Help needed

[mum22boys]

Hi all,

 

I am in a big battle with M's school over his education.

 

M is 6, no diagnosis as yet but has been seen and we have been told he has features suggestive of him being on the autisic spectrum. Assessment is in April.

 

After constantly being told by the school M is doing ok he finally got a IEP put in place in October 2006. This was his 2nd IEP. The first was the year before listing social problems, role play etc. The second is problems with reading, writing and coping with changes in the school day. His reading and writing are poor. We have realised that the 'help to be given' on the IEP was actually no different from what other children were doing in the class. The things that appear individual to M he has no real recollection of doing daily as stated. Now either his memory is extremely bad or it hasn't happened. We are very worried and arranged for M to go to a private education centre last November to see if he could have extra help, paid for by us after school. They were brilliant and managed m very well in his initial assessment. It was decided he needed 1-1 lessons not 1-5 they usually do. Also as his attention span is not great it was decided to do it in 2 half hour slots after school. He started his tuition last week. His tutor is excellent and said in a couple of weeks she will be able to give me a clear idea on the level he is working at. In just two sessions she identified he has a problem hearing the ends of words. The school haven't mentioned anything about this but i'm not suprised really.

Anyway after being totally unhappy with the school i wrote them a letter this week voicing my concerns. I said we were concerned that he will not be up to standard to sit his SATS. He is no way anywhere near up to being able to read the text required let alone understand and answer questions. He is still getting to grips with the reception high frequency words. We mentioned no appointment being made for a revisit by the AA teacher which she was supposed to make in the autumn term and the fact that she neglected to tell us she had informed the Ed. pysch that he didn't need to assessed and was a 'maybe'. We made it clear our critisism was not on the teacher as we understand she has 25+ children in the class, more on the SENCO/Head who haven't provided extra help for him. Speech and Language and the ED pych said she should be holding social skill lessons for the children that need it. And believe me every time i see her she maks me feel that I shouldn't be complaining as she has x amount of other kids in key stage one just like M. So I asked in the letter if that is the case why does she not hold social skill lessons. M's teacher told me a week ago she was having problems with m in class and in the playground. The head just seems to brush it under the carpet.

Today i had a respose to the letter. She didn't answer any of my questions. More pulled the letter apart. She did not comment on any part of our concerns with his education but informed us the SATS were not 'sat' rather done over a few months. That was not our concern it was the inability we were concerned with of him being able to do the work. She made it sound like i had critised the teacher and made sly comment to me not passing on the tel number of the CDAC because she wanted to try to 'hurry his appointment' along. I never trusted her enough to give her the number as she lied on the DLA form which resulted in me having 7 months of hell getting him the DLA he deserved. He only got it once she wrote a true account of what was going on at school.

I sent a copy of the letter to the governers and also the education department. She has now asked to meet with us and recommended us contacting parent partnership. Will they come along to the next meeting with her? I am dreading meeting up with the head again as she twists everything and makes us out to be liars. It results every time in me getting upset when I leave.

I feel this is such a hard battle, any advice anyone. Please

 

 

mum22boys

[Karen A]

Hi mum22boys.Parent partnership appear to vary from one area to another.However in our area they are very supportive.It is worth asking them if they can go to the meeting to support you.Also write down a list of your concerns so that you can be clear about the issues.You could also ask a friend to attend to provide moral support.If the meeting with the head was unhelpful and it occured after your first letter to the school Governors then write anotherletter to update them.Keep detailed records of all correspondance.If you decide to pursue things with the LEA you will have evidence that you have raised concerns.Karen.

[Karen A]

Hi again.I just read your other post re Assessment date.If you have a date for the assessment then it is even more important to continue to push for an appropriate IEP and support-and to keep records.When Ben went through assessment last year we decided to ask for a Statutary Assessment.The school had not put in appropriate intervention.We had to do a lot of work to obtain a Statement when there was no clear evidence of intervention at School Action or School Action plus.Even if in your case you cannot get an appropriate IEP at least you will have evidnce that you voiced your concerns.Karen.

[pumpkinpie]

I think the advice to take someone with you is sound but I would meet with parent partnership first and see if you feel as if you can value their words. I t does vary in quality a lot, and some are very much driven by lea objectives than supporting partents.

You mentioned a tutor who was helping could you ask if she could attend as she knows your son and will provide professional clout!

It seems to me you are wanting Ieps that are timesclaed ie reviwed every 3 montths tt

[mum22boys]

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

I am going to contact parent partnership tomorrow. I have met the lady once before, she is very nice but obviously i need to meet with her regarding our problem.

 

It is not so much IEP reviews more often we want, more that he receives extra help where needed. The help on his IEP has been nothing different to what the other kids are doing. The two things that are specifically directed at him doing additionally he has no recollection of doing, which leads me to believe they were not carried out. His IEP review is at parents eve this week.

 

I will be thinking of asking his private tutors advice, difficult as he has only just started lessons with her, although they know the school is not supportive.

 

Thanks,

 

mum22boys

[Helen_1980]

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.

[mum22boys]

Thanks for your reply Helen.

 

How does it go requesting an assessment for M's needs when the school refuse to admit there is a problem? The trouble is she is very good at making us look like liars. She doesn't want problems in the school, she just wants good attendance and good key stage 2 SAT results. I don't think she would try to get any child in the school statemented as out of 321 children approx 50 have special needs, yet only 1 has a statement.

 

We are working against her and she doesn't like it so I don't know what would happen if we requested a assessment by the LEA.

 

I have written to the Education director sending him a copy of my letter. I am also considering asking OFSTED when the next report is due as I am sure it is way overdue. Any one know how often they should be done? Theirs was in Sept 2001.

 

mum22boys

[UltraMum]

Thanks for your reply Helen.

 

How does it go requesting an assessment for M's needs when the school refuse to admit there is a problem? The trouble is she is very good at making us look like liars. She doesn't want problems in the school, she just wants good attendance and good key stage 2 SAT results. I don't think she would try to get any child in the school statemented as out of 321 children approx 50 have special needs, yet only 1 has a statement.

 

We are working against her and she doesn't like it so I don't know what would happen if we requested a assessment by the LEA.

 

I have written to the Education director sending him a copy of my letter. I am also considering asking OFSTED when the next report is due as I am sure it is way overdue. Any one know how often they should be done? Theirs was in Sept 2001.

 

mum22boys

 

It makes life harder when the school doesn't see the problem - that's why it's a good idea to get an independent EP assessment - not cheap usually but then the school and LEA have to say why they disagree with them. Check - if you do go down this line - that they would be willing to go to tribunal to give evidence if necessary - some are willing to do the report but not to appear at Tribunal. The NAS did have a list of EPs on their website ...

 

I agree with helen that this is probably your best move in requesting an assessment - the school is getting no-where fast and at the end of the day it is your child's future they are dealing with. the SATs results!!!

[UltraMum]

NAS EP's - http://www.nas.org.uk/content/1/c6/01/07/8...ychologists.pdf

 

 

.... if you don't feel happy with parent partnership then you could contact IPSEA ...

Edited January 22, 2007 by UltraMum

[Helen_1980]

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?

[mum22boys]

Just to update.

 

I spoke to parent partnership, who have agreed to come to a meeting between us and the school. She has asked the head is we can initailly meet to discuss M's IEP. The meeting is in a couple of weeks time. I'm pleased it's not yet as i have time now for his private tutor to properly assess where he is academically.

 

We have also been invited to a meeting with the ed. pysch next week, which we are going to.

 

Thanks for the advice you gave.

 

mum22boys

[pumpkinpie]

Hope all went well with your meeting?