LEA and their games

[Stardust]

Hello everyone!

 

I've been a lurker for years so I thought it about time I "properly" joined in.

 

My son has AS. He has been out of school for over a year now. He has had his second breakdown of clinical depression due to mainstream. He is currently receiving 8 hours home tuition and even that I had to get a solicitor to fight for.

 

I applied for a Statement for him in Year 4 and was turned down by the LEA as he was "too academically able". I did not understand the system then and thought "oh well" and we soldiered on. The school he was in could not manage so they used their own funds and got him a 1-1 for full time school (lunchtimes, breaks included).

 

He transfered to secondary school and we had high hopes. My daughter had been through the school and they were, in my opinion, a very good school. Unfortunately the cracks started to show in the summer of Year 7 for him. By the start of Year 8, he was refusing to go to school. He was severely depressed again.

 

CAMHS have been fantastic in all of this.

 

I applied again for him to be assessed and this time they said yes! I was also getting some advice from a charity who specialised in SEN and on their advice I went and obtained independent reports from an EP, SALT & OT.

 

Anyway, the assessment went in our favour and we were given a Statement but it is a load of rubbish!!!! They wanted him to remain in mainstream with 15 hours support. That was never going to work. My son does not like to feel different to his peers. He has been bullied, he has retaliated himself and whenever they tried to put a LSA in the classroom with him, he knew it and they were unable to support him in secret.

 

I decided that mainstream was just not going to work for him and because the Statement was so awful, I put in an Appeal to SENDIST. Our Appeal was upheld. Then began the journey of assembling all the evidence. We issued our Case Statement and the LEA issued theirs. The LEA could only really say that our choice of school for our son (residential - home every other weekend) would cause him mental distress, he would feel rejected and that he had separation issues from me. Well CAMHS spoke to him and they decided that he quite clearly knew what he was doing, that there were no separation issues (he told them he would miss his XBox more than me ) and so would be writing to the LEA to tell them.

 

This week, via our solicitor, we heard that the LEA had reviewed his file and agreed that mainstream would not work. They have asked me to view an alternative school to the one we have named. The one we have named is AS specific. The one they have named is SLD/MLD with communication disorders. There is a HUGE difference in price, ours is much more expensive.

 

My son has an average IQ of 111. His perceptual reasoning and verbal comprehension is over 120. He is already starting GCSE science and maths a year early.

 

I cannot for the life of me understand why the LEA want me to go and see a school that is obviously not suited to him whatsoever!!! The other school do not even put pupils in for GCSE's. The school of our choice does and from their prospectus we can see that quite a few obtain GCSE's at A-C grades.

 

I am going to view this school as I feel if I did not, the panel at SENDIST may question that. I have had some wonderful support and help (Thank you Flora!! ) from another mother who has been through all of this.

 

I did not know if any of you too have had experience of your LEA asking you to view a school that was so unsuitable and if you have any good advice of what I could say at Tribunal to make sure the panel understand just how unsuitable the school is.

 

Also, if you have told an LEA that the school they propose is unsuitable, have they then turned around and offered another suggestion? My worry is that we go to Tribunal and then are adjourned because the LEA want me to view yet another school!

 

It has been a year of hell I can tell you. I have had to leave my job as my son is home 24/7. I have managed to start my own business and bring in some money. We could not survive otherwise.

 

Someone has suggested I sue the LEA for negligence! Now wouldn't that be lovely!

[lynne]

Hi Starburst,

 

All you have to do is go and see the school and say why it is not suitable for your son. If they are not high acedemic achievers than this will be your evidence. So get the grades the school achieve and find out what they do with high achievers.

 

The LEA can not keep asking you to look for schools, so do not worry on this case.

 

Have you thought of looking at private independant schools. Some of these schools are very good with ASD children.

 

Small classes not a lot of moving around compared to large schools. Calmness in the classrooms.

 

Also break times and dinner times are not an issue. Our children can stay in a quiet room and play DS, chess etc.

 

My son is bright and would not fit into a special school nor would he fit into a normal school.

 

We were lucky that our LEA has funded a private independent school without going to tribunal.

 

This independent school are very good at inclusion with special. They also are willing to communicate and listen to parents. They work with the parent to solve the issue.

 

Keep strong because going to tribunnel can be very draining.

 

take care

 

Lynne

[Kazzen161]

I did not know if any of you too have had experience of your LEA asking you to view a school that was so unsuitable and if you have any good advice of what I could say at Tribunal to make sure the panel understand just how unsuitable the school is.

 

Also, if you have told an LEA that the school they propose is unsuitable, have they then turned around and offered another suggestion? My worry is that we go to Tribunal and then are adjourned because the LEA want me to view yet another school!

 

I have experience of the LEA asking me to view many unsuitable schools. They insisted one school was residential even after I had visited it and knew it wasn't!

 

Basically for every school I made as much of a case as I could - academic achievement was one aspect (behavioural, social, life and independence skills are others). My son was already achieving a higher level at 10 than the MLD school's 16 year olds did! Collect all this data from the school. I will PM you a list of Qs that I used.

 

My LEA did offer endless suggestions, but I did not get to Tribunal (as the LEA could not find a school to name, so could not finalise the proposed Statement). I would imagine the Tribunal would not let them keep changing their minds. You are better off if the school the LEA suggests is very unsuitable - easier to make a case.

[Flora]

Hi Stardust <'>

 

You know my thoughts on this so I won't go into huge detail

 

Suffice to say, the only reason the LEA are offering this school is because they have weighed up the evidence and see that it's overwhelmingly in your favour, so they've come up with a cheaper alternative. The fact is that it isn't a viable alternative at all and I don't think you'll have any difficulty in proving that. This is exactly what my LEA did very close to my hearing, and tbh the school they offered was far more suitable (on paper) than the one your LEA are offering so just gather your evidence and save it for the hearing

 

Flora

[chris54]

Hi

 

How much off this is political.

 

If they, LEA, go along with the parents choice of school even if it is the best option with out looking at more cost effective (cheaper) options, then they are not doing the best job for the tax payers.

 

Our job as parents is to get the best for our own children first.

[Karen A]

Hi Stardust Welcome to posting. <'>

If you have lurked a while you may know that I have Ben.He is also very bright and able in some areas.I will watch your battle with interest as one a few years behind you.Karen.

[Stardust]

Thank you very much everyone.

 

We had a bad morning this morning as my son cannot see why on earth they want me to go and see another school as in his mind, he has found the one he wants. I tried to explain that we "have to play the game" but it was really, really heartbreaking to see him crying his eyes out and to be so confused and upset.

 

I was very depressed this morning but tonight, with whiskey in hand, I feel a lot more determined. As someone said to me, don't get mad get even!

 

Our independent EP has now said she will go and visit the school with me, so that is a relief. Yes it's a lot of money (again) to have her go but I think we have got to the stage where every penny spent will be worthwhile. My son deserves his chance to thrive and be happy.

 

I will update you after our visit.

[Clare63]

Hi Stardust,

 

My son sounds very simular to yours and we too have had simular expereince with the EA regarding schools they wanted us to look at. One they proposed turned us down straight away telling me they are fed up with the LEA suggesting them because they were the cheapest and in most cases not suitable. They also started out naming the mainstream he was already at.

 

I hasten to add one year later we are still out of school, with a home tutor being paid for by the Children out of school agency, we have finally been offered a place at a specialist school (our original first choice) but still need the EA rubber stamp it. Hopefully there will be no more problems as I don't think I will be able to atke much more, not to mention my poor son who has been totally confused over the whole episode.

 

Good luck and I hope you get somehting sorted out real soon.

 

Clare x x x

[Stardust]

Clare,

 

Did you have to go to Tribunal to get the school you really wanted in the end or did the LA give in beforehand?

[Clare63]

Clare,

 

Did you have to go to Tribunal to get the school you really wanted in the end or did the LA give in beforehand?

 

Well after the EP said there was no way he could go back to his mainstream school, they gave us 3 schools to look at, one turned us down when I approached them for a visit, one we visited a couple of time but it was clear our son would not fit there as he was too anxious and there were concerns meeting his edcuational needs because he is bright and a "gifted & talented" student, this school decided they could not meet his needs. The 3rd school is a priory school, which we really liked and our son seems to like too. An assessment was arranged for July and just a few days before the LEA pulled the plug and would not pay for the assessment saying we had to look at the other 2 optons first (much cheaper options I hasten to add)..... but we had, the caseworker had gone sick and the person picking up our case had not done their homework and went to panel asking for funding for the assessment wihtout stating the other 2 school had turned us down.

 

This was very upsetting for us and the effect on Connor enormous, once again being let down by the system, anyway to cut a long story short, the LEA finally agreed to apy for the assessment and this was undertaken last week, the school have offered us a place and will report back to the LEA. I have been told they will take us case back to panel (the panel meets once a fortnight, next due to meet this Thursday) to get funding and confirm that he may go to this school.

 

As they agreed to pay for the assessment and no other school were suggested I am hoping and praying this will go ahead. if not then I will have to go to tribunal, as far as I am aware there are no other specialist schools in our county.

 

We have been messed around by the LEA now for over a year and I feel its not far off child abuse. As I read your story, I thought to myself yet another child on the spectrum struggling with mainstream, why oh why can't the authorities open their eyes and realise there is a problem out there, I appreciate lots of ASD kids get through mainstream OK there is a hell of a lot that don't. Luckily our GP felt very strongly about this and supported us all the way, his view was that many ASD kids are suffering and its about time people took notice, often as not these children have a gift and their attention to detail is being left untapped, he said who knows one day one of these people might just find the cure to cancer and such like, instead of being lost in the system and not being able to reach their full potential.

 

Sorry went off on one a bit there, but as you can probably tell I am somewhat passionate about this particular subject of ASD and mainstream education, as our expereince lead to our child having a breakdown just weeks into yr 8.

 

Clare x x x

[Stardust]

Thank you so much for sharing that Clare, it means a lot to me. Our stories are so similar in many ways. My son is on his second bout of clinical depression (year 4 and year 8) due to mainstream and he too has been out of school for over a year.

 

I did look at two Priory schools and was very impressed with them. We have actually opted for a Cumbrian Education one in the end as that is the one my son felt most happiest in after assessment.

 

I have to agree with you on child abuse. I was told to start suing the LA for negligence but that can wait until after the Tribunal. My son today was a complete and utter wreck. He was crying his heart out, so confused, so angry and wondering why we have to go and see yet another school.

 

The LA EP in our case is a world reknown expert in Autism (no guesses as to whom she might be!) and she wrote her report in such a way that it was obvious to all that mainstream could not meet his needs but, being an employee at the moment of the LA, she did not go as far as to say that they could not. All the other assesors for the LA did speak up and voice their opinons and all said he needed a special/specialist school.

 

Our GP too has been fantastic, so have CAMHS. CAMHS are writing yet another letter so we can put it in as additional "late evidence". They are disgusted that he has been put through so much.

 

It does all boil down to money in the end. The LA do not have the child's best interests at heart. When I think that he has gone from nursery school to Year 8 trying his very best to fit in, to conform and to please everyone, it is heartbreaking to think that the LA cannot recognise that and allow him his last three years at school in a school that will be the best for him.

 

One very strange thing! I opted for a school within our County, the LA are asking me to view one out of County! Still I hear it is cheaper in the other County than it is in ours. C'est la vie.

 

Good luck with your Panel!!! I shall be thinking of you!

Edited October 13, 2008 by Stardust

[Clare63]

As you say the bottom line is that it all comes down to money, I would bet that the employee are on performance related pay and that they will get a bonus if they keep within or below budget.....

 

Fingers crossed for both our boys.

 

Please keep me posted on how you get on, I am rooting for you.

 

Clare x x x

[Kazzen161]

>>One very strange thing! I opted for a school within our County, the LA are asking me to view one out of County! Still I hear it is cheaper in the other County than it is in ours. >>

 

Being in-County only counts when it is an LA school (as obviously they can make the school do what they want and it is cheap for them). When it comes to indendent schools, cost counts, not where it is.