Statutory Assessment Process - did you suggest therapies on the form?

[RedCheese]

During the first stage of asking for the LA to do an Assessment, I wrote War and Peace, 12 A4 pages typed using the headlines they gave (Early Childhood, Relationship and so on). Now that we’ve been told they will do the SA, I’ve been sent the same form again. I’ve edited some of the 12 pages but not much and I was going to send it in, with my very limited number of reports yet again.

I’ve been given conflicting advice on whether I should suggest therapies or services on this form before sending it. Should I suggest or wait to see if he gets the Statement? My thought was that the Statutory Assessment would unravel what was needed rather than me doing a “wish list” now. I was advised by a professional that I could suggest anything on the forms, ABA, Art Therapy, Dog therapy, and even Dolphin Therapy as long as I had evidence that it was needed but there’s the catch 22, we have no evidence. We’ve only dipped our toes into ABA, only had private SALT pre Covid which is now out of date and all local therapies seem to have shut down due to COVID. Downside of living rural is that there isn’t many services to start with. I’m not looking for Dolphin therapy or Art for the record, but I also don’t know what I am looking for.

My 5 year old has undiagnosed ASD but he is also a contradiction. He goes mute in class with the kids but talks to adults. He does a serious amount of scripting but, if he’s engaged, the scripting reduces. He has no social skills but he rushes forward to say hello and smile at everyone. He is distracted and goes into his own world but has an excellent capacity for learning.

The EP saw the issues during school visit, the NHS SALT is going to do a School assessment as part of the Statutory Assessment process and his ABA therapist wrote that communication was a big issue as he was parroting back and couldn’t answer new questions when they got slightly more difficult than What’s your name?

It would feel like I was taking a stab in the dark if I wrote a wish list when I honestly have not got a clue. So far, he’s got TA support in school (unofficial), which I’ve stated needs to be made official for him to continue in Mainstream. He’s only had an assessment with the NHS SALT who gave some tasks to complete at school/home, but no sessions. He’s had 5 hours of ABA in the last 3 months and everything else including support groups and local activities have closed due to COVID.

Do I suggest anything apart from the TA support or just keep my (lack of) suggestions to myself at this stage?

You don't need to suggest what provision is needed, that's the whole point of the assessment. The provision in the statement of SEN will be taken from the assessment reports. If you already have any reports that state particular provision is necessary the claim send them.

What you do need to do is request any assessments you think are necessary (other than. EP which is automatic) e.g. SALT, OT, psychiatrist, clinical psychologist in order to have the evidence certain provision is needed. You don't need to pay for private assessments.

That's brilliant. That's what my common sense was telling me but after writing 12 pages, my head is very much in the shed.