Piers granted a statement of SEN

[joybed]

Got the letter this morning and i am so relieved . We were told by the headteacher to expect no more than 8 hours support but he has been given 12.5 and a whole list of other things that school have to do including close supervision at lunch time to encourage his social skills nad keep him safe at breaktimes etc. Another boy in the school has only been given 5 hours so I am pleasantly surprised.

How long is it before the support is usually in place, school already have a LSA lined up for him is it immediate, will i need to make an appointment to discuss how the support will be provided. It all seems so long ago since i went through this with Marcus and I really cant remember.

[pearl]

Great news

[av16]

Congratulations! What should happen now is the school have 8 weeks to sort out how it's going to meet the contents of the statement. They will then have a planning meeting with you and any of the other professionals involved to outline how they intend to meet the statement. They should set some targets for Piers and make clear to you what is going to happen and when. I would imagine that he should start getting the support very soon. You will need to watch out that things do start to be put in place. From my experience getting the statement is the first hurdle but there will be many more to negotiate but for now celebrate .

AV

[justine1]

Hi

So very happy for you (and really jealous!)I am just starting the process.How long did it take?Great he will have support at playtime/break,my son has problems at that time of day as well.I hope it all goes well for both of you.

[joybed]

It took about 5 months all together maybe slightly less.

[JsMum]

It took about 5 months all together maybe slightly less.

Brilliant news and well done too, as its not easy no matter how long it takes, six months/18months ect...... its stressful with a capital S.

 

JsMumxxx

 

[JsMum]

 

 

I personally wouldnt of excepted a 5 hour statement, especailly when SA plus gives a child 1-1 support of upto 15hrs.

 

I cant believe how low the hours are, though understand there may be additional support such as social groups excet..but five hours equals one hour a day!

 

So before you sign the dotted line ensure that peirs doesnt require more than 12hrs, that equals just under 2hrs a day.

 

the statement is just bearly covering his breaks and dinner hour.

 

What about the lessons? if your happy with the 12hrs then fine, but I would be pushing for additional hours.

 

JsMumxxxx

 

[NickyB]

That's excellent news

 

[Sally44]

Well done to get to this stage.

Don't want to rain on your parade, but consider the amount of support. Does it tie in with the needs itemised in section 2 and the recommendations made in section 3. The amount of time itemised in the statement is the total amount of time dedicated to your son. His diagnosis means he has an ASD 24/7. He is in school around 32 hours per week.

Also what is the placement? In my sons proposed statement they named his current mainstream school with a min of 20 hours support. I refused that, along with other things because my son needed support throughout the day and a school experienced in ASDs. So we asked for a placement in an Enhanced Resource mainstream school. The LEA agreed to that placement. They also agreed to lots of other wording that meant the school had to put in the time and staff eg. to be taught in small groups, to receive support during breaktimes, to have access to dinnertime clubs, specific time set aside for speech therapy which is included in his daily timetable and practised every day. However they dropped the '20' hours because the ER placement meant that he is supported throughout the day because of how they structure his class. However hours were specified for therapy input eg. 6 hours per term for SALT by a suitably qualified SALT and an additional 9 hours per term for the SALT to plan the sessions, train the LSA, liaise with school and parents, observe and take notes, attend MEPs and write a yearly updated report prior to annual review. The OT has to make termly reviews.

 

What have the reports made about your son said. Have they said he needs help in the classroom. Does he have language or social communication difficulties that will need a SALT to put together and carry out a therapy programme with a LSA to carry that out on a daily basis.

Don't sign until you are absolutely sure. You can ask IPSEA or the NAS to look at it for you. Don't accept crumbs from the table if you need a meat pie.

If that amount of time does tick all the boxes, then well done.

[Sally44]

And the wording has to be very specific too. For example, it says my son 'needs to be supported during unstructured free time by a suitably qualified and experienced teaching assistant'. He also has a 'dedicated TA that is trained by the SALT and who works with him throughout the day in class'. If the Statement says XXX will receive support during breaktimes. That doesn't make it clear to you who is doing what. Does that mean a dinner lady is going to walk with him holding his hand. Or is a TA going to be working with him on specific social skills with goals set by the SALT. Don't expect a TA working on specific social skills and goals if the statement does not say that. If it isn't specified you'll probably get a dinner lady.

 

[Sally44]

If you go onto the IPSEA website, you can look at examples of judgements made out whether a statement should be specific or not. These judgements mean that future cases 'fall in line' with these judgements. And it makes the point that if provision is not specified to such a level that everyone knows who is expected to do what, then how could the parent challenge the school and say 'you are not fulfilling the statement'.

[Kathryn]

Great news Joy!

 

I agree with everything others have said about checking the statement carefully.

 

K x

[JsMum]

 

 

Joybed peirs is been assessed for ADHD too at the moment, are they taking this into account too, I wouldnt agree to anything under 21hrs, and spersific groups, what about getting a private ed psych done to look at the comparisons, I excepted a statement of 16hrs when J first got his statement, but it didnt even include Social and communication needs, his spersific support was 1/2 hour a WEEK.

 

After going to tribunal to get all of Js needs Recognised and private assessments done including Speech and language and Ed psych and private OT and Other proffessionals we had a much enhanced statement and a specialist school.

 

So please dont do what I did, which was jump at the chance of a statement because it was impossible to gain in the first place, ensure its a true reflection of Peirs needs and includes resources, provisions he really requires.

 

So dont rush this which is what I did in the early days but I understand your joy of reaching this stage, its great you have because now you can negitiate the true needs he requires, not what they or the school want to give based on financial implications, but what a statement is suppose to be there for, a reflection of their NEEDS.

 

JsMumxxxx

 

[joybed]

Hi thanks for your replies i have been busy at work so only just had time to reply after reading the statement through again.

In part 2 it states that Piers will get funding to be able to recieve additional help from a learning support assistant for a total of 12.5 hours per week. this suport may be offered on an individual or small group basis and is allocated to the interventions below

 

5 hours to support Piers in developing appropriate social skills, communication and interaction.

5 hours for encouragement to engage Piers in activities not of his own choosing

2.5 hours to provide reinforcement of instructions through visual resources.

 

The school will provide

 

information to staff about Piers SEN to ensure a consistent approach.

additonal learning support as detailed above

additional help from LSA to aid comprehension and develop basic skills

opportunities to extend social and communication skills through adult led and supported group work and activities

Close supervision during break and lunchtimes, to include support to enable Piers to remain safe and to interact and play with his peers and prevent him becoming isolated, anxious or distressed in a free play environment.

Opportunities to suceed and receive recognition for his success and to chart his own progress in order to build his self confidence and self esteem.

 

a system to enable close liaison between home and school

School to maintain an IEP.

 

Does this sound like the close supervision at breaks is in addtion to LSA support in class. i read it as he would recieve 12.5 hours of classsroom suppprt and the rest in addition. He already gets an IEP every term and has the supprt of the NTAs in the class although this is shared with the rest of the class. The class teacher is really good and does bring to my attention any concerns she has, i have asked for a home/ school diary. He takes part in a group SALT group with other ASD children (there are 12 of them in the school). There is another boy in the class with ASD and he and Piers get more support than the rest of them in the form of an NTA keeping them focused during transition times. On the whole school are quite knowledgable as they have now had a number of ASD children, my oldest boy being the very first and the SENCO is an amazing man.

Piers is doing much better this year partly because he is repeating reception and so the work is being duplicated, he knows more already than he did at the end of last school year and is genuinely proud of his own achievements. But I can see already that some of the children are already at the same standard as him and don,t know how he will kepp cope in year one (long way ahead i know). For the past few weeks he has been very aggressive and hyperactive for the first couple of hours after school and his teacher said he was very tearfull yesterday all day and not engaging with his work. He is asking to do more and more after school clubs and i don,t know whether he is just doing this because he wants to please us. I feel he is trying really hard at school and then losing it at home, (as i have seen happen so many times with Marcus). Today I feel as if I just want to keep them all at home and protect them from the big bad world and am fighting the urge to go collect them.

I am going to phone IPSEA to discuss this also. Thanks again.

 

[Sally44]

I read it as the 12.5 hours are for the LSA to prompt him, support him with any social communication strategies and to put together visual aids.

There is nothing about actually supporting him with his learning. If he is having to do reception year again (?WHY?), then that means he did not learn it the first time. So they should itemise exactly what his difficulties are. Why hasn't he learnt the work in reception year. Does he have dyslexia, problems with concepts, speech or language difficulties. You need the reason identifying so that that need can be met. If it isn't identified then you don't know what the difficulty is. He could re-sit reception year for the next 5 years and make little progress. He needs systemised structured approaches (such approaches to be named) in both Literacy and Numeracy if he has difficulties in both areas.

It doesn't say WHO is going to put together a social communication strategy programme (it should be a suitably qualified professional such as SALT), or how it will be delivered/implemented, practised or monitored.

From the piece you have posted it is woolly and not specific.

 

It is like saying "he will be supported in the playground for 5 hours a week". Sounds great. But if all that MEANS is that a dinner lady is going to hold his hand during lunch break, then you are not 'TEACHING' your child anything.