Statement turned down where do I go from here.

[kathkin99]

Hi

Please could someone advise me:

My son was diagnosed with ASD in March about a week after this he was excluded from school for two days it was at this point we decided to apply for a statement this has been refused at present because:

The school hadn't done enough basically:

No IEP until after he was excluded in March ( he is in reception and started school in September where his teacher picked up on problems and he was referred)

No Social stories

No Visual timetables and no sand timers.

These have no all been put in place and the LEA are saying that once the visual timetables,sand timers and social stories are in use his behaviour wil improve and that is why they are turning down the statement.

My question is this:

Is it best to just appeal to Sendist ( The LEA said there still wouldn't be enough evidence for a statement)

Leave it a while so there is more evidence and then reapply for the statement.

If you appeal and its turned down is it the end of the road or could you still apply for a statement again.

Just not sure what is for the best at the moment they are going to be sending The Autistc specialist (I think its called team in but not until September because they are short on staff )

Thanks in advance

Kathy

[Flora]

It's a difficult decision to make. My son who is 12 was turned down for the same reason, that there were still avenues to go down before an assessment was deemed necessary.

 

In your case though, the fact that your son has had an exclusion suggests that the school are unable to cope with him.

 

Has any extra support been put in place since the exclusion? Have you been given a copy of your LEA's interpretation of the COP??? If not ask for one. If your son meets the criteria then it's definately worth going to SENDIST.

 

If you feel strongly that the school aren't meeting your son's needs, and that they are unwilling to provide extra support, then you should appeal their decision. However, if they have now implemented an IEP and he is on SA+ it may be worth waiting a few months to see how it goes. If your son is still having difficulties then apply again, and this time if they turn you down you will have a much stronger case for tribunal.

 

Lauren

[Kathryn]

Hi Kathkin,

 

We were refused an assessment for my daughter for similar reasons - she did not have a long history of difficulties and the school could not demonstrate that they had taken sufficient steps to support her.

 

If you are to be successful in your appeal, you will have to have strong evidence that the school can't provide for your son's needs, despite putting in place all the support you've described. This could be difficult as the school's intervention has been fairly recent and from what you say, they seem willing to provide the help. As Lauren says, you may be better off waiting, moniitoring his progress and noting any difficulties that persist - you can then re submit your request for an assessment with a stronger case.

 

The other possible course of action would be to put your appeal in anyway, you only have to fill in the SENDIST form at this stage and you have nothing to lose. The case would not be heard for a few months and you can withdraw the appeal at any time. When the time comes to submit your evidence you will have a clearer idea of whether the support is working or not and whether it's worth going ahead with the appeal. Sometimes LEA's change their minds once they see the parents are determined to appeal, obviously there's no guarantee this will happen in your case.

 

best of luck with whatever you decide,

 

K x

[PinkSapphireAngel]

We were refused statutory assesment last September and again the LEA conveiniantly blamed the school for not doing enough (hmm anyone see a pattern here?)

 

We appealed to SENDIST originally on the grounds that because the school had failed to follow advice over a period of time Lukes needs had got worse and also because of the delay the school were now refusing to assess.

 

Our appeal was accepted and our hearing was in March this year (In the meantime IPSEA advised me that if we focussed on the school we would be handing the LEA the excuse NOT to assess on a plate as the tribunal would say the school needed to try everything else before the LEA could assess.

 

So we changed tactic and I sat there in the hearing saying how I believed the school have done their best to meet his needs and that they were unable to through their own resources and budgets (nearly choked me to say it as I know full well the school have been useless)

 

Well we won hands down and are now waiting the result of the assessment due any time in next 2 weeks!

 

So I would appeal definately!

[Helen_1980]

I think in your position I would appeal, absolutely. The LEA will try to wriggle out of it for as long as they can. You are the only person who can fight for your son and get him the help he needs. You may find that it will help if you have recent reports that you have sought independently via an independent Ed Psych - then you will have something to counter the twisted reports from the LEA that your son has made progress, etc. You have to be able to prove your case and this can be done, so don't give up!

 

Is your son unhappy with the situation? What does he say? I was going to suggest that if you were to pull him out of school and HE him until the tribunal it might strengthen your case because you could say that the school couldn't cope with him and the situation was psychologically damaging for him so you had no choice.

[UltraMum]

Difficult situation - we appealed when this happened to us - guess what - the school hadn't done enough so the appeal was refused ...

 

I think that if you do appeal then you can't reapply for a further assessment until 6 months have passed - I may be wrong - bit rusty on the regs at the moment as all seems to be going well at school here at the moment ...

[lisa]

I think I'd go ahead and appeal anyway. You never know, the LEA may back off once they know you're serious about appealing or you may get a good understanding panel and win. The worse that can happen is you lose the tribunal in which case you can still apply again 6 months later the same as if you didn't appeal.

 

Lisa

[Karen A]

I just wanted to add it is worth keeping a very close eye on what the school do in way of implementing social stories etc.If difficulties with behaviour then keep a detailed record because you will need these.It is surprising how when you take action peoples memories change.Karen

[kathkin99]

Thank you Lauren, Kathryn, Pink Sapphire Angel, Helen 1980, Mothereve, Lisa and Karen A

Thank you all for your brilliant advice I am sorry it has taken so long to post and say thank you but I had started writing it and stopped for a while and then hubby got on the computer and turned it off with my post but I forgot that i hadn't actually sent it so I am so sorry for the delay in thanking you for your brilliant advice.

Thanks for helping me to decide I am going to appeal now.

Thanks again.

Kathy

[av16]

Hello,

exactly the same thing happened to us- assessment turned down because the school hadn't done enough, even though our son (AS) had had 2 exclusions. The school had put several things in to place but the LEA hadn't contacted them or the EP. Once we had an EP report and a submission from the behaviour support team the LEA changed their mind.

Have the school involved the EP? It may be a good idea to push for their involvement as well as going for the appeal. Any extra evidence you can get can only help.

Good luck, it's going to be hard work but keep strong.

All the best

AV