Dyslexia assessment?

[emmasmum]

We have a tribunal date of 4th October for refusal to assess. My argument is that my daughter's needs are complex - she was diagnosed with aspergers aged 14, has auditory neuropathy and also has uninvestigated memory and processing problems. She was assessed by EP aged 6 as being on 73rd centile cognitively.

 

LA called a meeting at school last week to discuss support in place for Em. They agreed a social skills programme, being withdrawn from PE, targetted and specific interventions. EP said she is not qualified to assess for dyslexia or dyscalcula and if she did a full assessment this would mean she couldn't be involved in other ways. She is proposing to attend monthly meetings at the school to advise on Em's IEP targets and strategies school can use.

 

Emails to and fro between us and LA about the assessment aspect. Last week they mentioned that she could be assessed within the school for dyslexia if I wanted. I didn't respond. Today she has come home and said she's been assessed for dyslexia today! How likely is it that someone within the school is qualified to do this assessment when LA EP isn't?

 

Thanks in advance for any info or advice,

 

Carol

[JsMum]

when my son was six the school did test my son for Dyslexia but all they diagnosed was Dyslexic profile and was left with no exta support, he had severe litracey needs that were not been met and after researcing support for reading difficulties came across Dyslexia Action, I paid for a 10 pound assessment which was throw thier open day and once J finished the assessment it was achknowledged his difficulties and he did indeed have Dyslexia and Severely too.

 

J recieved around 2yrs extra one to one therapy from a Dyslexia Action centre for his litracey but as he became more and more anxious around mainstream education it became harder to get J to engage and we finished, in the mean time J was having further assessments from the Educational Pyschologist who diagnosed J as having a Spersific Learning Difficulty ie Dyslexia.

 

Only after that was diagnosed and we went to SENDIST as we where requesting parts 2,3 and four of his statements to changed, in the amendments it included Litracey support, substantially more before statement.

 

I recommend you talk to a specialist in Spercific Learning Difficulties, ie Dyslexia Action, there website is offline at the moment but once it is running I will put the link up.

 

Js Dyslexia has had a massive effect on Js development and more needs to be done to meet the needs of Dyslexia/Spercific learning difficulties.

 

 

JsMumx

Edited September 27, 2010 by JsMum

[Sally44]

It is worth knowing that even if this specific EP is not qualified to assess for Dyslexia, your LEA will have an EP that is qualified to assess. They may also have a Specific Learning Difficulties Teacher that can also assess.

 

In the Code of Practice it itemises the kinds of supports that a child might get for SEN and that includes specialist teaching.

 

If you scan through the Jim Rose report to the government you will also find that he recommends that children with a SPLD should be assessed and diagnosed and that the severity of the SPLD should be identified.

 

It also states that if a parent seeks independent reports or diagnosis that there should be "sound reasons" for an LEA not recognising that need or diagnosis. And 'not being employed by the LEA' is not a sound reason.

 

If your daughter is being assessed towards a Statement it clearly states in the CoP that EVERY need should be identified. So they have to itemise all her difficultie/needs in section 2 and then state how they will meet those needs in section 3. So it is irrelevant the EP saying 'she has no time'. That might be the case if she is currently seeing your daughter out of the schools budget of EP time.

 

So that is also a main point of your argument that your daughter is suspected of having dyslexia on top of an ASD and other complex needs and therefore an assessment towards a Statement is essential to identify all her needs and how to support her in school so that she makes adequate progress.

 

You could always ask the EP in writing to assess for Dyslexia, or to arrange for a suitably qualified EP to assess her. It is ALWAYS IMPORTANT to get things in writing. Anything verbal can be denied.

 

In our LEA the specialist teacher for SPLD does not see or assess any child with a SPLD. She only gives telephone advice to schools that phone her. That is illegal, but that is what our LEA does. My son was assessed after I sent in a complaint to the EP Service saying that they had not assessed for dyslexia eventhough it is documented in his original Statement that "since 2007 it has been identified that xxxxx has severe and persistent difficulties acquiring literacy skills and is likely to be dyslexic his diffiuclties being persisent and severe and that more intensive professional input is needed to determine this and to identify how to move his skills on". Even after that they STILL did not assess until I put in a formal complaint.

 

Unfortunately it is not in their interests to play by the book because every identified need costs the LEA money in terms of funding and staffing provision. So you do need to be aware of how the system works and apply pressure when needed.

 

Obviously you are doing that to be going to tribunal, but you have been led to believe that there is no-one able to assess your child for dyslexia within the EP service. I am sure that is a lie.

[Sally44]

You can also go onto your LEAs website and do a search for something like "SEN criteria for Dyslexia" or "SEN criteria for SPLD" etc. I did this and downloaded my own LEAs criteria for SA, SA+ and assessing for a Statement for children suspected of having dyslexia. They had not followed their own procedure with my son. LEAs do have alot of these documents, which can be useful when you ask them why they are not following their own procedure and again is evidence you can use at tribunal.