I have come to the end of a horrendous process of obtaining a Statement for my 8yo son. I did all the work, including requesting SA myself with little support from his school. They filled in appropriate paperwork and totally agreed he needed the help, but pretty much left it all in my hands to sort and liase with the LA.
His draft statement arrived in June and aside from a few fluffy "must have access to, needs support with" issues which the LA have now sorted, my only other issue with the Statement was the ridiculously paltry 5 hours per week TA assistance they agreed to fund, plus 2.5 hours funded by the school. I replied within two days asking for the amendments to the fluffiness and pointed out all of the lists of things they had said he needed extra support with, and I quantified these in terms of the time they would take and said the provision didn't even come close.
Having heard nothing for two months I emailed his case worker last week asking for an update, and she replied that the statement would be with me shortly, and that the LA has agreed that they would fund a provision of TEN hours per week. The amended statement arrived today, and the front letter states clearly that the LA funded provision will be TEN hours, yet inside the provision in the statement still says five hours (plus the standard 2.5 funded by the school).
The caseworker has now backtracked, saying the ten hours mentioned in both the email and on the front letter which came with the revised statement today was an error, and that the funding will remain at five hours. To say I am fuming would be an understatement. I have put my heart and soul into sorting this statement, and feel I have totally wasted all my time and effort. The school have made it clear that for 7.5 hours per week nobody will be employed for ds. He is going into year 4 in three weeks time and is going to fall apart. He still cannot dress himself, toilet unsupervised and has regular panic attacks at school. I am disgusted at what has been offered, and the insinuation in both email and printed letter that the provision would be 12.5 hours between the LA's funding and the school's. This would have meant the school would have hired a part time one to one just for him, but now this won't even happen.
I'm going to Tribunal arent I? :(
Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.
SN children
My Son's Final Statement - Feel So Disappointed and Let Down
humbugholder · 16/08/2011 20:38
If you're going on thursday afternoon - we can have a good moan about our borough's systems. There will be many who will join in. If you're up for it, go for tribunal. You know that the LEA is sneaky - you've only got to see how many times they 'revise' transport systems during the summer holidays to realise that underhanded is an understatement. 
that's crap humbug, have to agree with bochead with it being all about the money, have found that out in no uncertain terms with dd3 this year. The lea has a tribunal team so don't see it as really costing them anything to go 
Have you been in touch with parent partnership, they are pretty good, also worth trying to get through to ipsea if you can.
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