Good news.

[chris54]

Arrived at school to and son is out early, I don't rush up to the school as he is usually one of the last out.

 

I could see him through the crowd and as I got closer I could see that he is stood next to his teacher. Now experience tells me that this is not good news. But first thing teacher says is "got some good news"

 

School has heard on the grape vine that a decision has been made and paper work is on its way re statement.

It would seem that son is to get 10 hours support, teacher and head say that this is probably as good as we could expect and are both happy with it. If we are happy and get a move on getting the paperwork back and confirm in writing to the head, she has said she will get support in place to start after half team.

 

So I will be waiting for the postman in the morning and we shall see.

[skye]

Glad to hear some good news today! Congrats!

[connieruff]

Well done! Good for you!

All the best

Cxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Karen A]

Hi.Good news.

 

I would offer a small hint.Do check you are happy before you agree anything. Karen.

[baddad]

Hi.Good news.

 

I would offer a small hint.Do check you are happy before you agree anything. Karen.

 

I'll second that... make sure i's are crossed and t's dotted, but other than that:

 

 

L&P

 

BD

[Sally44]

Justs reiterating what others have posted. Ten hours - well done.

But I would advise you to run it past the NAS or IPSEA as Proposed Statement stage before you sign anything. For example he has 10 hours support of 'what' and by 'whom'. A Statement should be so specific that no-one is in doubt as to who does what and for how long, so that if it doesn't happen as the Statement says, you should be able to identify that immediately and be able to go to tribunal about it.

If you feel that your son needs a certain level of support throughout the day, then stick with that. I have seen some statements with allocated hours where the child is supported during the morning, but not in the afternoon because they have used up all the hours in the morning lessons or at the time when there is a higher staffing ratio.

Ten hours support might translate as 10 hours support in small group work. And the proposed statement may not even state that or define what a 'small group' is. And they may say they should not specify so that the school can be flexible. Again the CoP states that any flexibility built into the statement should be for the benefit of the child and not the system (ie. school or LEA).

I know this may sound very picky, but I cannot over emphasise the importance of using the correct words, and the LEA will argue fiercely if they think the wording is not in their favour. Things like XXX 'may' require, instead of xxx 'will' require. Or XXX 'should' have access to an OT if the school sees fit, rather than XXX 'will be' seen by the OT on a termly basis.

Please don't think I or others are being negative. But getting it right is imperative. It is much harder to get changes later on because the LEA will argue that the previous statement was 'working' and you will need even further evidence to prove that it wasn't.

How those '10 hours' will be used and whom should be clearly identified in the statement. And 'flexibility' can be built into the statement by using termly hourly figures rather than weekly ones, because you can argue that even if your son or the TA/therapist etc if off sick, they can still catch up and use those hours over the term. That is being flexible in the benefit of the child.

This is just an example from my son's statement, and may not be appropriate for your child. But I hope it will give you an example of what to be thinking about. My son's statement says that he will receive 6 hours per term direct Speech and language therapy from a therapist and that the dedicated TA will observe these sessions and carry them out on a daily basis for 20 mins. It also itemises the precise areas of speech, language and social interaction skills that my son struggles with. It further states that the SALT will dedicate an additional 9 hours per term for therapy planning, note taking, report making, liaising with school and parents, attending MEPs, input to Social Skills club, using systems such as SCERTS, and will produce an up to date report prior to annual review. If it did not state those additional 9 hours the SALT could argue that she can use part of the 6 hours to achieve those things. This works in favour of my son and also the therapist because it allows her to have a legitimate legal reason to have to set aside this amount of time. Without it her work load within the LEA would cut into the time she needed to spend to achieve what is required by the statement. Hope that makes sense.

[Karen A]

http://www.afasic.org.uk/pdf/ProposedStatement.pdf

 

Hi.When you do get the proposed Statement the information on this link might be helpful.It explains how to check through it to make sure it is tight enough and nothing is missing.

Can you tell what a group of old cynics we are....not giving you much time to cellebrate. Karen.

[Kathryn]

Good news Chris, what a relief for you!

 

K x

[chris54]

Thanks for all the advise.

 

I have not yet seen the Proposed Statement, its still in the system so cant really comment on its content.

 

I seem to be one of a very rare bread of parents who does not have any big issues with my child's school (at the present time that is).

 

Today my wife went into school to pick son up for a dentist appointment and bumped into the head who was over the moon about the statement.

 

The school seem more existed about it all than me.

Edited May 11, 2009 by chris54

[Karen A]

Thanks for all the advise.

 

I have not yet seen the Proposed Statement, its still in the system so cant really comment on its content.

 

I seem to be one of a very rare bread of parents who does not have any big issues with my child's school (at the present time that is).

 

Today my wife went into school to pick son up for a dentist appointment and bumped into the head who was over the moon about the statement.

 

The school seem more existed about it all than me.

 

Hi.I think it is worth bearing in mind that even if school are doing an excellent job having a Statement does provide extra reassurance.Ben is currently doing extremely well and actually needing less support than he has ever needed.This is largely because the current SENCO and class teacher are both excellent.However I have found that a change of teacher or head teacher can make a big difference.Also if you were to move house and needed to change schools another school may not be as supportive.

I am really glad that school are doing a good job but I guess that I am thinking that the Statement is still very worthwhile. Karen.

[Sally44]

And the statement doesn't just protect your child by specifying the amount of time certain professionals have to spend with them. It also allows those professionals to have a legally legitimate reason for spending the amount of time they have to on your child. Without that in the statement a professional's workload will determine the amount of time they spend on each child. That does not necessarily equate to the needs of each child.

[chris54]

Hi.I think it is worth bearing in mind that even if school are doing an excellent job having a Statement does provide extra reassurance.Ben is currently doing extremely well and actually needing less support than he has ever needed.This is largely because the current SENCO and class teacher are both excellent.However I have found that a change of teacher or head teacher can make a big difference.Also if you were to move house and needed to change schools another school may not be as supportive.

I am really glad that school are doing a good job but I guess that I am thinking that the Statement is still very worthwhile. Karen.

 

 

And the statement doesn't just protect your child by specifying the amount of time certain professionals have to spend with them. It also allows those professionals to have a legally legitimate reason for spending the amount of time they have to on your child. Without that in the statement a professional's workload will determine the amount of time they spend on each child. That does not necessarily equate to the needs of each child.

 

I don't think what I said came across as I meant it.

 

I'm really glad that we have got this Statement, would have liked more Hours but as I said earlier everyone thinks we are fortunate to get 10 hours.

I have now had a chance to have a quick look at the statement and to sum up it basically says that the 10 hours is to do more of what the school is already doing, which was the aim of applying for the statement in the first place.

[Sally44]

I don't think what I said came across as I meant it.

 

I'm really glad that we have got this Statement, would have liked more Hours but as I said earlier everyone thinks we are fortunate to get 10 hours.

I have now had a chance to have a quick look at the statement and to sum up it basically says that the 10 hours is to do more of what the school is already doing, which was the aim of applying for the statement in the first place.

 

Did the reports that went towards the Statement recognise needs that recommended any input from outside professionals eg. EP, SALT or OT? If so is their input specified in terms of hours per visit or how often (eg. termly) progress will be monitored?

 

Can your child be taught in whole class situations or does he need small group work? Does he need a dedicated TA? Does he need support during breaktimes or dinnertimes? If the answer is yes to any of these questions then you need it specified in the statement how those 10 hours will be divided between these 'needs' and what the staffing arrangements will be.

 

For example it maybe agreed that XXX goes to a Social Skills Group in School (yet something else that he may need incorporating into his Statement as part of his diagnosis), then the skills learnt in that group need to be generalised out into other environments ie. the classroom and playground. How will that be achieved? By the SALT demonstrating to the TA how to achieve this using either visual or verbal prompts and for XXX to be prompted (visually or verbally) to use those skills in the playground. This will equate to 2 hours a week (or the termly equivalent) divided into 4 sessions of 20 minutes to take place during afternoon break 4 times a week. SALT and school will monitor progress in this area on a termly basis and will use targets identified on his MEPs.

 

Whatever your feelings about the Proposed Statement, it is worth running it against one of the agencies such as the NAS or IPSEA. It doesn't cost anything and it could save you alot of extra work further down the line.