letter to LEA about proposed school for Louis

[fiorelli]

.

Edited May 10, 2006 by fiorelli

[nellie]

We do not feel that an EBD school is best placed to meet Louis's needs.

 

I think I would be stating that the EBD school is unsuitable and giving clear evidence why. Maybe someone on the forum can point you in the direction of documented evidence.

 

Nellie xx

[Kazzen161]

I agree, "we feel" is not strong enough.

 

>>We feel that a school with specialist knowledge of Autistic Spectrum Disorders would best suit Louis's needs

 

vs "Louis needs a school whose staff have expertese in ASD" (as per his statement?)

 

Go through his statement, and say X school cannot do this (eg: PECS? TEAACH?)

 

Karen

[Richt]

EBD schools are for children who have "Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties", these are generally social rather than organic.

 

For an ASD child, the problem is organic, not some fault of upbringing, socialisation etc. Often (risk of flames here) an EBD child just "doesn't fit in" with the life s/he's growing up in, provide a new environment the child blossoms.

 

Sometimes that picture works for ASD children, because they learn coping strategies among kind and devoted people. Often it doesn't, because the EBD children are so hurt and damaged they could be beyond even the best remedial care.

 

A gamble, good placement, possible good results, poor placement - disaster.

 

I don't think that EBD schools are specialised enough for ASD children, but that's my view. Put another way, would you want your different thinking child to be surrounded by deeply hurt and damaged normal children? No thanks.

[Helen_1980]

I think you should look at the language you have used:

 

"We do not feel that an EBD school is best placed to meet Louis's needs"

 

The Local Authority is not required to provide the best provision but only what is adequate/appropriate. Therefore I would suggest that you write "We do not feel that an EBD school is appropriate for Louis". You need to make a case that your chosen school is the MINIMUM your son requires in order for him to receive an appropriate education. If you ended up having to go to tribunal to get what you want in the Statement the panel would be concerned with whether what the LEA proposes is appropriate for your son, and you would need to make a case that it isn't. The panel may see all of your past correspondances with the LEA and they will see that you feel your chosen school is what you think is best for him and may disregard your case on that basis. It's fine to want what is best but in order to play the game to your advantage you need to use the right language, ie - language that will also appeal to the possible third eye (the tribunal panel).