Got the draft statement.

[kirky]

Ok, so received the draft statement and, as expected, its utter rubbish! :-( What is my next step? Do I request a meeting with the LA to discuss what's wrong with it or will I be wasting my breath? Is this the point that I should consider getting my own ed psych report? All advice greatly received and appreciated!

[lindy2017]

Ok, so received the draft statement and, as expected, its utter rubbish! :-( What is my next step? Do I request a meeting with the LA to discuss what's wrong with it or will I be wasting my breath? Is this the point that I should consider getting my own ed psych report? All advice greatly received and appreciated!

Hi, I am putting together staturity assessment been looking on differnt sites and the one i used was IPSEA a charity for people like us ....they will tell you the next step ........or the National Autistic society site has info as well....... lindy

[Kathryn]

It might be worth asking for one meeting to put your concerns and ask for any amendments you feel are necessary. Or you could just send these in an email: it's up to you. It depends what you're asking for. If you want them to name a costly independent school, it will take more than a meeting to resolve . What you don't want is to delay the issue of the final statement and your chance to appeal if you need to.

 

K x

[Sally44]

This is a link to www.ace-ed.org.uk

 

Their information about getting the Statement right is very useful.

 

http://www.ace-ed.org.uk/advice-about-education-for-parents/Special_Educational_Needs

 

But I found that organisations like www.ipsea.org.uk and www.network81.org.uk were better at giving educational advice over the phone.

 

Do you also have the SEN Code of Practice?

 

The Statement must identify EVERY need in section 2, and you should be able to cross reference each need in section 2, to how that will be met in section 3. Section 3 should quantify and specify ie. the amount of hours of support and from whom. It should be very specific so that everyone knows what they should be doing.

 

Part 2 and 3 should give a clear description of the kind of placement the child needs, and the school that can meet those needs should be detailed in part 4.

 

The more the Statement contains, the more it costs to deliver.

 

If it isn't in the Statement it most likely will not happen, and you won't be able to do anything about it. If it is in the Statement and does not happen, then you can complain to the school/LA and then use Judicial Review so that the LA is Ordered to comply with the Statement.

 

If the Statement is not good, because the LA/NHS reports were not good [because the Statement is basically a cut and paste job of the reports], then you can write to those professionals about what they have omitted, or ask them to quantify and specify. They may, or may not respond to that.

 

You can have a meeting with the LA, which may or may not be productive. The LA are going to try to keep it as vague as possible.

 

If, after the above, you are not happy with the Statement, don't delay any further. Ask the LA to finalise the Statement so that you can Appeal.

 

Make sure you lodge your Appeal within the timescale.

 

If you think you need independent reports it is best to start looking for who you want to use. You want their report to be the most up to date report before the actual Tribunal date [to be submitted before the deadline for submissions to Sendist].

 

What year is your child in?

 

Is he happy and making progress in school [academic, social, emotional progress].

 

What kind of school does he currently attend, and are you keeping him at that school?

[kirky]

thanks for your reply. H is in year 7. He is miserable at this school and has made little or no academic progress in the 3 years he has been there. What is annoying is that the ed pysch new this when she wrote her report but none of it is in. the draft basicaly says for education he should be taught 'effective study skills' by a bog standard ta and he should be seated away from distractions and with a positive role model. What a load of rubbish!! They have sat him away from others for 3 years (in a class of 12) and it hasn't made a bit of difference. What he needs are teachers/ta with suitable aspergers/asd qualifications who know and care about the best way to teach him!!

They have specified several small group sessions (social skills and literacy) which should have no more than 6 students. If he needs small group work to learn these things, why doesn't he need smaller class numbers for everything?

I definately do not want him to stay at this school. we have found a brilliant independant aspergers school but there is no way he's gonna get there with a lame statment like this.

[Suze]

We refused first statement...had a meeting with LA officer and they ammended it accordingly...cheshire LA have been excellent for us.

[Sally44]

Are you wanting a different school to be named in the Statement?

 

What kind of school is it ie. LA secondary mainstream maintained.

[Sally44]

thanks for your reply. H is in year 7. He is miserable at this school and has made little or no academic progress in the 3 years he has been there. What is annoying is that the ed pysch new this when she wrote her report but none of it is in. the draft basicaly says for education he should be taught 'effective study skills' by a bog standard ta and he should be seated away from distractions and with a positive role model. What a load of rubbish!! They have sat him away from others for 3 years (in a class of 12) and it hasn't made a bit of difference. What he needs are teachers/ta with suitable aspergers/asd qualifications who know and care about the best way to teach him!!

They have specified several small group sessions (social skills and literacy) which should have no more than 6 students. If he needs small group work to learn these things, why doesn't he need smaller class numbers for everything?

I definately do not want him to stay at this school. we have found a brilliant independant aspergers school but there is no way he's gonna get there with a lame statment like this.

 

 

The LA EP is not going to say he has not made progress. You can ask her to, or ask her opinion on it - but if she admits he has made no progress you have one of the main arguments used at Tribunals to prove his current place is unsuitable and that means he should be somewhere else [or receiving alot more professional input where he is]. It is like giving you the golden ticket if she says that.

 

Our school LA kept saying my son had made 'accelerated progress', eventhough he had actually lost skills.

 

You can argue that point in the Bundle, by submitting evidence that he has not made progress via IEP's, school reports, assessments [and independent assessments if you choose to use them]. Remember that progress can be academic, social, emotional etc. So identify in all areas where he has not made progress.

 

Make sure you do appeal. The LA can concede things [and usually do give in to some demands] as the Tribunal approaches. But if the wording is no good, it is worth going to the Tribunal just to get the wording right.

 

If you are looking for an independent school, you have to have evidence that his current school cannot meet his needs.

 

It is also useful to obtain information about the provision the local authority can provide because on the day of the tribunal the LA and school will most probably say "we will do everything/provide everything that the Statement contains". If you can prove that they cannot provide it, that is very useful.

 

For example, if your son has dyspraxia, or sensory processing disorder, write to the Head of the OT service and ask them what level of service they provide for those diagnosis. Ask them specifically if they provide any 1:1 therapy for dyspraxia or Sensory Integration Programme in school. I can guarantee they don't. So they cannot argue at tribunal that they will meet that need, unless they are going to buy in a professional to do it.

 

Ask his current school what additional qualifications the teaching staff have for autism [probably none]. Write to the LA Specialist Teaching Service and ask them the same question. Again they probably don't have any additional qualification for ASD, because it is not a legal requirement. But it is a requirement for the Statement. He has to have an suitable professional to meet his needs. The Panel will want a teacher that is qualified with an addtional qualification for ASD.

 

You need to think about every possible response the LA could come back with and have your information and answer ready.

 

You also need to consider whether you should carry out a Data Protection Act search. If you do decide to do it, wait as long as you can before putting in the request. It usually takes 40 days to get the paperwork, but give yourselves a bit longer because you need to go through it all. A good time might be after you've spoken to the professionals about their report and sent in a letter confirming what was discussed. They may make file notes about it. So ask them specific questions in the letter and ask them to reply in writing.

 

You might find a nugget in the file notes. We found evidence of my son having to remove himself from the classroom so that he could concentrate. We found that the sample of writing the school submitted as evidence of progress had been written in the corridor by my son who had got upset and gone into the corridor to write it. The SALT had asked the question in writing to the teacher "Do you think it is relevent that xxxx produced his best piece of work outside of the classroom?" Yes it was relevent! He was not coping with the environment and needed small classes and low arousal.

 

So, at the Tribunal, when the SENCO referred to that piece of writing as evidence of progress I could honestly say to the Panel "this was not produced in the class. It was written outside of the classroom in the corridor because my son was so upset in the classroom environment and was not coping in that environment. You can read the SALT's note to his class teacher asking if it was relevent that he had to remove himself from the classroom. It is page xx in the Bundle."

 

That is also why it is so important to do a contents list of the bundle, and annotate it all and make a note of the most important documents you MUST refer to on the day.

Edited December 9, 2011 by Sally44

[Sally44]

Yes you are perfectly right to ask that question. If he needs small numbers of no more than 6 in some scenarios, it would be logical to say that that is the learning environment he needs throughout the day. And the Panel may go along with that way of thinking. But they will ask the LA EP their opinion on that. You need to have an independent report and an expert witness [if at all possible], that states he needs that environment all the time, and for the expert witness to be able to respond to the LA EP's opinion.

 

If you can't afford to pay for that, go to tribunal anyway and argue that case yourself. You have nothing to lose.

[Sally44]

As you are seeking an independent ASD school the LA are going to fight that because of the cost. You will most likely need to have independent reports to submit to SEND. Educational Psychologist and Speech and Language Therapist are essential. You may need an Occupational therapist as well IF the independent school provide that therapy [to prove he needs to be at that school].

 

If he does have sensory needs and your choice of school does not provide OT input, then you can argue via the independent assessment, that your child does need OT input which the independent school would have to buy in. So the total cost of your son being there would be the school fees + OT fees = total.

 

We argued that case for a Dyslexia Teacher and we won. I think it is a harder case to prove for OT because that area is less well known. But consider how important it is for your son and for your appeal.

 

You really need your independent professionals to attend as expert witnesses.

 

You need to look at what else the LA could offer as a placement. Do they have any autism units for his age group? You need to visit them and detail why they are not suitable. You may need your independent EP to visit his current school.

 

One main argument we used against the autism unit was that the whole objective [at secondary level], was to feed individual children through to mainstream classes for certain subjects. Our whole case was that our child needed small group teaching, expert professionals and a low arousal environment. Feeding him back into classes of 30 would be detrimental to him.

Edited December 9, 2011 by Sally44

[lindy2017]

As you are seeking an independent ASD school the LA are going to fight that because of the cost. You will most likely need to have independent reports to submit to SEND. Educational Psychologist and Speech and Language Therapist are essential. You may need an Occupational therapist as well IF the independent school provide that therapy [to prove he needs to be at that school].

 

If he does have sensory needs and your choice of school does not provide OT input, then you can argue via the independent assessment, that your child does need OT input which the independent school would have to buy in. So the total cost of your son being there would be the school fees + OT fees = total.

 

We argued that case for a Dyslexia Teacher and we won. I think it is a harder case to prove for OT because that area is less well known. But consider how important it is for your son and for your appeal.

 

You really need your independent professionals to attend as expert witnesses.

 

You need to look at what else the LA could offer as a placement. Do they have any autism units for his age group? You need to visit them and detail why they are not suitable. You may need your independent EP to visit his current school.

 

One main argument we used against the autism unit was that the whole objective [at secondary level], was to feed individual children through to mainstream classes for certain subjects. Our whole case was that our child needed small group teaching, expert professionals and a low arousal environment. Feeding him back into classes of 30 would be detrimental to him.

Hi, I have the problem you said in your line feeding him back to classes of 30 i cant get him to go to nurture unit with 10 max.....i have welsh assembly mp involved chief director of education so hope someone will see sense and give us back our home tutor........lindy