Request for Statutory Assessment

[Tez]

I have received the forms from the LEA requesting my parental advice so they can consider the school's request that they assess my son. They have provided some questions that they want me to answer but the space left to answer them is very small. I intend answering them on additional sheets of paper since I don't feel that I can answer them adequately in the space provided, but should I keep my answers as brief and concise as possible or should I expand on them and provide collaborating evidence?

 

I intend to try answering them in bulleting point format to try and make my answers easy to folow, has anyone any views as to whether this is acceptable or did antyone use an alternative method that was easy to understand?

 

My son's problems with school have been longstanding. The questions the LEA are asking refer specifically to the present. Should I use my answers to show that his problems have been present since he started school and that despite efforts by all his schools to meet his needs it has never been achieved or am I better just sticking with the current situation and current evidence?

[smiley]

hiya

dont know if it helps, but i've always been told to put as much detail as possible. i'd go with bullet points with the most up to date bits first. im a senco and the parent of a little boy with aspergers so i can see it from both sides. but i'd worry i might have left out something important - better to give them as much info as possible x

[nellie]

Hi Tez,

 

You will find information on writing parental advice in the SEN toolkit which can be found here.

 

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/4613/Too...%208%20Text.pdf

 

further information can be found on this previous topic.

 

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...t=0entry20754

 

Good luck

 

Nellie xx

[bid]

Well, I sent in a small rain-forest of paperwork!

 

Bid

[Kathryn]

Hi Tez,

 

They never do provide enough space, do they!

 

I'm sure there's no single right way to do this, and this is just my opinion, but I would be inclined to start with the current situation and then provide some background to show the history of your son's problems. Obviously the most recent stuff will be the most relevant, but I do think it's important to show that this is not something which has arisen recently, and that the school has tried to deal with it using all their available resources: this is an important factor.

 

I ended up writing three long parental summaries (and that's not counting my evidence for the statutory assessment itself!), and I think I would do it differently, knowing now what I know about the way these panels look at them. The SEN official who chairs these panels in our area admitted (under interrogation )that the evidence is not read in depth by every member of the panel: they don't have time. The reports are skimmed by different people who have a checklist of criteria they are looking for, so they will be picking out particular details. So making it easier for them to pick out the salient points is a good idea - I wish I had done bullet points!

 

When (thinking positively!) you get the assessment you will still have a chance to submit more evidence which will be considered in conjunction with what you have already sent in, so don't worry if you don't put everything down this time around.

[smallworld]

Hi,

We did the bullet points unintentionally, by following the leaflet given to us by parent partnership. The leaflet set out the various topics we should cover and being a lazy type I just used this as a guide to write something for each area.

It worked !

Good luck,

wac

[bluejean-genie]

Hi Tez,

I sent in a lot of information which was under different headings. I gave a brief outline about Nat's early years, then came his diagnoses and the Doctor's names. After that I used headings to explain his difficulties and his strengths which I put in paragraphs. I also sent in how Nat felt about school (his own work on his laptop) but I did delete all the swear words first, much to Nat's disgust.

The Senior Officer said it was very helpful for the panel to read it. I was advised that I could send in as much as I wanted. (parent partnership officer) I also received a letter later asking if I wanted to send in an update to the Appendix A .

I hope this helps