sjb Report post Posted March 30, 2009 After starting the stat process myself, i was asked into school today to sign their form off. They have tried to be as helpful as possible considering "they don't have any evidence" hmmm well anyway, at least they haven't just said no and are trying to support me! Looking at his assessment levels, they were mostly 2's - is this good or bad? what is the level for a 9 year old? LEA have said we will have a response one way or another by 28th April - so fingers crossed! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sally44 Report post Posted March 30, 2009 Does your child already have a diagnosis? As starting the Statutory Assessment process means that all the professionals involved with your son have to go into school and assess him, I would pre-empt that by sending each professional a letter asking them to look into difficulties you feel he has. For example, if he has difficulties with social interaction and play (which has to be there for a diagnosis), then the SALT is responsible for this area and she should put this down as a need in her report (which would fall under section 2 of the Statement), and she should make recommendations as to how that need should be met eg. circle of friends, social skills group, playtime activities, access to the library or computer suite etc (and those recommendations should be included in section 3 of the statement). I'm not sure what level 2 is. Where we are it is all Plevels (for pre-school), and 1C is the lowest rung on the national curriculum level. My son is 8 and is just now going onto 1C for numeracy and is P8 for literacy. So find out how the scales work and what would be considered and 'average' level for a typical child. It is also important for the Ed Psych to carry out verbal and non-verbal cognitive assessments because there is a difference between a child that has a lower than average IQ compared with peers, opposed to a child with significant difficulties with language/numeracy/concepts etc who scores average or higher than average on non-verbal assessments. That demonstrates that the child is cognitively capable of achieving much more than he is currently demonstrating because of the difficulties they have. This information also helps you know what type of school is most appropriate. Should it be mainstream, or mainstream mixed with special needs (ie. children on the spectrum), or should it be special needs only for children with learning difficulties = lower IQ, or should it be special needs only (HFA and Aspergers) for those with average and above cognitive ability. If you itemise the difficulties he has and apportion them to the professionals that see your son, and send them a letter asking them to assess and make recommendations against those difficulties that you recognise, then they will either do it, or they won't. And if they don't do it you have written evidence that you asked them and they didn't respond. Things worth looking at and considering are: Semantic Pragmatic Speech Disorder, echolalia or delayed echolalia, difficulties with auditory processing, auditory memory, working memory, executive function disorder, sensory integration disorder, anxiety, difficulties with social interaction, etc. Get in touch with the National Autistic Society through their Educational Helpline to ask about the Statementing process. If you are turned down you can appeal. You can gather more evidence, you can get private reports, you can go to an Educational Tribunal and the NAS can support you through this and check documents and the Proposed Statement. If you get to that stage make sure the NAS looks over it because a statement should specify and quantify. The LEA will try to put together a very open ended statement that adds up to nothing more than he already gets. Statements are supposed to itemise EVERY NEED and EVERY RECOMMENDATION to meet those needs. It should say who is going to do what, how often and for how long and how often it will be reviewed. It should not contain words like significant, regular, frequent, as necessary etc. So a sentence which says "XXX will receive regular input from the speech therapist", is illegal and worthless. You need it to say "XXX will receive XXX hours per term of one to one support from a fully qualified SALT who has experience in speech disorders and autism. This equates to XXX weekly sessions to be carried out in school by the SALT and this programme will be observed and carried out by a TA suitably trained by the SALT to carry out the programme in school on a daily/weekly basis. The programme will be adjusted by the SALT. The SALT will work on the following areas of difficulty: (a) Semantics, ( extending narratives and conversations, © social skills of initiating and sustaining interaction and play. etc. You can see the difference between the above two statements, one is enforceable eg. you know who is supposed to be doing what. The other is so vague that you would never be able to prove that the school were not fulfilling their duties under the Statement. Find out if the NAS or your local Parent Partnership are doing seminars about the Statementing process and go along to it. Get a copy of the Code of Practice and read and relevant section to make yourself familiar with what the Statement is supposed to contain by law. Don't agree to the Proposed Statement until you are entirely happy with it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NickyB Report post Posted March 30, 2009 After starting the stat process myself, i was asked into school today to sign their form off. They have tried to be as helpful as possible considering "they don't have any evidence" hmmm well anyway, at least they haven't just said no and are trying to support me! Looking at his assessment levels, they were mostly 2's - is this good or bad? what is the level for a 9 year old? LEA have said we will have a response one way or another by 28th April - so fingers crossed! I hope it all goes well - I'm still waiting for the school to get their act together - I'll be on their case again tomorrow. Good luck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
