Statement advice please?

[shimmerysilverglitter]

Hi, currently ds aged 7 with HFA has a full 32 hour statement. However he was at school full time last year but only had provision in the mornings as they were unable to find anyone suitable for the afternoon. He was learning nothing, basically I would turn up to find him on the computer with headphones on and not interacting with anyone. So I started picking him up at lunchtime and taking him home and doing stuff with him in the afternoon. This worked out really well for all concerned. He is a lot less stressed in the mornings now as he knows he will be coming home at lunch time. It is all working very well.

However before I started doing this (the school were quite resistant but I insisted and then they got on board once they saw how well he was doing in this arrangement), the plan was that we were trying to get him into special school. I feel that this is very much for the schools convenience and not for ds's, I suppose I felt guilty as he can be a real handful. They sort of made me think that this would be the best thing for him though I had reservations.

Anyway have thought long and hard over the holidays and I want to now continue with a reduced timetable, NOT have him moved to the Special School, he is too high functioning and I don't believe it now to be the right place for him. The panel sits in September, he was turned down the first time but the school appealed. Can I contact his case worker and tell her that I no longer wish for him to go to Special School that I want to continue with the current arrangement. As the parent do I have a real say in this. Ex (ds's dad) is worried that it is down to the school not us.

Sorry so long, many thanks for any replies.

I don't know - but I'm sure you can.

Just wanted to say that a 'reduced timetable' is called flexi schooling and is totally legal.

Thank you. I discussed the reduced time table/flexi schooling in the last week of term with his SENCO and his TA and while they didn't commit to anything for the future they both said they felt it was working really well. I DO think his Headmistress would agree to it as he does struggle there and it would be a quieter life for everyone concerned basically. I love having him home and doing stuff with him and he is like a different child. Having it written into the statement sounds ideal.

The thing is I need to let someone know now as the panel sits the first week of September before he even goes back to school and I don't want any decisions being made for him right now until this has been given a fair shot. Not only that were this to work out well I would definitely consider home schooling him as a long term thing and I know once they are in special school you have to ask permission for this, I really want to have to avoid this if possible.

The trouble is I was all for it before and this really is an about face, I wrote a parental statement in favour of it etc so I think it could cause ructions for me to have asked for the SS place (manouvered by the school more like!) only to say well No not now I am invoking my right to have ds educated in Mainstream School etc, he is already doing that iyswim. It would all be a bit "well why did we bother with this in the first place?". Do you seem what I mean? Not sure if it wouldn't be better just to invoke it now.

Thanks for your advice, it is very helpful. I just want to you to know all the details.

A dual placement with him at home with me for part of the day? I probably would but I am not convinced that he should be in Special School at all now and I don't think they would allow it anyway, they are pretty rigid where I live, they hadn't even heard of flexi schooling when I brought it up to them and I really had to nag and in the end insist on it. However they are great and switched on about statements etc, we got all his provision with no problem at all and I know that is unusual. He was thriving in the last few weeks of school with only being there in the mornings etc and in the long term, certainly at Secondary School age I want to Home School him.

It is an Autistic School he would be going to so there is on site OT and SALT and I know this sounds amazing and many parents would give their eye teeth for it, I am just not sure it is right for DS.

Oh this is such a minefield isn't it? Always so scared of doing the wrong thing.

I will certainly sit with this for a few days before I do anything. I was all for rushing in and ringing them this afternoon until I got this advice. Need to think about it some more I think.

have you been to see the special school?

do you know for a fact that your ds is too high functioning to attend there?

agree with Star's thought re:split placement between special school and MS.

you are perfectly within your rights to change your mind, though.

just because you thought one thing last year, does not mean you have to still think the same now - the situation has changed, and so have your ds' needs

I would let the panel sit, and see what the outcome is, and what level of support is suggested/what class he will be in at Sn school, etc.

another question - why does school want your ds out? would they be fully supportive (or even supportive at all) if you exercised your right to have him stay there? (although agree with Star - you could use the fact that school have said they cannot support him as leverage for more support in his statement)?

I feel that I have tons of evidence that this arrangement is working for him as well in that the school have said they couldnt find anyone suitable for 32 hours a week and he was turned down for the Special School the first time the panel sat saying he is too High Functioning for their environment. So I do think we are in quite a good place with that.

Thanks for taking so much time to respond to me Starlight I really do appreciate it.

Yes I have been to the school and while there were some aspects of it that were fab I didn't feel that there were any other kids there as high functioning as him so I am not sure how he would adapt to it. On the other hand he has a tendancy to go Walk About at his current school and not all the staff are trained in apprehending him iyswim at which point he can kick off. At this school anyone who came across him would know how to deal with him.

I think the school, quite frankly have had enough. He can be really hard work and to be fair to them it probably is not the right place for him. When I heard he was turned down for the Special School I just felt so hopeless as if it is not right for him there and not right in mainstream, where will be right? Tbh at home with me seems to be the right place for him right now.

What other support could we have in his statement, it is 32 hours now, I don't know what else we could ask for? The Special School really was just another thing to try.

Just to throw something else into the mix, my DD1 is going to special school in September. There are glimmers of intelligence and she is more verbal than the majority of the children that will start in September, but her difficulties mean that she finds accessing learning really very difficult.

I am happy that she is going to the special school because they have the expertise for her to learn, then she may have a chance to springboard out afterwards.

With regards SS vs MS, they haven't got a leg to stand on. Your statement has full support, and the support when available is working. That means that they can't argue incompatibility with efficient education of other children, or efficient use of resources. In all other circumstances they HAVE to agree to MS.

Yes I could that the list I mean. Unfortunately we have to cram tons in over the next few weeks as we haven't really done anything at all over the holidays, he is so stressed out at school that I let him have total down time during the holidays. He is a different child though, so relaxed and happy, hardly any meltdowns. I do tend to just do every day stuff with him, like I encourage him to read and write stuff out (Lists of cars for Christmas at the moment!)

I know what you mean about everything taking so long, not just that but some people (yes Ed Psych) I am talking about YOU, write statements about him where I am just and wonder if they have misfiled another childs details in there. I don't know the child they write about.

don't feel downhearted (easier said than done, i know!) - there is a place that si right for your ds, whether that is a (different) SN school, a (different) MS school, home edding - there is always a possibility (I am not as pollyanna-ish as that sounds. I battled for years to get dd1 into the school she is now in, fighting with 2 different LAs, and endlessly despairing and thinking dd1 would end up stimming away in her equivalent of hell)

are there any other schools that are a possibility? what else is in your area?

if your ds' current school say they cannot cope, and they cannot deliver on his statement, and the SN school (via panel) are saying your ds is not suited there - what is the LA suggesting?

are there any private SN schools about? whereabouts are you in the country? LAs can and do fund places at private schools (whether SN or MS) if they cannot provide a suitable place for your ds.

we won our funding in this way - LA agreed not MS for dd1. Unit wasnot suitable (too much emphasis on MS inclusion - unit said they wouldn't take dd1). LA Sn school was not suitable either (this was the basis of our appeal) due to dd1 not progressing at all under the teaching methods they used.

we won the fight for funding for a private SN school place very easily - LA basically had no choice. Getting the school we wanted was a bit more of a fight, but ti worked in the end.

is there a school in the area you DO want your ds to go to?

Yes that was their thing, that he will be taught to access learning at this school. They don't see it as a long term thing, just for a year or two.

Thinking maybe let the panel sit, he more than likely won't get it anyway then I have even more to support flexi schooling. If the school thought he was too high functioning a month ago, I can't see what will have changed now and then like you say I can do my about face if I need to.

Oh thats easy

School - 5 - 15 meltdowns a week
Home - none

Well I am hoping to move quite soon, which is another thing adding to the mix. But nothing definite with that but don't want to make decisions here that will not fly in a new area. Ideally I would like to flexi school him at any decent primary in the morning with 1:1 and home with me in the afternoon. This is why I want to get him sorted out here first. A strong arrangement, that works I can take with me to a new area iyswim?

If he is in Special School here, do the new LA where I move to have a responsibility to provide the same for him there?

AFAIK, when you move, a new area upholds what is in current statement.

they may well call an early review, though, depending on what provision there is in new area.

eg if we moved into the county where dd1's school is, they wuold call a review instantyl, as have built a shiny new ASD provision, and they are winning tribunal cases to have children placed there over ABA (where dd1 currently is)