Aibu to think SEN statements shud be right first time

[Carrie37]

Have just recieved DS proposed statement for speech and language difficulties. It says he should have access to additional adult support at school, no mention of who the adult should be, when or for how long he should get this support.

Is it unreasonable to expect someone whos job title is "statement writer' employed by ELB (equivalent of LA in NI) could write a statement which meets the dept of educations own standard.

The statements are written like this to be deliberately vague. It isn't a mistake. They do this to give themselves plenty of wriggle room. You need to write what you think it should say and ask them to change it. You can get advice from IPSEA or even on the sen board here.

I work in a special school and can confirm that it is totally deliberate, the wankers You need to state exactly what you want every single bit to say and get them to change it.

YANBU to think they should.

YABU to think it actually happens

Lots of lovely people in the SN section here have the same experience, and are very welcoming.

the adult would not be 'named' so to speak as people can always change jobs/roles etc. The 'when' will also not be stated as again, this will change depending on timetables etc.

If you go over the the SN Children board, there are some over there that are brilliant with these and can give you some assistance in how to get it more specific

It sounds quite normal to be honest, if it's contained in part 3. Does it expressly state the number of hours and how many are specialist teacher/ LSA/ Teacher in part 6? (Many LAs though are moving from this)

Something like

15 hours 1:1 LSA
5 additional hours (these may be used as part of a small group)
Advice and monitoring from xxxx outreach

Just to note, statements for unde 18 hours nomrally do not have any additional funding attached (though again this varies from borough to borough). A statement may have no 1:1 time, or teacher time, just activities which may be done as part of a small group.

I'm afraid you have to do the work yourself.. ie re write the bits you are not happy with.. make it very clear you want the hours specified, quantified. You don't get to say WHO carries out the support but you want it much clearer than 'have access to.
Also if the statement says 'X will BENEFIT from'...cross out out.. all kids benefit.. your DS NEEDS.

Having access to is a worthless sentence.. scrub it.. write what you need, send it back and refuse to accept it until the revisions are good enough.

My LEA officer hated my guts... but my son has what is probably one of the best Statements in the county because I refused to let them get away with wooly crap!

Join me in the SN children section am just going through the same myself

Always consider the first draught to be them trying it on and to see just how much they can get away with. Then when they realise they have someone to reckon with they will start slowly backing down. Fourteen years after ds's first statement I now see it as a little ritual we go through, they try it on , I slap them down, they try and stall, I threaten Tribunal and then they stop being silly and I push to get what I want. They then decide it's cheaper to give in or we go to Tribunal and they lost last time which hopefully will make them wary of trying again with dd
You can and should have the level of qualification and experience of the person giving support specified likewise the length of time support addressing a particular need will take.Like Triggles said the SN children's board is a great place for advice and support so hop on over.

Making it as deliberately vague as possible gives them as much scope to mess you around later as possible

Don't agree to it until it has in it how many hours of help he needs, by what kind of person (a 1:1 TA or somebody else etc) and so on

The system is crap - what they initially wrote to what we accepted - is miles apart - now have the 25 hours 1:1 and the ot written in - they tried to fob us off with "access to" and small group work. Proposed statement they sent didn't state anything - was so so vague and no way could I accept it.

You have to be like a dog with a bone - it almost killed me getting DD's statement finalised... the stress was awful... but it was an investment in energy - about to start a new school with decent support in place - would never have happened unless I did it... would still be waiting for the useless SENCO at old school to put in a Statement application...

It is so wrong that it has to be like this - I had to put in hours of work and find my way through the beaurocratic and longwinded system that is the SEN system... You have to be prepared to challenge them and refusing to put up with the rubbish that they fob you off with...

It is so unfair and I can't believe what they tried to fob me off with to start with.

Believe in yourself - you can fight this system- you just have to be persistant and keep on pushing until you get what you need. It is such a rubbish system and I feel for anyone who is having to do this for their child...

It almost broke me - but I believe, at last she has a chance of learning as we have secured some decent support... you have to put aside all the feelings of anger and frustration of dealing with incompentence.... channel your energy into knowing what your kid needs and keeping on until they write it in a clear and specified manner..

My top tips...

Keep a paper trail of absolutely every correspondence with anyone who comes within a mile of your child... follow up every phone call with an e-mail recapping what they have said..(school, senco, health proffesionals, parent partnership - anyone at all that is involved at any level) horrible having to be like this - but the more evidence you have the more you have to bargin with.

Get the LA ed psych on side - get their number..talk to them direct - don't rely on school to do anything... The LA e.p. hold a lot of power and a lot of sway with the LA...

Keep reading this site - have lurked for a long time on the special needs boards - avidly reading and have learnt so much through it...

NO one at school / LA is going to offer anything on a plate - everything is about money and resources and time and you need to fight fight fight (as politely - but assertively as you can) to get a meaningful statement in place.

Good luck

I am just so frustrated at getting the long awaited statement for the word hours not even to be mentioned in it. I am relatively well educated (not in education) and have a few friends I can get advice from but how are u supposed to know about all this. Thankfully he goes to an excellent supportive school and only for that we wudnt even have a statement.

Its difficult enough to come to terms with Ds diagnosis without hurdles at every step trying to get him an education.

OP - I feel your pain...

When the panel said they had agreed she needed a statement - I was elated on many levels* at last she was going to get some help...

Waited the 2 weeks for the doc to come, looking for the post everyday... on tenderhooks - was so so so so disappointed when we got it, as it was so rubbish and didn't state anything useful. Was a real blow and I cried a lot.

What I thought was the 'end' was actually the beginning of a huge battle...

The system stinks and it feels like they deliberately build in all the time delays to wear you down.

SOS SEN are brilliant as were our Parent Partnership (know they are variable by area)

Keep on reading and researching - be clear what you want / need for your child and then make sure you get it QUANTIFIED and SPECIFIED (Look at SOS SEN "Weasel Words")

Know it is so hard - getting the statement for me meant not only getting her support - but me accepting her difficulties. People who haven't got a child with SN's or had to go through this process - so often don't realise how hard it is to get their needs met and to get things in place.

Be gentle with yourself - it is tough being a mum to a child with SN's and you need to take care of yourself to enable you to on battling for your child.

Special needs boards on Mumsnet are such a wealth of info as are Ipsea web pages and SOS SEN website / helpline.

GOOD LUCK

(*But also devastated - knowing how hard it is to get statements - I knew it meant that by them agreeing to statementing her - she did have considerable SN's / SEN - I knew this in my heart - but you deny it to a degree as you just want them to be 'the same' as everyone else.)

Thank you, looks like battle is on