You lovely fabulous people, can you explain the statementing process to a dimmy like me

[DeadlyNightShadeofViolet]

:)

So I have decided to apply for a statement for DS2 o that it might be in place when he starts primary next year. I hired a private OT who has done a great report on his issues and his Paed said he would support my application. I know I need to send a letter to the LA, but then im lost.

Alo, is there anything else I can do to strengthen his case? The preschool would be behind it but his Portage worker thinks I should wait.

Oh, you'll get lots of help, but first you need to look at the IPEA website and download their model letter. We can then help with the tweaking!

Has he got a medical diagnosis of some condition?

Yes - he has ASD and SPD.

as stark said, have a good read of the ipsea site and also the sen code of practice. If you want a statement to be in place for september you really do have to start now.

What are his strengths, Can he build things with Duplo or lego for instance?

LC - Please Fuck off. None of these questions are relevant or helpful to the OP.

OP everyone else besides LC will give you good advice.

Thank you bigcar

He can build a tower with wooden blocks but not with Lego or Duplo. He is good with numbers, he can count over 100, recognises shapes and colours well. He can reel off the gruffalo word perfect and episodes of Team UmiZoomi or Peppa Pig.

IndigoBell, Whose bed did you get out the wrong side of this morning?

Oh X-posts. Am I missing something :(

Deadly, Nothing much no. LC has some 'interesting' views that's all!

Great - have downloaded the letter :)

How much detail do I need to go into in this initial letter? Should I list everything?

Also, the part where it says why I dont think the school cant make thier own provision - what should I put? I dont know that the school cant as he is not there yet - but the budget cuts have forced my hand (obviously I cant put that!)

I am so terrible at writing letters. DS deserves better :(

I would suggest that you ask that he goes to a special school for ASD.

I dont think a special school would be of the greatest benefit. He has done very well in his MS preschool and I think this will continue into school.

LC - you make that suggestion to everyone. But you know absolutely nothing about the OPs child and it is totally inapropriate to suggest what school the child should go to.

There are some brilliant special schools and they are brilliant for some kids. But for the vast majority of kids special schools are not appropriate.

But the real question is - why do you persist on making such unhelpful posts? Nobody could possibly be so stupid as to think special schools are suitable for all children with ASD. So what on earth is going on here?

Why do you persistantly make unhelpful posts, generally at a tangent to the main thread?

Does your ds get any extra support at pre-school? How much? My ds had full-time support at pre-school so when we applied for our statement, pre-school stated he needed support all the time and ds got 30 hours on the statement. Our equivalent of the Portage worker tried to dissuade us from applying but I think that was the official line so don't let that stop you. Any LA Ed psych or SALT involved yet?

Have you looked around to see where you would like your ds to go to?

As your ds is not yet in school, you need to base it on nursery or pre school if he attends any of these. When I asked for dd1 to be statemented my LEA initially refused because she wasn't in an early years setting so I enrolled her for a couple of sessions and then went for it again.

He gets 5 hours a week at Preschool. He has a SALT from the ASD team and the Ed Psych is coming to our house next tuesday.

I would like him to go to the primary school that DS1 goes to. They have very good experience of dealing with ASD children and having met the SENCo I feel very confident that the school can offer what DS needs.

As far as ASD school goes, DS2 has really come on since he has been around an NT peer group and this is why I think MS would be better for him. If we find that he isnt coping well in a MS environment then we will have to rethink, but I am confident that although slower than the other children he will be just as happy.

Not sure why the portage worker wants you to wait unless s/he's absolutely sure there' going to be more useful evidence cropping up in the next few months. If you request statutory assessment now it's going to be approaching Easter before anything is in place and that's only if you're satisfied with what you get in the first place.

In our LA, if an ed psych hasn't been involved already, an ed psych assessment is done as part of the SA process. You are also asked for a list of everyone who works with your child as part of the process, alongside your own submission outlining your own experiences and concerns for your child - this is all once SA is taking place, though, not as part of the request for it to happen in the first place.

just

It is all I can do to at LucindaCarlisle

What an asset....

DeadlyNightShadeofViolet

Now I have got that out of my system.

Do not wait. The reason being, that statementing is a 26 week process, with 4 defined stages, and 3 'end points' (consideration of request and decision to assess vs. decision not to assess; assessment; decision to make statement vs note in lieu; finalisation of statement). Obviously, if everything goes smoothly, you will get to the last 'end point' and go skipping into the future...if not, then you need to have time to get the process back on track after the LA have decided to either a) not assess, or b) issue a note in lieu, or c) issue a statement that is unsuitable.

You as your DS's parent, are best placed to choose mainstream or specialist education. I am known (I think) for being relatively pro-specialist eduacation, but actually what I am is pro-suitable education.

In 99% of cases, parental choice for Mainstream must be honoured. It is rare, but possible for a LA to argue that it goes against efficient education of children at the school to give a MS education. It is much more common for a parent to express preference for a special school and be turned down due to lack of places.

WRT the letter, use the template, but your approach is entirely personal.

What I did was to follow the template, then in the 'special educational needs bit' I bullet pointed the different areas of need in the broad areas of:

Medical
Sensory
Fine Motor
Gross Motor
Emotional & behavioural
Cognitive

Then for reasons why the school couldn't cope alone...hmm. What strikes me, is that your DS sounds quite academically capable, but his ASD and sensory traits will stop him reaching his potential. So, you can use the word 'complex' which is quite a good 'tick' in their boxes. So, your DS has 'complex needs' and without support x, y, z....

If you feel he will need 1:1 support you can put that in too.

Bear in mind, that most LAs, in response to a request to assess, simply take a pack and put it in the post. They write to the preschool for their initial views, write to you for your views, and so on.

It does NOT have to be perfect, in fact you could just write 'please assess DS for a statement' and it would have a similar effect. BUT what the letter in this format does do, is send out a subtle message to the LA that you know what you are doing.

Thank you Lougle - thats a really helpful post :)

I am posting my first ever for LC -she's priceless!