tribunal papers have been sent

[bjkmummy]

posted my tribunal papers yesterday special delivery - checked earlier and they have been delivered. we are appealing parts 2 3 and 4.

 

seems like the lea have now upped their game as though they know what is happening. we havent spoken to them since the end of july. i had someone from the council a few days ago to see if i was okay and asked me outright if i was going to tribunal but i didnt answer the question. head told me autism outreach was coming in to observe him next week. we have been asking for 18 months for her to see him and so far she wouldnt - found out via my daughters 9 year old friend that outreach was in yesterday. emailed head today and she confirmed autism outreach had changed the date to yesterday and joe was observed. head has no idea when outreach will be beack again. outreach person has never spoken to me.

 

the LEA Ot saw him today - we had a private OT report done so this one is for'balance' LEA OT came to see me last week at home and she seems to be agreeing with my private report . she is phoning me on monday to discuss her findings

 

LEA are telling my head that they hope to move Joe tomy school choice by mid october but thsi has not been said to me personally so i have lodged the papers regardless as i can wait no longer. parent partnership has disappeared - she went on leave at the beginning of july and there has been no sign of her since. in fact everyone seems to have disappeared over the summer holiday!!! my head who has been very helpful is off on maternity leave in 4 weeks. im not looking forward to calling her to the tribunal whilst she is on maternity leave but dont think i will have a choice. really hoping lea see the light and do the right thing before my experts start doing their reports. this tribunal business is expensive! not told dh the true cost yet.... and im doing it all myself with a lot of hand holding from people on here as i cant afford a solicitor plus the reports

[Sally44]

Regarding the school placement.

If the LA have said that to the Head, write to them and say "I have been informed by the Head that you have said my son will be moved to my parental choice of school by mid October. Can you please confirm this is the case. I look forward to hearing your response within the next 7 days."

 

And see what they write back. If they do intend to do that it will happen before any Appeal. Remember you already have the OT report, and the NHS OT is agreeing with it. If your parental choice of school already provides a specific amount of SALT and OT input per child [find out if that is the case], then you may not need to get professional reports at this stage.

 

But if input is not provided as standard at your parental choice of school you will need those reports to identify all the needs to go into part 2, and to quantify and specify the provision to go into part 3 - because I am assuming the reports you have so far do not do that.

 

Regarding professional reports. Make sure any assessments are booked to happen as near to the appeal date [giving them time to write their reports], as possible. You want your reports to be the most up to date ones.

 

Have you spoken with IPSEA or Network81 to see if they can help you get your Case Statement [all the reasons and evidence you have regarding your appeal] and Working Document [the Statement with all the things that need adding and omitting] together?

 

Believe me, the Panel do understand how hard it is for parents to do it on their own. The Panel I had was very very good. They knew the bundle of papers inside out [bearing in mind there was about 4000 pages!]. Ideally you want your evidence and Case Statement to be around 500 pages. It doesn't matter if it is more.

Edited September 14, 2012 by Sally44

[bjkmummy]

so far ive sent about 250 pages but then there is the NHS OT report to come - i ma get my own OT to go back in and do a further report nearer the time. I have also booked the ed psych and SALT. Joe has not seen a SALT since he was 5 - he is 9 now so i will be very interested to see what that report brings. Everyone seems to think that this is going to be sorted but ive got a bad feeling - its just how the lea are now acting. Autism outreach went into see him on weds - i had been told next tues - i just feeling like the lea are gathering more evidence to say that he will be okay in the mainstream. I have asked for the case to be expedieted so will wait and see what the tribunal come back with. my next big milestone will be when the NHS OT phones me on monday to discuss what happened at school yesterday and what her report is going to say. she has already told us that she cannot make any comment about school placement whereas mine has said special school. my Ot is qualified to level 3 in sensory intregration - lea OT isnt even qualified to level 1 although is very experienced. she has never attended a tribunal either - probably cos they know the tribunal will not be pleased to hear that she is writing reports etc when she isnt actually qualified to do so.

 

my other headache is my head - she is going on maternity leave in 4 weeks - the baby is due at the end of nov. if the hearing is expedieted then doubt she could attend - if its left to february then she could, joe has a new teacher, joe is only in school in the mornings so his curretn teacher barely knows him - my plan would be if i cannot call the head then to call last years class teacher- she was in most of the meetings with the lea so she knows what is going on and she really understands him. joe said that when the OT saw him yesterday he was screaming and shouting at play time as the other children were playing tig and they kept touching him so he got angry.

 

also i need to now start thinking about asking for the school file and data protection request of the lea which i cant wait to read to see what they have said. the statementing officer at the meetings made very detailed notes so this will be interesting to see.

[Sally44]

If the hearing is held earlier it all depends when the baby comes. You could supena her. And you could also write to her to ask her questions, state things she has told you, and ask her opinion. As she is going on maternity leave, she might feel more able to say what she thinks? If she gives a good letter you could submit that.

 

As your son has not been seen by a SALT for so many years, I think an independent report would be very good at identifying what his speech and language and social communication difficulties are.

 

You could ask the LA to inform you BEFORE they send anyone into see your child, as you have a right to be there [you can observe if you wished], and you may wish to speak with the professional observing or assessing your son. You do have rights you know. And you could inform the school that you do not give your parental permission for any person or professional to just turn up and assess him without your prior knowledge and consent. Afterall you could find a SALT and EP see him next week and you would have no idea and it would affect the assessments your independent professionals could do.

 

With my son the EP refused to assess him, and specifically stated he did not have dyslexia. When I lodged a complaint and lodged an appeal to SEND she went into the school again, just a month after the Annual review and stated he did have dyslexia and carried out the British Ability Scales assessment, without my knowledge. So when it suits them they suddenly find the time to assess. So don't let anything surprise you.

 

If you do a freedom of information act search it takes about 40 days for any organisation to complete it. You can ask for the documents to be put on a DVD for ease.

 

You need to write to each 'organisation' that has had input or contact with your son. So when you write to the LA name all the people and departments that have ever seen him. You also need to word the letter in a certain way. Network81 gave me a template letter to send that covers every type of record they may have, paper or electronic.

 

You would need to write to the LA, the school, and any NHS department. Bear in mind that different hospitals may have different Trusts, and therefore a different 'data information clerk'.

 

So if OT, SALT, ClinPsych and CAHMS are all under one trust you may just need to write one letter. If they are based at different hospitals you need to check where to send the letter.

[Sally44]

When you get to the stage where you have to list your attendees, think carefully about who is going to give the best evidence for your case.

 

If you have independent reports, the most important professional who ties together all the other reports to give an overview of the provision and placement needed is the Educational Psychologist.

 

If the NHS OT has not disagreed with the findings and recommendations of your OT you want her to put that in writing - along with her qualifications. If she doesn't confirm that, write to her stating that she stated there is nothing she disagrees with. If that is the case, then the LA have no-one to say your son does not need what your OT's report states. In that case the SEND Panel should amend the Statement to include all her findings and recommendations. The SEND Panel then have to decide if that level of OT input can realistically be provided at their choice of school.