so, come and talk to me about Annual Reviews, please

[silverfrog]

we finally got dd1's Statement awarded in January. we finalised it so as to move to tribunal (we were fighting for ABA school)

LA settled in April, and so dd1's statement was obviously amended. not by much (we compromised on listing out all dd1's needs and how they should be met, as since LA were agreeing to name the school we wanted, we knew dd1 would get what she needed from the school - and she does, OT, SALT, etc all provided by school)

LA now saying we need to hold Annual Review by the end of this term. they are not sending a representative to the AR.

so, what happens now?

do we have a meeting with the school, all agree that dd1 is doing well, no change to provision, and then just tell LA that? seems bezarre if this is the case - are the LA not even going to try to decrease/change dd1's provision? (can't see they will let her stay there forever without a fight - LA's Not Keen on ABA as a whole, not even ABA school)

LA mentioned we might want ot contact our (private, very expensive) EP to be present at the Annual Review - should we?

do we need to if no challenge to the Statement is going to be made?

should we have him there (if possible) anyway, for good order, to have it on file from someone impartial that dd1 is in the best (meant in a most suitable way, not Rolls Royce way) place for her?

I am very by it all...

ideally it would just be about completing the LA paperwork and setting a few new targets if everything is plodding along nicely. Usually you get an idea from who is invited and who accepts the invite to the AR as to how it's going to go.

what the school should do, ideally a couple of weeks before the AR is provide you with copies of any reports/contributions they will be bringing up at the meeting as well as asking for your writen views. Might be worth seeing what the reports say before you pay your ep for his/her time.

thanks, guys.

bigcar - I am not at all worried about the school reports we work completely hand in hand over everything. I have 2 pages of A4 come home each day, write the same back each day, dd1's IEP is about 50 pages long as it details each and every step she needs to be learning, and this is reviewed termly 9well, ongoing, obviously, but the document is produced termly). I can only think that we will be agreeing with pretty much everything they say. anything we don't agree with is amended instantly - usually overnight, new report the next morning.

targets reviewed all together (not national curriculum ones) to see if we all think it si achievable for dd1. they really are brilliant.

if we want EP there, we would need to book now (and may not be able to get him as this is short notice for him anyway!)

Starlight - no, dd1 is 6 now, so we are out of the 6 month range. Do yuo really think so, wrt years of ABA?

would love to think that is the case, but I just can't relax into it. our LA was hinging Tribunal on lack of appropriate peer group (especially since dd1's school is so small). that would be an easy one for them to bring up at any time... I guess other ABA schools get away with it more as they have more pupils. there's only the 3 of them at dd1's school.

Our ds is at specialist independent school, lA EP turned up to first review but just listened really and took notes. They didn't bother with next one. I think it would be v difficult to change school after the tribunal has deemed their own provision unsuitable. As long as current school say they can meet your dc's needs you should be OK.

thanks, cansu.

slight snag is that tribunal didn't deem their provision unsuitable - LA settled before tribunal.

ostensibly, they are paying for private SN school because they don't have a place for her in LA ASD provision.

so we are left wondering when exactly they are going to find a place for her...

we were told, before LA settled, that it is harder to move a child from a school once LA have agreed it is suitable (as long as we don't want her moved, of course) as it is hard for them to argue things have changed that much.

I guess it's just a wait-and-see situation

I wouldn't worry too much especially if the LA arn't going to be there. If they were wanting to reduce it they would go to the AR. I write AR documents and spend HOURS of my time writing accurate reports which I now know that the LA DON'T BLOODY WELL READ as my requests for additional fundings have been IGNORED and have been sitting on a pile on someone's desk UNREAD over four months meanwhile we struggle on trying to provide a roll royce service with no additional funding (ahhhhhhh!). I think they just look at the 'should the statement be continued' box and as long as it is ticked all carries on as normal.

They didn't attend my son's AR which was all about post 16 provision. We were amazed because we thought they would want to insist he went straight to college rather than stay on at his SEN school. I have fully expected to go down the tribunal route. Amazingly they have just sent a letter saying they agree with everything and rolled over and waved their legs in the air. I love my LA (not an emotion I have ever had before!) but can't quite get used to the feeling that they are going to send me a letter saying it was all a mistake.

I think the only time they will start making a fuss is if there are any changes (they won't make changes to anything much unless there is a significant change - usually for the positive so for example I managed to get a line about some very negative behviour taken out of one of our statements because the pupil was no longer exhibiting it) or if it is transition.

thanks, flyingmum.

I am totally with you on not quite being able to believe that it will be this easy - I want to believe it, but sadly past experience means I know not to trust anythign until I have seen it in black and white...

dd1 is at a private SN school.

I really can't believe they are not going to try to reduce their costs - the school costs a fortune.

ho hum. more wait-and-see...