SEN

[NettleTea]

soooo, long story short. DD (yr 8) has medical needs and has been out of school with a sporadic (due to anxiety and too pushy LEA) attendance as part of a Flexible learning thing since October, with a pretty low attendance at secondary since yr 7.
Now finally at CAMHS due to anxiety and being assessed for ASD/PDA/ADHD - the lot, as stuff has come to light that might be an issue and adding to the anxiety.
LEA through this flexible learning centre are, we hope, referring her for an educational psychology assement, which I am hoping will address any strengths and weaknesses and help us know how to help her learn successfully. She is very bright and keen to learn but struggles to do anything without hand holding.
Am looking into home schooling (have been on and off here for some time) and am holding out for the ed psych assesment and possible ASD/ADHD/PDA assesment so we know what is what. However I am aware that LEA are breathing down my neck, and her specialist medical team have now brought in their social worker who has been muttering about her not recieving a suitable education. I understand the LEA can be alot more 'involved' is a statement is produced but unless she is actually sent to a specialist school, they cannot hold power over whether she is deregistered or not.
so, my question is, how far do I go with the process. I cannot afford to go private. The LEA are pushing for an ed psych and I think CAMHs are going ahead with their stuff. What advantages/disadvantages of the SEN process and what stage can we step out? they wont push on with a statement just to keep her in the system will they?
Its all been a nightmare to be honest

I'm not sure but I think it would be more complicated if she had a Statement to home ed, as you would have to show that you could meet the Statement in terms of the home ed you provide. I do know that once you start the Statutory Assessment process officially, you cannot really back out of appointments / the process.

But I know people do home educate children with SEN.

Good questions?

You can get a statement whilst Home educating, indeed a statement can have Home Education as the school name. Ed psychologists are often not available to home educated children.

Pros of the statement: in theory your child gets extra support and potentially access to specialist school. If you home educate you might get financial assistance.
Cons of statement: the responsibilty of providing an education will fall on the LA; and either the school or you (if Home educating) will need to satisfy the LA. If you obtain a specialist school and you discover is not suitable is incredibly hard to change school and you would need to ask to Home Educate.

Advantages of a diagnosis: You finally have a name and can address the issues; potential access to more specialist help.
Disadvantages of a diagnosis: I have both heard from other people and experienced school using a diagnosis as excuse not to help, as fundings are very limited and most teachers are not SEN specialists teachers. Also, often children find that having a label adds to their stress.

We dropped out just before the statementing process! We found the steps prior to the assessment a complete waste of time and to no help to our ds; in fact they were adding to Ds's stress. When I found out the specialist teacher in Ds's former school was a specialist TA, it made sense for me to educate my son!!! I found that once out of the education system my Ds received more help. We were already under an amazing orthoptist but we were also referred to a wonderful specialist audiologist, the occupational therapists was showing us what to do and the speech and language therapists gave us an enourmous amount of exercises. The anxiety disappaered soon after deregistering him from school.

Good questions! not?

DS has home ed named in part 4 of his statement.