Stat Assesment should I wait?

[justine1]

Hi everyone

 

I am thinking of requesting a stat assesment myself and hope to do so this week.I was going to wait for the autism outreach lady to come see Sam at school, but I am worried a every thing seems to be taking so long and if I wait it will be a furthur two weeks on top of the 6 week wait(hope that makes sense )

 

I have the following:

Ed Physch report

Assesment 1 report,from Paed

Assesment 2 report,from paed

Exclusion 1 letter

Exclusion 2 letter

letter regarding Sam doing half day(flexi schooling.)

 

I also have diary entrys regarding his day to day behaviour,is this acceptable?Also medical slips,from accidents that have happened to him at school,is this acceptable?

 

So finally,should I just wait the extra two weeks for the autism lady?In fact in real terms it will be three weeks as she will need to tye and post her own report,so for me that will be nine weeks until they either do the assesment or reject it? What should I do?

Thank you.

[westie]

All you have to write initially is a letter (you can send other stuff along if you like but they will write back to you and the school etc anyway to ask more) to say that you want them to carry out an assessment for a statement of SEN for XXXXX whose date of birth is XXXX and put down why you think they need a statement (obviously you have a lot of evidence which is good, get it all copied cause you may need it again and again for various reasons! And they might lose it .. When I initially asked for my son I wrote a brief letter (1 page) and sent some reports then later on sent a lot more stuff. They still got me to fill out a questionnaire, I referenced my original letter and added some more stuff. At the time I waited ages for the paed. to refer till another professional told me I could ask myself so dont blame you for starting ball rolling. You can mention to ed/ psych and school that you have written to ask. There are sometimes template letters on the internet for you to use as a guide - I didnt use a guide just made sure I included his name, dob and address etc, that I was asking them to do an assessment and some reasons why, and also mentioned I had included some extra info, and my contact details. That is all they need to start with I think....

Good luck X

 

addition: Yes think there is no harm in starting earlier. Do you suspect they (school/ autism outreach) are thinking statementing is necessary anyway or do they have plans to help without statement? Is yr child already on school action plus? And its not worked?

 

Usually a statement in itself means no more money for school to help your child but it does give the school a legal obligation to meet the childs needs, or answer as to why. Also necessary if you want them to go to a specialist school....

The diary entries may be really useful - I know one parent where school said child was okay and they were able to handle them when home/ school diary showed a different story (after a battle the child did get statemented, no thanks to school - they moved to another school before statement finalised and doing much better now! )

Edited February 15, 2010 by westie

[caci]

I agree - don't wait any longer. It seems the minimum time to get a statement agreed is 6 months, but sadly, it is often much longer.

Ours took 15 months.

 

Always keep copies of EVERYTHING you send and post everything using recorded delivery.

[westie]

wow 15mths that is a long time! Was that because school did not agree one was needed or just lots of assessments?

For my son asked for assessment in Nov and it was finalised by July, in time for him to start full time reception class (he was in playgroup when ball was started rolling) and at time he did not have diagnosis of anything other than emotional behavioural difficulties.

[justine1]

Thanks for that Westie.I will defo make copies and get proof of postage from post office

I was told by the school that when I request the assesment I need all the evidence,so its not great to hear I didnt have to wait all this time

 

I am glad I have decided to do it alone,got the feeling the school will drag their feet as they have done so for 4 months now.

Thanks

[westie]

yes its amazing that they keep it so quiet about you being able to ask yourself! I got a book on SEN from the national autistic society it explains the stages of support, statementing, annual reviews etc and gives some good example letters to ask to see childs records, request statement etc and gives some guidance (general - every child unique of course) about what a statement for an autistic child may need to include. its about £4 I think... blue and white cover. Of course there is some stuff online,if I find it I will post a link.

Let us know how you get on!

[caci]

I requested stat assessment in Jan 2008, and it was initially refused in April, as the school hadn't provided correct paperwork. I applied for a tribunal date and was given one in July 2008. The LEA backed down at 5.00pm the night before tribunal date, however as this was July, we had to wait until school re-opened in Sept to get various details.

I think the initial draft statement was recieved in late Oct, but had to go back for amended. That took until Dec 2008 and then was sent back again for further details to be corrected. I think the final statement was March 2009, so actually 14 months in total.

 

Hopefully Justine1 will have a much quicker result.

[Sally44]

Do you also have IEPs as they usually say they want to see six months worth of them, which usually equates to 2 IEPs.

[justine1]

Yes,I have two,the most recent is from October.Thanks Sally.

[westie]

this site has example layout for letter to request statement. Its a site that is for parents of ADHD kids but I think it is a decent example. There is also link to info sheet about statementing at bottom of page

http://www.adders.org/info157.htm

 

Regards

D

Edited February 15, 2010 by westie

[JsMum]

Just adding more on the assessment model letter, IPSEA is a brilliant website for more information, telephone advise and specialist support for SENs.

 

So just adding this one.

 

http://www.ipsea.org.uk/What-you-need-to-k...stingAssessment

 

I requested assessment too, so agree go ahead and request the assessment and dont let them fob you off if they say Aspergers Syndrome children dont get statement because their bright, there IQ is too high, ect..... it is incorrect, they can and so keep following the SEN information from NAS, IPSEA.

 

There is more helplines too, here.

 

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=20381

 

JsMumxxx

 

Edited February 15, 2010 by JsMum

[JsMum]

Just adding you a copy of the sen bible I read that I ordered from Contact A Family.

 

http://www.cafamily.org.uk/pdfs/educatio.pdf

 

http://www.cafamily.org.uk/inyourarea/engl...east/index.html

 

contact a family support workers that can visit you in your home and help you further with relivant Disability Needs, this area may not cover yours but look throw the map to find your area.

 

http://www.cafamily.org.uk/inyourarea/index.html

 

JsMumxxx

 

[Kathryn]

Don't wait - no point. From when the LA receive your request, they will give you a month to send in all your evidence anyway.

 

K x

[Yossarian]

Just want to add - keep a note of every tel conversation, meeting, any interaction you have with all professionals from LA and health side. You will need all this information to build a case should you have to go to tribunal. If you don't have it, you will be in a much weaker position.