Requesting a SA - How do I go about it?

[rebl]

Some background. My ds(4) currently attends local village ms school. He is deaf, bilaterally aided, has a radio aid, has significant dietary needs, has some medical issues. Since starting school he has displayed some worrying behaviour which the school are not dealing with very well. He gets a twice termly visit from a specialist teacher of the deaf.

The school have him on school action and are refusing to move him onto school action plus and do IEP's. My understanding of the code of practice is that given he has specialist intervention from an outside agency and that he has to use specialist equipment to access the ciriculum he should be on SA+. The school say he doesn't because he's not got a statement .

DH and I have argued ALOT about this and the way forward (I want to move schools, DH doesn't) but Lougle has managed to persuade dh that maybe the way forward is for us to apply for a statory assessment. So now we are agreeing on something how do I go about actually doing it? Who do I write to and what do I put in my letter? Can I write that the school aren't meeting his needs and are refusing to put him on SA+ and provide IEPS even though he clearly meets the criteria for this? Do I mention all his problems? Or do I just write a one liner that says Please can you do a statotory assessment on DS?

Who do I send the letter to? Do I need to tell the school?

I have just done this. I took the template letter from the IPSEA website and then wrote down in bullet form all of the extra needs that DS has with examples of them in operation.

I then said why he needed help which the school could not provide (i.e. specialist input, 1-1 etc). It was quite detailed. But the basic premise is, check out your LEA website for the address of who to write to. Do the letter and then they have to get back to you within 6 weeks to say whether or not they will assess...you can appeal if they say no.

The IPSEA website is great HTH

I think school action + is when the child is not making necessary progress on school action. The school need to call the LEA to get someone in to assess him and advise and then set IEP's - he would not need a statement for this.

Are the school disagreeing with you about your DS's progress and needs? That surely could hamper your chances of a statement as they will write back to say he doesn't need more support?

Perhaps talk to the LEA then then school to confirm how to get him on School action plus to start with. Fight that battle first if you see what I mean.

Hi rebl,

www.ipsea.org.uk has the letter you need to draft. You will need to write to the Chief Education Officer at your LEA and give this person six weeks to reply (note that date on your calendar).

Your son should already be on SA plus (not that this is worth much as a plan but he should be on this anyway given that outside agencies have been involved with him to date).

I would in your circs be looking at moving him to another school asap. Even if there was a Statement in place this school do not seem at all bothered and or interested in working with your DS.

You are your child's best and only advocate.

Why does your DH not want his son to change schools?. I would argue they are failing his child currently!!. They certainly are not interested in procedure and are just plain wrong to suggest that he's not on SA plus because he does not have a Statement.

Thank you, will look at the ipsea website for some letter help.

bloodychocoholic My ds has external agencies coming in on a regular basis to advise the school and support my ds. The school are refusing to pre-tutor due to staffing issues him but agree that he needs pre-tutoring. I said I would do the pre-tutoring but would need the learning objectives. These have been refused. They are not meeting his needs. I thought if we could get him on SA+ where he really should be then we would get IEP's and would then have a stronger case for a statement in a term or so's time. But they're saying that SA+ is only for those pupils ALREADY with a statement.

Attila I have absolutly no idea what DH is thinking. We've argued lots over this. I totally agree, the only and best solution is to move ds from this school. But seeing as I'm loosing that argument with DH I have to work out a way to move forwards that is still in the best interests of my DS. DS seeing me and DH arguing isn't in his best interests. So therefore the only way I see that we can move forward is to request a SA, not even with a view to getting a statement but more with a view to forcing someone to assess DS in the school setting and recommending what needs to be put in place to meet his needs. If this comes through a statement or the school being told to buck up its ideas is a step forwards. We can't stay with the current status quo.

I'm about to go and pick up now from school and hoping that I can talk to the teacher. I have requested a chance to talk with her so lets hope its now. I've got the courage all built up for a difficult conversation so I just want to get it over and done with now.

rebl

Your DS does not have to be on SA plus prior to statementing. You can and should apply for the Statutory Assessment i.e the Statement now. If the LEA refuse to assess then you can and should appeal their crass decision. Also if you have a statement in place you can name the school that you wish him to attend (certainly not this one in the longer term).

Your DH burying his head in the sand here is helping no-one; not you and certainly not his child whose needs are patently not being met by this school. It actually seems to be that they are not interested in helping him and do not really want him there. As you rightly state you cannot continue with the status quo.

Good luck with talking to them this arvo, I think you are going to need it.

They refused to talk to me. Crying my eyes out. Have had enough. How can we progress from here with no communication?

That is shocking. Can you drop in to the school office tomorrow and arrange a formal meeting with the head master / mistress, the SENCo and the class teacher? Surely they can't refuse this.

I will have to won't I. I want to pull them out now.

Rebl I'm so sorry. It's bloody frustrating, I've been there.

You need to get the law on your side. You can quote chapter and verse from the SEN code of practice. Appeal in the first instance to the head and to the SEN governor. Then go to the LEA. (If you have the cash, actually get an educational lawyer).

The way to feel less powerless is to get facts. You can win. Don't give up!

You could raise the fact that you are going to apply for a statement and see what they have to say. Perhaps even ask them for a letter / information to support your initial application to show what they have been trying with your DS and where he needs additional support. (I'm assuming they have been keeping observations on him?)

Write your draft letter to the LEA tonight and you will feel so much better I think.

Your county should have a parent partnership organisation. I've always found mine a bit useless - but in theory they should be able to help you.

There's a bit in the SEN code of practice about resolving disputes.

About getting a statement. You need evidence, evidence of child's needs, evidence that SA and SA+ are not meeting the needs and child is not progressing.

Unfortunately evidence probably will come from the school or independent assessments (expensive). So don't alienate school if you can possibly help it.

Hi rebl,

(from IPSEA's website)

There is NO requirement that a child must progress through SA and SA+ to statutory assessment, although that may happen. A child may need help immediately at SA+ and may proceed immediately to statutory assessment (this happened to me). Similarly, a child at any level of help may require more or less as they go on.

School is acting really twattishly here and I think they have treated you very badly.

I would seek advice from one of the independent organisations like IPSEA (they have a freephone line which is 0800 018 4016 from 7-9pm).

rebl

On what grounds did they refuse to talk to you?. This is appalling behaviour on the part of the school.

I'm not sure they have refused to talk to me I suppose. They've ignored my request to talk to them. They've not even acknowledged the request. I asked the TA and she said that the teacher had written in the book. Well, I guess its in invisible ink because I can't see it anywhere in there.

I was very upset when I got home and I suppose my use of the word "refuse" was strong but thats how it feels right now.

I'm writing to the head requesting a meeting. This situation is untennable. I can't cope with the stress anymore.

Speak to people, don't bottle it up. There are lots of organisations who can offer help.

I've spent hours crying on phone lines to people I've never met. I know that they probably can't solve anything but it's better to talk to sympathetic people and someone might offer good advice.

Don't give up. It's tempting, but don't.

Thank you mitz and merkatt. I'll call ipsea later tonight maybe.

I spoke to NDCS earlier (before picking up from school) and they think that the situation has got to a point that we have little choice but to put in a parental request for a statutory assessment. She said by all means speak to the school requesting one last time that ds is put onto SA+ with IEP's but she feels that we are just not going to make progress like this.

DH is home and has looked in the book and is yet again giving the teacher the benefit of the doubt and saying we need to give her more time. Honestly, what is he thinking?

I believe it's better to put the request in yourself, don't let the school do it. If the school puts in the request and you are turned down you have no right of appeal. If you put one in, you can appeal.

Check this but I'm pretty certain it's true.

Also if and when you do put in a request make sure it goes to a named person - you have more control then.

I thought even SA was meant to include IEPs. Outside help automatically puts a child on SA+. Can you try calling the specialist teacher yourself? She may be finding the school as difficult to manage as you are. Also, if your dh is stuck in 'teacher knows best' mode, maybe an outside teacher can get through to him.

rebl

I would urge you to make the request for a Statement asap. You will need to write to the Chief Education Officer of yoru LEA (the council offices will give you the name) and give them six weeks to reply. Use the letter on IPSEA's website as well.

Your DH sounds like he is well and truly in denial of the situation. Presumably he is still in agreement with regards to applying for a Statement.

Well we've had a massive row. But I have managed to get dh to write a letter to the head teacher requesting a meeting, requesting that ds is put on SA+ with IEP's, requesting a solution to the poor communication and basically listing all the problems and saying they need sorted. He has now said that he will come to the meeting and that he'll back me for a request for a statutory assessment if they refuse our requests. I don't think I've really won the arguement with DH but I've told him what I think. I'm totally worn out with this. I have made it totally clear to DH that this can't continue. I'm getting too many migraines now and I can't cope anymore. I certainly can't continue this for 7 yrs.

Well done for getting this far with your dh. Last thing you need is school detecting your different views.

Shit. DS was witnessed wrapping a book around a girls (O) face. This was witnessed by the girls mother (C) through the classroom window. I am friends with C thank god. The teacher was not aware. O has been telling her mother for weeks about ds hitting her but C didn't want to believe it. C has spoken to the teacher and yet we have STILL not been told by the teacher that DS is hitting. No communication in the book still.

Moreover, C has also found out today from other parents that at least one other parent has been in and complained about ds hitting her daughter and has had her daughter removed from the table that ds sits on. We have not had this complaint communicated to us by the school.

I really don't understand the schools attitude. Why haven't they called us in? Why haven't they accepted our desperate pleas for help with his behaviour?

I have spoken with NDCS and they will come to a meeting with us, the ht and the class teacher (SENCO) and will support us with our request for him to be on SA+ and will also support our request for a statutory assessment. The family support worker has been fantastic today with helping me. Even DH has now accepted this is no longer an acceptable situation. He's now fuming with the school for not telling us about ds hitting other children. He is now saying he can't trust the school. Why he's taken this long to get to this point is beyond me but right now we're not argueing. He's even coming round to the idea of looking at other schools.

So we are now on the attack and I have every intention of winning this.

Sounds like your dh was just in a bit of understandable and comforting denial, 'her ears are a bit knackered but she's fine otherwise, been diagnosed, got a radio aid & she just needs the local school treating her same as the other kids & we'll have no more problems'. Having been in the same situation with a different diagnosis I now look back & feel more sympathy for my dh. But much easier for you all if he's now on planet reality.