Parental Advice Form

[gravelchops]

I just read elsewhere on another threat that our Parental Advice form is our real chance to hit them with everything. Son 6 yrs old with aspergers.

I have until 28th July to submit my form and am going to start a draft today.

Can anyone offer me some advice about how to maximise what we say?

When we applied to tribunal for refusal to assess we sent them everything we have (55 reports inc IEPS etc) The LA have confirmed they have received all this and will consider it as evidence, so I've been told I don't need to re-send it all.

I'm not with parent partnership as they have been useless so far and I'm still trying to get through to IPSEA.

Please share your experiences / advice !!! Thanks x

Just to clarify, the LA withdrew from the tribunal and agreed to assess, so we are now at assessment stage.

use big words! get someone to proof read it when your done, just try to make yourself sound like you know more than anyone else there! back up with really good examples of his behaviour perhaps?

Mmmm, I would disagree with that.

I would say only use big words if you absolutely know what they mean and can use them in context fluidly. Much better to be very cleat with more basic language than sounding like you swallowed a thesaurus with no idea of your child's needs.

My top advice is 'don't use their form to write your parental advice.' They give you tiny boxes for stuff you have loads to talk about and huge boxes for really minor stuff.

Use their headings, but write a Microsoft Word file, so that you can edit and tweak it as you go.

Read the SEN Code of Practice Chapters 7 & 8. They will tell you what criteria they will use to decide whether to issue a statement. Then use some of those phrases to say why your DS needs a statement.

Think carefully what you want for your child, and tailor you PA to that. If you suggest that he is very disruptive, for example, it may steer the LA more towards special school.

Did you get the list of questions in the SEN Toolkit as a framework for your answers? If not, it's quite a useful prompt for your Advice.

If they have given you little boxes to write your answers in, just write 'see attached pages' and type it up separately. That way you won't be limited in the amount of space you have. It will also photocopy better - it's likely to get copied quite a few times over the years as it will always be attached to the statement.

Begin with the end in mind. Think about what kind of provision you want for your child and emphasise his needs which require that specific support.

Personally I would still send the 55 reports as part of your own appendix. The LA may have access to the information now, but unless you attach it as part of your advice, it won't necessarily be appended to the statement.

haha I know what you mean about the 'big words' but what I usually do is write something up then forward it to my mum who makes it sound a lot more professional

Thanks,

A couple of questions:

1. Do you mention positive aspects of personality too, to give a rounded picture

or just write a huge list of negatives / problems?

1. Do you write it as highly detailed narrative or as succinct bullet points?

You need to think of it as writing a detailed picture of your child on his worst ever day -- and as if that worst ever day was every day. I know this feels very negative but realistically you do need to stress every negative as part of this process. If you want to put in a few positive pointers you could pair them with negatives such as 'x enjoys physical play but has no sense of where objects are in space so constantly bangs into other children in the playground'.

The devil is in the detail for this one -- you cannot include too much, and there should be loads of specific examples. Our parental advice was 6 pages long but others I know have written even more. It can be helpful to break it into paragraphs with bullet points as summaries. Up to you really.

I have written many of these. I think you need to make it sound as much "like you" as possible, this is your chance to make them treat you as a person and force them to get to know you, whether they like it or not. Also give specific examples if possible. Never say you "feel" or "believe", but always X needs so and so because, or X's need for Y will be met by Z in such and such a way. I am getting confused now! HTH

I included more positive aspects, including DS' intelligence and love of reading. That was important for us - the LA was recommending SN schools which catered for P levels when DS was already achieving NC Level 4!

I think you should put as much information as you can, but be aware that most LAs don't pay a huge amount of attention to Parental Advice and base most of the statement on professional reports.

In some ways I see it as more of a psychological tool with the LA - what you're really saying with your report is that 'I am articulate, I know what my child's needs are and writing this detailed report is the start of what I'm prepared to do to make sure my child gets appropriate provision'.

Also, it is on record. Even if they don't pay much attention the first time round, you can refer to it later on if necessary.

I completed mine yesterday. I didnt use their form or answer all of the questions on the form. I answered the 4 main appendix's a,b,c,d and questions i thought relevant.

Appendix A, i used headings ie Self care, with sub headings toileting, eating, dressing etc. Social, Communication, motor skills, sensory etc, then focussed on what help ds has received and lack of progress and regression.

I also included copies of ALL reports or evidence AGAIN.

Good luck