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What to write in a parental request for statutory assessment

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Hi,

 

Right now I'm trying to write a request for statutory assessment, after being advised to do so by an adviser from Partnership with Parents. I've got a model letter but I'm stumped as to how to present my case. There are two parts I'm supposed to fill in.

 

The first one is "I believe that my child's needs are:" Isn't that what they are supposed to assess? All I can think of is what the problems are but the needs are much more difficult to pinpoint - or at least I find it difficult to express.

 

The second part is "My reasons for believing that the school cannot meet his needs on its own resources are:" Should I then go back to each problem and detail why nothing worked?

 

And also, just in how much detail am I supposed to go? Is it best to be quite short or to give as much information as possible?

 

The school is willing to make the request, but they talked about it last month and we had a meeting last week where I learned that they hadn't done it and they were trying to convince us that it wouldn't help. So I'd rather make sure it's happening. But I'm struggling!

 

In a nutshell, my 13 yo AS son doesn't know how to handle problems with other students and very easily resorts to insults and then violence, resulting in him being regularly excluded. He's had similar problems in primary school but they disappeared in Year 5 & 6, only to reappear when he moved to secondary school. Various strategies have been put in place, with intervention from various external people (he's at School Action Plus) but things have gone worse. He has been telling us since November that he doesn't want to go to school. It is also now apparent that he is being bullied though this has only become clear recently and I don't know it was part of the problem last term (and he can't identify the culprits because he can't recognise unfamiliar faces! :wallbash: ) He has been told to talk to an adult when he's got problems but he won't - I guess he doesn't trust them or doesn't feel confident enough, he will only talk to me - but honestly it's difficult to get information as his emotions get in the way.

 

Intellectually he is very bright, so there are no obvious learning difficulties there. Though I have noticed that he doesn't do well with assignments that require an awareness of emotions and social skills (writing the introduction of a horror story comes to mind). He has come down a level in English in the last term, should I mention it or is it too recent to be considered significant? At the last IEP review meeting I raised the issue of his research skills and his essay planning being terrible, and he is now supposed to work on them in the learning support unit but I don't know if it's happening or if he's making progress.

 

We agreed with the school that classes that cause him the most stress would be replaced by time in the learning support unit instead. Those are mainly classes with a less structured setting such as art and PE. He has stopped German completely, because he has taken a strong dislike to the language and it was felt that there was no point in forcing him to continue. He is supposed to work on French instead in the learning support unit (we are a French family and he can speak and read the language) but he doesn't know what he's supposed to do so he hasn't done anything.

 

Now things are so bad that we need to negotiate with the school how to keep him educated during the statementing process. The assistant headteacher for SEN wants him to be started on an a live online teaching programme, from home. The psychologist from CAMHS tells me it's best instead to negotiate in-school provision as he would still be with his friends - maybe coming part-time, or having a learning assistant with him between classes (they won't do that without a statement, I've asked before). It makes sense to me but my son is so anxious now I don't know if it's a good solution anymore. He just wants to stay home and feel safe.

 

... Sorry if I got a bit carried away. I started the topic wanting advice about writing the request statement. Feel free to give me your thoughts on the rest as well.

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Hello :thumbs:

 

My DSs school requested the stautory assessment, and I've had a look through the application they made. They have briefly listed his areas of difficulty, and also how that impacts on his ability to learn. They have also given some specific examples of his behaviours. Like your son, he is very bright but his social difficulties make it hard for him to access the curriculum without a very high level of support.

 

So yes I feel it's best to keep it fairly brief, also maybe giving some examples of what you mean. Do the school keep any kind of diary which you might be able to refer to?

Then you could go back through what you've written and look at why the school are finding it hard to support him using their current resources under SA+

 

I hope that's helpful and that I haven't confused you more :o

 

Nicky x

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I seem to remember that somewhere in another post there was a link posted where it gave all the areas of difficulty to consider when either asking for or assessing a proposed Statement.

I'll have a look and see if I can find it, otherwise other members may find it and post it before me.

But basically you need to identify difficulties in different areas.

What you are going to find hard is that it appears that you don't really have any information to go on. When your son moved to SA+ he would have been referred to outside professionals and they should have assessed him and produced reports. Do you have those? He also should have had IEPs and those should have had targets for him to work towards and those would either have been met or would have failed. You use those also.

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I managed to find the link. I'm rather please I managed that. :whistle::whistle:

Read through it, but the main points you need are down the page at Step 9.

That should give you lots to think about and write down.

This organisation are also very helpful about exclusions.

You can also look on the NAS.org and IPSEA.org website to see if you can find anything relevant or helpful there.

 

http://www.ace-ed.org.uk/advice-about-educ...tory-assessment

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A good idea to follow the ACE guide as a framework for writing about your son's difficulties. Once you start, you'll probably find you have a lot to say.

 

You also need to show that the school can't meet his needs from the resources they normally get. So it would be good to get evidence from the school about their resources , get hold of the SEN policy, and ask the Senco for details of their SEN budget and what help they normally provide for pupils at SA+.

 

The exclusions guidance says that schools should only exclude pupils with SEN as a last resort and should be making every effort to avoid excluding pupils on SA or SA+. Worth pointing out to them, and don't forget you have the right to write to the governors and to ask for a meeting to discuss any exclusion. A copy of their findings can then be placed on your son's file - all good evidence for the need for further support.

 

If your son ends up too stressed to go to school, as a child with medical needs, he would be entitled to 5 hrs home tuition a week, provided by the LA.

 

K x

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hi wonder if anyone can offer advise re all the above my dd of naerly 14 hasnt been to school properly since july2008 ,having spoken to someone at NAS he advised asking for an assessment,to get a statement,the big problem i have is my dd doesnt go out and will not see anyone 'new' so there is no way i can get an assessment,however she has seen clinical and educational psycologists over the last year and i filled in an ADI-R back in november with the result being that she is above the cut off score.the question is if i ask for a statement can they use the reports from these people as opposed to making her be seen by someone esle for an assessment?

with regards to the not being at school and getting 5 hours a week tuition,not sure which area that would be,personally i was told that and it is a complete joke,it took the school a year to even mention it and then we the man came round my dd couldnt cope and run away,because she didnt like him( very black and white thinking,she had heard something about him and that was it!!)i was then told due to resourses ther was no one else in our area and it was never mention again,that was last june!!

anyway getting back to point any advise gratefully accepted

regards julia

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Hi julia,

 

A child does not have to be attending school during the Statutory Assessment phase - my daughter wasn't and I'm sure Bid won't mind me saying that her son was also out of school when this was done. As a minimum, the LA Ed psych and medical officer would need to assess her but a home visit could be done. My daughter wasn't particularly cooperative with professionals either, and so the assessments mostly consisted of interviews with me. If you've had your own reports done, these reports can form part of the assessment.

 

First though, you've got to get over the small hurdle of requesting an assessment and waiting 6 weeks for the LA to agree to it - or not. A lengthy process so the sooner you write the request letter, the better.

 

This booklet will help you get started.

 

K x

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hi kathryn,thanks for reply have read link you said and seems to all make sense ,just wanted to check though we are up in scotland so do all the same things apply?

only other concern is where it says if i ask for assessment i have to legally make sure she attends assessments that they put in place,and i just know it wont happen,this is what really worries me,because what would happen then?

 

many thanks julia

Edited by jlogan1

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Julia - sorry, I completely overlooked the fact you are in Scotland! The system is different there but there may be some similarities so disregard the booklet which covers England and Wales. Off the top of my head I know Pookie and cmuir are in Scotland so you could check with them. Also look at the pinned links at the top of this board - there's one with links to websites in Scotland.

 

K x

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Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

 

Nicky, have you been through the whole process? Does your son have a statement now? I'd be interested to know what they put in place, as I'm still unclear as to what the best way to meet my son's needs is.

 

Sally44, I don't have that many reports from the school. I have an EP report exploring motivation and memory and an outreach worker report which didn't highlight any big problem. Other than that I've got a few IEPs, with always the goal of no physical violence against other students, which he consistently failed to reach. Outside of school I've got the reports from the psychologist from CAMHS who made his diagnosis of AS.

 

Kathryn, I did point out the need to avoid excluding a SEN child when he started getting excluded last year. Their argument is that it is in their policy to exclude children who use violence toward other people. It is not discrimination because everybody is treated the same way. It would make sense, except that my son quite enjoys his exclusions, so as a deterrent it's not great.

 

The ACE booklet is very helpful, very detailed, though it might take me a while to write the report. Does it make sense to write a short letter to start the assessment process and send them the detailed report in the following days/weeks when I'm finished writing it? Or should I wait until I'm finished writing it to send the request?

 

Julia, best of luck in your search for answers. I wish I could help.

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Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

 

Nicky, have you been through the whole process? Does your son have a statement now? I'd be interested to know what they put in place, as I'm still unclear as to what the best way to meet my son's needs is.

 

Hi again :)

 

I am currently waiting for the LA to decide on whether to issue a statement. They are meeting on Feb 15th :pray:

 

DS is only 6 so some of this may not be relevant. At the moment the school have in place a 1-2-1 teacher all day, in a spare classroom, as well as supervision at lunchtime and breaktime, as this is when he finds things particularly difficult ( unstructured time is a real problem for him). He also goes in a little late and we pick him up early to avoid the playground 'crush'. This is, I gather, a very high level of support for a child without a statement, and I am very, very lucky with the school he goes to. Before this support was put in place he had been exluded several times over a short period and was not getting any kind of education. The main reason we have applied for a statement is that he will shortly be moving to the Junior school, and they do not have a spare room for him to be taught in, and possibly not the resources to supply 1-2-1 all day. We are also looking ahead to secondary school and feel it would be good for him to have a statement at that point.

 

As your son is on SA+, the school should be involving outside agencies like Speech and Language, Education Psychologists and specialist outreach teachers. You should get a copy of all reports that have been written. You can ask the school for a copy of his school records and reports. Have you had a meeting recently with the shool, as that would be a good opportunity to ask for anything which may help? Also, on a slightly different note, did you get letters for his exclusion(s) - these can be very useful as evidence.

 

I hope that helps and good luck >:D<<'>

Edited by NickyB

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Also, on a slightly different note, did you get letters for his exclusion(s) - these can be very useful as evidence.

 

Thanks for reminding me! Of course! I've got loads of them.

 

I'm really impressed with the level of support your son is getting from his school. My thoughts are with you regarding the LA's decision. Good luck!

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Kathryn, I did point out the need to avoid excluding a SEN child when he started getting excluded last year. Their argument is that it is in their policy to exclude children who use violence toward other people. It is not discrimination because everybody is treated the same way.

 

It can still be discrimination as there are two strands to the DDA.. Although you can't claim "less favourable treatment" because as you say, they would claim to treat all children the same way (i.e. excluding for violent behaviour), you would be able to claim "failure to make reasonable adjustments" for your son's disability, thereby placing him at a disadvantage.

 

The ACE booklet is very helpful, very detailed, though it might take me a while to write the report. Does it make sense to write a short letter to start the assessment process and send them the detailed report in the following days/weeks when I'm finished writing it? Or should I wait until I'm finished writing it to send the request?

 

Yes it's a good idea to send the request letter straight away as this alone is enough to start the process, which is long enough as it is. You will be given a month to send in further information anyway - and the LA must take 6 weeks to consider your request, so sending all your information at the start won't earn you extra brownie points.

 

K x

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Thanks for reminding me! Of course! I've got loads of them.

 

I'm really impressed with the level of support your son is getting from his school. My thoughts are with you regarding the LA's decision. Good luck!

 

Thank you :thumbs:

 

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There is something called provision during assessment (I think)- PDA which a school can ask for when they make a request for statutory assessment so that they can be given a level of funding before a statement is issued. Obviously this isn't handed out very often ( I got it for one child I applied for at one of my schools so I know it does happen) but the school has to make it very clear the level of provision they are putting in is high so evidence about what happened before provision/ what happens if it's not in place is crucial.

 

and they do not have a spare room for him to be taught in,
This is often a problem but it can be resolved - we bought a small portacabin to use as a quiet room, we were lucky to have funding but it could be an idea to think about. You could mention the PDA to the school, they could check with the LA to see if it's an option they would consider.

Good luck

AV

 

 

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