interesting conumdrum/dilemma of opposing ? please please read

[sawjd]

Hello everyone,

 

Thursday night when we got back from GOSH, eventually got into emails and downloaded five responses of LEAs reply as to why our k should stay in mainstream where his needs can be met.

 

When i read what was downloaded i was shocked in some places where they have acutally lied about the support and level of support they have given our k.

 

 

Firstly we had a TAC meeting where i never received the minutes for (i now know why). In this meeting the outcome was that k was to have someone sit with him to support his anxieties over lunchtime. We have proof on tape by k himself that no one has ever sat with him to check if he had eaten or not. We have him on tape saying he has delibrately missed lunch on more than one occasion as it takes him too long to eat.

 

Secondly there was the receptionist who was supposed to accompany him to make sure he used the toilet, this was never done.

 

Thirdly, strategies that were in place and being used yet never happened until after 22 may 2012 even though they say these strategies were before that date. Also the LEA response (clumsy as ever) have put that he has been statemented and given 10 hours of one to one support, he has not, he has just been given 10 hours of teaching assistant , the offer of a LSA has been highlighted as something extra as well as the teaching assistnat in their repsonse but the LSA is not mentioned in the statement at all.

 

NOW FOR THE DILEMMA WHAT WOULD YOU DO (as we cannot trust the school anymore and these are tactics to avoid paying for the specialist school as we have moved k twice now and this will be a third mainstream school)

 

Seeing as we can prove the above, should we,

 

1) Go ahead at the tribunal and prove what we have on tape, the outcome being he will be just moved to another mainstream school .

 

2) Say well the strategies they put in place (even though they have lied) have not worked as he still cannot manage special events , dressing up days and struggles making friends therefore a special school would help him.

 

We have been advised by IPSEA that we need to prove that k is better placed at a special school and we need to concentrate on that rather than on what the school have/ and have not done. Also if anyone can re assure us that as we are asking for a change of school and awaiting a tribunal hearing, so we are in a tribunal situation and (date is in february) we have been told that they cannot take us to court for k not being in school because legally we are in a tribunal situation. Any solictors out there we would welcome any comments.

 

The school staff are unacceptable and we can prove they are liars. The school failed their ofsted but i will need to check that if they have been taken off special measures. According to the head she says they have been taken off since september 2012 but its not on the ofsted website. Also how could they say they have done all they have when we only had the tribunal for a statutory assessment in January of this year (jan the 5th ). They (the school) said k did not need a statutory assessment , then the tribuanl awarded us a statotury assesment so the LEA had to give a assessment and gave in and said they were going to give a statement of special needs. All the help (so called) has already amounted to 10 hours before it was on the statement anyway and its vague as the teaching assistant is specified delivering the 10 hours and its not one to one which is what he needs.

 

His difficulties are not drinking which contributes to his idiopathic chronic constipation, his low self esteem (wants to die and keeps saying whats wrong with me when he has had to sit in his own poo at school). we cannot trust the school.

 

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ?.

 

Many thanks for your answers.

sarni

[Sally44]

I think it is all about an "suitable professional" being the one that is supporting him or providing therapy.

You need to concentrate on which school can meet his needs. What that school has that is over and above what his mainstream school could provide eg. 1:1 SALT or 1:1 OT. You need an Educational Psychologists report that details what type of school he needs, and if possible one that can go in and visit his current school and talk to the staff there.

 

And I would not highlight so much the 'dressing up days' or 'trips out' etc. It is about how he copes and access education on a DAILY BASIS. Write down what your son says about himself and about school. Ask him questions.

 

For example, if he has an ASD he has social communication problems for definate. How is that need being met? What therapy is he having for this in a 1:1 and group basis. None. So he cannot be making progress with that can he?

 

What about his anxiety. What professional is seeing him in the NHS currently? What advice have they given to school or towards his Statement. Having someone sit with you during lunchtime is not meeting his needs if he finds the environment makes him so anxious he is unable to eat. What he needs is A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT, such as at your choice of school where there are no more than xx pupils eating at any one time.

 

So you are highlighting each need, and how your choice of school can meet it, and the mainstream one does not.

 

If your choice of school has SALT and OT on site, you need reports that detail that your son needs that level of therapy. So he would need to be fully assessed using standardised assessments and the therapist would need to detail what level of input in terms of hours, he needed from a suitably qualified therapist [not a TA].

 

On the Ofsted report of the school that my son attends it specifically says that they have children with low confidence and low self esteem and it comments on how they turn the children around after years of failing mainstream. And as my own son has anxiety and OCD this school also has a Psychologist on site. At the tribunal we proved that education and health did not meet with eachother or joint plan how to deliver his Statement. His current school have been out and met with the NHS Clinical Psychologist. That is something his former school never did because they kept saying they had no concerns.

[Sally44]

If you do mention that they have failed the ofsted report and are still on special measures, I would firstly be 100% sure that that was the case by phoning ofsted. And then I would highlight this fact from your sons perspective ie. that the school is on special measures for teaching children without any SEN. Your son has ASD, anxiety and health needs that are not being met because the staff have no additonal training or qualificatioins to meet his needs. This is making your sons bowel problems even more severe and GOSH have said "it will take years" from his bowel to be retrained, and the evidence to date is that this cannot happen at his current school where he is so anxious and where he receives no help with personal care and is trying to 'hold himself' all day long so that he does not have to sit throughout school in his own feces, and that you have the dates when he has come home having messed himself.

 

When you put it like that it is a very powerful statement to make.

 

Remember that by law the LA only has to provide an "adequate education". Whereas by law they DO have to identify each need and they DO have to make provision for it. So concentrate more on those issues. Do write to the school and ask them what additional qualifications their staff having for meeting the needs of a child with: [and then list all your sons known difficulties including his ASD and chronic constipation and Anxiety].

Edited November 18, 2012 by Sally44