Can my daughter be statemented without the backing of a school ???

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, my daughter is in year1 of a private school and we've put in her notice and she'll be leaving at Christmas.
She has a two year developmental delay, speech problems and possibly Aspurgers. We are hoping to have her tested for Aspurgers soon. Anyway, her current school won't support me getting a statement for her as there'll be no chance of her comming back to the school if she does.
We've put her name down on 3 school waiting lists but it could take a lot longer than January to get a place. In the mean time I want to try to get a statement for her. That way, she'll have the support ready for when she starts and also it'll help her get a place.
Can I do that without the backing of a school? If so, how do I go about it? I know she needs to be diognosed first, so if she dosn't have aspurgers she might not get a statement anyway.
I've heard that it's hard to get a statement, but I don't have a clue where to start, especially without a school.

bump

Hello - yes you can requrest it yourself. Contact the local authority and request a Statutory Assessment of her special needs. You might need to be persistant.

This website is useful for info.

Thank you, she has had an acessment at a centre 18 months ago. She's also been seen by an Ed Psych. Is that the same thing?
I'm also hoping to have her tested for Aspurgers, we're waiting for a questionaire.

Thank you, that's great. Her behaviour can be dangerous as she'll hug complete strangers and will run off and go with anyone. She also needs a lot of personal care as she regularly messes herself. (She dosn't do it in school though) Apparently she just likes to do it in her knickers. [aaaaagh!] I'm glad she dosn't need a diognosis first as that would slow it down.

No, we both work so I don't thnk we could.

We do get free pull ups though. That's been a big help.

Hi MLL

First thing first - DLA - it makes no difference if you work or not. I think you may be thinking of carer's allowance there, which can only be claimed if your earnings are less than £100 pw.

You don't need to be in a particular school to apply for a statement, and you don't need a diagnosis.

You could (and should) write to the LA today. Statements take 26 weeks to finalise, so even if you put the request in today, it will be May before you actually have one. But don't worry about that, a MS school will have some funds for children who come to them in need of statement but without one.

Oh that's great then. I'll apply for that. I think I must have been thinking of carer's allowance. I'm going to write to the LA ASAP. i'm glad the school will have some funds for her right away. She dosn't like change at the best of times, so I'd like it to go as smoothly as possible.

YES. A child CAN be statemented without the backing of a school.

We got the backing of a senior officer in the LEA. The SENCO didnt even know about my DD.

Get yourself a copy of the SEN Code of Practice. It will tell you a lot about the statementing process and the deadlines which have to be met.
You can phone 0845 60 222 60 or email:[email protected] or download it from www.dfes.gov.uk
It is free and although they say 5 to 7 working days it can be quicker than that.