of time to resolve anything). But I agree there is a fine line and you need to look as though you have cooperated. The danger is that the LEA could use the meeting to score points. I think it depends on what you are looking for in the statement, and how polarised or otherwise your view is likely to be from the LEA's. If they are miles away from where you want to be then any amount of meetings are likely to be futile in my opinion.

Hmm, you know if I were you I would try to avoid that meeting. It may not help your case. I tend to think that meetings are waste of time unless you have good reason to feel that the LEA will shift their position. I can't see how it would help you really. It would be better for you to outline your preferences once you have the proposed statement - in an email or letter where you will not be in a position where you could say the wrong thing. That's just my view for what it's worth.

Have you lodged your appeal yet? I would suggest speaking to someone at IPSEA.

It may be that the LA would refuse to assess but in a tribunal hearing they would have to explain themselves if you have evidence of your son's needs. You would be likely to win. It sounds like you are banging your head against a brick wall with that school - have you thought about looking for somewhere better for him?

I am so sorry to hear you're going through this, but I have to say I am not surprised by the attitude that you have encountered so far. IEPs are unfortunately useless - your son will not get the help he requires without a statement. My advice would be to write to the Local Authority, requesting an assessment of your son's needs under the Education Act. If they refuse you can appeal to the SEN tribunal. If you have reports to back up your appeal and good expert witnesses you will have a good chance of success here. If I were you I would cut negotiation/meetings with the school/whoever else is involved. It is getting you nowhere and will only result in wasting your energy and making you feel more tired and more stressed. Look on IPSEA's website - they have a template letter which parents can use to request an assessment of needs. I would also advise you to have your son assessed by an independent Educational Psychologist who specialises in ASD if you can possibly afford it. You will then have evidence of his profile. In my own experience when the LEA EP does an assessment it usually isn't thorough anyway. Good luck - you CAN get through this, it's just often about finding a way through the red tape.

Hi, sorry - which bit of the Statement are you most concerned about? Have they not explained his difficulties properly in part 2? Are you happy with the provision or not? There should be provision to meet every on of his needs, but obviously this has to start with all needs being there in part 2.

Ah right - I thought it surely must be here somewhere!

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/sto...1833449,00.html It makes interesting reading and is consistent with everything I know about the unbelievable corruption of local government.

If so, can anyone point me in the direction of relevant literature on this?

Thanks for replies. I am finding it impossible to get through to IPSEA at the moment! I have heard of SOS!SEN - I went to one of their workshops on SEN and tribunals, etc.

I think in your position I would appeal, absolutely. The LEA will try to wriggle out of it for as long as they can. You are the only person who can fight for your son and get him the help he needs. You may find that it will help if you have recent reports that you have sought independently via an independent Ed Psych - then you will have something to counter the twisted reports from the LEA that your son has made progress, etc. You have to be able to prove your case and this can be done, so don't give up! Is your son unhappy with the situation? What does he say? I was going to suggest that if you were to pull him out of school and HE him until the tribunal it might strengthen your case because you could say that the school couldn't cope with him and the situation was psychologically damaging for him so you had no choice.

Hi - you can look at ours, by all means. We did ours quite recently. My daughter is 4 and has autism. If you send me a message with your email address, I'll email it to you if you like.

How do you start? Do you have to telephone them to get the appeal forms?

Good luck and well done! If they have agreed to a statutory assessment you are 90% of the way there in theory at least as the criteria for assessing a child is almost the same as that used to decide whether to write a statement. So if they do decide not to write a statement then you will have a much stronger case at tribunal, I would have thought.

I think you should look at the language you have used: "We do not feel that an EBD school is best placed to meet Louis's needs" The Local Authority is not required to provide the best provision but only what is adequate/appropriate. Therefore I would suggest that you write "We do not feel that an EBD school is appropriate for Louis". You need to make a case that your chosen school is the MINIMUM your son requires in order for him to receive an appropriate education. If you ended up having to go to tribunal to get what you want in the Statement the panel would be concerned with whether what the LEA proposes is appropriate for your son, and you would need to make a case that it isn't. The panel may see all of your past correspondances with the LEA and they will see that you feel your chosen school is what you think is best for him and may disregard your case on that basis. It's fine to want what is best but in order to play the game to your advantage you need to use the right language, ie - language that will also appeal to the possible third eye (the tribunal panel).

There is no way you should have to go back to tribunal - the criteria for a statutory assessment of needs and the criteria for a statement to be written are almost the same. Therefore the LEA should not be hinting that they intend not to write a statement. It's unbelievable actually.

And as for all this nonsense about parents leaving it to the supposed professionals, well as parents we are the most qualified experts on our children's conditions - they just try to leave you out because it makes their lives easier. EPs are not always experts anyway - certainly they don't have the expertise of a clinical psychologist - they are often just teachers with a bit of extra training. Our EP clearly knows nothing about classic autism since she seems to think my daughter will be able to learn language and social skills from her peers. LOL

I think that unfortunately some EPs do not act in good faith and it's best to consider that this may be the case. The EP who saw my daughter as part of her statutory assessment telephoned our private nursery behind my back and asked if she could come in and observe her. Luckily our nursery is great and will not allow them in because they know their intentions may not be good. I am sure this is not the case everywhere but you have to be cautious. Sad but true.

The US removed mercury from paediatric vaccines years ago (pre-2000) and the world health organisation recommended that its use should be discontinued. However, the UK decided to go on using it until at least 2004 (after it was removed following the publication of a study - the Columbia paper funnily enough). I am very annoyed about it because the mercury serves no purpose in making the vaccine effective - it is merely a preservative and has to do with cost effectiveness alone. My oldest daughter had these vaccines because I didn't know anything about it at the time. We have decided not to let our youngest daughter have anything and neither child will have any vaccinations because I do not trust the government to do what is in the interests of our children. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that no amount of mercury should ever be injected into a person, much less a tiny baby. Love of money is the root of all evil.

What would I change? Well if I could only make one change it would be this: that the organisation who assesses children and writes the statements would differ from that that funds the provision. I feel that if this happened the whole process would be less of a farce.