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First annual review of statement after three appeals - all needs have vanished

14 replies

2boysnamedR · 25/11/2016 12:33

As title says. It took me three appeals at every stage over two years to get my son his statement. His AR is next week.

OT has gone from saying he will never write and needing pen grips - learning to touch type to being conmpletly ok. In clinic a year ago I was told his writing was bearly functional but I never had a score ( due to pressure from LA I guess) and I doubt it's been tested since. OT needs to attend the AR as it's stated in the statement - she isn't coming. He's dyspraxic.

Same with his speech. It's all in normal range, except the area he has a disorder in - which they they haven't provided scores for.

What to do? His statement was crap, the school didn't follow it either. I know the reports have been dumbed down as you don't recover back to normal if you had dyspraxia and language disorders diagnosed years before.

Do I give up now? Every year will be the same crap of fighting to keep it. I have contacted a private SLT school to see if they think he has needs in range that they would take on.

But I'm torn, if he goes to a specialist school it will cut down his gcse choices but up his chances of passing anything.

Maybe he really is cured? Is that isn't total BS they maybe I should forget it and ask for assesment again if he struggles moving to secondary (he's 9 now) but the problem with that is that it took me over two years to appeal before. I would be lucky to get a EHCP again before he starts his GCSEs.

I have a younger boy with ASD who is five and non verbal so I have to pick my appeal battles as it's expensive to appeal

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WouldHave · 25/11/2016 16:45

How long ago was the last tribunal hearing? I assume they made orders about what should be in the statement/EHCP?

The LA won't necessarily take stuff out of the statement on the say-so of the annual review meeting, and if they do they have to produce a draft amended statement first and consult you about it. If anyone does talk about amending the statement, point out how stupid it is to suggest he's had a miracle cure. If the tribunal order was reasonably recent, you could point out that amending the statement within a short time could be seen as contempt of court, and you could say that both at the meeting and in response to any attempts to amend the statement. I've heard it suggested that this sort of thing could be challenged by judicial review proceedings on the basis that it's wrong to disregard recent tribunal findings, unfair on the parent to make them keep going back to tribunal, unfair on the child to keep taking away support which the parent has to keep re-fighting to reinstate, and wrong to take up tribunal time rearguing the same points. No idea whether that would work, but at least with JR you get legal aid in the child's name - and maybe the threat would frighten them off.

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2boysnamedR · 25/11/2016 16:54

Tribunal was 12 months ago. Ds said the OT last saw him for 20 minutes in his class in front of all 29 other kids and just talked to him, no test of writing speed etc. A cursory up down him looks OK to me it seems.

Not sure to give it all up as a complete joke and think about jumping off a bridge.

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youarenotkiddingme · 26/11/2016 13:50

Thing is it is a joke. My ds has illegible handwriting except because his handwriting speed is above average they don't recognise it as an issue unless you fight.

Do you have any work he's produced by hand lately to compare against what's expected if a child his age? So you can say and show that this miracle recovery is not evidence in practice.

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2boysnamedR · 26/11/2016 14:15

I think I'm just done in with fighting the school and and LA.

It's so tempting just to sit silent at the AR then when they ask what I think say 'I couldn't give a shot and that's a hour of my life I will never get back' then walk out.

I don't know how I can get his handwriting assessed in time for any appeal. Besides they will just proclaim miraculous recovery at every AR.

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youarenotkiddingme · 26/11/2016 14:54

So what is the provision provided for his handwriting needs?

Very recently the school my ds is on a Mm at said they didn't provide laptops as like children to learn and develop writing skills. That laptops can be used for longer assessed pieces. Ds then decided he couldn't be arsed to carry it around all the time then - fair enough!

3 weeks later they are asking where it is and why he isn't using it. So I asked why they were expecting it in everyday when he should be handwriting! Turns out they can't mark his work as can't read it!
Ok says I, so what now. Can't write, can't touch type so what would you like him to do to produce work to the standard of his cognitive ability?

Do you have access to his school books? That should show you what he's doing and you can compare it to what he should be able to do. I found recently I've had more luck evidencing my point with real life example instead of using scores.

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2boysnamedR · 26/11/2016 15:25

His writing doesn't look to bad compaired to his older NT brother ( who actually looks like he's not NT after all!) it's the speed and effort needed for him to write.

Nothing is in place. OT asked for pen grips for five years, he's never used them. OT suggest then school poo poo and it gets ignored.

I was given his targets a few months back. He's not meet for out of five - so they are dropping provision. Madness.

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youarenotkiddingme · 26/11/2016 16:58

Can't you just present it like you have above?

You haven't implemented X, y and z let's agree a date you are going to implement it by.
He not met X y and z target so shall we change provision to meet that need now or review again in 3 months?

Get their responses logged, agree a way they'll record, then if they don't out in provision you can JR. Surely you don't need to appeal again - just prove they aren't doing what they should?

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2boysnamedR · 26/11/2016 18:30

I should have done a JR on them last year when they started off ignoring his statement. The senco seems a bit clueless and certainly isn't aware of the law or how she should be conducting this AR.
I think I will go in calm with the facts - he's not meeting his targets under his current provision so how do you think he will meet them with no provision? Did the OT do anything more than take a TAs word that his handwriting is fine? I think I might do that, thank them for their time then say it wasn't a AR as they didn't boover to follow procedure. I should have written down the tests the SLT had In Front of her two weeks ago and ask wtf happened to them before she wrote the report up.
How realistic is it to win a appeal with no witness and no new private reports?
I told my LA that I would start JR on them last month as they wasn't giving my non verbal child his SLT as set out in his EHCP. The son is in a SLD school and is non verbal. It took six weeks for a member of staff at his school to inform me the EHCP wasn't being met.
I told my LA I would JR them, they basically told me to go ahead. Two days later they had a Ofsted inspection. Still waiting for Ofsted to give the results but I bet the slimey a holes come out it smelling of roses

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youarenotkiddingme · 26/11/2016 19:22

Dis shit school that the tribunal judge actually ripped to shreds came out smelling of roses in Ofsted.
This is a school who 'don't do' Sen support during school hours because they don't withdraw pupils from lesson 'because we are inclusive' Hmm

It never ceases to amaze me what they get away with.

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WouldHave · 27/11/2016 00:26

If your son's EHCP is clear about the need for SALT, definitely JR them. They won't be so gung ho when faced with the prospect of paying thousands in legal costs.

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JsOtherHalf · 27/11/2016 11:38

Would the clicker software help your son?

I don't know how you would get him assessed for it though.

www.cricksoft.com/uk/products/clicker/home.aspx

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2boysnamedR · 27/11/2016 15:53

Thanks. I'm digging through his past scores. He's only gone up by one point so that enough to cut his SLT in half.

I have no proof his OT needs have improved.

It all looks very weak to me.

I have noticed EP, SLT and OT are all saying suddenly that are all very anti formal testing now as it's just a snap shot on one day.

Good enough reason to get TAs to do the 'guesstimating' then

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youarenotkiddingme · 27/11/2016 16:58

What I would be looking at is evidence of work he's produced.

There was a bit in my tribunal where judge dismissed Ds lack of progress against targets set because he only made a little less progress than acceptable progress.
But I drew his attention to some typed assessments of the year and pointed out this work was being marked as typical for a child of year 7 which was disagreed with by a few teachers, didn't appear to me of the same standard of friends children who work I'd seen and then pointed out this is a child who is cognitively top 10% of country.

So it was about need, outcomes and provision rather than scores. It's the way the EHCP works and it may help you to get into this type of evidencing and discussion now to help prove your point and when it comes to future transfer.

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2boysnamedR · 27/11/2016 18:55

It's bonkers and every gain is so marginal. Going on the OT and SLT reports every single target can be argued that it's no longer relevant. I could almost argue that I want him off the SEN register and stop all interventions at this point

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