Help with special placements

[Annea]

Hi Everyone,

 

Our final statement for our 13 yr old wwith A/S comes in on Monday / Tuesday and after all communications have broken down with her present school and with their comments during the dis tribunal I have decided to make a move.

 

Our daughter has become more and more anxious over the past 12 months to the point where she has expressed 'not knowing how long she can cope anymore' and we are fearing for her health.

She had a back injury in school last wek due t the fact that she couldn't cope with some exercises but as the lesson was being taken by a 6th former who didn't know her, and dd couldn't say she couldn't do it, she ended up trying and hurting herself.

 

She had three days out of school last week, two the week before <mainly because of anxiousness> We just want her to be happy.

 

She has been assessed by OT, SALT and ED Psych and all of them agree she has huge anxiety problems as she can't cope with excessive noise, people and light, my main questions to all who have been through this fight is are their any thigns you wish you had done or i there anything that was particulalry helpful for your appeal?

 

We have been told that the LEA will state that she has managed to cope well with mainstream secondary for nearly 3 yrs and thats she can cope for another 2, and that our appeal will have to be based on her worsening anxiety... How many expert witnesses can we take to tribunal? Is it worth getting an independent Psychiatric evaluation?

I am going to fight hard for this as I think that she will not cope with more years of this day to day pain she is going through...

 

Any help including any articles or relevant research on anxiety within A/S would be very gratefully received.

 

Thanks again, you friends on here keep me sane much of the time, even when I'm not posting your posts help so much.

 

Anne

[Kazzen161]

If it is the final statement coming on Monday - have you already told the LEA that you disagree with the school named? Did the LEA not discuss schools with you at the proposed Statement stage?

[Annea]

Hi Kazzen the senior inclusion officer who is writing the statement has had very close contact with us, she is very aware that we will be appealing I suppose its her job to stay within budget so she feels she has to argue for dd tobe able to cope at mainstream, although at the last meeting it was very obvious that she didn't beleive what she was saying...

[Kathryn]

Hi Anne

 

You can take two witnesses with you to tribunal. It's always a good idea to have someone from the independent school, if you can, as they will be able to answer detailed questions about provision and costs.

 

An independent ed psychologist report is often very useful - some offer a package of report +tribunal attendance.

 

We faced a similar battle as my daughter had "coped well" with 4 years of secondary school, and there was little evidence on paper that she was failing academically. You will have to prove that your daughter's anxiety is a direct result of her AS and not due to some other reason. The LEA may try to argue that she is just depressed, and therefore it is a medical not an educational issue.

 

For an excellent account of ASD, anxiety and school, I can recommend "Martian in the Playground" by Clare Sainsbury.

 

K x

[Flora]

Annea,

 

I'm actually going through this very thing... tribunal in a few weeks!

 

If I win I will give you tips, If I lose I'll be able to tell you what NOT to do

 

Haven't time to go into it in great detail at the mo, but suffice to say at this stage, get as many independent assessments done as you possibly can and check out ALL the available options locally. You really do need to leave no stone unturned because if they can find a loophole, they will!

 

Flora X

[madme]

Join your local support group as you will find out from other parents what moves your LEA make! We won at tribunal and got our son a specialist independent placement first time around ( at primary level) based on costs- the mainstream placement plus ot and SAlt was the same as the specailist placment if we paid transport. The Head of the mainstream school came to tribunal and basically lied about our son's difficulties and anxieties. Second time around (secondary placement) we had a headteacher on our side and they backed down at the last moment. We had got as much evidence as possible - from his NHS Ot, His SALt, and his psych was great. We also got independent reports. Think we were lucky in that both the psych and Ot , although NHS based were in fact at a hospital in a different authority. There was therefore none of what might be called "subtle pressure" which I'm convinced goes on behind the scenes. Evidence is crucial. The more the better. So that even though you can't call all the experts ( only two can be called) and people writing the report there is as much as possible to back up what you say. Our Gp also wrote a letter. It was a war and we were determined to win. Flora good luck with the tribunal. Don't forget to take a photo of your child.

Annea try looking at the IPSEA website.

Edited February 3, 2008 by madme

[Kazzen161]

I agree that local support groups will give you the inside info.

 

You need to know what other options the LEA are likely to suggest (eg: mainstream with unit, LEA special/ist schools, which independent schools are most favoured by your LEA).

 

Do you have a particular independent school in mind? If so, you need to build your case to support that school.

 

You can only ask for a place at a school at Tribunal IF there is a place available for your dd at the time of the Tribunal hearing.

 

Is the anxiety hindering your dd's educational progress? Do you have evidence of this (eg:QCA levels)?

 

ACE used to do an excellent booklet about preparing for Tribunal.

[Annea]

Thanks for the info everyone,

Flora good luck at your tribunal.

 

We just had the final statement through today and it says all the way through about her anxiety levels and the ed psych has also stated that she is becoming more and more isolated from school and her peers.

 

Kazzen she appears to be doing well on paper academically, but was dropped a set in maths and the reason given by school was her anxiety levels so they have already admitted that it is affecting her education. But it is the social side more than anything, she writes a diary <her way of communicating her deep feelings with us>, and she talks about her feelings of isolation and desperation. She talks about not being able to cope much longer with pretending everything is Ok - it is a very worrying time for us.

 

The new IEP at school has put in measures to help her cope with the noise of crowds at breaks and lunch, but basically this means she has to stay inside all the time as she has been allocated a room to go to, she said herself she deos n't want to be locked away from the outside, just the nosie of it.

 

We heard today that the one local school with a satelite A/S unit is over subscribed and that it is a bigger school than where she is now, with about 70% of lessons occuring in main stream, so this wouldn't really solve her problem anyway.

 

She is now not wanting to go to school at all and it is a struggle to get her in, she has deveoped exema through the stress and has stress headaches all the time.

 

We do have IPSEA involved and I am also in receipt of legal aid so can access independant reports.

 

Thanks for anymore help that anyone can offer us.

 

Anne