Proposed statement arrived

[bluejean-genie]

Hi, sorry this is so long

but I am not sure about things in Nat's proposed statement so I wondered if anyone can advise me please.

Nat's proposed statement has arrived and the LEA are saying the Learning Centre is where they propose for him to be educated for now. They plan to formally review the situation towards the end of the autumn term 2005.

This is what the proposed statement says the LEA will provide........

 

Access to a broad and balanced curriculum, based on the national curriculum, in an alternative building that is not an educational establishment.

Teaching either individually or as part of a small group, by tutors who are experienced in teaching pupils with EBD

On going, support and advice from the Service for children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

 

The rest is that the Interim tuition Service will provide an IEP within 6 weeks of him attending. and targets will be set then and reviewed termly.

Does this sound ok, as I don't want to agree to something if it is not right!

 

The statement says Nat's difficulties are in the following areas;

 

Developing appropriate behavioural and social skills;

Recognising the needs, thoughts and feelings of others;

making others understand what he needs, thinks and feels;

Developing and maintaining peer group relationships;

retaining and following a sequence of instruction;

Concentrating and remaining on task in full class and small group situations;

Organising himself and his work;

Maintaining self-confidence and self-esteem.

 

Would the Maths problems (scored at 9yrs of age) performance problems (99% of children his age would score better than him) reading comprehension 10.6 years but reading and spelling 17+ years not need to be on the statement in the difficulties but on the IEP instead?

Any advice on this would be a great help, thank you.

[Helen]

I suggest you contact the NAS for an advocate to go over the proposed Statement for you, it sounds too vague for my liking.

Teaching either individually or as part of a small group, by tutors who are experienced in teaching pupils with EBD

How much 1-2-1 support will your son actually receive? Does the Statement specify this? The tutors need to be experienced in teaching pupils with ASD!

On going, support and advice from the Service for children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

How often will this service be accessed - on a need to know basis? Once a week? Once a month? Once every six months? Once a year? How will this service be accessed? Via telephone conversations? Via email? Via a personalised visit? Will you be provided with any feedback?

The rest is that the Interim tuition Service will provide an IEP within 6 weeks of him attending. and targets will be set then and reviewed termly.

It would be of some benefit if the LEA would provide its own advisory teacher for Autism to write the IEP in consultation with the Interim tuition service.

Developing appropriate behavioural and social skills;

Recognising the needs, thoughts and feelings of others;

making others understand what he needs, thinks and feels;

Developing and maintaining peer group relationships;

retaining and following a sequence of instruction;

Concentrating and remaining on task in full class and small group situations;

Organising himself and his work;

Maintaining self-confidence and self-esteem.

How does the LEA intend to address these defined points?

Would the Maths problems (scored at 9yrs of age) performance problems (99% of children his age would score better than him) reading comprehension 10.6 years but reading and spelling 17+ years not need to be on the statement in the difficulties but on the IEP instead?

This should be noted in the 'Psychological advice'. The maths problems and the reading comprehension problems (any specific weaknessess) could be incorporated on the IEP as valid targets - this is where your input would be valuable.

[bluejean-genie]

Hi Helen and thank you so much for your helpful reply

I will definately contact NAS for some help.

It does not state any times for anything and it doesn't define how the difficulties will be addressed just that Nat 'should be able to:'

I was told that the EWO had asked if transport could be arranged but that hasn't been stated on the statement, despite the Learning centre being over 10 miles away so I need to see what I can do about that as well.

[helenl53]

Hi Blue Jean,

 

I would definately get NAS or IPSEA help. It is far too loose and I think that the LEA's rely on us not being experts and they put the minimum in and hope that we sign it.

 

Hang on in there - it is better to have a watertight statement than one that is full of holes and causes problems before it is even implemented!

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[bluejean-genie]

Hi HelenL and thank you for your reply,

Some of the education advice was news to me and one sentence was a blatant lie about me attempting to drag my son downstairs to see the EWO (I have never dragged Nat anywhere in his life!!) I realise now that I am too trusting because I expected them to be honest the same as I was.

[helenl53]

Hi Blue Jean

 

I too expected people to play cricket - after all we are dealing with vulnerable young children - but no! - The Special Educational Needs of our kids seem to be of secondary importance when you are dealing with the LEA.

 

All I can say, without being too controversial, is that, you will have a totally different agenda and set of rules when it comes to the statement. The LEA rules tend to focus on how little they can provide on just under �50 quid a week ( 5 hours extra TA funding - this is what my lea are suggesting that they give as an extra to any school that will take my boy on - the rest has to be met from their own budget) and of course you have to strip the needs out to the bare bones to make it appealing to the school. You also need to ensure that time allocated to your child is 'dedicated' where it needs to be. Otherwise you will find that some provision is being delivered in large groups that may not benefit your childs development.

 

OIf an LEA are not definitive about what the statement says, then how can a parent take issue with them. If it says 'regular' - what Court in the land is going to be able to define 'regular' - therefore you have a legally binding document, that is not explicit or definitive enough for you to say that they have not met the provision specified.

 

My LEA are arguing that if they were to specify all my child's needs on Part 2 of the statement, then it will run to x number of pages. Doh - I have obviously misunderstood- a statement should only have the needs that the LEA can fit onto their own specified number of pages!! Never mind there are Regulations and a Code of Practice - the abiding rule must be that our children only have a few needs so they can fit them onto the page!!!!!!!.

 

 

I know this probably sounds like a joke - but I am at that place at the moment so it is the voice of experience!.

 

Blue Jean - I can only urge that you stick out for the rightful needs and provision for your child - NAS and IPSEA are fantastic at helping with this aspect.

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[Helen]

Some of the education advice was news to me and one sentence was a blatant lie about me attempting to drag my son downstairs to see the EWO� (I have never dragged Nat anywhere in his life!!)

Bluejean-genie,

 

If you don't challenge this comment then it'll be viewed as if you're accepting it. You really ought to consider setting the record straight, as you may not have another chance to do so.

 

If you find any comments or opinions in Nat's Statement that you categorically disagree with (information that is inaccurate) then you should consider making your comments known to the statementing panel through further submitted parental advice. The LEA must record any information that you submit to it, this would then be documented in the Final Statement.

 

Just thinking back? it wasn?t so long ago that Nat?s learning mentor acted in a highly inappropriate fashion towards him ? the person who wrote the lie hasn't got confused between you and the actions of the learning mentor have they?

Edited July 26, 2005 by Helen

[bluejean-genie]

Hi HelenL and thanks,

I spoke with IPSEA tonight and the gentleman was really helpful. He said that because it was interim tuition he could understand why it had been written like that as they are leaving it up to the Learning Centre, but I need to get the part which says Service for children with an ASD better defined as its not clarified enough. He also told me that as it is stated on the proposed statement that the place he is to be educated is interim tuition (Learning Centre) I would be able to appeal if they tried to change it later.

I am so sorry you are having all this hassle with your LEA and I hope that things get better for you and your son soon.

 

 

Hi Helen.

thank you for your advice and you were right in your thinking about the Learning Mentor and maybe it was a mistake but I am still going to challenge the statement because they could say Nat is violent because of my treatment of him, if they think that is how I carry on??

[UltraMum]

With regard to the 15 days in which you need to agree or disagree with the proposed statement: as soon as you write to say that there are issues which you wish to clarify the clock stops and you then will have time to marshall together all the stuff you want to address.

 

We've just been through this and spent best part of three months getting the LEA to 'tighten' up the specification in the statement.

 

 

On going, support and advice from the Service for children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. How much and how often? Will Nat be seen or will the advice be given to the staff? There's a recent Ofsted report that says that children who are seen by the ASD service and where activities are modelled for the staff do better than those where the ASD service just supply advice to the staff.

 

The statement says Nat's difficulties are in the following areas;

 

Developing appropriate behavioural and social skills;

Recognising the needs, thoughts and feelings of others;

making others understand what he needs, thinks and feels;

Developing and maintaining peer group relationships;

retaining and following a sequence of instruction;

Concentrating and remaining on task in full class and small group situations;

Organising himself and his work;

Maintaining self-confidence and self-esteem.

 

For each of the above there should be provision in the statement detailing how these educational needs are to be met. We had exactly the same wording on our statement for our son (Do they supply proformas for this?). He is to access social skills training from September to address some of these difficulties.

 

Would the Maths problems (scored at 9yrs of age) performance problems (99% of children his age would score better than him) reading comprehension 10.6 years but reading and spelling 17+ years not need to be on the statement in the difficulties but on the IEP instead?

 

Ideally the attainments and the educational needs should be listed in Part 2 - to give a full picture to those who read his statement.

 

Hope this helps

[bluejean-genie]

Thank you MotherEve,

Your comments are really appreciated, I am to talk with the Parent Partnership officer tomorrow, so I will bring up all the points that people have helped me with. I would also like to thank everyone for all their support.