asking for a statement for a pre-schooler

[pim]

My ds is still young and is at pre-school and will start school next January. Has any-one got a statement for their child at such a young age? I spoke to a person at parent partnership, who mentioned that most likely there will not be sufficient enough evidence to ask for an assessment yet as he was only recently dx last December and I will not have had enough time to build up a sufficient case. Also that he might settle into school when he starts next January. I just want to find out what my options are.

 

pim

[Viper]

Hi Pim.

 

My son starts school in september and as yet does not have a DX but we have asked for a statement.

With all the assesments he has had and reports from HV and other people that have been involved we were able to start the prosess. Ben dosen't even go to play school (refuses to).

 

We are hopeful that we can get things sorted out before he starts school. You can refer him yourself and you will be asked to give your side of things, and why you think a statement will help etc.

 

Give it a go, you don't know until you try, but be warned it is a long drawn out prosess that can last six months or more.

 

Viper.

[pim]

Thanks for your reply. Maybe I will. I have just sent of the DLA form. It was not easy finding any time to do it with 3 kids 5 and under and ds wanting my attention all the time, with little sleep as my 9 month does not sleep through the night. Now thinking can I handle going through a statementing process.

It's difficult to know what to do as I don't know if he'll cope at school or not. Most likely not. I saw the Headteacher today, who said that it would be good for him to have a statement. But she is going to talk to the Senco about it. The statementing process has just been changed to make it easier for children with asd to get it. The autistic pre-school advisory person, who came to see us said she would not support it as she feels ds is on the mild side. But she hasn't seen him out of control as the Head at the school has.

 

pim

[Joe's gran]

Hi,

My daughter began the statementing process for Joe as soon as he started nursery. He is 4 in May and have just got the draft statement through. Joe got a dx of ASD in Jan.All the assessments show that Joe's language is his main problem and we are hoping he will get in the local language unit.

When my daughter first voiced her concerns the local SALT dimissed it all. In the end we paid for a private assessment of his language (best �80 we ever spent) and that really got the ball rolling. ......really against our socialist principles but when it comes to family who cares!!!

So it is poss to get a statement started. We are so glad that we have pushed for Joe even though I think we have made ourselves unpopular with some people... well worth it to know Joe will have the best start possible!

Best of luck

Joe's gran.x

[isaacsmum]

I would advise you to start the ball rolling as soon as possible. In my experience it is much easier to get a statement BEFORE starting school than afterwards. The problem is that once a child has started school they are then competing with all the other children with S.E.N in that school for the allocated time of the ed psych assigned to that school. As well as being the parent of a child on the spectrum I am also a teacher responsible for SEN in the foundation stage and in that respect I am constantly battling to get children assessed but have to prioritise due to limited ed psych time available (it breaks my heart). Also as you are then dealing with "professionals" who work for LEA rather than health authority it is in their interests to err on side of saying a statement is uneccessary as money for ASDs and complex learning difficulties is centrally (ie. LEA) funded whereas other SENs are funded from schools own budget. ( I hate to be so cynical but I know it to be true)

In the case of my son, his paediatrician asked for a statutary assesment at the time of dx. (he was 2yrs 3 mths). This took 6 months (and a lot of phone calls and faffing about and arguing) to complete. But he started nursery with a full statement and full time support from an SSA with experience and training in working with ASD kids. I believe that all children with ASD dx or even suspected ASD should have a statutary assessment. It is likely that health service will support you in this if you ask but even if they dont you can request one yourself. They dont have to assess but they have to give you a good reason why not. Please dont give up it is def worth getting it sorted now. It will only get harder later. GOOD LUCK!!!!!

lucy

[Helen]

As well as being the parent of a child on the spectrum I am also a teacher responsible for SEN in the foundation stage and in that respect I am constantly battling to get children assessed but have to prioritise due to limited ed psych time available (it breaks my heart).

Hello Isaacsmum,

 

Just out of curiosity, do you mind me asking how many EP hours are allocated each year to the school that you work in?

 

The day I received my son's diagnosis I approached the headteacher in my son's primary school, I asked him if he would refer my son for a statutory assessment. He said that the school had only received 17 hours of EP consultation in total. Those 17 hours had already been used for re-assessments of statemented children and for refferals made by him. He couldn't apologise enough to me, he said that he was powerless to help me, that I would have to self-refer my son.

[pim]

Hello,

 

Thank-you for your replies and advice. The more I think about it the better it would be to apply now.

I was a bit thrown by the fact that when I asked the autistic pre-school advisor she said that she didn't think my son would need a statement or get one as he is on the mild side. I have since heard from the school that they would be likely to make getting a statement more difficult. Why, I don't know. They only deal with asd children. The only thing I can think of is that it conflicts with their interests. That their role is to intervene early so that a child can adapt to a school environment without needing help later on. I had thought that the school would have been against getting a statement.

It is so difficult to come to terms with it all.

 

pim

[pim]

Hi,

Just wanted to add that your advice Isaacsmum makes sense. I hadn't realised why it might be more difficult when he starts school. I suppose the preofesionals would rathe err on the side of caution.

 

pim

[Jericho]

My son was on Early Years Action+ at pre-school and like you I wondered whether he would need a statement. The professionals who had been working with him all told me that in their opinion he would be fine on School Action+. We had a lot of transition meetings with the pre-school, the school and the pros who knew our son best. Between us we went through all the things that our son's strengths and weaknesses and potential problem areas, eg lunchtimes, assembly, carpet-time etc. The one thing that really did give me peace of mind about whether or not to ask for statementing was when the teacher invited our son to spend a morning with her class (ie the children who had started in Reception in the previous September). I stayed with him and saw just how well he was doing. He settled in very quickly and generally did well - not bad considering that as his birthday is so late in the year he had only just had his 4th birthday a couple of weeks before.

 

I would definitely recommend pushing for a trial session or two at the school if you possibly can. If it goes badly not only will you be even more confident that a statement is needed but the teacher/school will see it for themselves. It also avoids the scenario where he gets to school in January and THEN everyone realises that he will need much more help.

 

Good luck.

[isaacsmum]

Helen, in answer to your query, it varies year to year, and our ed psych is slightly more flexible than yours in that she will try to see any child we consider an "emergency", but there are a very limited no of ed psychs to cover an enormous no of schools and so time is limited. On average we get around 5 visits of approx 2-3 hours a year. ( we are a small primary school with around 260 pupils).

Hope this helps.

lucy

[isaacsmum]

one other thought pim, it is much easier to withdraw a statement than to get one in the 1st place so even if it later does not prove necc. at least youre in a better position to get his needs met.

lucy

[pim]

Thank-you for your replies. It has helped me decide that yes I should go for a statement. Luckily the LEA here have just changed their criteria and now have a seperate section which applies only to ASD kids. All the specialists except the autistic pre-school advisory specialist have said he will need extra 1 to 1 help. Judging from when he started pre-school, ds was out of control and the staff could not handle him. Now they are still understandabely wary of him and his temper tantrums, which there are not so many. But he doesn't participate in anything or do anything he is told. He has no additional help there.

The senco is back in a couple of weeks and we'll try and decide what is the best way forward, whether I should apply or the school.

 

pim