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Kathryn

Statutory assessment refused

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Don't worry unduly about the appeal deadline.

 

You can simply reapply if you haven't been to appeal as many times as you want....

 

An appeal will likely fail unless you have exhausted all other channels.

 

JonnyT

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Hi Kathryn and all,

 

I joined the forum today and have been reading all about the trouble you've been having with your LEA. I have had similar problems too.

My son is only six and has been out of school for 10 months :( following a fixed term exclusion. He never settled at school, and spent most of the time under a table or being told he was "naughty". You can imagine what this has done to his self-esteem. He was too petrified to go back to school, I couldn't even drive along the road his school is in without him screaming the place down. :crying:

Anyway, I knew that he was not just a "naughty boy" and pressed the school for an assessment of some kind. They did absolutely NOTHING to help and even "forgot" to tell the Welfare Officer about his absence, which could have landed me in alot of trouble. :angry:

He was diagnosed with ADHD in November and started on medication, which has calmed him down but has also accentuated his other problems with emotion and behaviour. Today we saw a community paediatrician who thinks he also has AS, which now i think about it would explain some of his "weird" behaviours.

I applied for a Statutory Assessment back in March, but was turned down due to lack of "evidence", even though i had included more than enough reports (which i paid for privately). They too said to me that my son's progress would "continue to be monitored" and suggested an on going "behaviour log" from the school. I don't think they even read the "evidence" that i had sent stating clearly that he WAS NOT AT SCHOOL!!!!!! :wallbash:

Finally, after re-submitting further evidence, along with quotes from their "criteria for making statutory assessments", they have agreed to do an asssessment.

Meanwhile, my son is receiving no formal education (his home tutoring was stopped as he tried to attack the tutor and it wasn't working anyway).

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM??? DON'T THEY REALISE THAT PARENTS KNOW THEIR CHILDREN BEST????

Loulou

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Hi loulou and welcome,

 

Yes our situations sound eerily similar :wacko: I'm glad you have finally got your assessment. It's a long hard battle even to get that far - did the school eventually support you in your request?

 

The system sucks. :angry: Parents are treated with contempt - the process should be much more transparent and open to scrutiny: there are too many decisions being made behind closed doors whilst the central figures in all of this, ie the children, are forgotten.

 

I hope you end up with a statement, it sounds as though you have a really strong case, keep us updated on how the assessment goes. What kind of educational setting do you think would suit your son best?

 

K

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Hi Kathryn,

 

My son's school have not been at all supportive. I've had to do all the work myself. Luckily i am a health care proffessional and my sister is a teacher so i have more access to "inside information" than some. Even still, it's been b****y hard work, and like yourself, many phone calls.

 

When i got the letter saying that the Statutory Assessment was going ahead, i was pleased, but when i read on, i was shocked to find out that these people, who did not even know my son, could make a decision about his life based on a few reports by people who have only met him once or twice! Crazy! The whole system needs changing.

 

Thankfully, they asked for a medical assessment to be done and we saw a great paediatrician who told me that her report will have a huge impact on my son's statement. She asked me what i wanted for him, and wrote it on her report. She feels that my son needs to be in a special school. The psychiatrist, myself and my sister all feel the same way. So hopefully, the LEA will listen.

 

I know that my son will not cope in a mainstream school. He hasn't coped since he started and that's why he's been off for 10 months. I feel that his school have just written him off as "naughty", and thay don't want "problem " children in their school.

 

Some days i feel optimistic and on others i feel like taking my son to the office at the LEA and screaming at them, "Look at him, can't you see?" I may resort to that, but fingers crossed they will listen.

 

Good luck with your daughter,

 

Loulou

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Hi Kathryn

 

I have today heard from my LEA that they will be issuing a Draft Statement for my son on the grounds that his needs are "Complex and long term"

 

He ran into some pretty horrible difficulties at a mainstream school and I asked the school to ask for Statotory Assessment of my lads' needs. Needless to say, they did not do this as, in their opinion, his needs were not that great. I asked if I could request it and the school told me that I could not. I wasted so much time because I was told lies by the school and I suspect because they did not want to lose the funding. Eventually, things reached crisis and I removed him from the school and took up a place at an independent school with excellent SEN support. He has only been at this school for one term and the difference is astounding.

Thanks to this forum and starting a support group, I discovered that Parents can make a request!!!

 

I did this, but hey what a surprise - I was knocked back as the LEA considered that his needs could be met at "Action Plus" and that they had provided sufficient funding to his old school to meet those needs. They also said that their opinion was based on the report from his old school. I got a copy of it - what a load of old c....p.

 

I had a meeting with the LEA and asked them to re-consider. I did a long representation letter and I pushed for Assessment on the grounds that his needs were "complex". Thanks really do need to go to Nellie on this one- "complex" seems to be the magical word.

 

It has been a long process - but we got there in the end.

 

Keep battering the doors and take strength from all the knowledgable and supportive members on this Forum.

 

Helen

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Hi Helen,

 

I've just seen your news on the other thread, but I'll post my congratulations again here :clap:

 

It's terrible what you have to go through to get there, it shouldn't be that way, but you are a lesson in perseverance. I hope you get what you want in your statement.

 

I have lost count of the lies I have been told. Thank goodness I can turn to people who have experience of the system like the folks on this forum. :) .

 

Lou lou I have had the same feelings about the assessment process. It is flawed and unduly bureaucratic. I had a really strange conversation with the parent partnership person the other day. I asked her who sat on the panel. She told me heads, sencos, Ed psychs from within the county. I said that it was hardly an independent process in that case and she explained that it was better that way as the members of the panel would have a working knowledge of the system and the provision available in the county. :wacko: I said that I thought the decision to assess had to be made according to the needs of the individual child, not the provision available. To which she had no answer.

 

How can it possibly be a fair process? :wacko: Turkeys don't vote for Christmas. I think somebody truly independent should monitor these meetings, and someone representing the interests of the child should be allowed to attend.

 

K

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Hi Kathryn & Lou Lou

 

During my travels, I am sure that I have been given the information that you can have a headteacher or teacher at the panel meeting. I think that this is so that there is someone who can speak up for you and your child if there are any points that are misinterpreted. I think that it is only them because of the confidentiality of the other cases that they deal with at the same time.

 

There is a possibility that I dreamt up this information!!! - but I am pretty sure that I thought it was a very potty, unfair and flawed system and like you was curious.

 

I will ask my Pupil Parent support person on Monday

 

Helen

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Helen, no I don't think you did dream up this information but many heads and teachers will not want to sit on a panel "on your side" for fear that it will compromise their standing with the county (??!!!??) They are very reluctant to do so. The only advice I have really is that I would never go into an appeal or panel hearing alone. I would always take someone who knows you well and your child but is, if possible, not as emotionally involved as you are and is able to be more dispassionate in their comments. as I said on my one other post I am new to this board and am working with asd children for some years, but I'm no expert!!

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I had a meeting with the LEA and asked them to re-consider. I did a long representation letter and I pushed for Assessment on the grounds that his needs were "complex". Thanks really do need to go to Nellie on this one- "complex" seems to be the magical word.

 

Helen,

 

I am so pleased this has worked for you. Sadly it's not working for all parents. Many are getting refused assessments and statements even when they are showing their child has complex needs. :(

 

Don't let this cloud your moment of glory, well done you for all your hard work and perseverance. :clap:

 

Nellie xx

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Dear Helenl53 and Katkin,

 

When you mean the panel meeting, do you mean when "they" discuss whether your child gets a statement and what goes in it?

Does anyone know whether you (the parent) are allowed to be present at this panel, or is it behind closed doors?

 

The LEA didn't really give me much information, only to say that my son may get a "note in lieu" rather than a statement. All i can say to that is they had better not!

 

Parents know the most about their child's needs.

 

Loulou x

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Hi LouLou

 

It is coming back to me now - parents are not allowed to attend - and it was because of the confidentiality issue. I wondered how on earth, people who had never met your child could decide on such a vital matter.

 

But the system, as explained to me was that:-

 

All the reports for the Statutory Assessment are called for and they go to the Review Officer at the LEA.

 

He or she will appraise the reports and using their own judgement, will issue a statement or a note in lieu. I queried the controls in place to stop either discrimination or undue favouring and was told that this is where the panel come in.

If the child has been given a draft statement, then they look at the evidence to ensure that a statement is appropriate and that it covers everything. They can apparently overturn an LEA officers decision to Statement or Note in Lieu a child.

 

I do wonder if this really happens or whether I was being given some comfort murmurings in the hope that I would go away!

 

Regards

 

Helen

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Helen,

 

Thanks for that. I think i'll give my "named officer" a call on Monday to see if i could send a representative who at least knows my son.

I sent a four page letter to them describing his needs, but I wonder if they will take any notice of it or just think i'm a neurotic mother!

 

Loulou

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Hi LouLou

 

I don't think that they are able to add new input to the proceedings, I think they are only able to ensure that there is no accidental misinterpretation.

 

Keep us posted

 

Helen

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Hi,

Am realising now how lucky we were that our paed is on the panel in our area. Not much help I know, but shouldn't panels include the professionals who make medical diagnoses of asd ?

Are LEAs laws unto themselves ? what a stupid question !!!

Wish I had the fight to start another argument with these people. Good luck to all of you fighting on the front line !

 

wac

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We have been refused statutory assessment recently for my daughter Laura and are at the moment preparing our case statement for tribunal. Nellie made a good point in a PM to me which I'm planning to use. As I've said in another post, Laura was awarded higher rate care DLA yesterday, so, by awarding this the government are saying my daughter has a severe disability and yet the LEA are refusing even to carry out a statutory assessment. How can they justify this? I think this might be a really strong argument for us. What does everyone else think? Do you think this could have any influence with the tribunal or do you think they too might get blinded by academics?

 

Lisa

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Hi Lisa -

These really are insane times we're living in, aren't they?! Glad Ben's assessment was done before all this rubbish started, and really feel for those in your position who are having to fight tooth and claw in situations that should be fairly straightforward...

As far as the DLA award goes, this is certainly worth referencing in your evidence, particularly if you can target specific identified 'needs' to specific gaps in provision that would be difficult to address without the kind of firm definitions offered by the assessment. I think that's the key throughout, though; to identify the problems, identify possible solutions and to show that those solutions are unlikely to be met without the statement...

Anything Nellie Pm'd will be on the money, so do that, make sure you've crossed all the I's and dotted the T's, and make sure they explain fully any decision they reach. If they can't explain it, it's not relevant, if they won't explain it, it's inherently flawed! Argue specific points - don't let them 'generalise' situations, because generalisations are more easily manipulated. Write down EVERYTHING!

Horrible, situation, and terrible that we have to be so cynical and mistrusting...

Very best with your tribunal.

BD :D

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