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bjkmummy

hi ho hi ho - its off to tribunal we go..............

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well 8 weeks to the day after our emergency tribunal the LEA have finalised the statement. All amendments re private OT report rejected and even some amendments from their EP report rejected.

 

They did add in the following -

 

'j should have access to autism outreach'

 

they also upped his hours from 20 hours to 32.5 hours which is pretty pointless seeing as he is only attending part time due to anxiety! all the promised last week about how autism outreach would come in and work with him and yet they have not specified any kind of time etc at all.

 

i saw a suitable school yesterday - fees are £8.5k a year - transport likely to be around 10K a year - i emailed and asked tehm to consider this school as they have aplace for j and he could start in sept - its a school for high functioning autism kids and takes them from 4 - 19 - OT and SALT come as part of the £8.5 k a year. the lea probably got my email after they finalised.

 

Spoke to sen officer and told her now way was i accepting the statement. I asked her again to consider the school I had found and she was going tos peak to her boss today about it. Made it clear that I will appeal parts 2 3 and 4. They are saying now that it is not that they dont accept our OT report but they need the NHS one for balance but they have yet to arrange an appointment for the NHS OT to see him and i think now that they have finalised they are no in no rush to do so they will delay. I have returned my yellow form and listed some things that i am unhappy about and again asked them to name my school choice. I have also emailed them and asked for a meeting to see if we can come to some agreement .

 

got a call at 4pm to ask me to meet them on monday morning. this is the last chance to try and mediate - if they do not want to name my school choice then it will be tribunal - i have phoned and requested the paperwork today.

 

spoke to j current head and although she welcomed the 32.5 hours she felt that the school was still not the rightplace for Joe as they could not offer him OT or SALT.

 

Looks like im in for a happy summer of paperwork - thank god i challenged the minutes from the last meeting and from now on end its all about evidence evidence evidence

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justhad an email from the head of the school i want - my lea have been in contact and have requested information about the school - heres hoping thats a good sign x

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£8.5K per annum? that is very low for an ASD specific school with SALT and OT on sight.

My son's day placement costs £58K + specialist teaching of £10K + transport of £13K.

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it is a free school sally so costs are very much like a maintained school. it does seem incredibly cheap i agree but i have checked the cost twice now - the transport costs also need to be factored in on top as well. the building etc are being funded by the local lea where the school is. i had a discussion with dh earlier as he was worried about the free school aspect until i reminded him that the current school our son is at is an academy now anyway so we have already crossed to the other side. they are buying in the OT and salt support - i do need to clarify exactly how much salt and OT input he will get and that may yet be an argument for a tribunal

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Can they provide the level of SALT and OT input your child needs, as per reports, within that budget?

 

You don't want to end up with a Statement saying your son needs 15 hours per term 1:1 SALT, but the school only provides for a SALT to train a TA to deliver the programme, and anything over that would be an extra cost on top of the £8.5K.

 

However, as a primary ASD specific school, whatever they provide, if it is not enough, you will have the evidence that the needs more input.

 

But you must get it right ie. the hours specified by professionals must be in the Statement, and your choice of school must be able to provide that from within their budget.

 

So remember it is not about "what the school provides from within their budget" is what your child receives. It is you having the reports that state he needs xx hours and either the school can meet that within their funds, or the LA has to fund those addtional expenses to this school.

 

So find out how much 1:1 therapy he would get per term from the SALT and OT and are those professionals on site all the time.

 

Also find out what the class sizes are.

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i had a phone call on thursday and i have been asked to as meeting with the lea tomorrow morning - the head of the school i want has also emailed me and said that my lea have contacted him for details of the school,

 

i think that even if they agree to place him into the school, i will still have to go to tribunal as the statement is appallingly written and is not specified or quantified - i did try to get it tightend but they have refused to amend anything in it. my tribubal paperwork came yesterday. i think also i have come this far with the OT that i have nothing to lose now by trying to getting it into the statement - yes he may get some OT at the new school but i want to make sure that everything he needs is in the statement and it is a true reflection of his needs/difficulties. looks like the lea are not pursuing send him to the other school with a unit. i have no idea what the lea are up to - they have completely gone against everything they promised 2 weeks ago at the last meeting - i am so glad that i have redone the minutes of the last meeting as they were a complete whitewash of what was said by us

 

i will email the head of the school i want for more specific details of OT/salt - he had a meeting last thursday where this was to be discussed. there would be 8 children in J class with 4 teaching staff within the class.

Edited by bjkmummy

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Go to this meeting because regardless of lodging an appeal, you and the LA can continue negotiating right up to the start of the tribunal. By then there maybe only one or two issues needing to be resolved.

 

Don't feel guilty about accepting anything the LA offers and still going to tribunal. You have to get it all right for your child.

 

I would still lodge the appeal as that gives you some months ahead to find out information and get your Working Document and Case Statement.

 

You may also need to get further reports commissioned.

 

I think you seriously need to find out exactly what your son would get in terms of 1:1 therapy input from SALT and OT by having a placement there. Whatever he would get, if that is considered to be adequate, it needs to be in the Statement. Because you need it to be specific so that you know when the school is complying with the Statement. And it also enables you to see if that level of therapy from SALT and OT is producing progress. Because if it isn't that means he needs more input.

 

However IF it turns out that he needs more than that you need to speak with this school because the LA would then have it buy it in, or the school would charge the LA more than the £8K for your son's placement, and you need all of this in black and white for the tribunal.

 

£8K sounds very low. In my son's former mainstream primary his Statement was funded by about £11.5K according to the SENCO [the LA said it was alot less than that, but would not give any figure].

 

And for anything to get into the Statement you need it in reports. If it isn't in the report you will be discussing it at the Tribunal [and even if it is in reports and there is no agreement about it, it will be discussed].

 

So every single diagnosis should get into part 2. All provision should be quantified and specified.

 

So if your son has "sensory difficulties", that should be included. But "sensory difficulties" is not the same as a "Sensory Processing Disorder". The later indicates a much greater need. It is a "disorder".

 

So if you have "sensory difficulties" in part 2 and nothing in part 3, that will be discussed by the Panel with whoever attends the Tribunal. So you need to make sure you have the right expert witnesses there to back up your case.

 

I can imagine, that at the moment the LA are thinking that your parental choice of school costs them less than supporting him in mainstream or special school.

 

The smaller class sizes are good too. You just need much more specific information from the school and about the provision your son needs and the diagnoses he has.

 

But him being there for the remainder of his primary years, will be a good indication of the type of provision he is going to need for secondary school.

 

I also don't know anything about its status as a "free school" and what legal obligations it has to fulfill the Statement. So I would recommend you check that with IPSEA.

Edited by Sally44

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the school will take him through to 19 - the special school will be built next to a new secondary academy although will be seperate sites. the plan is that as he grows older, as many children have spiky profiles, that they will be able with support from the staff from the special school access some lessons in the academy - some children could access a lot or some would be taught fully within the special school. the local authority (not mine) are paying for the build for the school - the free school aspect means that the school is a non profit school. however i do share your concerns re the free school aspect and have been doing some research but they are such a new thing theres not much information out there about them. i did raise with the head the question about 'what if' i was unhappy and he looked genuinely upset that i felt the need to ask! however experience tells me that it is better to get these things out in the open. i feel this could be the right school for j as he is in the middle so this school would be the best school for his needs. his OT report does state that he has sensory modulation disorder so it needs to go in the statement but the lea are refusing as they say they need an NHS report for 'balance' i will see what they say tomorrow and if they do offer the school place we will go with it but then i will keep pushing re the OT. the special school is being purpose built and initally will have 50 primary age children - it will then slowly expand into secondary and will have then a total of 90 children. the criteria is quite specific and they have to be academically able to get a place at the school.

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The thing is that when the child is not coping from a sensory point of view in a primary environment, it is VERY UNLIKELY that they will cope in a secondary school environment.

 

So you want him PERMANENTLY in those small class sizes. And not being fed across to mainstream lessons that he cannot access [because not taught in using ASD specific approaches, not specialist teaching, no therapy delivered as part of the lesson], cannot tolerate and won't make progress.

 

It doesn't matter what the LA say. They can say they want purple dwarfs to assess him for balance. You don't want an NHS OT to assess him because their report will not be very good. You have a professional OT's report. The Tribunal Panel will take her report findings and recommendations and will put them into the Statement, but it would help for her to attend the tribunal, as the LA "might" get an NHS OT to attend tribunal to argue that your son does not need sensory integration therapy - although that would be difficult as they have not seen him. But the LA are going to say they don't think he needs it, and you need a professional to state that he does.

 

And you have to stop worrying about other professionals feelings. This Head from the school is not the person dealing with your son's difficulties and upsets 24/7. You and your family are. You want him to be in a placement where he will become as independent and as productive as possible. You have to ask those questions. You have to make an informed choice. I know it is awkward. And I know it makes you feel guilty. But often that is why they do it. They want you to feel obligated to accept what they are offering regardless of all the other stuff they are saying they won't/can't provide. That is why a Tribunal Panel is so good, because they are independent. The LA have no hold over them and neither do you. They want just facts and they are not interested in the LA saying they don't have it, or cannot buy it in, or the NHS does not fund it. If you have the proof that he needs it, and the expert witness to confirm it, then it is likely that the Panel will ensure it is in the Statement.

 

I would be very concerned about a school feeding your child across to mainstream, because on the evidence you have he cannot deal with it.

 

But I suppose that if he did go to this school, and he did not cope with being fed across, that that would be your evidence to move him to an ASD specific school that is permanently small class, with therapists based on site.

 

One of our main arguments at tribunal was that we had all the evidence to prove that our son would not cope in a mainstream class size or teaching style.

 

As far as possible you have to try to get it as right as you can.

 

And find out about free schools

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And I just wanted to add.

Remember how things went last time you believed what you were promised.

And remember how they are continuing to promise you things and not fulfill it.

Words mean nothing.

If it isnt in print, in the Statement, it won't happen.

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Wise words Sally - am going to go to the meeting and listen to what they day. Deep down I think I may be better fighting for the independent school as we have nothing to lose. Dh feels that we should fight for the school we really want. Just re read the lea minutes from the last meeti g where they have said they will seek another school placement and yet have just increased the hours and think that will be okay. We need OT in the statement - that is non negotiable now

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I know that you are thinking that what this free schools provides is better than what he is currently getting.

 

And IF he went there and did not cope you would have to prove that that school could not meet his needs even with SALT and OT provision - which might be harder to prove.

 

At the moment you have evidence that he does not cope in a primary mainstream teaching environment. That is your evidence that even the school you are considering is not able to meet his needs, because it will feed him across for mainstream lessons.

 

You have to be very careful what you say to the LA. Because you have now said this free school is the one you want. But you may now change that to say a certain independent school is the ONLY one.

 

Obviously you can change your mind on the evidence of your child's needs. But the LA could use the fact that you asked them for this free school as evidence that you don't know what you want.

 

At this stage you don't need to name any school. You WILL have to go to tribunal to get OT and Sensory Integration Therapy into the Statement - there is no doubt about that. So that leaves you with some months to decide on the school.

 

We initially lodged our appeal on just parts 2 and 3, and added part 4 later on.

 

In your appeal you can say it is because part 2 does not contain all his needs, difficulties and diagnoses; part 3 does not quantify and specify and does not contain any provision for some of his needs; and part 4 needs to be amended to name an ASD specific school with permanent small class sizes and a therapy team of SALT and OT employed on site.

 

You can 'name' the actual school later on. At the moment you can continue to say that you are looking to see what schools are available.

 

At some point you will have to decide on what evidence you have. Is it feasible that you get an independent ASD specific school from the evidence you have. What school are the LA suggesting [looks like they are still sticking with his current school and more support]. If the LA are not coming up with anything else, then you have a good case because you already have the evidence that the current school cannot meet his needs.

 

But that is also why you need to do alot of research, because even on the day of the tribunal the LA could turn up and name a different school, and you need to know each and every possible school they could name and to have your arguments as to why it is not suitable. This will be along the lines of arguments such as "they don't have small class sizes of xx pupils which the EP report states he needs." "This school feeds children across to mainstream lessons, which we have evidence from xxx report that my son cannot tolerate." "This school does not have a suitable peer group from an academic or social communication point of view." "That school does not have SALT and OT employed on site to deliver his therapy needs flexibly across the week." etc

 

Yours is a difficult position because your child is quite young. But if you can find an asd specific independent school that does have a suitable peer group ie. a primary class, then your LA can only argue that it is not a good use of their resources ie. costs too much. And your evidence would have to prove that that was the ONLY school that could meet his needs. If the LA came up with the free school you have considered, your argument against that would be that they feed children across to mainstream school, so although you did visit this school and consider it, your decision, based on the evidence, is that that school also cannot meet his needs.

 

Or you go for the free school after getting all the information you need to get. You hope it goes well there. But if it doesn't you could have an even harder case to prove that that school was not meeting his needs. Or, if the placement breaks down, ie. he becomes ill and refuses school, you may have a good case for appealing for an independent ASD specific school for the transition year.

 

But your husband is right in that when you go to appeal you have to be very certain and confident in stating that ONLY xxxx school can meet my son's needs. So you have to have evidence that rules out this free school. Any uncertainty will be picked up on by the Panel.

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  • thanks sally - well we had the meeting - it didnt go well. we asked if the lea would consider the free school. they have said they have requested the info and will go and view it themselves when it opens in sept .

 

however, the lea maintain that his statement is a mainstream statement and so he should stay in the mainstream and they are going to give him time with autism outreach, we asked what evidence they would need to convince them he needed a special school and they stated the evienc ethey needed was this nhs ot report. they said they have arranged a meeting with the head and autism outreach and themselves at the beginning of term so sortout what help needs to be in place for him. they want outreach to study him and then work with him and then they will accept any report she writes. they cannot quanity how much access to autism outreach he will have as they do not know yet until she works with him and as i asked for the statement to be finalised that has stopped them from quantifying anything. my head hurts right now - i have the sen tribunal form but not sure what im appealing - is it failure to amend or is it parts 2 3 and 4 and how much do i have to now write about my reasons for appealing. i hear what you say about the free school and i think my gut reaction is that you are right and im a bit worried that i may have shot myself in the foot - i could move him to another school at 11 where my elder son goes but realistically dont want to keep moving him. no appointment has yet been made with the nhs OT so i think that is still some months away the LEA getting. we will get an ed psych report - i am concerned about what i can do to counter balance autism outreach as the lea seem to be putting a lot of emphasis on what she says - however since may 2011 noone has seen him - the lea said at the last meeting it was because i hadnt signed a consent form - i have asked the lea for this form and have still not had it yet they are talking so much about her input with her. they didnt mention anything about the minutes that i have amended so dont think they are disputing my version or realise that they can.

 

also read that the sen tribunal dont count any day in august as a working day so that means i suppose that theres no real point rushing in august to get everything done but take my time.

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I am still getting the impression that you don't get it. You don't have to convince the LA. They are never going to be convinced. They want him to stay mainstream because it is cheaper. There is no such thing as a "mainstream statement". The Statement [parts 2 and 3] describe the kind of provision the child needs. By law the LA have to go with the parental choice of placement unless they can prove that it is not a good use of their resources.

 

So forget about the LA. They are irrelevant. It is the Tribunal Panel you need to be thinking about.

 

You need to write to this "autism outreach person" and ask her for details of how many children she currently has on her caseload. Does she work alone. What qualifications does she have and does she have any ASD specific post grad qualifications. I can almost guarantee she has nothing. Because the LA is not required by law to employee people with such qualifications. That works to your benefit because regardless of what she says or does she is not suitably qualified and is definately not as qualified as any independent professional you have commissioned.

 

Even the NHS OT, if she has not completed the relevent sensory integration modules required to be able to assess and recommend therapy for such a disorder, she too will not be suitably qualified to make any findings or recommendations on that particular issue. So again, write to the head of the OT service and ask 'who' will undertake this assessment and ask what ASD specific qualifications they have and ask for confirmation that they have completed the required sensory modules to be able to deliver a pure sensory integration therapy. Also ask them to confirm that the NHS does not fund such therapy and that they do not provide that therapy into any of your local authority schools.

 

You are giving too much weight to what the LA is telling you. They have their own criterias and rules and regulations and way of fobbing off and frustrating parents during the Statementing process. But when you are going to appeal their rules are completely trumped by SEN Case Law and the ONLY people making the decisions on the day is the Tribunal Panel and not the LA.

 

No, you won't get anything done during the summer holidays. So use that time to think about what you are going to do. What school you think can meet all his needs, and what professional reports maybe needed by you to prove that. Phone those professionals so that they know there is a potential report and expert witness work coming up after September.

 

What you really don't want is for the NHS OT to assess your child just before the Tribunal date. It maybe worth you considering having an "update assessment" with your previous OT, as she could document the deterioration of your child and that could prevent the NHS OT from assessing using any of the assessments your OT performed, as it would be inside of 6 months.

 

You just need to worry about your evidence. If the LA has none that is better for you. If they could not get reports done with the timescale that is their problem not yours. You want the LAs evidence and arguments to be weak and without any evidence, so leave them to mess it up. Just prove your case - why are you worried about them and their evidence. They are NEVER going to agree with you and your professionals. They are going to turn up at Tribunal and fight tooth and nail to keep him mainstream.

 

My LA continued to say, even at the actual tribunal, that they thought I had "made up" and "exaggerated" my son's level of needs. However I referred the Panel to all the professionals that had seen him and what their opinion was. Especially the CAHMS Psychiatrist who said she was "astounded" by the number of educational issues and that "this sad little boy is totally overloaded and overwhelmed on a daily basis" and that he had "quite severe self harm behaviours".

 

Believe me, the Panel will read all the evidence inside out and will have a very good idea of what the issues are and what is going on.

 

I would suggest that you don't meet with the LA anymore. If they attempt them, come up with an excuse such as you cannot find a sitter for your son etc. Leave them to stew. Concentrate on your case NOT THEIRS.

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My understanding is that any OT that works with a child with Sensory Integration Disorder to 'assess' or deliver 'sensory integration therapy, MUST have completed modules 1, 2 and 3 from this training provider. If they haven't they cannot do it.

 

Our LA provided my son's former primary school with an OT just before the tribunal date to prove that they could meet his need. However they could not provide evidence that she had completed these modules, so the Tribunal Panel decided that there was no evidence from the LA that they could deliver a suitably qualified OT.

 

http://www.sensoryintegration.org.uk/foundation-module-0

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thanks sally - you are completely right - i am over thinking it - i think i have struggled to understand how and why the lea think they can do this but the time has come now to leave that in the past and moved forward - i think we have a very good case - the lea evidence is weak and as it stands they have no evidence at this point! i will contact our OT again and see if she could see Joe in Sept for an update - her report was done in april so will be nearly 6 months old. i am going to try and get an ed psych sorted. i reckon my tribunal going to be around jan time - i run a fancy dress business from sept to dec so all the money from that will pay for the reports. we do have savings which helps. when i get my printer working i am going to print our all of my posts and go through all of your advice and make sure i do everything. autism outreach - the lea are lying when they say she is a qualified teacher - she is qualified to level 5 which is hnd - they made redundant the last person late last year as she was a qualified teacher so they could take on someone who wasnt a teacher and therefore save money so why they are saying she is qualified now is a mystery!

 

in theory the nhs ot cannot do any of the assessments at the moment as 6 months moves us to mid oct. i completely hear you regarding not meeting them again - my husband has made it quite clear to me now to shut up and go quiet. your point re qualified OT doing the necessary modules is also very interesting as the LA are now talking about the school doing it!

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It is all about "words". If you have in writing that your child has a sensory integration or modulation disorder, and you have a qualified OT [qualified to assess and deliver a pure sensory integration therapy], who has assessed your child and made that diagnosis, and then recommends xx hours 1:1 a week of sensory integration therapy, then that is what you ask for, and your OT attends as expert witness to answer any questions regarding that therapy. So you really need someone that is experienced in reports for Tribunals and experienced in being an expert witness.

 

And usually ONLY independent schools with an OT employed as a permanent member of staff, would have the qualifications to deliver such therapy.

 

Anything else is worded differently eg. sensory difficulties, sensory problems, sensory diet, support for sensory issues etc is not the same thing. A TA maybe able to deliver a sensory diet. But a sensory diet is not sensory integration therapy.

 

The inclusion officer at my LA in 2009 told me that they don't believe in sensory issues, that he would never agree for it to be included in the Statement, and that my son would not get a sensory programme in school. And I didn't push it, and it never happened. So in 2011 I knew exactly what I had done wrong, and I made sure it did it right this time around. You need to do the same.

 

Imagine that a Tribunal is similar to being in court. There is a panel of 3 people; one is a judge and the other two are professionals with indepth knowledge of special educational needs [such as an educational psychologist]. The Panel know what they are doing and they go through all the evidence and they immediately pick up on the issues.

 

So, as you are going into this Tribunal to prove your case, you do not want to be pushing the LA defensive team to be getting their case ready. As your OH says, shut up and let them get on with it. I too made this mistake in 2009. I kept pushing them to assess my son, I kept reminding them of deadlines, I kept reminding them of what they needed to do and why. Because at that time I was under the impression that everyone had my son's best interests in mind, and that the LA just did not know what they needed to do because they acted so dumb, and like they had no knowledge of the SEN system. How stupid I was. They know exactly what they are doing.

 

They are hoping that if they keep refusing to agree to things, and keep telling you that you won't get what you want, that you will not feel confident to go through an appeal. And if you don't go to Appeal, then nothing will change because there is nothing to force the LA to comply. Even at Appeal, the Panel do not have any authority to fine LAs that act illegally. So the LA can be as bad as they want because there are no repercussions on them. They go all out to save money.

 

At the moment they don't seem to have a case. You have a child that is vomitting repeatedly and frequently at his primary school and the LA are not offering anything else. It would be even better if your son became so anxious that he refused to attend school.

 

As my independent SALT said at our Tribunal. Regardless of what anybody says here today, this is a child that has voted with his own feet and has refused to attend school for over 10 months. There is no evidence that this child will ever agree to return to this school as his experiences there have been too bad for him to cope with.

 

A Tribunal Panel will never order that a child returns to a school they are refusing to attend. There is no point, because their order cannot be enforced if the child is refusing to go in.

 

You need a placement where your child is happy to go into school. It is possible because we found a school for our son and he has never vomitted there, and he has never refused to go. That was something totally new for us because we were so used to how bad he used to be at his former school.

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was just working out when our tribunal likely to be - we cant count august so its looking like february next year which seems like ages away but sure it will come quickly. my OT report is thorough and is written by someone experienced with the tribunal system hence why it was quite expensive compared to some reports but we felt it would be money well spent in the long term and we were right. so i will spend august getting the paperwork ready for the tribunal - the photo copying itself is going to be time consuming. i take it you didnt have a solicitor? can i really do this without one? we can afford the private reports - was going to get an ed psych and an update to the OT report plus then there would be the cost of them attending - this is starting to feel expensive already but has to be done i know

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It is expensive, which is why if at all possible you try to do it only once.

 

I did it without a solicitor, but I had alot of help from Network81.

 

Make sure you know what your deadline is to lodge the appeal and mark it on the calender so you don't forget.

 

Once you have appealed SEND will send you the timescales by which you must have submitted certain documentation to them.

 

The first is the Case Statement ie. why you are appealing. It can be brief, or detailed. I lodged my appeal with a brief statement saying that part 2 did not contain all his needs, part 3 did not quantify or specify provision to meet each and every need, and that some needs have no provision at all. I left part 4 until later. But you could say that the current school is not able to meet your child's needs.

 

Then I typed up the Case Statement, which was more detailed.

 

Then you need to prepare a Working Document. That is basically the Statement which both parties pass between them [electronically], and amend. You use different type face for things to be added and for things to be deleted. And what is the most important thing is that you annotate everything [so find out how you annotate documents]. But you do not send a copy of the Statement with your annotations to the LA.

 

The point of the annotations is so that at the Tribunal, as each paragraph is looked at, your Statement will state where each and every item has come from eg. the Professionals initials, and the page number. That allows you to go straight to the place where the professional has stated xxx has xxxx, or xxxx needs xxxx. The LA will not be able to do this because they tend not to annotate. You don't want them to have an annotated Statement because it would help them alot. So they get the Statement with amendments, but no marginal annotations of where you got the information from.

 

This is time consuming. BUT you will get to know the Bundle of papers [as they are called] inside out and if you are not using a solicitor that is the most important thing.

 

You will also need to send in your list of attendees, which are all the people attending on your side. You are usually allowed yourself, an advocate and 3 other expert witnesses. It is very helpful to have someone from the prospective school because the Panel may want to clarify what they provide and how they deliver it.

 

And just as important is the fact that you can make amendments to all those things using a Request for Changes Form.

 

For example, I listed the CAHMS Psychiatrist as an attendee. But later on she began to worry me because her reports were very good and detailed, but she kept saying things like "it doesn't matter where he is as long as his needs are met." So I knew she did not understand the SEN process at all. At that point I dropped her and added my independent EP. So my attendees were myself, my advocate, EP, SALT, OT and Deputy Head of the school he attends. I had to use a Request for Changes to ask that there were 4 attendees on my side. The LA also had 4 attendees with them.

 

If you leave your LA and don't ask them or push them to do anything, hopefully they will not put together a good case. And that helps you.

 

And at the Tribunal you have to come across as a very concerned mother/father who wants their child to be able to access education. You must not shout, accuse the other side of anything [regardless of how true it is]. You have to try not to be too emotional, but crying is accepted. I cried when I was describing how I found my son during an attempted suicide. You can't help it. The Panel are human and the one I had was very very good.

 

Typically you want your bundle to be around 500-1000 pages. Mine was way too much, but we had years and years of evidence. I submitted about 4000 pages. The LA submitted about 200.

 

You have to try not to talk about past events. Best get those in the bundle of papers if you can, because on the day you need all the time to talk about "here and now" and to go through the Statement.

 

Sometimes the Panel go through the Statement paragraph by paragraph. At our Tribunal the Panel asked that each professional from my side and the LA gave evidence together eg. both EPs together etc. We did not go through the Statement at all. The Panel said that basically all the professionals agreed, which was true. The NHS OT did say that they did not provide sensory integration therapy and that in an ideal world all children with an ASD would receive this type of therapy. The NHS SALT said that she did not think a SALT needed to deliver all of this speech and language and social communication therapy. My Independent SALT argued that due to his age [10], he was getting to that stage where more and more interaction with peers is via speech and language and that therefore he needed a therapist working with him, especially for his social communication, interaction and play skills. The Panel agreed with this.

 

I also had the benefit of having used these professionals twice, in 2009 and 2011 [only the EP was new]. So both the OT and SALT could detail how he had deteriorated in those two years since they had last seen him. That was very useful.

 

Then on the day before the Tribunal I received a letter from the NHS ClinPsych stating that my son had an Anxiety Disorder. So I asked for this to be allowed as late evidence on the day of the Tribunal. The LA opposed this, but the Panel allowed it as evidence due to the fact that it was so relevant. It meant that he had a diagnoses of an Anxiety Disorder, and made the LAs argument that I was exaggerating his needs look stupid.

 

So you do need to keep pushing CAHMS and/or ClinPsych to get them to put things in writing. I basically wrote to them before we had a meeting and said that a Statement is a legally binding document and that each and every need and diagnosis has to be specified, and how those needs are to be met has to be quantified and specified in terms of hours of therapy/support and professional involvement. If I did not have that on paper, it would not get into the Statement.

 

Then when I had the meeting I would ask them did they think my son had an Anxiety Disorder, because if they did they had to put that in writing for me to submit to SEND. Thankfully both departments were very good and very supportive. That diagnosis probably tipped the balance in my favour as the school and LA kept saying they had no concerns about my son.

 

The SENCO kept saying that he had made progress. So the Panel asked her "where do you identify this progress?", she answered "progress is not just academic [meaning she admitted he had not made any academic progress], it is also social and emotional progress." To which the panel replied "but he has refused school for 10 months, and the Psychiatrist says he has severe self harm behaviours, and Mrs xxxxx has described an attempted suicide to us. Where do you identify he has made this social and emotional progress?" And she could not answer other than to say that she had not witnessed these difficulties herself. That just made her look incompetent.

 

If you can, with help, you could try to do the Appeal you and your husband together. It sometimes looks better for the parent to do it rather than a solicitor. You want the Panel on your side. You want to come across as parents that have tried for years to have their child's needs met to no avail.

 

However, if you think you maybe seeking a residential placement, then you may need to consider a solicitor because that is even harder than getting a day placement. A taxi journey of around 45+ minutes is acceptable.

 

Has your child had a core assessment from social services yet? Have you had a carers assessment? These are two other things that you could have done, which costs you nothing, and which could be very useful to your case.

 

I started another post [in Help and Advice] about getting a Core Assessment by SS done. I've now got my report [after 7 years of phone calls]. But my post should help you get one done sooner!

 

For the start of the Tribunal you need to have typed about an A4 size sheet as an opening statement because the Panel may say some thing like "describe your child to us", or "explain how you came to be at a Tribunal" and then you can read out the relevant paragraphs.

 

On the day of the Tribunal I had a note book and I wrote down what every professional on the LA side said. And then, as part of my summing up I referred to each statement they had made and briefly reminded the Panel of why that was incorrect. You have a number of breaks throughout the day, and during those times I wrote my response to what they had said eg. "the SENCO has told you that she had no concerns about my son, yet you have evidence from ClinPsych, CAHMS and my Independent EP about how serious his anxiety and mental health difficulties are and will continue to be. My son needs to be in a school where these difficulties are recognised and where there are professionals employed on site to meet those needs flexibldy across the week."

Edited by Sally44

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the typed up case statement - did you lodge that with your tribunal papers or later?

 

i do get direct payment via social services - interestingly dont think i have had a 'core' assessment done but an initial assessment - i have 2 boys with asd but joe is seen as the most challenging boy and his direct payments are higher than my other son as his needs are seen as greater. in the next 10 mins got someone from the council coming to do a CAF for my daughter - j twin as she is struggled at school due to the impact of joe on her at school. Joe does not have CAF but early support meetings - at the last one lea were there and the minutes (not done by me!) very critical of the lea and the delay and lack of action so i may well submit those as well.

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Yes you submit everything you have about your child. It can be from school, or clubs, or SS or even other family members. My mum wrote a short piece about how worried she was about him, and how difficult it was for her to calm him when anxious and how she had to lock all doors and windows when he came because he would try to run away when upset.

 

I wrote a very basic letter when I lodged my appeal along the lines that i've already posted ie. appeal is about 2 [not all needs identified] part 3 [provision not quantifed and specified, and some diagnoses have no provision at all], and you can include part 4 to say that your son is failing in a local primary mainstream school.

 

Then I sent in my full case Statement just inside the timescale where I gave much more detailed information for my reasons. I gave a brief history of how he received his diagnosis, and how we had arrived at our current situation ie. went to local mainstream primary and did not cope, went to tribunal in 2009 and the LA capitulated about 5 mins into the Appeal. The SEND Panel advised me that my son might get the support/provision he needed quicker if we went into a separate room and thrashed out the final issues, which we did; the Statement was finalised. However alot of the provision in the Statement was never provided because the Statement was not worded so that it was legally binding. etc etc

 

My son continued at the mainstream maintained primary school for years 3 and 4, but has not made academic, social or emotional progress, and has deteriorated to such an extent he was referred to ClinPscy and they referred him onto CAHMS due to their concerns about his serious self harm behaviour. My son refused school on xxxx and has not attended since then.

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