LEA funding for private special needs education.....

[woolymindy]

I wonder if anyone here has any experience of this.

Some background... my DD2 who is almost 7 has severe speech and language delay - she has had input(after much nagging on my part) since she was pre school and now, after her latest speech therapy revue, the speech therapist is suggesting she goes for 18 months to another school with a specialist speech and language programme. My problem with this is that there is clearly something underlying her problem, she has a normal IQ score and a normal vocabulary, it is just she cannot access the words she needs as she needs them; to be honest speech therapy has never helped her as such, she has just got better as she has got older.

Soooooo, the thing is I really think that it is time she got some extra input and not just speech therapy, and I will bet my considerable ass that she is dyslexic (my older DD also has problems with reading, writing and maths although she too is very bright, the girl's father has ADS and dyslexia as a child) - I had found an amazing school relatively close but with HUGE fees, they do however accept LEA funding - so I wanted to know have any mumsnetters managed to secure funding for a child with special needs to go to a private school? and how did you go about it?

Does your child have a statement of special educational needs? If so, through a multi-professional assessment a statement should be made outlining her strengths and special needs and state what support she needs. In some cases the support needed will include specialist provision and this may Local education authority provision or an independent school. The difficulty is that the independent special school will only be considered if there is no equivalent state option due to the LEA requirement to spend tax payers money in an efficient way. It therefore is a difficult and slow process and may require you to 'fight'# for your preferred option. You may of course like the LEA options which are often language units within a mainstream setting.

If you do not have a statement then you need to speak to your school, Speech and language therapist about this to try to initiate the process. If you have no luck you do have the option of requesting a statutory assessment directly from your LEA.

I have no personal experience (i.e. not my children) but I work with children with developmental/ physical/ learning difficulties and I know some parents who have been successful in getting the LEA to pay for private provision.

What you have to do sounds simple: you have to show that your child's special needs are so complex that no school run by the local authority can meet them.
Doing this is extremely difficult and requires you to have time, expertise and a willingness to go right to the wire e.g. tribunal.

If the local authority are offering a specialist speech and language setting you need to take that up. It may be brilliant! It is only if that setting, or an alternative setting, is demonstrated as not meeting her needs that you can push for private (paid) provision.

Thanks so much for the replies. The thing is no one has ever said what is wrong or why (which I appreciate is really difficult)and they were keen to statement her before school and then moved away from that idea. The fundamental problem is that the school (who see her everyday for nurture group etc etc)do not think moving her to a specialist until within another school is the thing she needs, nor does the Ed. Psych, it is only the Speech Therapist - She only sees her once a term so really I am more inclined to trust the school and the senco's opinion on this. My gut is that there is a dyslexic problem and she was tested on entry to this school and she scored as being at high risk from dyslexia but they are unable to follow this up within the school setting so should I go private and get a diagnoses - because there is a functional problem that is causing the speech and language disorder (the language disorder is the only diagnosis we have ever had which is not really a diagnosis as such more a description)All her paper work says speech and language disorder with severe expressive language delay and moderate to severe receptive language issues. Grim fucking reading I can tell you.

So is pushing for a statement the answer, should i pay to have her diagnosed with dyslexia? I honestly feel that going into this unit will only delay her getting the help she needs. I have gone with the route that has been offered since she started school but I do feel we have tried that and it hasn't worked so we have to try something radical.

I have two friends who managed to get the LEA to pay for a private, specialist dyslexia, secondary school for their children but basically both had the same argument - the LEA had totally failed to provide their children with an appropriate education at primary level. Both had reading ages of 5/6 by the time they left primary and neither had ever been statemented.

At the age of 7 I would think that there is no way that you could possibly argue that there isn't an appropriate state school available for your child which is the only way you can get them to pay for private. I would focus on getting your child as much help as possible NOW tbh rather than holding out for the very slim hope of getting private education paid for. You need to start with a statement and go from there - good luck.

I agree that it's hard and a long battle to get a private special school funded by the LA. I have done it (for complex needs including dyslexia) and it took two years, and over £25k in legal fees and independent experts reports to win at tribunal. It was well worth it for us, as the private school fees cost way in excess of that and my DS needs are very complex. I think that if you're looking at dyslexia without additional issues, that money could well fund a limited amount of private tuition which would be just as helpful. But it sounds like your DD's needs could be more complex with S&L issues and possibly ASD as it's often genetic.

If you are seriously determined to seek a private special school placement, the first step would be getting some expert reports done to clarify your child's needs. I would find an independent SALT and EP to do a report. The NHS services and LA EP often aren't able to freely make recommendations because they have to take funding into consideration - an independent professional will not.

You can request a statutory assessment towards a statement from your LA as a parent, but you need to get your reports in order and a good evidence base first (IEPs etc). You can get support in doing this from a charity like Ipsea or SOS SEN for free, or a solicitor specialising in education law who would be able to manage your case more closely.

I do know that this unit does not require her to have a statement - one part of the school does require this but the division she is being recommended for does not - again, what worried me is it is only one of the people involved in her that thinks this place is right for her and this is someone who has only met her for about 20 mins twice, whereas her school see her everyday and in my opinion have a more holistic view on this. I probably will have a look round bu to be honest she has had a lot of speech and language input and it hasn't made any difference at all - i feel it needs a completely different type of approach educationally.

To be fair, we used to go to a school in another LEA and the provision there was really poor which was part of the volition to move her school initially - it is not that I am holding out for a private education as such just that what we are doing is not working. I will be asking about a statement - no one seems that keen as it is a lot of work for everyone...... she is incredibly charming, has no behavioural problems and thus doesn't stick out as someone needing help - that said she can barely spell 2 letter words and cannot read a number if it is more than one digit as she mixes them up.

I will be having another meeting with the senco at the school and push her to help us get this sorted - i have also phoned our lea and have left a message last week and this and have not heard back form them yet re. statementing.

Thanks again everyone for your help, advice and experiences - it all really does help me and I am incredibly grateful.