Here we go again

[JenRose]

Got a meeting on monday at the school that the LEA are hoping M will eventually attend.

 

There will be us, private psych, Someone from LEA SEN dept, EWO,head teacher and inclusion manager.

None of the old horrible staff will be there as that school has now closed.

 

We are not willing for M to go back into school without a 1-2-1 support assistant but i am mindful of the fact that as he doesnt have a statement yet that they could say no.

 

Question i wanted to ask was do some children get a support assistant without a statement because if so i want to be able to tell the LEA that i know this to be the case.

 

Thanks

[Flora]

Jen

 

My son doesn't have a statement but he has 1-1 support. A TA meets him at the door in the mornings and is with him until I collect him at lunch time. He also has a modified time-table; no games, PE, music, performing arts or assembly. He has a home/school communication book which is written in almost daily by the TA. All his homework is written down for him in his diary etc. He finishes school at lunch time.

 

All of this was hammered out earlier this year when I was fighting to get him a statement. He ended up signed off the sick by his GP due to stress at half term and didn't go back to school until he started secondary this September.

 

Good luck with your meeting

 

Flora

[JenRose]

Thanks Flora thats brilliant!!!!

 

M hasnt been in school for a year now, he is signed off sick due to anxiety/stress.

 

We are hoping that he will get back into school eventually but as we have only just won the tribunal to get the LEA to assess him i dont know what they are willing to offer him in the way of support, probably nothing if i know our LEA.

[Jericho]

My eldest son has no statement but had a 1:1 LSA during his first year of school. The 1:1 only stopped because it was no longer needed.

 

Good luck for Monday.

[smiley]

Jen -

 

My son's been very lucky (and his mummy is very persuasive! ). We are going through the statementing process now - but he has always has some kind of 1-2-1 help thorough out school (he's in Y3 now). Yr and Y1 support was given by a TA trained in ASD - she was for the whole class, but mainly focussed on my son. Y2 and now Y3 - he has full-time 1-2-1 support, differentiated curriculum, workstation, visual timetable/reminders.... As i've said, we've been very lucky - but it IS possible without a statement. I'm going through the statement process now to ensure the correct level of support will be available to him in years to come.

 

Hope that helps xxxx

[invent 10 things b4 breakfast]

Jen,

 

Question i wanted to ask was do some children get a support assistant without a statement because if so i want to be able to tell the LEA that i know this to be the case.

 

My son had 13 hours a week 1-2-1 support when he started school, he did not have a statement, infact the school actively tried to discourage us from filing an MDA because he may end up with less hours, as it was we went ahead and got a 20 hour statement. I think that was what the school was afraid of because they knew they would legally have to provide more support.

[bramblebrae]

Hi we're in Scotland so I know things statement wise work a little different. My son is allocated 121 support for 4hrs a day covering break and lunchtimes. He had no support in P1 5-6 yold then was nearly excluded. Asked school to apply for 121 for P2 (6-7yo) starting the school refused to reapply for 121 on the basis they had applied at beginning of P1 and been refused and nothing had changed! So I phoned ed pysch directly and said without a RON(record of need -as it was called now a co ordinated support plan and much harder to get!) how could I contest the fact he wasn't given 121 support when I felt he needed it - she explained how I could and their was a path I could go down if it came to that but then she agreed to apply for the 121 herself and 2 weeks later :) She only hovers in class mind you and does help others too but then I don't think he would want her glued to him however I am not happy with the stand off approach at breaks except for the actual eating time during lunch as he has eating phobias so she does sit with him then, but she tends to watch from a distance they say though how you can play skipping with a group of girls and watch a very active 7 yold I don't know, as I view it do b####r all for him when outside, the schools excuse is the get funding for 1 playground assistant for a school with >300 kids and all the staff are out there to help all the pupils and they do keep an extra eye on him and all their other SEN children. His review is coming up on Oct 26th just after the holidays which started up here today btw so I am going to try and ask for more intervention and help to socalise at break times as he may be having fun chasing every and any girl or boy who runs away from him but I feel the other kids just laugh at him rather than play with him even if he is oblivious to it just now they need to develop his break time skills for the future - I intervene when play goes this way at home so I think they should too. or maybe I'm just to overinvolved and wasting his fun lol

 

Sorry I digressed yet again - I hope the meeting goes well and he gets the support he needs - good luck

Lorraine

 

ps another slight digress -thing that gets me is she(the pupil support assistant - they are now calling them up here) wouldn't even be working there if I listened to the school and just settled for no 121 support!! - they didn't need her but now they really do - yeah for everyone else!!

Edited October 7, 2006 by bramblebrae

[JenRose]

Hello, had the meeting it was quite positive.

We are dealing with brand new staff and a brand new school are are very positive and sympathetic towards DS.

 

Started on a bad note as they refered to him as a "school refuser" to which i said immediately "he isnt a school refuser, he has AS and he suffers from extreme anxiety"

The SEN lady said they didnt have paperwork saying that he has AS and who dx,d him to which our psych said "i did a full assessment of him and he fits the criteria for AS"

they said they would only accept an NHS dx.

So i got my special educational needs act out that i had ordered from DFES and read to them the bit where it says they must work with outside agencies other than NHS, Social Services etc and they were shaking their heads andi said Mr XXXXXXXX is an outside agency and the DFES guidelines are that you should work with him, so the SEN lady said "well ive only been doing this job for 2 years and this is something that ive not come across before but i have never written a statement that doesnt have an NHS dx before" so i told her that i would be contacting IPSEA as i believed her to be wrong and she shut up.

 

Our psych has told us not to worry about that and to leave it to him to sort out, he is going to get in touch with DS NHS Psych and ask her to write a letter agreeing with him, he is confident that she will.

So,

 

This thursday me and DH are going into the new school to be shown around and take pictures,

Next Week DS and me and DH are going to be shown around after school has finished.

Then its half term.

Then the learning mentor is going to visit our house to meet DS

Then we are going to attempt to take DS into school with myself and his tutor.

 

Then we are having another meeting in Nov to discuss the next stage.

 

We are stalling them, as he has not yet been assessed and they have already told us that they dont have any money for a 1-2-1

 

So thats the plan for now.

 

I feel quite positive oh and also in the meeting was a teacher who taught DS 3 years ago who is now working at this school and she is lovely and DS really liked her and was sad when she left, she said she will help to show him around the school when he comes in for a visit.

 

But im not happy at them refusing to accept a dx from outside the NHS, our psych said that they try this on all the time, dont know what to do about this really but psych has said he will sort it out, hope he can

[JenRose]

bump

[smiley]

Hi Jen,

 

I did read your post - sounds like things are moving along - all be it very slowly. I've no experience of a dx outside of NHS, so i can't help you with that one - (the psych sounds fab tho ). The school saying there isn't enough money is really not you or your sons problem - if he needs support, there are ways the school can recieve extra funding for him <'> . Maybe that's where the dx comes in??????? I'm really not sure - i'd have thought a dx is a dx, regardless of it coming from NHS or not .

 

Keep going, your doing great