SEN - Does anyone know the law to request reports.

[DingDongWitchDingDong]

Please?

Are you wanting to see reports from outside agencies, or internal reports. I would have thought that if you commission an EP report, for example, it would come to you.

If it’s internal school reports, would you see that annually? I imagine you’re looking for something more.

An Autism Specialist teacher visited my son. She won't put anything in writing. Wants it all over the phone.

You can do a subject access request to the school for all of the info they hold on your child.

Thank You

Yes, you can request a copy of anything that school or agencies have, which is likely to be informal case notes and emails. What you can’t do is ask them to put anything in writing if that isn’t what the service do. I’m a specialist teacher for autism, and not all of our visits are written up formally into a report, if that’s not what we’ve been commissioned to do for that referral. We’re a non-statutory service and don’t need to provide reports for SEND assessment purposes unless specifically asked (and paid for) by the local authority.

Who commissioned this teacher. Was it the school? Have you asked for something in writing, by e-mail so there's a paper trail. It's always poor to pay for something either no traceability / accountability. I'd be questioning why this was wanted.

well, if there is nothing in writing, then there is nothing to see. I often avoid putting things in writing for exactly this reason

Well you can either ask for permission to record the call to aid recall or you can ask for delays to allow you time to write down specifics that you may forget or ask for email communication or request SARS.

Nobody has perfect recall. It's so annoying when professionals aren't prepared to put their findings into writing for the benefit of parents (you can bet they will submit a written report to the school or the school will note the contents of any telephone report) but maybe they are worried it will be used in any future tribunal if they are employed by the LA.

If you are going to tribunal SARS is your best bet.

What are your concerns?

It's so annoying when professionals aren't prepared to put their findings into writing for the benefit of parents (you can bet they will submit a written report to the school or the school will note the contents of any telephone report) but maybe they are worried it will be used in any future tribunal if they are employed by the LA

I’m happy for anything I write to be used at tribunal. I often don’t agree with the decisions made by the LA I work for. However, since schools pay for our time, and writing reports takes a significant amount of time, it’s often a better use of resources to have a conversation with everyone, and people to take their own notes of that conversation, than it is for them to pay me to formally write up what I’ve said. I always include the parents in the consultation though, that’s so important.

I think you need to be very cunning and play them at their own game. Catch them out, and make sure they dig their own hole.
Let's just pretend that the school commissioned this test. Ask for a copy of the test results. The assesment. Ask for a copy of their conclusion, analysis, recommendations.
If they refuse, one has to question the school on what on earth their goal was by commissioning this person who then gives no recommendations. Then take this forward, expose the school for the idiots they are.

Ask for a meeting. In person. Then turn up with a person that's weren't expecting, eg your mum. Once you have a witness and there are 2 of you, and only 1 of them, they'll hate it.

Play the game. Cleverly.