DSA support not being provided as awarded - what can we do?

[pinkiepoppy]

DD was awarded a mentor twice a week for an hour, through DSA. Unfortunately, the provider has said that they are having problems recruiting an in person mentor, and have asked her to temporarily accept virtual support until they find one.

However, it's not really working out for her, she really needs the regularity of seeing someone in person twice a week at the same time - she's being offered a block of two hours at different times each week. They're also not reminding her until minutes before (their guidelines say 24 hours before).

Where do we stand if they can't provide the support she has been awarded? Can we take our business elsewhere? Can we arrange our own mentor, or does it need to be an approved provider?

Thanks

Sorry what's a 'mentor' is it like a counsellor or a 1:1 in class? What's their role?
I suppose the issue could be if you privately want to employ insurance for the school if they are providing their service on school property using school accommodation?

It needs to be an approved provider. Initially she needs to go back to the student support team to say she’s tried it, it’s not working and the other issues you’ve mentioned, and give them a chance to resolve it.

what does she need the mentor for? Are there other services the uni offers that might work instead?

This is very bad, OP. The uni needs to know that they have selected an unsuitable provider. Your DD needs the help she us entitled to. This means she needs to make a high quality complaint.

Both issues you raise are worth reporting. I agree with @Bunnyannesummers that Student Support is the place to start. Is there a Student Support Officer or Team in her School? If she doesn’t know, the School Website should contain a list of Professional Support Staff with their roles. DD will very likely be liaising frequently with her SSOs over the years.

Is DD also registered with the Office for Students with Disabilities, whatever it is called? They can advocate for her. This is a perfect example of a situation where they can help ensure her resources.

PS How comfortable is DD making her complaint verbally? (It’s fine that you haven’t described her disability). Because email is equally good, possibly preferable.

Simply stating the facts and their consequences for her work and well being will be quite damning. She can be brief.

Is she at a uni or college? Maybe the student support team could offer an alternative? Could she set reminders of sessions on her phone?

That's rubbish. I had a DSA mentor when I was a mature student recently and I also expressed an opinion that one guy put forward as a possible mentor for me really was not someone I could work with - which was listened to and things changed accordingly (although I had dyslexia and autism - I really didn't need a mentor to remind me how to plan my diary, my needs were more mental health and coping strategies to that based and the first guy they recommended was very much a "have you tried to make a to do list" type bod).

Do you have permission to contact the university on her behalf? If she is autistic then it's absolutely ridiculous for them to expect her just to have ad hoc sessions here and there that she's not getting the agreed communication about. This provider can't meet her needs so she needs to go back to the disability team or welfare team or whoever handles it and say it isn't working for her and why and see what they suggest.
If you have permission to contact the university on her behalf then maybe you could phone them and explain the issue, I think often they take parents more seriously and are less likely to try to fob them off.

If it is provided via the university, go back to the disability support team and tell them it is not working.
If it is provided by an external agency, contact them to remind them they need to provide provision as stated. If they will not, or cannot, do this, you will need to go back to DSA and ask them for a new provider.

My DD has had to do this for the training provided - should be face to face but they all say they will provide and then try to switch to remote - which doesn't work for her. Her DSA advisor is getting fed up with them saying they will provide face to face and then not doing so!

As PP says, we nearly had similar. My DS‘s university uses external providers and the provider allocated by DSA initially asked DS to accept online whilst they “looked for in-person support”. I had the impression the in-person support was unlikely to materialise and we spoke to the disabled student support at the university. Whilst they couldn’t ‘recommend’ a supplier, they could say which other supplier did do in-person support on campus and we went back to DSA and got his provision switched to that provider.

It’s worked ok since - he gets two hours a week, in person, with two different people (via the same provider) for slightly different support needs. He agrees the times with the people (but they’re not very available - limited to specific days and times when they’re on campus and with other students they see) and can set up regular sessions. He books the rooms they meet in.

DS and I initially found this harder to navigate than support at school, and it hasn’t resolved his issues with some aspects of the teaching as they don’t interface with the department at all.

Good luck!

OP and @DawnChoral

When the School or Dept misses the mark, the Disability Support Office that I wrote about above can sometimes help. At my uni they do.

Also our DSO sends a representative to every Mitigating Circumstances Panel to make sure the needs of DSO-registered students have been honoured in terms of exam arrangements, etc and that suitable mitigation is offered if mistakes have been made. (My School is very good about this anyway but I think it is great that someone is designated to look out for these students) They can be of great assistance beyond the DSA and I really recommend them. (Academic and Mit Circs Panel member)

@poetryandwine
Yes and thank you.

Unfortunately this issue seems to be tricky and there’s been a gap between what should happen and reality <longer and slightly ranty detail deleted>.

Every provider is struggling to get in person support in place as we have worked extremely well virtually for the past 4 + years unfortunately, we have a huge amount of less DNA's.
We also have not had a pay rise in the last 8 years and in 2018 they cut the pay.
A lot of this also depends on the university, we used to have affiliated status so could access and book rooms, now some universities have taken that away and that puts huge pressure on students that they really don't need, it really is unfair with the amount of things they have to remember/do etc.
A huge amount of mentors come from a therapy/ counselling/ psychotherapist background and have to be registered with a professional body.
We stress we are not their counsellor BUT we will and can talk about anything the student struggles with/ has issues with etc etc.
Sorry if that sounds like excuses just a bit of background.

Speak with Disability services or your DD will have access to the provider via email, you can email or speak to the provider, I have spoken to many family members ( not about anything student has told me as that is strictly confidential) but access to services and try really hard to get the student what they need, OP you need to really push for what your DD needs.

"Is DD also registered with the Office for Students with Disabilities, whatever it is called? They can advocate for her. This is a perfect example of a situation where they can help ensure her resources."

Unfortunately the OfS doesn't have a legal remit to get involved with individual student cases. You can send them a notification which they will use as part of regulatory intelligence but can't intervine on your behalf. What you can do is go down the route of a formal complaint to the University, and if your not happy with the outcome can go to the OIA.

Not the Office for Students, @Taenia . The university’s own Office for Students with Disabilities. By whatever name it is known. See above for an important example of what ours does.

There is the option to wmploy your own mentor with the money (I know in Scotland at least that is an option with DSA) but then your daughter takes the role of employer and everything that goes along with it, which just adds to the stress. Can the college or uni not get a postgrad to come in and help?

Thank you all. We're going to go back to the providers with details of why it's not working, and see what they say. She is also on the list for University provided mentors, so hopefully that might be better when organised.