Are statements going to be done away with ?

[007paul007]

A firend of mine in has been told by their SENCO that from next year there borough will be doing away with statements and giving more money at school level to help children instead.

Has anyone heard this from their local education authority at all ?

[lil_me]

That also seems to be the plan in where I live, they are giving out less and less statements but just directing the funding into the schools instead. Then the schools are basically left to choose what is right for the child.

 

There was several reasons I was given for this

 

1. Rather than just going off usually one report on a child from a Ed Psych, it will be up to the school to develop a plan to support the child. Schools spend much more time with the child so 'should' know what support the child needs.

 

2. Statementing is costly, particularly in man hours and they would rather this money went direct into the childs care.

 

3. People are getting more and more confused with what is worded in a statement and many complaints are being made which is also costing even more money to the LEA. For example it will say 'additional adult support all day' therefore the parents pressume this is 1-2-1 for that child when it is very rarely the case and usually one additional support person can be put in place for 3-4 children with special needs, sometimes more on 'additional adult support all day'.

 

 

They also said that because of this the way applications for special needs schools are done (currently children require a statement) will probably change.

Edited October 4, 2005 by lil_me

[007paul007]

Thanks for that I will pass the info on .

[Helen]

Are statements going to be done away with?

Paul, in answer to your question, the future doesn't look promising for those of us who are living in Wales:

 

The Welsh Assembly Government Education and Lifelong Learning Committee is carrying out a review of SEN. They have already completed the first stage of the review, focusing on early identification and intervention., and published a report in November 2004.

 

They are now proceeding to the Second stage--examining the statutory

assessment framework for special educational needs in Wales, more commonly known as the statementing process.

 

They want anyone with an interest in this subject to give their views. They

are keen to hear from PARENTS, SIBLINGS, and OTHER RELATIVES AND YOUNG

PEOPLE WITH Special Educational needs, and professionals involved in the

statementing process in Wales.

 

They have therefore set up an on-line consultation which will run for 3

months from April 11th 2005. In addition to this interactive on-line

discussion forum, there will be a written questionnaire survey.

 

The Education and Lifelong Learning Committee would therefore like people

to give their views on the following questions. Further related topics may

be introduced during the consultation, depending on the responses received:

1:What are the advantages and disadvantages of the current assessment

process ?

2:Should statements of special educational needs be scrapped- why or why not?

3:If the statementing process were abolished, what should be put in its place ?

[007paul007]

Thankyou Helen for that info it does seem an all round thing then

[UltraMum]

I think this all goes back to the audit commission's document published in 2002:

 

Statutory assessment and statements of SEN: in need of review (June 2002)

 

This short 'Policy Focus' paper presents evidence on both the shortcomings and the strengths of the statutory framework for identifying and meeting children's needs. It makes recommendations at two levels:

 

    * actions that LEAs, schools and Government can take to meet children's needs more effectively within the current framework; and

    * the need for a national debate about options for future reform.

 

To download this report, click on the links below:

Policy Focus - full report 288Kb

Policy Focus - briefing 112Kb

 

Then later it has:

 

The report aimed to raise the debate about how best children's needs may be met in today's context and invited readers to share their views on the recommendations put forward. More than 350 responses were received, the largest group of which were from parents. These revealed strong support for the report's recommendations. To download the analysis of responses, carried out independently by the Institute of Education, London University, click on the link below:

 

Analysis of responses to the Policy Focus 237 Kb

 

You can find the NAS's response to it here

 

Just in case the links don't work there is a page at the audit commission website with this info on it at http://tinyurl.com/dt2ke

[Kazzen161]

Scotland have already got rid of their Record of Needs (Statement equivalent). I was told there were no plans for England to follow suit, but all Counties are tryign to reduce the number of statements issued.

 

Karen

[lisa]

This is such bad news for children with SEN. Our school doesn't have a clue and don't want to know. They've continually ignored professional advice deciding that they know best what my child needs. The statementing procedures may be badly administrated but at least it's legally binding.

 

Lisa

[helenl53]

I did a big post on this and then the forum went down!

 

At one time, statements were the only way that a school could secure the funding for a child with SEN. However, it is seen as being a more practical and equitable solution to provide schools with a blob amount of money, allow them to recognise those kids with SEN and to buy in or apply interventions as they saw fit. As we all know, SEN covers a very wide range and can be a temporary or permanent SEN. So, as draconian as it seems, this withdrawal of the need for a statement for every SEN child, does make sense.

 

What has not been removed however, is the need for statements to be issued for those children whose needs are not able to be met by the school using their own resources (by this, you can also read - skills) and that the needs are not easily identifiable. Our kids will come under this umbrella. Therefore, the needs and provision can really only be established by professionals such as EP, S&L Health and OT.

 

Statements may be replaced by something else and we must be vigilant about what is being phased in by the back door. I think that wholesale issuing of statements will be a thing of the past, but the more unscrupulous LEA's (possibly that statements cover the whole of the UK) are using it as an excuse not to issue statements at the moment to those kids who definately should have one.

 

Keep applying for statements!

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[LizK]

That is certainly the case in this LEA. I believe the number of new statements have dropped considerably and a child has to need over 15 hours of additional help a week to apply. As a consequence more children are on School Action plus where the money goes directly to the school which has some advantages I believe but also disadvantages in that the money isn't ring fenced and can be spent on other things. I think it also leaves you more at the mercy of the school so the level and degree of SNs provision may well vary from school to school

 

Lx

[helenl53]

Hi LizK

 

This is why statementing is so important for our kids - a well written statement will absolutely describe the needs and provision and will quantify the provision.

 

I would have a word with IPSEA because using the criteria that a child who needs less than 15 hours support a week is not eligible for statutory assessment sounds like it could be illegal criteria being used.

 

IPSEA will challenge your LEA on the application of unlawful selection criteria.

 

Before contacting them, it is helpful if you can find your lea's SEN Policy and statementing criteria (usually buried on a website) as these are documents that are open for public scrutiny.

 

If they do not have specific policy regarding criteria for Statutory Assessment, then the Code of Practice applies, and I don't recall seeing anywhere the ruling that less than 15 hours should be used as a yardstick.

 

Please pursue this - it is the only way to get these illegal practices out into the open.

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[Canopus]

Stuff in statements doesn't have to be put in practice by a school. They see action plans and proposals merely as recommendations in all but the most critical situations. Both my junior and secondary school failed to implement parts of my action plan, as did my special needs school. In some cases I wanted the school to implement proposals but in other cases I didn't want them to.

 

I am interested in what exactly will replace statements. Many schools and teachers still have little understanding of SEN and whatever replaces the statement may not be as hard hitting as a statement and therefore less likely to be taken into account by the school and its teachers. Educational psychologists may have made mistakes and recommended inappropriate action plans, but what evidence is there that teachers understand kids better because they are in contact with them all the time? Many teachers at ever school I attended just couldn't understand my problems or why I acted the way I did. Teacher's minds aren't always as rational as a kid with AS even though it may be obvious that a kid should stay inside during breaktime rather than get bullied in the playground, or that a kid with bad handwriting should be allowed to use a computer rather than struggle with a pen.

 

Money is one issue but support and services are another. That is what matters the most. I suppose parents could always submit a document about their kid, but schools are likely to see problems as whims and excuses for bad behaviour rather than issues that should be dealt with.

[LKS]

couldn't agree more canopus. The thought of some schools having all that power is scary. I think the fact that most LEAs are already removing funding for high incidence statements is the first move. This was done very sneakily, I don't ever remember seeing it mentioned, and my S N officer never discussed how it would be implemented. One particular LEA which starts with a H and rhymes with pants said this information should not be shared with parents or carers! I know it shouldn't matter where the funding comes from but at the end of the day the secondary school my son goes to certainly doesn't have the amount of money to spend on him that was delegated to the primary school. In my daughters case she has a low incidence statement so funding will always be extra for her. But to give you an example of how this school works they had to advertise for an L.S.A to work with her in the morning as no-one there had the right qualifications, great I thought, until I saw the advert which went on and on about the sort of person they wanted to work in their SEN dept, how this person would be expected to work with a range of children with SEN. Not one mention of working with my child (you know the adverts when it says L.S.A. wanted to work with year* child etc etc) My friend went for the interview and not one mention was made of working with a particular child. I know they couldn't give out loads of details, but this is a child with complex needs who was loosing speech amongst other things. This to me summed up the fact that this person was engaged for the good of the SEN dept. not my child, although the funding to pay for her salary was supplied by my daughters statement. I think to put more money straight into schools seems wonderful and if it removes the stress of having to apply for a stat. ass. that can only be a good thing, but having schools decide how to use it makes me very uncomfortable, but then I'm very cynical now and don't trust anyone in education

[nvapid]

This is appalling! Statements and the LEA are the only legally binding way to get a school to react. If they leave division of funds tot he school - then you will get our school, which prides itself on it's deaf unit - and spends all it's money that has not been forced by Statements there. More than one parent THIS year has already been told that there is NO money for thier child and no extra help, but if they had a hearing problem that would be another story...

[helenl53]

This is why we must ask for statements - because the LEA then have a legal responsibility to make the provision on the statement.

 

One lady on this forum who is known to me, has two children who have been in school at SA + and her son who has some very complex needs has not had them met in the four years he has been at the school. The sum total of his help appears to be a chunky pencil and some special scissors.

 

We are getting diagnosis after much testing and deliberation by multi agency panels - if they have a difficult time establishing whether and ASD exists, what chance does a teacher with a class of 30 kids have of noticing the very hidden difficulties that our kids face. They only recognise the behaviour that results from our kids being in distress.

 

If schools do not have the money to provide for our children, then surely they quailify by default for a statement, as the school are 'unable to meet the childs needs from their own resources' - this is is one of the factors that should be used by the LEA when deciding whether to go down the statementing route.

 

 

 

Best wishes

 

HelenL

[annie]

Hear, hear Helen,

 

Add into that, schools that don't like to admit to LEAs that they don't know how to best help children with an ASD, and they refuse to ask for advice from outside agencies.

 

and,

 

Schools that have a habit of disputing a diagnosis, prefering to blame meltdowns on a childs family life rather than it being a child not coping in school.

 

Annie

X

[Canopus]

Add into that, schools that don't like to admit to LEAs that they don't know how to best help children with an ASD, and they refuse to ask for advice from outside agencies.

 

I mentioned this issue of connections between schools and LEAs and outside agencies in the private sector in another article. It seems as if there is very little connectivity.

 

Schools that have a habit of disputing a diagnosis, prefering to blame meltdowns on a childs family life rather than it being a child not coping in school.

 

Absolutely true. My school couldn't understand why I was depressed coming from a stable two parent middle class family in a "nice" area. They tried to contrast me with children abused by their parents on council estates, or Africans who wonder where their next meal is coming from. Quite often I was labelled as ungrateful.