Inconsistancies in paperwork

[jaffacakes]

Hi all,

 

Been about a month since I've been here, been busy and things have moved on greatly in that time.

 

Son has had 4 weeks in a new school, 1hr per day then 2.5 hrs, with 1:1 support. We had lots of promises about being involved and going at our pace before we started.

 

Home /School diary started at our insistence , it has become an issue as it is full of positive stuff but has glossed over negatives and has blatantly not included negative issues. We also have a weekly summery which is all positives with no negatives. A whole lode of paperwork went forward for an IPF, including a very fair but negative document from Ed Psych, including biting, hitting and requiring 2 staff to contain him.

 

We've started complaining about this, and also lack of written strategies - we asked for a meeting where WE could discuss this.

 

R has been granted IPF at level 4 (£11,000) plus a Statutory Assessment has been started as of 1 June.

 

Ed Psych has presented us (emailed) with what looks like a very 'standard' document with strategies - mainly covering high level behaviour - violence etc. Nothing about coping strategies or what to do if ... No input from us and it has been sent out as an "agreed document".

 

Also CAF has been booked for 2 weeks time, I have not been included as join lead as requested, and I now find that 19(!) people have been invited, including welfare and 2 GP's. I think this is R's and mine.

 

School have also invited us to a meeting (Recorded delivery letter) to discuss.

 

What is going on, what is the game plan here?

 

I have forwarded all of this onto my MP and also the Council's Chief Exec who were both involved about a month ago when I was getting desperate about finding a school for R.

 

I'm beginning to get concerned that this is not going to go well.

 

Help please

 

Lynn

Edited June 13, 2010 by jaffacakes

[justine1]

Hi

I have to say you are very lucky to have the 1:1 and seems that school is on your side and the fact the ed psych has at least highlighted the main problems is very important.It has taken me 18mths to get my son 1:1 and get the stat assess going,plus he got his diagnosis in December,yet we still in a "not so good" situation.

 

My sons ed psych also didnt really give much info on coping strategies etc. it was very vague but the autism outreach and autism teachers had much better ideas and put these ideas into practise over the past 5 weeks.Maybe you can ask the SENco about these options?

 

I know from experience the home/ school diary doesnt always work,at my sons school they just didnt have the time of day,it is happening now because his LSA does it. Unfortunatley there is nothing to hold them to that, I personally enjoyed reading when he had a positive day at school.Now it is mostly positive not so much negative and he is learning more.If he has hurt anyone that should be recorded anyway and if its not in the diary and you were told about it you could just add it in the diary yourself,I did this.In the end I havent even needed the diary as evidence as the school has plenty.

 

Forgot to add its also not uncommon for them to have meeting without you,you can ask for minutes from the meeting if you like or indeed why you are not invited.

Edited June 13, 2010 by justine1

[call me jaded]

Don't worry, half the people invited won't show up and half again will show up once and then never be seen again. My guess is that the MP or Chief Exec has asked questions and somebody along the line thinks they ought to be covering their backs. My experience with supporting families is that they create a lot of paperwork and not a lot else except a list of things for the family to 'achieve' before the next meeting.

 

On one I've managed to get the school to do some things a little differently but it has taken an awful lot of patience and diplomacy, as they didn't think there was anything wrong with what they were doing. They'd given the pupil someone else's medication and felt the mother was being over-protective when she was keeping him off when he needed Calpol (for hypermobility). Between mother and son they's had 22 hospital appointments plus two week-long stays during school holidays and still the school sent in the EWO without telling her they were both disabled.

 

You could really do to have someone there to support you through it - a local charity or Parent Partnership or even just a friend who can be another pair of ears. It's going to be a little bit stressful but LAs are thinking of their budgets more than ever so don't expect anything much to change as a result. You will however get to ask for better communication and more meaningful strategies and those should be forthcoming.

 

 

[jaffacakes]

I know I have gained the 1:1 because of all the fighting I did, remember I had my son out of school because we had no recognition of any issues - his previous school REFUSED to speak to our local Autism team THREE times. I have paperwork going back 2 years regarding his behaviour yet no-one was even interested.

 

Our concerns are that we were promised inclusion and involvement, but now our son is in school that has all gone. R has come home obviously upset on a number of occasions and they have all but denied it. This includes one day where he had THREE melt downs within his 2.5 hours. This was not reported in his diary and when I questioned it the Head eventually said they were "trying to build his resilience".

 

We are very concerned that they are trying to push him to see whether this is bad behaviour or something more. However they are distressing him at the same time and then denying it to us.

 

The strategy document does not list any of the things we have already asked about, and he is now (Friday) having incidents which they say have no triggers and no warning - he hit a child on Friday and it happened "with no warning". My son does NOT do this.

 

I'm very concerned about Welfare being brought in, what are they up to?

 

Jaded: you must have posted as I was typing this, I'll repond to you later - you make a lot of sense but I am still worried

Edited June 13, 2010 by jaffacakes

[Suze]

<'> .........your in that horrible no - mans land families wind up in before a diagnosis.It looks as though everyone concerened is following things by the book.But until a dx is given its very hard to get autism support into school or stratergies in place that are autism specific.Most of the people invited to the meeting will just be copied in the minutes its just to keep everyone up to speed particularly if they are gonna assess for a statement.I live in cheshire CASDAT are brill have they helped at all........suzex

[jaffacakes]

Thanks Jaded and Suze,

 

Yes CASADT have been good, and I've had more support from them than anyone else, but school are now in the driving seat and they have done too many things in the last 4 weeks that we are concerned about. We have not dug our heals in just to give way now, although it feels like that's what we are being expected to do.

 

It won't work. R has been treated badly once before and it won't happen again - it took me over a month before he would even walk by other children without extreme anxiety.

 

Thanks for the reassurance, it's not nice to have such grave concerns for people who are meant to be working in his interest - who in their right mind would even suggest "holding until he is calm" a 5 year old with spacial difficulties who can sometimes kick, hit out and get very very upset if people get into his space. Holding him until he is in a safe place or until others are removed from his location is very different.

[Sally44]

Hi all,

 

Been about a month since I've been here, been busy and things have moved on greatly in that time.

 

Son has had 4 weeks in a new school, 1hr per day then 2.5 hrs, with 1:1 support. We had lots of promises about being involved and going at our pace before we started.

 

Home /School diary started at our insistence , it has become an issue as it is full of positive stuff but has glossed over negatives and has blatantly not included negative issues. We also have a weekly summery which is all positives with no negatives. A whole lode of paperwork went forward for an IPF, including a very fair but negative document from Ed Psych, including biting, hitting and requiring 2 staff to contain him.

 

We've started complaining about this, and also lack of written strategies - we asked for a meeting where WE could discuss this.

 

R has been granted IPF at level 4 (£11,000) plus a Statutory Assessment has been started as of 1 June.

 

Ed Psych has presented us (emailed) with what looks like a very 'standard' document with strategies - mainly covering high level behaviour - violence etc. Nothing about coping strategies or what to do if ... No input from us and it has been sent out as an "agreed document".

 

Also CAF has been booked for 2 weeks time, I have not been included as join lead as requested, and I now find that 19(!) people have been invited, including welfare and 2 GP's. I think this is R's and mine.

 

School have also invited us to a meeting (Recorded delivery letter) to discuss.

 

What is going on, what is the game plan here?

 

I have forwarded all of this onto my MP and also the Council's Chief Exec who were both involved about a month ago when I was getting desperate about finding a school for R.

 

I'm beginning to get concerned that this is not going to go well.

 

Help please

 

Lynn

 

As you are in the statutory assessment process you can write to the EP or SALT or anyone else involved and ask them to clarify anything. You can ask them about specific needs and you can ask them to quantify and specify how those needs will be met in school as per the code of practice. Whether or not they will do that is another matter. But you can ask, and sometimes by asking it gives the professional the opportunity to 'be more specific'.

My experience has been that LEA/NHS reports do tend to be vague. That was one of the findings of the Lamb enquiry. He said that professionals felt their hands were tied and could not recommend provision or supports over and above what the LEA/school/NHS typically could provide within their budget. That is not what the SEN process is about. It is about identifying all a childs needs and stating how those needs will be met in school in terms of hours of support and staffing provision to provide that support - and staffing provision includes professionals as well.

 

Have you spoken with IPSEA at all?

Have you sent in your parental comments towards the assessment yet, or have you not been asked to do that yet? I think the ACE website has a template proposed statement that might help you get an idea of what you need to include. The format I usually take is stating how my son received his diagnosis, how he was coping in school before that triggered the statutory assessment process, academic achievement to date, speech and communication, social interaction, sensory difficulties etc.

 

I don't know about LEA criteria for support levels as described by yourself. That sounds like a banding format, which is different to our area. But the SEN Code of Practice still says that all needs should be identified and that it should be quantified and specified how each individual need will be met. If that takes your son over and above the banding level then that is what should happen. The IPSEA website has alot of information on it, there is also the DfES letter to all local authorities that is worth print off and having with you.

 

Can someone come to this meeting with you? Have you involved the Parent Partnership at all. As so many people are going to be attending is anyone going to take minutes? Maybe your husband, or the PP rep could do that. It is very important to get in writing what everyone has said and what has been agreed as a way forward. There are so many people at this meeting that no-one will remember everything that is said.

 

I too had a meeting some months ago when more people than usual attending because I had complained to the LEA about something. As Jaded said, they just came and went and nothing changed!

 

Regarding the home/school diary, ask school to write in the book when something happens. I had the same thing with my son and it only makes you more concerned when you know something has happened. My son would tell me something and I had no idea if it had happened on that day or two weeks ago. Or worse he would say nothing and the taxi escort would tell me something like "he was a bit upset in school today because two boys tried to kick down the toilet door whilst he was inside." Nothing in the home/school book. But the TA did phone me the next day and tell me what had happened. School did get a bit better, but they told me they liked to write 'positive' things in the diary. I said a diary is a diary and should be completed as such otherwise it is not fulfilling its purpose. We know what our children are like. If the diary starts to sound like someone else's child then you just don't trust it. Being told he got upset and recovered is much better than nothing.

 

[call me jaded]

In your long list of attendees you need to make sure there is someone from CAMHS or an Ed Psych who has an autism specialism. If not you can request someone attend.

Edited June 13, 2010 by call me jaded

[jaffacakes]

Thanks all, yes I do have Ed Psych there, unfortunately it's her document which states that my son should be "held until he is calm"

 

OK 2 further questions:

 

1 Why would school be do determined to only push the positives? Why are they not documenting the negative behaviour which my son is displaying and not asking for help when it is offered and available?

 

2 Some time ago someone posted up a very good pdf file for schools to use to teach those in school (teachers and children) about autism, it included classroom activities and was at least 20 pages long. Can you one send me a copy or link to it please.

 

Many thanks

 

Lynn

[Sally44]

Firstly I would ask the EP to clarify about the 'holding until calm', technique. There have been 'holding' programmes recommended in the past and I think it was stopped because many on the spectrum have sensory issues and forced holding can be inappropriate.

Why would they not record any negatives?? It depends. There could be a genuine reason, or it could be that if they record alot of incidents you might be able to use that as evidence that the school is not coping. My son's home/school diary does detail some instances of him becoming upset/angry about things. But behavoural issues are not a general problem, where for some children 'holding' or 'restraint' is an everyday occurance. Even if it is not in the home school book, if school have to hold/restrain a child the staff should be appropriately trained and every incidence should be recorded. So I would ask school what their procedure is for recording such incidences.

[jaffacakes]

Hi Sally, thanks.

 

The "holding until calm" is something in a "strategy plan", I would be extremely upset if they ever used it and didn't let us know. If you can find any documentation that states it's inappropriate then please can I have links etc?

 

 

The lack of information is for most, if not all day to day issues. I have asked on a number of occasions over the past few weeks that "inappropriate behaviour" be documented, and it had been agreed that this will be done. But it's not happening, which means that while we are also trying to get the school to discuss coping strategies with us (and they are refusing) we have no idea how well he is coping in school - apart from him getting tearful in the car on the way home and becoming anxious and upset before/after school etc. Plus 1 document written by someone outside of school which documents: spitting, hitting, kicking etc. as I mentioned above.

 

Add to the equation that I've been told today that I am "obsessive" about my son's behaviour and a "sid" has documented that s/he is happy with strategies in place in school where in the same document we have confirmed that this person has not got information on the full range of my son's behaviours and also has NOT read all the strategies in place.

 

Worried? yes. Obsessive? probably.

Edited June 18, 2010 by jaffacakes

[jaffacakes]

It's not even as if we're asking them to spend money! just discuss strategies with us - they keep telling us we are the 'experts' but don't want to treat us as such.

 

Very, very annoying and worrying.