proposed statement

[Sallya]

... arrived this morning. I have phoned the NAS advocacy service, and left a message with them, it could be a week before they call back. Could anyone tell me what should be in the proposed statement or have a look at it for me, please, if thats possible, not got over the shock, and not sure what to do next!

I would be very grateful for any help,

S

xxx

We got it!!!!

yippee!!!

[nellie]

Hi,

 

Great news. What to do next? Don't panic, you have 15 days to get back to the LEA.

 

If you need advice and don't want to wait for the NAS to get back to you, you could give IPSEA a ring. http://www.ipsea.org.uk

 

This is a link to the afasic site which gives very good advice on checking the proposed statement. Look for proposed statement under education.

http://www.afasic.org.uk/f_pub.htm

 

Statement, Checking the proposed statement.

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=565

 

Good luck!

 

Nellie xx

[helenl53]

Hi Sallya

 

Congratulations.

 

You need to look at the reports that are attached to it, such as the EP, SLT report, school report, Paeds and of course your own report.

 

Take copies of these so you can write on them.

 

Scrutinise them for sentences and comments that describe your childs difficulties.

eg X has difficulty with letter formation, X requires assistance in self help skills such as shoelaces and buttons, X is a solitary child and has difficulty in forming appropriate relationships with his peers.

 

These difficulties do not need to be only those that are described in phsych and medical speak - they could be things such as having difficulty eating whilst others are watching.

 

ALL these difficulties should be described at Part 2. (not just some of the difficulties - but ALL the difficulties)

 

Part 3 is where the provision to meet these difficulties should be .

 

Match up the difficulties with a solution/intervention/therapy to minimise/overcome these difficulties. These solutions/interventionsand therapies should be described in the reports.

 

Next comes the area that seems to cause so much difficulty.

 

These solutions/interventions/therapies need to be applied on a regular and structured basis. Apart from the description of them, there should also be explicit quantification and also who will deliver it. Eg. OT may devise a programme to address the self help skills and fine motor skills - part three needs to say, how often the OT will observe and set the programme and also whether they will model it to the school - this could be worded thus:- The OT will visit the school at the beginning of each term for a period of 3 hours in order to observe progress for X and to plan and model a suitable programme for delivery by the staff to X. The statement then needs to describe what the school will do - for how long and by whom. This could be described thus:- X will be given 20 minutes per week self help skills therapy from a programme provided and monitored by the OT. According to how it has been described by the OT, it could be in a group setting or dedicated to X. You need to do this same excercise for each of the solutions/therapies and interventions.

 

NAS will be really helpful, but it will help if you go through these things first and

break the back of it.

 

PM me if you think I can help you further.

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[Sallya]

I will call IPSEA later, helpline opens 7pm tonight.

I think a lot needs to be changed, no hours specified at all, no playground supervision, no 1-1 at all.

Thanks, Nellie and Helen, for giving me somewhere to start.

The whole thing is so daunting.

xxx

s

[helenl53]

Hi Sallya

 

Daunting - but you have lots of us spurring you on. Keep going until it is what your child needs.

 

Isn't it quite scary, here is a statement that is inadquate for the purpose it was written!!!

 

How many of us would have just signed it in relief and gratitude - thank goodness for forums such as this and to the likes of Nellie The Wise One.

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[Sallya]

Spoke to lady at IPSEA, who will look over proposed statement, and advised me to arrange a meeting with LEA.

I feel much better after speaking to her, answerphones are awful.

I was enjoying the rest from all this, here we go again!

[Sallya]

Just an update...

 

Lady from IPSEA is not too far from me, and has volunteered to come to meeting with me. She has written me a 3 page letter on what is wrong with the prosposed statement. Just off to put everything in writing, and arrange meeting date.....

[Tez]

Good luck with getting it sorted.

[annie]

Sallya,

 

Great news

 

With IPSEA, you can be assured that they have your child's best interests at heart, unlike several LEA's.

 

Good luck,

 

Annie

<'>

[helenl53]

Excellent that you will have an IPSEA person with you.

 

It absolutely beggars belief doesn't it, that it will take 3 pages to describe what is wrong with the statement!!!! But your authority will have you believe that you all share the best interests of your child!

 

Has there ever been a correct Statement written?

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[mossgrove]

We were reasonably happy after the 6th set of amendments of our first statement!

 

Simon

[helenl53]

Hi Simon,

 

Any advances on 6!

 

And just how much money does it cost to be to- ing fro-ing with these statements.

 

We are told that it costs �5,000 to �6,000 to write a statement - well not because of us procrastinating and getting it wrong"!!

 

But cost is used as an excuse for not providing a statement!

 

I think I must have taken a grumpy pill today - everything is driving me mad!

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[annie]

�5000 - �6000..........that's cheap compared to the price us parents have to pay in terms of emotional trauma trying to get the statement......... and of course the cost of lack of decent education that our children get in the meantime.

 

I think I've taken the grumpy pill too

 

Annie

[mossgrove]

The figure I heard was nearer �2000, but the argument remains the same.

 

Worryingly, the NAS seem to support a reduced use of statements as the cost of the statementing process could be diverted into making futher provision.

 

I think they have too much faith in LEAs to do the right thing regardless of whther a statement is in place or not.

 

Simon

[helenl53]

Hi Simon,

 

I think that the problem with NAS is that they are not directly affected by what we endure on a daily basis and they believe the spin. I have spoken to the Policy Officer at NAS to ask that we parents at the sharp end are given more ability to have a say in the policies and campaigns being organised by NAS as it is my belief that they have lost touch with what is happening. This is still at the negotiating and trying to forge links stage. They have said that they realise that there are problems because of the increase use of the helplines and advocacy service. The plan to undertake another survey. I have asked that parents on forum such as this one be invited to participate because I see that the 2000 Survey (the one in which the creative use of statistics by Jacqui Smith was based on) was undertaken using members of NAS who I do not believe are truly representative.

 

It is back to chipping away - it is hard to organise on a mass basis, but we each need to challenge these things and make our feeling known to organisations such as NAS and point them to evidence. We also need to let people like NAS know that we wish to be heard on these matters. I think that they will take the line of least resistance and try to be terribly PC - but that is not doing our kids any favours.

 

Phew - I must try and get early nights - I am such a crabby old fart at the moment.

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[mossgrove]

HelenL

 

It would beinteresting to see what comes out of the discussions within the NAS. I have been a member for a couple of years now have mixed feelings about them as an organisation.

 

Some of what they do is really good, I recently went on a Help! course which was both very useful and free, but I got the impression that even amongst the NAS staff there is a degree of disquiet about the fact that the NAS place far too much faith in individual schols and LEA's. I would love a system where everyone got the help they needed without the need for statements etc. after all,the whole process isn't much fun for anyone, but legally enforcable safeguards must be in place to deal with LEAs and schools that try to avoid their responsibilities and it is that central point that the NAS has failed to grasp. To be honest they shouldn't need a survey to work it out!

 

 

Simon

[helenl53]

Hi Simon

 

I too am a member . It is, I think the first thing I did when it was pointed out to me that my child may be autistic. I have the services of a NAS Advocate at the moment and I buy my Xmas cards from NAS and I too have seen the Help Courses. Unfortuantely, I have also seen the workshops that have been arranged as part of the NAS Conference in September and there are some heavy duty players in the world of autism. I was very excited and was ready to book until I saw the price - it was absolutely out of the range of parents such as myself. It is workshops such as these that help to empower us to work for our kids but if they are priced out of our range then how can we learn! It is such a shame as the rally in Leicester Square on the 25th September was to be the finale of the Conference.

 

On this forum alone, I think that we probably have every LEA in the UK covered and I don't think it would hurt to send in an individual letter to NAS, naming and shaming your LEA when they break the law. How can they argue with evidence from all over the UK. They can look at this forum, but then they can look away. They have to respond to letters from parents of autistic kids and at some time in the future, we can say - 'but you knew about this'.

 

A politician once told me that the most effective way to make changes and to make people listen is to be quietly persistent.

 

I think that on this forum, there are quite a few of us who have this ability to be quietly persistent and perhaps letting NAS know that they are misguided in their confidence that LEA's are doing the right thing, is as good a place as any to start.

 

Channel 4 are following the story of IPSEA who have taken the Dfes to task as they are failing to intervene when LEA's break the law. From my experience, I have been told by the Dfes, that they are unable to intervene at local level. This is not quite true - they can not intervene at local level on administrative matters, but they can and should intervene when an LEA is breaking the law.

 

Still feeling really grumpy -

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[annie]

HelenL and Simon,

 

I am a member of the NAS too.

 

I feel that the NAS seem to lean towards their own accredited schools and not so much general mainstream and non-accredited special schools.

 

As we know from this forum alone, it is very difficult to get the amount of help that our children need, let alone a place in a special special (NAS accredited or not).

 

The NAS need to wake up to the fact that the majority of us are fighting for every little bit of help we can get and unless they start to put the pressure on to help us, many people will start to lose faith in them as a well-respected organisation.

 

We have a NAS accredited school local to us, they also have support group meetings, talks and workshops. Many people that I know (myself included) wont touch them though because they seem to charge for anything and everything, not everybody has pots of money to spare.

 

HelenL - Do you have any other info on the Channel 4 programme?

 

Annie

XX

[helenl53]

Hi Annie,

 

Carole will know more about the backgound to this story, but it centered around a family in Sunderland and Jon Snow said that IPSEA were taking action against the Dfes for not policing LEAS who break the law.

 

I know that Carole will come along and give us the whole story later!

 

Any joy with the elusive Childrens Plan.

 

Best wishes HelenL

[annie]

Hi HelenL,

 

Thanks for that...........Carole, where are you?

 

I've been trying to get hold of my friend in Parent Partnership for most of the day, but I know that one of the other officers is on holiday so they'll be under more snowed under than normal this week. My thinking was that before I ask higher up in the council, my friend would hopefully know something already about what is going on or, failing that would be able to get 'inside' information for me.

 

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

 

Annie

XX

[baileyj]

Maxs statement was finalised after attempt 4, had a wonderful lady from NAS helping me, she wrote suggested statement, and advised me behind the scenes to have meeting with the LEA, which I did, and Max ended up with 27.7 hours support and a good statement. Took alot of work though, I researched alot, and felt like a lawyer in the end.

 

Worth the fight though. Seemed hell at the time, whole process started in Dec 04, and finished in about May this year.

 

Jo

[call me jaded]

You all must remember that NAS receive government funding for various projects and have to be very circumspect about anything they say. They cannot be an independent voice.

 

My son is starting a NAS school in September. When I get a quiet moment, some time after he starts, I'm going to put the case for policing the LEAs on the SEN consultation that's currently doing the rounds.

[Sallya]

D and me met up with his new middle school teachers and classroom assistants for 30 mins this afternoon, before they go back Monday. The senco was also there and she told me they had rung LEA to find out what was happening...they are sending new amended proposed statement out today.

That was quick, havent had the chance to set up a date for the meeting with LEA and IPSEA yet

S

xxx