Statutory assessment process hasnt even started

[claw3]

LA agreed to SA on 2nd June and the process hasnt even started yet.

Ds was refusing school for 2 days of the week and was off of school for a few days changing schools during this time. He started at his new school on 24th June.

Is this a reasonable excuse not to start the process?

No. Look at the SEN COP Annexe A for reasonable reasons to divert from the timeline. This isn't one of them.

Thanks Lougle, my deadline for parental contribution was 14th July, im assuming this would be the same for everyone?

Im assuming the process hasnt started, as ive not heard anything since the letter agreeing to assess. I have just emailed the LA.

Hi claw3.

Don't assume because you haven't heard anything that the process hasn't started. Phone up and check. I didn't hear a word from the LEA while SA was going on. I only knew the EP was visiting because the school were kind enough to let me know .

If they are stalling, find out why and get it in writing. They must have a valid reason (as Lougle points out).

There may well be things going on in the background. In my case, the LA sent letters out to various professionals but I didn't necessarily hear about them unless they needed to assess DS.

You could ask your LA to copy you in to any letters sent to professionals? Or just contact them yourself and ask if they've heard from the LA. Has the school been asked for their contribution?

Claw - we discovered that it did not actually involve any further assessments, just asking people to fill in various forms with information they already had . We were contacted by OT and Ed Psych though for our comments on their reports so we knew something was happening.

One thing we have discovered though, and I am about this, is that although we supply a nice long list of names of those we want contacted, it does not mean the LEA does that individually. Apparently with regards to Health (SALT, CAMHS, OT) a letter is sent to the CP and they are supposed to ask everyone else. They are not even given our list.

So now I discover CAMHS have not been contacted, deadline is missed and it won't go to panel when it could.

I think 14 July will have been the deadline for everyone. This is when I found Parent Partnership to be helpful because they were able to look at the system and tell me exactly who had sent in information, and when it was due to go to panel.

Thanks guys.

So ds could just get a statement without anyone else actually assessing, based on the reports they already have?

When they originally turned down my request to assess and i wrote to them stating i was disappointed that they had not contacted professionals, they replied that the reports were very detailed and they didnt need to.

sugar They previously contacted ds's old school who provided them with a big bundle of papers with my original request, would they need to contact again?

Ds has just received his dx report and the ASD service has actually written to the named person at the LA stating

X LONDON BOROUGH EDUCATION ACT 1996 SEN 4(b)

This report is based on:

I Summary of Relevant Health Needs

Diagnosis/ Problems

1. Autism Spectrum Disorder
2. Difficulties interacting with others
3. Difficulties with understanding
4. Sensory difficulties
5. Feeding difficulties
6. Difficulties sleeping at night
7. Continence issues/soiling.

Then attached dx report and copy of the SALT observation.

I dunno, in our LA we had a specific report written by the SENCO, but perhaps the bundle is adequate. Do you think it would be useful to have evidence from the newer school? Because you can ask the LA to contact them.

We got new assessments done by the LA EP and a paed (quick assessment - hearing/eye check etc) during stat assess. DS had never seen the EP before so perhaps if the EP already knows your child, they can base a report on that.

If you want to insist that assessments are done (and I think it's more useful to have standardised assessments), can you ask your LA for contact details of the professionals they're consulting? You can then speak directly with them and push for a proper assessment to be done.

Well Sugar, new school dont know ds very well, he has only been there 3 weeks (although they have been brill and his IEP in itself is amazing). Old school didnt support my request for SA. They just supplied a conflicting pile of papers which didnt make much sense and listed ds's only difficulty as a speech delay!

Ds has never been assessed by EP, although she did attend the recent dx meeting and stated she would be assessing him in school. I had a private EP assessment done in December 2009.

I have emailed LA, she usually gets back to me by the next day. I have asked what is happening with the process and she will have to reply in writing.

Have just spoken to new school SENCO and she was asked to supply details by 14th, which she did.

Seems no further assessments were carried out

The letter i received from the LA stated that i would be contacted with regard to assessments and could be present etc, etc. Appears the SA has been done.

I was expecting assessments.

Yep Tribunal, letter dated 2nd June.

I assumed EP would need to assess, at least.

claw3, most LEA only require the follwing information to make statutory assesment:

an EP report
a piece of medical advice (usually the diagnosis)
a report from the school
parental advice
social services report only if your child is known to SS

Anything else has to be provided by you. At least, this is how it was in our LEA. I provided a list of professionals I wanted the LEA to contact: CAMHS, OT, SALT, Advisory teachers. They didn't contact anyone other than CAMHS. Luckily, I photocopied all the professional reports and sent them to the LEA myself. It makes me really angry that, if I hadn't have done this, they wouldn't have included them as part of the assessment.

Don't leave anything to chance!

LOL @ shelf

I was just saying to ds 'oh well, looks like it has been done, now for the bartering'!

Im feeling quite upbeat about this, new SENCO contacted the LA when ds started to 'get some idea of what his needs were likely to be' before ds started and he was given a full time 1:1. So looks like they are expecting his needs to be high.

Im expecting the draft to be crap and hoping to be pleasantly surprised!

Reasonable, yes i supplied copies of all reports, SALT, EP, CAMHS etc and all evidence ie pics of self injuries behaviour etc, etc.

I was just expecting an assessment of some sort i assumed wrong didnt i!

Yes it is very misleading - our EP did no assessments at all. SEN Officer told us it was entirely at her discretion, she did however meet with me and refers extensively to a couple of private reports we had done for auditory processing and sensory processing.

I think it needs to be renamed because it is in fact 'statutory asessment of your child's special education needs based on information already obtained without us having to do anything else'. I am not making as much fuss about this as I might because I figure some more assessments might have to be done for the ASC diagnosis when that begins (when being the question).

The best thing is to give your PP person a call and ask her what information has been submitted then you can chase any gaps. Sounds like you have plenty info already (or at least what they would consider enough!) - in our area they go to panel straight after if they have it all so you never know ...

My parental contribution had 40 enclosures, including about 15 reports, evidence of hospital stays etc (i even had SALT reports from when ds was 3 years old and not meeting any targets set). Hope i have done enough.

So i can expect to hear from them by the 8th September! Fingers crossed.

Will let you guys know when/if i receive draft and you can help me pull it to pieces!

One more question, do i cancel Tribunal? How does it work, do i cancel and start again or is it continuous?

Received email from LA, to confirm that SA is 'going ahead' and they are still waiting on advice from some professionals

Don't cancel the Tribunal until you've received the formal letter (not email) from LA notifying you that they intend to SA.

If (eventually) you need to go to SENDIST about decision not to issue Statement or contents of Statement you'll need to start the SENDIST process again.

Best wishes

Hi Wet, havent seen you around in a while.

I had official letter from them dated 2 June, stating they are writing to initiate a SA under Section.......

Complete the attached form by 14th July etc, etc. Deadline was 14th July for information, thought that applied to them too. Now email states SA is going ahead, waiting on information But i suppose as long as i get their response by 8th September, it doesnt really matter?

Wasnt sure if i had to start again if i didnt agree with their decision/statement after SA. Thanks for clearing that up.