How long does it take to get extra help at school?

[nightingale452]

I wonder if anyone with experience in this area can give me some pointers.

My sister lives in Spain and her son (aged 7) has a speech delay, but apart from communication he is keeping up ok with his school work. He has a dedicated teaching assistant at school and I believe he sees a psychologist of some kind as well.

She is thinking about returning to England, but is concerned that he would not get as much help here and there would be a long delay before it was set up. What I want to know is: how long does it take to get extra help at school in the UK? I don't know the details of his condition, but can anyone give me an idea of how 'bad' you have to be to get a dedicated teaching assistant in this country?

Any information about extra help at school would be appreciated, I've no experience in this area.

[Willmum]

How long it takes depending in part on how pushy you are prepared to be. How bad for a dedicated TA? For a guarenteed dedicated TA you would need a statement of sen and for it to be written into a statment.

A statement takes at least 6 months to get and you have to have evidence that there is a sen that cannot be met from the schools own sen budget.

Anything that the school offer is not forced to be consitant (although schools will try and be consitant where they can). How much time with the TA would depend on need and resources so it's kind of a hard question to answer.

How bad is the speech delay? I believe it needs to be at least 2 years behind at aged 7 to stand any chance of getting a statement but even then I think it would be hard if other areas are fine. Try asking on the sen board, you'll get far more advice .