Tribunal

[roady11]

Hi Everyone

 

I'm new to all this so please bear with me. I am currently in the process of taking LA to tribunal over their refusal to assess my sons needs. There is a lot of background to this but i will start at where we are now. My child's school put in a referal for stat assmnt in march (my son left that school july and will be starting secondary in september) I was unaware that they were going to do this and didnt know they had until i got the letter from LA asking for parental advice. ( i have been wanting to refer for assessment but never had full backing from school at the time) I had no idea what evidence had ben submitted to the LA so just went ahead and wrote exactly our views of my sons needs/difficulties. According to it at a meeting we had in april with LA, ed psyche, Austism service, and school the only evidence that had been submitted was my sons iep (which concentrated on his literacy) and some reports on visits autism service had made. What I didn't know was that autism service had written a report supporting statutory assessment but the ed psyche had virtually denied my son has any form of communication interaction problems and did not even mention my sons social/emotional difficulties. (I did not sign any referal form to the ed psyche who assessed his maths in nov 2009) as this is not the only thing i would have liked him to look at my sons maths is not a difficulty it is a strength he is in top 1%. I spoke to the ed psyche breifly after he had done these cognitive tests and he totally disregarded what i was telling him. Now autism service wrote a lwtter supporting assessment in dec but authority say my sons difficulties were miracoulasly better by feb and autism service wrote a letter supporting this in july (after referal for assessment in march) autism service sent a copy of this directly to sen team to support their opposal and i received a copy with the opposal and then another copy to myself a week or so later. Are they allowed to do this send reports directly without my permission? and should the ed psyche have assessed my son without my say so in writing? Surely as this report was not written until july it shouldnt be used to back up there refusal to assess in march? My son has had difficulties right through his education including exclusions and has had part time ed too and they are saying between dec 09 and feb 10 he now no longer has these difficulties !!! Any help greatly appreciated

[coolblue]

Hi Everyone

 

I'm new to all this so please bear with me. I am currently in the process of taking LA to tribunal over their refusal to assess my sons needs. There is a lot of background to this but i will start at where we are now. My child's school put in a referal for stat assmnt in march (my son left that school july and will be starting secondary in september) I was unaware that they were going to do this and didnt know they had until i got the letter from LA asking for parental advice. ( i have been wanting to refer for assessment but never had full backing from school at the time) I had no idea what evidence had ben submitted to the LA so just went ahead and wrote exactly our views of my sons needs/difficulties. According to it at a meeting we had in april with LA, ed psyche, Austism service, and school the only evidence that had been submitted was my sons iep (which concentrated on his literacy) and some reports on visits autism service had made. What I didn't know was that autism service had written a report supporting statutory assessment but the ed psyche had virtually denied my son has any form of communication interaction problems and did not even mention my sons social/emotional difficulties. (I did not sign any referal form to the ed psyche who assessed his maths in nov 2009) as this is not the only thing i would have liked him to look at my sons maths is not a difficulty it is a strength he is in top 1%. I spoke to the ed psyche breifly after he had done these cognitive tests and he totally disregarded what i was telling him.

 

Hi roady

 

There does seem to be some variation in whether parental consent is sought before consulting an Ed Psych. I've been told that this is because Ed Psychs are usually employed by the education service, so are often seen as 'in house', if you like. My guess is that the referral to the autism service was made without your awareness for the same reasons. I must add, from my own experience, that even if you had seen both of these people before they had assessed your son, it might have made little difference. They are under no obligation to assess what the parent (or the school for that matter) wants them to assess.

 

Now autism service wrote a lwtter supporting assessment in dec but authority say my sons difficulties were miracoulasly better by feb and autism service wrote a letter supporting this in july (after referal for assessment in march) autism service sent a copy of this directly to sen team to support their opposal and i received a copy with the opposal and then another copy to myself a week or so later.

 

If the school applied for the statutory assessment, the SEN code of practice says that schools 'should' inform parents. Ideally, you should automatically get a copy of all assessments, relevant correspondence etc, but in practice this often doesn't happen.

 

Are they allowed to do this send reports directly without my permission? and should the ed psyche have assessed my son without my say so in writing? Surely as this report was not written until july it shouldnt be used to back up there refusal to assess in march? My son has had difficulties right through his education including exclusions and has had part time ed too and they are saying between dec 09 and feb 10 he now no longer has these difficulties !!! Any help greatly appreciated

 

Not quite clear what the autism service did. It sounds as if they sent a letter in July backing up the LA's refusal to assess in March. Whether this makes sense or not would depend on when the autism service had seen your son. If they had seen him again before March, there is no reason why they couldn't refer to that assessment in their July letter.

 

Since your boy is starting a new school in September I would be tempted to start the process again from scratch. A statement of special needs is issued in respect of a named school, because it specifies the additional support a child needs in the school they attend - or will be attending. So a child in a large urban primary might not need any extra support from the LA because the school can provide it, whereas a small rural primary might need extra resources to support a child with almost identical needs.

 

Explain as soon as you can to your son's new school what the situation is, ask them what they would like to do in the light of it, give them time to assess him and if they don't think a statutory assessment is necessary and you do, you can apply for one yourself. In any event, I would get hold of a copy of the SEN Code of Practice

 

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=3724

 

and read the relevant bits first, so you have a clear idea of who should be doing what and how.

 

Not sure what to advise about the exclusions. It sounds as if the school might have been acting illegally, but there are issues about bringing a complaint against a school a child is no longer attending, and I'm not sure what it would achieve. Just keep an eye on the next school, and make sure they don't use exclusions as a way of 'managing' your child.

 

Hope this helps.

 

cb

[Suze]

Hi does your son have a dx of autism,

[roady11]

Hi sorry i have not been very clear. My son has had problems since startin school (social/emotional) (communication/interaction) academically he progressed well regardless of these problems he was not identified and put on the sen register until yr 2 then in yr 3 his school excluded him very long exclusion over 2 weeks. They then initiated stat assess process by he did p/t schooling and had 1;1 whilst he was there 3 hrs per day (the 1;1 wasnt always 1;1 ) My son was suffering from extreme anxiety and was also being bullied regardless of this support, so in the july we decided that it would be best to move schools. He started at his new school and settled 'fairly' well his anxiety levels were 'better' but was put at school a+ in and had involvement from anopther ed psychewho did cognitive tests, he received mentoring and social skills classes (he was beeing seen at camhs at this time and received his diagnosis of aspergers they then discharged him) and refered him to autism service with our consent. She has seen him weekly then fortnightly since then ) I think though she has been more supportive of school then my son even with her input in yr 5 my son was again excluded and with no extra support when he returned other than more time out cards for him to use (these didnt work before the exclusion) During all this time my son has now fallen behind in his literacy he got a 2A in writing in yr 2 sats and at the end of yr 6 sats only gained a level 3. His reading ability has been assessed as 121 (85 being average) level 5 he got in sats and overall level 4 due tho his high reading level. Thre have been problems throughout yr 6 which autism service identified and that is when she wrote a letter supportin assessment and that she felt he needed more supervision and a more individual help as he she thought he would struggle with the social side of secondary school. I did not recieve this report until after refusal to assess in april! had i been aware of this i would have refered for assessment myself. Now since meeting with lea and ed psyche she has done complete turnaround (which were not her views at the meeting) and written this report saying he is now ready for secondary school with the lea using this report and reports from 2 visits that she did to my son in feb to back up their opposal. Hope i have made it clearer ?

[roady11]

Hi roady

 

There does seem to be some variation in whether parental consent is sought before consulting an Ed Psych. I've been told that this is because Ed Psychs are usually employed by the education service, so are often seen as 'in house', if you like. My guess is that the referral to the autism service was made without your awareness for the same reasons. I must add, from my own experience, that even if you had seen both of these people before they had assessed your son, it might have made little difference. They are under no obligation to assess what the parent (or the school for that matter) wants them to assess.

 

 

 

If the school applied for the statutory assessment, the SEN code of practice says that schools 'should' inform parents. Ideally, you should automatically get a copy of all assessments, relevant correspondence etc, but in practice this often doesn't happen.

 

 

 

Not quite clear what the autism service did. It sounds as if they sent a letter in July backing up the LA's refusal to assess in March. Whether this makes sense or not would depend on when the autism service had seen your son. If they had seen him again before March, there is no reason why they couldn't refer to that assessment in their July letter.

 

Since your boy is starting a new school in September I would be tempted to start the process again from scratch. A statement of special needs is issued in respect of a named school, because it specifies the additional support a child needs in the school they attend - or will be attending. So a child in a large urban primary might not need any extra support from the LA because the school can provide it, whereas a small rural primary might need extra resources to support a child with almost identical needs.

 

Explain as soon as you can to your son's new school what the situation is, ask them what they would like to do in the light of it, give them time to assess him and if they don't think a statutory assessment is necessary and you do, you can apply for one yourself. In any event, I would get hold of a copy of the SEN Code of Practice

 

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=3724

 

and read the relevant bits first, so you have a clear idea of who should be doing what and how.

 

Not sure what to advise about the exclusions. It sounds as if the school might have been acting illegally, but there are issues about bringing a complaint against a school a child is no longer attending, and I'm not sure what it would achieve. Just keep an eye on the next school, and make sure they don't use exclusions as a way of 'managing' your child.

 

Hope this helps.

 

cb

Yes that is excactly what i said to lea when she said schools have to manage 'behavior' my eply was that well if the best autism service can do is exclusions then its not a very good form of intervention and you can see why i think he needs more than her support in school. x

[Sally44]

If you are going to tribunal about a refusal to assess, then you would go to that tribunal with all the evidence you have to support the need for an assessment to take place. If the tribunal agrees that he should be assessed then that new assessment would take place in your sons new school. Or you can wait until the 6 months has passed since your first application and then apply again from scratch. However if they refuse again you would be waiting a further 6 months on top of that for the tribunal. So it depends on which timescales you feel suit your situation better and your ability to get the information together in time.

 

And as he is moving to a new school with a diagnosis(?) and on SA+(?), they should do an IEP within the first term. The tribunal process usually takes about 6 months from appealing to the actual tribunal date and there are time limits within that process that you have to submit written reports or any other paperwork (letters etc) as evidence.

 

You can submit any evidence you have. If your son goes to any clubs etc you can ask the leader of them to write a letter about how your son responds to the social element of that club etc because that will give the tribunal an insight into how your son would typically be within school as well.

 

You need all the paperwork regarding exclusions and what they were for.

You need the diagnosis in writing (which you should already have?)

You need copies of IEPs and the targets they are concentrating on - are the targets relevent to his areas of difficulty ie. no use having a target about maths if he is brilliant about it - is he poor with social communication, emotional response, sensory issues etc - those are the targets you need on his IEP and the EP/school/parents should be deciding on the targets at each review.

You need all reports made on your son that highlight the difficulties he has.

You need the SEN Code of Practice to look at to help you. This code details the 'reasons' a child might receive a Statement. That might be academic, speech and language and social interaction, emotional and behavioural and sensory. As your child is doing well in maths you can highlight the difference between his ability in that area and his ability elsewhere eg. emotional regulation etc.

Is your LEA Parent Partnership involved. Use them to help support you at meetings. Some are good, some are not.

Has your son been assessed by SALT for all aspects of his speech and communication (expressive and receptive) as well as his social communication?

 

Although professionals do assess what they want to assess, as his parent you can write to any service and highlight your concerns and ask the professional to look at that area. That is especially the case when it is directly related to the diagnosis ie. the child MUST have significant difficulties with social interaction - yet many times a child is never assessed in that area by SALT. But social communication will be a major player in secondary school and things could break down if he feels isolated etc.

 

You can get private reports if you feel that would help and it would be wise (if you did go down that route) to get reports in the areas that you feel he has most difficulty. So if he is doing okay academically and it is the language/social side of things, then get a private SALT report. They do cost. As you are just looking at a tribunal to assess you might want to wait until later because you may find the tribunal agrees that he needs a Statement - then the LEA will produce a Statement that may contain nothing. At that stage you may feel you need private reports to back up what you believe your child needs.

 

If the tribunal refuses to assess you can ask for an assessment towards a Statement again in 6 months. You do not need any professional to agree to your seeking an assessment. You can start it on your own.

[roady11]

Hi thanks for your reply. I have already strarted appeal process and have an appeal date in nov. Surely if he has had these probs throughout his ed and at differeant schools its only going to get worse at secondary he has not 'caught up' with his peers socially emotionally miraculously over three months surely any tribunal will see that which is what autsim service is now tryin to imply. The big problem i have is that i have very litle written evidence as schoo, have failed to document this. I do realise the secondary setting is going to make a difference but if we go to tribuanal and they say they have to assess these assessment s will be at secondary so will be relevant. I see what your saying thogh if i have little evidence from his secondary placement there may not be a lot in the 'statement' if that does happen. He starts in september and tribunal isnt until end of nov so this is some time to gather more evidence if we needed to go back regarding the contents of any statement (the evidence for appeal has to be in by end of oct). If they have refused to assess in last 6 mionths does that mean i cant put another referal in until 6 months has expired?

[Kathryn]

If they have refused to assess in last 6 mionths does that mean i cant put another referal in until 6 months has expired?

 

No, you can ask again withough waiting 6 months. The 6 month time limit only applies if there has been a previous statutory assessment, i.e. the parent cannot ask for one within 6 months of the end of the last one.

 

K x

[roady11]

No, you can ask again withough waiting 6 months. The 6 month time limit only applies if there has been a previous statutory assessment, i.e. the parent cannot ask for one within 6 months of the end of the last one.

 

K x

OH i understand thnks for that x