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What to include in parental evidence for statementing

7 replies

Zobow · 04/10/2012 22:12

Had a meeting with ed psych today who said ds would not qualify for a special school we had looked at due to his cognitive scores being with in average ranges. Ds is 5 with a diagnosis of autism. He has been on a psp since Nov 2011 and does the grand total of one and a half hours a day! An hour of which at present he spends in a state of panic running round, screaming shouting, etc. Can I state in my evidence for statement that he does have a learning disability ?? My arguement would be that he is well behind his peers and the fact that he doesn't access any form of curriculum and never has puts him at a massive disadvantage academically?? I really think that until he feels safe and secure within a school setting he won't access any form of education. There is a school with an autism base about 20 mins away but I'm not sure if he would even cope with the journey there he struggles if they try to extend his time by 5 mins at the school where he is, could I state this as one of my concerns??
Any help on this would be welcomed with open arms x

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Veritate · 04/10/2012 22:17

If your son has an official diagnosis of autism I would have thought you can say he has a learning disability. If you've got a report confirming that you should include it with your evidence.

Does the school support you? If he's only in for 90 minutes a day and they agree to that, it does seem to be an outright admission that they can't meet his needs.

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mariamma · 04/10/2012 22:22

Ask which cognitive tests, when were they done, what are his centile scores, how much did the subtests vary. He's probably had a woefully inadequate set of partial assessments, and 'within average' is such a wide range as to be meaningless.

Children with ASD can have splinter skills that let them score highly in some basic level tests. For example, echolalia can erroneously come up as good memory and comprehension. Or they can be genuinely amazing at calculating, but without specific teaching might miss that £5 is more than £1.

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Zobow · 04/10/2012 22:27

Thanks for the replies. The school are supportive in a way! They have told me on numerous occasions that they think he needs specialist provision but my biggest worry is what the LEA will come up with if and when they issue a statement! I have got a diagnostic report from casbat that has already been sent off.

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Veritate · 04/10/2012 22:31

If your son is 5 and only in school one and a half hours a day. that situation is illegal anyway as the LA has a duty to ensure he receives full time education. Perhaps you should ask the school and LA what they intend to do about the other 3+ hours a day when he is supposed to be educated - e.g will they arrange home tuition? They might suddenly decide that that move to specialist provision should be fast-tracked!

Warning - if they do by any chance agree to home tuition, they will probably try telling you that all they have to arrange is 5 hours a week. That isn't true, so don't fall for it.

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Zobow · 04/10/2012 22:42

Thanks veritate for your replies. I'm just a bit lost in it all at the moment! I've struggled from 2 years just toget junto sch

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Zobow · 04/10/2012 22:48

Thanks veritate for your replies. I'm just a bit lost in it all at the moment! I've struggled from 2 years just to get him to school feel like it's all been a waste of time! In my psp meeting the ed psych brought to light how my ds 1 to 1 wasn't using visual timetables, etc when I was told she was. Turns out she missed the asd training due to a family bereavement again something I wasn't told! Then they wonder why he has a melt down!

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Zobow · 04/10/2012 22:49

Sorry on phone has a mind of it's own!

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