Emergency review at end of may - help!!

[bjkmummy]

Son statemented for 20 hours nov 2011. He's in a mainstream school - same class as his twin sister - he's 8 years old in tear 3 and has aspergers and ADHD. Academically on paper he's okay.

 

He's struggling in school - he's shouting a lot in class , has no friends, has huge sensory processing issues. Things have reached a head- spoke to school and they agree they can meet his needs academically but not socially, emotionally etc. Meeting with lea was called - it has now been agreed to call an early/ emergency review on 31 may

 

Head is senco and seems quite inexperienced re special needs. During statement process no salt or OT reports were done. I moved Joe mud statementing process no school report was done - just his year 2 sats. Ed psych did usual testing - Joe has a spiky profile.

 

A private OT came to see Joe a week ago and we are awaiting the report - I intend to amend part 2 3 and try and name a new school placement in part 4 - it could be a unit or maybe special - I can't decide yet where is best for him!

 

I just want to make sure the correct process is followed and what I need to be doing. I assume I need to do a report of some kind and at some point let the lea see the OT report. Head is asking teacher to do a report - I've asked her to write it honestly. Head is trying to get ed psych in to write a report for review but he has so far been elusive as have autism outreach. I want him to o to a school where they have asd experience and strategies. The head inexperience worries me slightly as she was talking about doing the review with just her and me and my husband!

[Sally44]

You need to get a copy of the SEN Code of Practice and read the relevent sections for your situation [chapters 7 and 8].

 

You should have appealed the original Statement if no EP or SALT saw him. How could they have identified his needs if they didn't see him? That means it is an worthless piece of paper you have.

 

Do you have a date for this emergency review, and who has the school invited to attend?

 

You need the LA Inclusion Officer. And you need the school to write to both the EP and SALT [the school has a budget for these professionals to use on cases just like this. So send a letter to school asking them to get the EP and SALT in to assess.

 

Ask the school WHO those professionals are. Phone them and tell them that your son has not been assessed by them, that he is a vulnerable child and that the placement has broken down as the school are saying they cannot meet his needs. Say that you want them to carry out standardised assessments of [the SALT to assess all receptive and expressive speech and language AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATION AND INTERACTION skills] [the EP to assess all aspects of academic ability, executive functions, and emotional literacy in himself and others].

 

After the conversation, put the above in a letter to them and finish by stating.

 

"The Statementing process requires that every need is identified and that provision is quantified and specified. However the original Statement was written without anyone ever seeing my son or producing a report. This has meant that his needs have not been met at his current school and the requirements of the SEN Code of Practice and Education Act have not been followed.

 

As things have deteriorated, and we now need an emergency review, I am requesting that you carry out your duty of care towards my son and carry out formal assessments on him so that his Statement can be amended to be a true reflection of his needs and the provision required to meet them."

 

You can write your parental concerns. It would be helplful if you kept a diary of daily events so that it gives a clear picture of how your son is on a day to day basis and how things are for the wider family. Include everything home/school/out and about etc.

 

After the emergency review, the LA will decide whether to amend the Statement or not. Whatever the outcome I think you are going to get a weak finalised Statement [because it is obvious from what they did previously that they are not following the SEN process, which they are well aware of, so this was a deliberate act]. In which case you will need to lodge an appeal.

 

Make sure you do lodge it within the timescale to do so. That then gives you and the LA a further 4 months to continue negotiating. If the LA do not amend the Statement so that it is a true reflection of his needs, is quantified and specified, and does name the placement that can meet his needs, then go to the Tribunal.

 

Have a look at the different placement options within your LA and see where they can best meet his educational, social and emotional development. If he has sensory needs that should ideally be in a smaller setting, small group/class sizes. The EP should specify that. And you want a similar peer group. If he has not coped due tot he mainstream environment/sensory issues, you also need the OT input.

 

Does the OT you have used have experience of writing reports for Tribunals and attending as expert witness? Has she observed your son in school?

[bjkmummy]

hi, the EP did write a report for statutory assessment which was qite good but only now as i go through it did i realised that the parts of the report were not put in the statement - they didnt turn the page over! when joe was assessed for dx he has numerous assessments then and the EP used a lot of those results in his report rather than his own. the school are desperately trying to get the EP back in to write a report but he is being elusive - i think the LEA have spoken to him a nd have a feeling thats why. the head has even left her personal mobile number for him for him to call her but still no response.

 

i asked at a meeting with lea a few weeks ago why no SALT report has been done - she said that it was due to the medical officer not picking up that he needed SALT even though in the report the medical officer did comment that Joe struggled at times to understand her instructions. Im not sure how i get SALT involved so quickly - my head is great but not that exerienced in the senco role - did think about doing it privately for SALT but the quote was for £1000 plus.

 

The OT report is being written by someone who does have experience of tribunals and the report will be written in such a way and will detail the help he needs in part 2 and part 3. he came to the home and went to school - his teacher , head and TA all spoke to her and she offered them loads of advice for school - im hoping the report will be here in the next few days and i expect that she will say he has SPD.

 

the annual review has now been set for 31st may as we are trying to get a suitable placement for sept as

[bjkmummy]

• the school placement is now detrimental to joe and all of the children within the class - he is not coping and is unhappy - last week every single day the school were talking to me about his behaviour - the school are completely out of their depth
  

my worry now is that with such a quick turnaround is how am i going to get a salt to see him on the NHS within 3 weeks???? im considering maybe getting a brief private salt report done just to at this stage highlight his difficulties - if we are heading to tribunal then will need a full one doing. im mad at myself for being so gullible but i had hoped he would be okay - i have a hell of a year with the lea last year regarding my other son and we went down the judical review route - it all did get sorted and when i got my younger son joes statement i was so grateful just to get it without a battle - how stupid am i?

 

the statementing officer here is ###### -= everyone knows it including her bosses and i have been advised by other council members to try and get her off joes case and get her boss to deal with it - im solely tempted to do that - with my older sons case she didnt follow the correct procedure either but as she is the only person who seems to know sen law down there everyone seems to listen to her even though they all know shes rubbish. i tempted to email her boss and complain that that with joe the assessment was not done correctly and therefore i have no confidence in her and would ask that the boss come to the meeting instead.

[bed32]

You have my sympathy - we are hoping to keep M in mainstream for the present but we are very aware that it could all fall apart any time with very little notice.

 

Do you know what school you want him to attend? Given the timescales I think you should already be engaging with your preferred placement to ensure they are on side. You would hope that if you can go to the LA with both the MS school saying it can't cope, and an alternative saying they can help him, then the placement should be easier - it seems to me that many people in LA take the path of least resistance - so if you do their job for them then you are more likely to get what you want. As I read the Code of Practice (9:40) you have the right to apply directly for a change to the placement without having to go through the review process - so you could make the request direcly to LA as soon as you know which school you want him to attend even before the emergency review is completed

 

I think it is key to this for the school to say that having him in the school is detrimental to the other children (which of course it is) - the LA will struggle to argue with that

 

I am not sure you will get much from an NHS SALT - round here they are more used to assessing children with language problems rather than social/communication issues. Anyway the more serious problems seem to be those that fall within the scope of an Ed Psych rather than SALT. A private SALT could help but I would have thought a private EP would be a higher priority.

[bjkmummy]

my problem is that he needs to come out of the mainstream - going to look at some special schools - was going to send him to mainstream with a unit but think that may not work either and you need to make sure statement watertight otherwise they seem to end up back in the mainstream - he needs to go to a school with experience with asd children. his presence is now detrimental to the other children and dont think the school will have any problem saying as such as well.

 

on a positive note - alhough my lea has becoming awful since the new sen person came the people above seem to know she is awful - how she is stil there i dont now with the amount of complaints about how incompetent she is - my lea have never been to tribunal over an asd child - they usually agree to out of county independant places without going to tribunal which i think is pretty unusual so i just need to dig those heels in and make sure my case is watertight - i can sh

[bjkmummy]

i can show that they have made quite a few mess ups along the way so fingers crossed in the next couple of weeks i can find a good school for him but its difficult when schools just dont seem to get back to you

[bed32]

I am not sure how "mainstream with unit" works at primary level - we haven't seen one in our area we would send M to. Once you get to Yr7 some of the ASD units in mainstream seem pretty good - but that leaves a gap of 2-4 years (basically the Junior years) where provision for AsD children of average or above cognitive skills seems pretty patchy. We seem to be looking more at schools that take children from Y4 right the way up to GCSE (all independent I think) but we still hope to stay in MS for a bit longer - the longer we stay the more options we'll have. However as I've said before we are very aware that the situation in his present school could deteriorate very quickly and we may need to get him out quickly- as you are having to.

 

If school will support you in saying he is too disruptive for mainstream then it seems that LA will have no alternative but to put him in a special school - the issue then will be fighting any inappropriate placements. For that you need a good working knowledge of the options for schools, and probably an independent EP to show why the LAs choice is not appropriate,and yours is the only place for him.

 

With our school we have even discussed excluding M - they would be justified in doing so and that would force the LA to act - but hope we don't get to that stage

[Sally44]

The school have a SALT budget. Ask them to refer and ask them how long it takes. Phone them up yourself and ask them how quickly they could come and assess.

We saw a SALT in about 12 weeks.

Remember that if they ask for the SALT NOW, you have all the time of the appeal as well. So you have at least 4 months ahead of you in which he could be seen.

Alternatively phone up the childrens hospital and speak to the SALT department there. Ask them how long a referal takes.

[Sally44]

Get as much evidence as you can in writing.

So speak to the Head and ask if they feel an alternative placement is what your child needs. Ask if she thinks his placement at the school is detrimental to the other students. Then after the conversation send in a letter covering everything discussed.

 

Go and visit any school you think could meet his needs.

 

What is your son's cognitive ability assessed as? Is he moderate learning difficulties or does he fall around average or above?

 

Regarding any independent reports. If you feel you need them the best time to get them is just before the deadline for submitting evidence for the Appeal.

 

If you want the EP and SALT to assess, again phone them, ask them to assess, tell them that he is vulnerable and that the school placement is not working. They do have a duty of care towards your son. And as part of the Statementing process they have not followed the code of practice or the Education Act.

 

If you are not certain of the placement yet, you can lodge your appeal on parts 2 and 3, and then amend the appeal to include part 4 later on.

 

You need to know things like how many teachers have an addtional qualification for teaching children with an ASD on top of their teaching qualifications.

Class sizes.

SALT and EP budget.

What ASD teaching approaches such as TEACCH that they use.

What is the cognitive level of the other students.

What social communication programmes they have and who delivers and monitors them.

What emotional literacy programmes they have - and who delivers and monitors them.

What is the schools criteria for admissions [ie. what type of pupils - some state non-verbal children working on P scales etc].

 

What year is your son in?

[Sally44]

The reason you ask a question like:

 

"What emotional literacy programme does the school have, who delivers and monitors it"; is so that at the Tribunal, you can say "my son has severe emotional literacy difficulties. The school has informed me that they have their own in-house programme which is delivered by a TA. This is not individualised to my son, and his needs are to such a degree that it requires that a suitable professional attends some of these sessions, puts together an individualised programme, and monitors the outcome of this programme on a termly basis. Targets from these sessions must be included on his IEP and the [EP or SALT - whoever oversees it] will attend the Annual Review and produce an updated report, as part of their reports towards the Annual Review demonstrating what progress has been made in functional settings.

 

So you make notes during your visit and any telephone conversation, and you put it all in writing in a letter. If anyone disagrees with your understanding of what you have been told, they will reply. But if you get no response, that is generally taken as evidence that the information in that letter is correct.

 

If that gets into the Statement, the EP/SALT has to devise the programme and oversee it. They have to monitor outcomes and demonstrate that progress has been made not just in the sessions but in 'functional settings' such as the classroom and playground etc. And they have to be involved to recommend targets for the IEP.

 

So you want something similar to that for each need. So the same for a social communication and interaction group. The same for SALT targets and academic ability. Everything has to show that there has been progress and that programmes are being devised which are individualised and put together and monitored by a suitable professional.

 

You need this because "lack of progress" is the major argument for additional support, addtional therapy or a different placement. You need to be able to prove progress, or lack of it.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Sally44

[Sally44]

Just read your original post. So he's in year 3 and doing okay academically.

That may make any special school inappropriate UNLESS you can prove that the learning environment, class size, teaching approachs, programmes they use make it the ONLY school that can meet his needs.

 

For example, an ASD Unit may appear more suitable. But if you can prove that he cannot access learning in a mainstream size class, then there is no point him attending a unit where they feed children over to mainstream for lessons. You need a unit where the children are taught in the Unit.

[bed32]

Just read your original post. So he's in year 3 and doing okay academically.

That may make any special school inappropriate UNLESS you can prove that the learning environment, class size, teaching approachs, programmes they use make it the ONLY school that can meet his needs.

 

For example, an ASD Unit may appear more suitable. But if you can prove that he cannot access learning in a mainstream size class, then there is no point him attending a unit where they feed children over to mainstream for lessons. You need a unit where the children are taught in the Unit.

We find this very frustrating - there appears to be a gap in provision (state or independent) for ASD children of average or above cognative ability during KS2. Particularly those, like our son, who struggle to cope in a class of 30 owning to sensory problems and social/emotional difficulties.

 

In our area the specialised units all seem to be MLD, so inappropriate for an able child. The specialist schools we have seen are more targetted at children with more typical SALT needs - e.g. little or no language at all - rather than the social and pragmatic language difficulties of an ASD child. FInding a school that teaches cognatively average or above children in small groups at KS2 seems very difficult

[Sally44]

The school my son attends is in the process of opening a primary unit for this very reason. More and more children are not coping mainstream, and they just cannot hang around until secondary age.

 

My son is a year 6 pupil, so still primary age.

[chris54]

I our area the council blocked the setting up of a free school that would have catered for children with ASD but of average cognitive ability from aged 7. The council insist that there is adequate provision even though there is no provision at all for this group other than mainstream.

[Sally44]

It all boils down to costs.

 

Most LAs are prepared to pay private/independent school fees for the minority of children that win those placements at Tribunal.

 

That is because, as expensive as that option is, it must still be cheapter than providing a similar type of LA maintained type of placement where there would be many more children trying to get into that type of school because everyone involved would know that that school existed and many more parents would also know about it and would be going to Tribunals to get their child in there.

 

So that makes going to Tribunal the "screening process", which is not what it is supposed to be.

[bed32]

I think the repeated need to go to tribunal is also a scandal.

 

On our initial request for assessment the LA turned us down - twice- without even bothering to read the paper work. In Ms case the need for a statement was absolutely obvious - it wasn't a borderline case. We then had to apply to Tribunal to assess. The LA then gave up the day the Tribunal was about to rule them out. Net result 6 months delays, cost to us of thousands, M loses vital support at a critical time. Cost to LA - nil - savings to LA - 6 months provision. Come back on LA - None.

 

At present forcing parents to go to tribunal is a net saving to LA - and can end in years of battle to get the provision the child is entitled to. That is years of wasted opportunity for the child that he can never get back. What we need is for the LAs to be penalised for their blatant flouting of the Law and Code of Practice.

[Sally44]

I agree that there should be some way of punishing LAs and/or compensating parents.

 

When an LA takes it right up to the actual tribunal and then capitulates just shows that it was their game plan.

 

At our Tribunal the Decision even states that "both parental and LA expert witnesses were in agreement as to the type and level of needs required for xxxxx to access education." So, why did the LA force us to tribunal?

 

So I think costs of independent reports, expenses photocopying etc should be awarded to parents and that the LA should foot the bill. But the downside of that is that LAs are going to fight even harder.

 

You can always try lodging a complaint with the LGO against them. Not that they get any financial punishment. But IF they have not followed procedure it maybe worth letting the LGO onto them, just for them to have to produce the evidence the LGO asks for.

 

Yet in our case the LA and their departments did answer the LGO questions, and the LGO found in favour of the LA. Then as part of the freedom of information act search, I discovered that they had lied. They had lied to me, to my MP, to the LGO. I spoke with the LGO about it and they simply told me to send them the documentation once the Tribunal was over [because they cannot investigate whilst another body is involved ie. SEND]. But I didn't bother. I was just glad it was all over. And I didn't have any confidence in the LGO after the last farsical investigation. The LGO just believed everything they were told. They did no further digging other than asking the LA to detail what they did. So the LA said they followed procedures. And were believed. I could not believe how naive the LGO were.

[bjkmummy]

just a quick update - ed psych seeing him this friday - reports should have been in by thursday so its going to be late - i have the other reports

 

my private OT report was amazing and is recommending specialist schooling - thats where the headache begins as even finding a suitable school isnt going to be easy - viewing an asd specific one next week.

 

my next job is to now go through the statement and start looking at all of the amendments that will need to be done to the statement - feels like it will be a mammoth task at the moment. think ive ruled out a unit placement as they would expect him to access mainstream at some point - the local school has over 300 kids in it and he cant cope with a school with 100 in it plus i cant stand the head - she is awful and she feels the same way about me!!!!

 

another issue i have is parent partnership - made the fatal error of asking her to the review without meeting her - now met her when i took copies of paperwork down and she is so on the lea side! she was already telling me that i will have to accept the large mainstream school with a unit even though there is a lot of personal history with the school, joe went there for 6 weeks and was very badly bullied, the head of the unit lied and we can prove it as well as i kept copies of all the letters etc.she just said so little and i dont know if she is going to be an advocate for me at all but feel like she is pushing for the lea side - so now im seriously thinking about uninviting her but can imagine it will go down like a lead balloon so think i will just have to put up with her and never go near her again after the meeting!

[Sally44]

Don't base any argument on personal history. You won't win on that basis.

It has to be all down to the needs of your child and that they cannot be met.

Does the LA know that you will be seeking an independent placement?

 

You can phone the PP and say something like "i've spoken with IPSEA and they have told me that the school placement has to be one that can meet my sons needs." And see what they say. Ask them directly if they are independent from the LA. You don't have to accept mainstream if it is clear that that type of school is not workable and is not able to meet needs.

 

Ask her what her advice is to you when all the LA maintained schooling options are not suitable. See what her reply is. If she says something like "but that is all there is", you can reply that that isn't true.

 

You don't have to use this woman if she is no good. You can ask to speak with the head of the PP service and see what her advice is and if it is any different. And if you are not happy with them you can tell them why in an email, which you can also include in your evidence.

 

If they tell you that you HAVE to accept a mainstream option ask them to put that to you in writing and ask them where in the Code of Practice it says that. And ask that in an email to them. Put them on the spot and see if they do reply by email.

 

If you are not happy to use them [and you could use them just to make notes], then don't. I used my PP as another person at the meeting who could take notes. They were never proactive. They never said what I could do. They just asked what I wanted to do. So they don't necessarily tell you what you could achieve or how to go about it.

 

By law the LA has to go with the parental choice of school UNLESS they can prove that it would be to the detriment of the other pupils or that it is not a good use of their resources [ie. there is a similar/equivalent LA school option that is cheaper but which can deliver the same provision needed for the child].

 

The OT report is ruling out mainstream, and you need in writing that the Unit still feeds children across to mainstream.

 

I would lodge any appeal on that basis, and then decide IF you need to get an independent EP report done just before the date for final submissions.

 

It is usually the EP that says what kind of placement is needed.

 

If the EP is going in on Friday, why don't you write to her today and ask her:

 

To carry out standardised assessments of his cognitive ability, emotional literacy, short term and working memory and executive functions. [if you think he has a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia ask that she assesses for that]. If you think he has Dyspraxia, ask her to assess that. [unless the OT has already done that].

Ask her what the maximum class size should be for your son to be able to access learning and what kind of learning environment he needs to meet his autism and sensory processing needs.

Ask if he needs to be in a school with a similar peer group.

Ask if he needs a social communication group.

Ask if he needs support during unstructured times such as breaks and lunchtimes. Does he need to go to dinnertime clubs, or have a support network like Circle of Friends.

Ask her to write a report that describes each and every need, and ask her to quantify and specify provision in terms of hours of support, staffing arrangements and therapy input as per the Code of Practice to meet each of those needs.

 

Then IF she still writes a report that is pants, you have the evidence to submit to SEND that you did ask her to do x, y and z, but she did not.

 

But forget about bad previous experiences at this mainstream school. Don't even bring it up. It gives the LA the opportunity to say something like "mrs xxxxx is opposed to placing her son at xxxxx school due to previous experiences which are totally unrelated to xxxx and his educational needs." You could lose the appeal on that argument because you will be fighting from the start to prove that you are not being bias.

 

You really have to be emotionally detached from those types of things. Don't mention anything like this to anyone, even the PP. I had to deal with the same EP for years who I absolutely detested, and who actively worked against the interests of my son. I just tried to gather as much evidence as I could on how she had not met my sons needs. But I always had to be nice and polite to her at all the meetings she attended, when really what I wanted was to give her a good shaking!

 

Remember that at the Tribunal you have to come across as the concerned parent who is concerned about their childs SEN and how they will be met. You don't want to give the LA any amunition they can use against you. Because they will use whatever they can to win their case.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Sally44

[Sally44]

What provision has the OT report recommended?

What kind of educational environment has she said he needs?

Does she say he needs sensory integration therapy?

How much 1:1 OT input has she recommended?

Does your son also have Dyspraxia?

Has she also said he needs OT input for life skills?

Do you have a letter from the NHS OT service that confirms they do not receiving funding for, or provide, a pure sensory integration therapy programme delivered in school.

[bjkmummy]

hi, sorry dally didnt see you advice until too late - got teh ed psych report yesterday - was pretty pants - just did the same intelligence tests that he did last july and made exactly the same recommendations for his statement as before. Joe is being bullied and is not coping ins chool due to the sensory / social side etc. he is making himself sick most days and self harming by picking at the skin on his arms.

 

the ot report has recomended loads of things - they say he needs a specialist placement with asd/adhd qualified staff and be a combined theraputic and educational setting, a sensory diet, weekly OT, ot to provide strategies for his behaviour and give advice re adaptations of his classroom/school enviroment, a motor skills programme and a report for each review which will be for 2 and half hours - he has problems in every single area she assessed. she recommends that he should not even access mainstream pe lessons as it is too over whelming for him.

 

she says that joe has complex needs and a significant number of difficulties which are affecting his function in all areas of daily life. he also has hypermobility in his hands and feet/legs - he has sensory modulation disorder.

 

the report is very detailed and lists loads of things for parts 2 3 and 4 of the statement - the report has been served on the lea before the 2 week deadline of the emergency review.

 

the ed psych just took joe into teh heads office and did the testing - he did not observe joe in the classroom enviroment at all. joes comments in the report quite telling as he says that he is being bullied and he cannot cope with the noise etc but teh ed psych has completely ignored all of this side to joe. the only extra recommendation he has made is to add in a behaviour management plan.

 

i do also have a letter from the nhs OT service saying that they do not commision OT services for sensory intregration

[Sally44]

Is it recorded that he is being sick in school?

When he is sick what happens - is he sent home?

 

You can still phone the EP and ask her the questions over the phone and then send in a letter afterwards about what was discussed and what her opinion was.

 

You are just at that award stage where he is 8 and not coping. Have you contacted the school I told you about as they are starting a primary section?

 

By having the OT report which states what he needs. And by having that letter from the NHS OT service, it shows that the school/LA are not/cannot provide/meet this need unless they buy it in.

 

But you need lots of other evidence that he is not coping in his current school. That they do not have anyone within the school or LA who has an additional qualification for teaching children with an ASD on top of their teaching qualifications. Then you can prove that they are not able to meet his ASD needs because they are not suitably qualified.

 

What about the SALT report. What has that said?

 

If you do got for a 3 day trial at the school I mentioned, you can ask them to write up a letter about his time spent there and whilst he is there he will spend sometime with the SALT and OT.

 

If he is not coping, and the LA are not able to offer anything additional on top, what is the placement you think can meet his needs?

[bjkmummy]

I did look at the school you mentioned - it's 55 miles away so unlikely he could go as a day pupil. We have autism outreach - but they made her redundant at Xmas and replaced her by an unqualified teacher instead who in despite of numerous requests by me has yet to see my son - no one from outreach seen him since we came here a year ago. The sickness - a mixture really - they tell me about it, phone me and last Friday I did take him home. A friend who is doing a masters in asd looked at the statement yesterday - it lists a social skills programme which she says can only be done by someone who is experienced in asd so I should ask for autism outreach to see him one morning a week which we know will not happen. OT and ed psych have advised workstation for him - my friend again said this needs to be done by someone with experience of asd not a generic teacher. She thinks they will offer full time support but I'm not happy with that as he needs a more specialised placement. This is I feel heading to tribunal though my lea have no special schools so will ultimately back down. I'm looking at a school in nottingham on Friday and there is an independent one near Leicester which is asd specific. I actually did a freedom of information request re staff with asd qualification - the lea said that apart from autism outreach they could not say if they had any other member of staff in county as they don't hold that information - I would have to approach each individual school

[Sally44]

What a load of xxx??!!!

So the LA are saying they have no record of what qualifications their staff have!

Have they put that in writing?

That is going to make them look rather stupid.

Okay, just ask the current placement he is in if they have any with an ASD specific qualification.

 

[in my LA I found out that no-one, even the autism outreach teacher and the specialist teaching services] had anyone with an ASD qualification.

 

Regarding FOI act searches. If you serve the School and LA with one of those you request all paper and electronic records held on your child. It usually costs £50 for each search, and you either get all the documents photocopied in paper or on a DVD.

 

But ideally you should have held off from requesting this until the appeal had been lodged. You want them to be making file notes, and not forewarned that you may ask for copies of them.

 

The specialist places you visit need to have a similar peer group. If there is just a years difference you maybe okay. But you want similar academic and social skill and speech and language levels. Ask them if they will assess or write a report and if they will send someone from the school to the likely Tribunal. You really need someone from the school to answer the Panels questions about how they will support him etc.

[bjkmummy]

The question was how many teacher is county have specialist autism qualification - reply information not known to the lea. This is held by individual schools. Autism outreach I asked what qualification they will hold - answer was experience of working with children and young people whose special need is ASC. Also asked how many staff directly employed by them had an asd qualification and what training do the council staff have in autism - reply was only post asd specific is inclusion officer post (post holder is qualified to level 5 ib autism and aspergers) they provide training for customer facing staff.

 

Interesting that the inclusion officer post(which is old autism outreach job) only asked for asd experience - they are lucky they've found someone with level 5 qualification but in reality they didn't have to even have a qualification.

 

His current placement is a mainstream school and I know no staff have any asd specific qualification. The school have asked for training - ed psych sent them a DVD and they are awaiting someone to come in and do some training.

[Sally44]

Knowing what the current school and LA can and cannot provide is crucial at Tribunal.

 

At our appeal the LA kept saying they could do certain things and I kept reminding the Panel that they could only do that if they bought it in because they didn't have anyone with that qualification [you need to talk about qualifications not experience. If I were a passenger in a plane I would like the pilot to be qualified, not experienced].

 

The fact that the school and LA did not have those professionals or therapies lead the SEND Panel to come to the decision that my sons needs could not be met at his current LA mainstream primary school and so they found in favour of the parental choice of school.

 

It is also very important that someone who knows what they are talking about from your parental choice of school comes to the Tribunal and that you both know what your main arguments are going to be. You all need to be singing from the same hymn sheet.

Edited May 23, 2012 by Sally44

[bjkmummy]

he has been sent home again today because he has been sick at school - i kinda predicted it as they had a pyjama party this afternoon and he freaked out this morning when he saw his pyjamas in his bag - had to hide them in his twin sisters bag. tried to get gp appointment - none for 2 weeks but managed to get him a paed apppintment on monday

[Sally44]

Okay.

Keep a record of every time he is sent home.

Do you have to keep him home for 48 hours as per school policy?

If his absences are being recorded on the register, you can ask them to print out his attendance for the year and that should show when he was off sick. And see if it co-relates with your info of when he was sent home. I found the school had not recorded many of his half day absences due to vomitting.

 

And get things in writing.

 

At the Tribunal you need written evidence. Because if the Panel ask the LA "do you have anyone qualified for xxxx", the LA will try to get off the hook by saying they don't have that information with them. They did that at mine. Fortunately I did have all the paperwork to hand. And the Panel even commented on how I knew more about the LA staff than the LA themselves!

 

Think of every argument you are going to make, and what you think the LA's response will be, and then get the evidence to prove your argument.

 

Sorry to hear he's been ill again. When you see the Paediatrician ask for a referal to Clinical Psychology and ask them to put in writing that his vomitting is due to anxiety and not a medical condition [not sickness].

 

Keep a diary, and if you have one already taken it to the Paediatrician with you. Say that he is missing alot of school. [my son was practically reduced to a 3 days week because every time he was sick he had to stay home for 48 hours].

 

This is VERY important. Anxiety due to SEN needs not being met and not being in the right placement is totally different to a child with a medical condition that makes them vomit. IE. for your child the cause of the anxiety is educational.

[bjkmummy]

thats an interesting point sally - noone has ever said anything about 48 hours - i just take him back in the next day as everyone seems to accept that it is indeed his education making him ill not that he is actually ill - he is absolutely fine when he comes home - sometimes he is sick in the eveningbut again think this is the build up to school. bit of a nightmare now cos got to go down and get his twin come home then get car and go and get the other asd boy from his school as hes got trampoling - ocme home again and then go out and take daughter to sibling group and the pick her up again and of course dh at work to 10pm and my goodness its hot here today!!!

[Sally44]

Usual school policy is to keep the child at home for 48 hours.

 

So a letter to the school SENCO just saying something like "As part of the emergency review we have concerns about the number of times our son, xxxxx, is being sent home due to vomitting. As school have never requested that he is kept home for 48 hours we understand this means we are all in agreement that the vomitting is due to anxiety."

 

Or some similar wording, and see what reply you get - if any.