Assessment for Statement

[Jade]

My son (age 6) has an assessment in a few days to decide if he needs a Statement. Can anyone give me an idea what this will involve? Its at the Child Development Hospital, but I don't even have any idea how long to expect him to be there, whether they'll simply observe him or if they'll be testing him? Or what if any input I will need to make?

 

Thanks

[Sally44]

Does he already have a diagnosis?

 

Have you or the school requested the Local Authority to carry out an assessment for a Statement of Special Educational Needs.

[Jade]

Ed psych and clinical psych both say he is Aspergers following observations and tests, but he hasn't had the formal diagnosis yet. Ed psych recommended school to go ahead and make an application for Assessment for Statement and the LA agreed that he needed assessment.

 

School sent in detailed reports from themselves and psychologists so they already have lots of information to hand so not really sure what else they need to do!? Though I realize they need to make their own independant assessment.

[Sally44]

It will help the Statementing process to have a diagnosis.

 

To get a diagnosis a number of professionals will see you and your child over a period of time. They will observe, and ask you information about him and may do some work with your son. At the end of that process you will get a diagnosis. You may, or may not, get any additional information about "how" Aspergers affects your child individually. You may or may not get any written reports.

 

The professionals that usually see a child towards a diagnosis are a Speech Therapist (please ask them if they are assessing ALL aspects of his expressive and receptive speech and also ask them to assess for social communication and social interaction skills - don't think they will automatically be done. Also ask the SALT to carry out Standardised Assessments. These are set assessments which will measure his performance by age, standard score, or percentile. These baseline assessments are VERY important because you can measure progress from them and it gives you a good idea of areas of strengths and weaknesses which will inform education.

 

Also a Clinical Psychologist and a Developmental Paediatrician. These professionals may carry out their assessment in an interview form. Or the CP may carry out some cognitive assessments. Again you can ask that they are standardised ones for the same reasons as above.

 

In school an Educational Psychologist may assess him. Again you want standardised assessments because you need to know his reading, writing, spelling, numeracy age. You can speak to them on the phone and ask them what standardised assessment they are going to carry out.

 

There are many components to standardised assessments and often it is not all completed. However you need to ask the EP to assess him on his academic, as well as non-verbal skills. The reason why this is important is because often children on the spectrum have a spiky profile ie. they are very good at some things and very poor at others. Typically they struggle more with language based tasks, and sometimes there are accompanying specific learning difficulties which the subtests should identify.

 

In my case the EP only assessed my son with reading, writing and spelling and found he was more than 5 years behind his peers. She didn't do any other assessment. So I had to go to an independent EP and he did the full range of non-verbal assessments (along with other assessments), and he confirmed that my son was 5 years behind with literacy and numeracy. But that he was advanced with other non-verbal skills. This means he is not a suitable pupil for a moderate learning difficulty school because he is not a "slow" learner. He has dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties which have made it impossible for him to acquire those skills using the strategies mainstream schools use. But his other skills are at least average, and some above. So he is a capable child. Does that make sense?

 

You also need his emotional literacy and anxiety levels to be assessed.

 

Once these assessments have been made the LA will decide whether to issue a Statement or not. It is common practice for LAs to refuse to issue a Statement automatically. So you may need to appeal a decision to issue a Statement. Usually, when challenged the LA gives in, or the appeal decision demands that the LA do issue a Statement.

 

At that stage you will get the "Provision" Statement, which is like a Draft. You really need someone to go over it to check it is legally enforceable. Groups like IPSEA.org, or NAS.org, or Network81.org can look at the Statement and give you advice on how it is worded. If all your childs are not detailed in section 2, and provision/support is not quantified and specified in terms of hours and staffing provision in section 3, then you have to appeal again and go to a Tribunal. But that is a long way in the future, so concentrate on what is happening now. But as you can see, it is a long, long process. So have the mindset of the long distance runner rather than the sprinter!

[Kathryn]

Hi Jade

 

Is this forthcoming assessment the official medical assessment for the Statutory Assessment? If so, it's really just an overview of his health. It may be that the LA medical officer just goes through a list of questions related to your son's health and medical history. That's what happened at my daughter's medical assessment anyway. She would not take any part in it and I had to answer all the questions so I don't know if it's normal to involve the child more directly.

 

K x

[Jade]

Hi,

 

Thankyou both for your replies, really helpful.

 

Ed psych did the British Ability Scales II with him and the results were very spiky! He should have had an appointment by now for formal diagnosis, but it seems nothing gets done unless you hassle for it...I'll phone them tomorrow.

 

I've just looked at the letter again, it is a "medical assessment for his Special Education Needs", so it possibly will be straightforward as you say Kathryn.

 

I don't doubt it will be a long process lol, but I don't mind fighting for justice!

 

Thanks again

 

Jx

[Gonzo]

Hi Jade. My 10 year old son had his medical assessment for his Statement today. The doctor weighed and measured my son, listened to his chest and looked at his skin.

He then asked me lots of questions about his birth, early development, other agencies involved (speech and language, Ed Psych and Occupational Therapy)sleeping habits, diet ectc.

It took about an hour altogether. He asked my son to copy a sequence of shapes he had drawn, write his name, draw a house and draw a person.

It really is nothing to worry about.

[Jade]

Thanks Gonzo, feel more prepared now I know! I'll try to stay relaxed as I usually get uptight and have a sense of having to justify and fight for everything when it comes to assessments!

 

Jx