Had a letter of LEA today about my request for assessment for my son

[brandy77]

Its only a standard letter really, saying thankyou for my request for assessment and a tick list asking things like:for more info within 29 days, or do i want a face to face to provide info, do i give permission for an ed psyche to see my son. Says a decision will be made in 6 weeks and to contact the Named Officer on the letter.

Is this a good response, or is this a run of the mill response that everyone gets? even if he gets assessed and doesnt get a statement il be pleased because at least i will hopefully know what his needs are. thankyou.xx

not sure if ive gota tick the boxes and send that back or actually provide more info now? it doesnt specify any thing else at all, there is an info pack about the statementing process.x

It's a good response, because they are following the SEN CoP, and everyone should get that response. They shouldn't be making decisions about whether to assess without contacting all the relevant people for basic info first.

ok thanks lougle, they only received the letter friday as i had to resend it and pay special delivery so they have replied very quickly. This tick list is literally just that, a list of 6 tick boxes which i find confusing as they say

1.I/We enclose my/our written views
2.I/We will provide my/our written views at a later date (must be withing 29 days)
3.I/We wish to discuss my/our views in person
4.I/We do not wish to provide my/our views at this stage
5.I/We do not give consent for info on my child to be shared with a range of professionals as appropriate
6.I/We do give permission for our child to be seen by an Ed Pysche

Im studying for a degree and cant believe i dont understand what they are asking!
Tick boxes 5 and 6, but what about the others? If i tick no.1 have i gota provide info now and on what? My letter to them was detailed.xx

We had the same letter. I enclosed written my written views. If your initial letter was very detailed, there may be no need for your to provide additional information, so I'd just send a covering letter asking them to take into account the information you've already sent.

Remember that this will be your last opportunity to provide any information before it goes to the panel which decides whether to carry out a statutory assessment, so it's worth thinking again about fleshing out the information you've already sent.

You can also ask the LA at this stage to contact any other professionals who you think would be supportive of your request. The LA should contact the Ed Psych and school but won't necessarily contact any paeds, therapists etc unless you specifically ask them.

oh i see thankyou sugarcandy, so perhaps supply more info then. I can do that, i didnt provide all info on the initial letter even though it was fairly detailed. I have heaps of letters off camhs, his paed etc, so should i provide a couple of copies of the most recent/informative ones also please? xx

It's worth sending any letters or reports which show that he needs more input than other children.

Have you got the SEN Code of Practice? It lists the kind of situations where a statutory assessment should be carried out so you could use quotes from there and link them to your son's case, to show that an assessment is necessary.

Ive got the minutes from the meeting in May which state that he was having group work in Reception and that he was behind then and that support would not be continuing in Year 1, thats relevant then isnt it? should i include the paeds most recent letter that says bout his medical probs (which basically have reflected on his learning because of the hospital admissions and attendance problems. yes sugercandy ive read the code of practice which on the medical bit says that children with chronic illness are affected also with emotional/learning difficulties at school . thankyou.xx

I wrote quite a detailed letter for my initial request.

Then I did a small report (4 or 5 pages) for the 'my views' stage, which is where you are at.

Basically:

Pregnancy and early life (obviously irrelevant if a normal pregnancy and no concerns in infancy, but not in your case).

First Concerns

Current difficulties.

oh bum, i just bashed off a letter and then read your message lougle. Il post it here and you can tell me what you think ta, ive got to add in the bit after parents evening on tuesday evening with his attainment levels hopefully. His medical history starts from birth and hes 6 now so a bit longwinded to go back that far, i could supply more medical evidence going that far back perhaps? I have every single hospital letter from 3 months old! xx

Dear Mrs ,,,,,,,,,
Thank you for your letter dated 4th November, I had written quite a detailed letter to you about but I will try and add further details for you, which I hope will make it clear that Liam needs an assessment of his needs.

I am also enclosing the minutes of the TAC meeting held in May 2010, which do state that although had some support in Reception it would not be continuing in Year 1, even though he had missed the basics of learning which would have a negative effect on any future learning as he progresses through the school years.

After his parents evening appointment this evening, 9th November, is ........................................................................................................................

frequent hospital admissions and outpatients appointments are all carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. At present he has 2 paediatricians, Mr M Dattani, Endocrinology and Mr Cherian, Urology. The admissions are generally in the autumn/winter months, coupled with general illnesses that young children get and his attendance has been poor (59%). However, the months of May, June and July he is generally in better health and recovers quicker from illness and hospital visits so his attendance levels rise a bit to about 75%.

medical condition and subsequent hospitalisations, I am told by CAMHS, have had a profound effect on his emotional state. He suffers bouts of severe anxiety which can lead to him refusing school. His teacher informs me that his concentration is bad, he is off task a lot, that he needs lots of encouragement to attempt any work and his reading and writing skills are poor.

I know from home life with and attempting to complete small amounts of work with him that he needs huge encouragement and gets upset extremely easily. Even what appears to be the simplest task, such as making the letters ?o? and ?n? into a word causes him to shut off completely and refuse to attempt any further work. I find this extremely upsetting on his behalf as verbally he is a very bright, talkative child. CAMHS at the TAC meeting on 3rd November said that he has low self esteem, which impacts on his learning achievements.

anxiety/confidence also effects his life outside of school. He does not participate in any after school/weekend activities, he did start football training and even won man of the match, however on the 2nd training morning he refused to participate, citing the fact he had been asked to wear a coloured mesh vest for the game. In his words he hadn?t worn it the week before and wouldn?t wear it now. He has flatly refused to go again which I find extremely sad. On holiday he has many little friends at the caravan park we frequent, he is extremely bossy and doesn?t like it if things do not go his way. Again he will not participate in any new activities, he has never played rounders before so a small group of 5 of us went to the park. wouldn?t play it and said quite happily that he would have a little sleep while we played, so he did, he laid down in the field and shut his eyes while we played for an hour. This is usual behaviour for as far back as I can remember.

Since I wrote asking for to be assessed I have received a hospital phone call that Liam is to commence another medication on Monday 8th November, this will be followed up 8 weeks later with an admission for tests to see if the medication has helped ease the symptoms.

This is the start of the problems, that the medical symptoms mean frequent testing which leads to more time off school and interruption in his learning, the knock on effect then is the psychological state he is left in which has a profound effect on his cognitive abilities. At present Liam is on 4 drugs (including the new one), these are DDAVP melt, trimethorpin, melatonin and detrusinol. Im not sure what Professor Dattantis ?plan? as his nurse put it, is for on December 8th at outpatients. The nurse made me aware that Liams Growth Hormone results was borderline so whether they will be commencing him on GH therapy or retesting him I will not know until the appointment comes.

I hope this information and the subsequent copies of letters enclosed are of help to you.

Yours sincerely

I dont know how i would cut down the medical history from birth lougle, would they be interested in that then? first admission 3 months old, now at 6 years old hes had about 30 admissions plus all the outpatients. MRI scan showed a small pituitary gland which leads to his hormone inbalances. Also has a heart murmer. Question mark on bladder problems at present. Question mark on growth problems till outpatients. Had many many very invasive tests carried out, especially since being at GOSH since 2.5 years old and here we are 3.5 years down the line and still no firm diagnosis

I think you have clearly expressed his anxiety, which is great. However, there isn't huge focus on how that affects his school life. Or at least, it kind of gets lost in the detail, I think.

I would do this:

Give a concise 'timeline' of his medical history. Something like:

-xx/yy/zzzz Birth
-xx/yy/zzzz Symptom a started
-xx/yy/zzzz admission to x hospital
-xx/yy/zzzz diagnosis of y syndrome/disease
-xx/yy/zzzz -xx/yy/zzzz repeated admissions for investigation
-xx/yy/zzzz treatment
-xx/yy/zzzz referral to y hospital for detailed investigations

etc.

Then, your letter (I have formalised it a little - it isn't a cozy chat, it is your considered views )

"Dear Mrs ,,,,,,,,,
Thank you for your letter dated 4th November, I had written quite a detailed letter to you about ** but I will try and add further details for you, which I hope will make it clear that Liam needs an assessment of his needs.

I am also enclosing the minutes of the TAC meeting held in May 2010, which do state that although ** had some support in Reception it would not be continuing in Year 1, even though he had missed the basics of learning which would have a negative effect on any future learning as he progresses through the school years.

After his parents evening appointment this evening, 9th November, is .................................................. .................................................. ....................

** frequent hospital admissions and outpatients appointments are all carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. . At present he has 2 paediatricians, Mr M Dattani, Endocrinology and Mr Cherian, Urology. The admissions are generally in the autumn/winter months, coupled with general illnesses that young children get and his attendance has been poor (59%). However, the months of May, June and July he is generally in better health and recovers quicker from illness and hospital visits so his attendance levels rise a bit to about 75%,

** medical condition and subsequent hospitalisations, I am told by CAMHS, have had a profound effect on his emotional state

** teacher me that his concentration is bad, he is off task a lot, that he needs lots of encouragement to attempt any work and his reading and writing skills are poor. .

< This is too insignificant ? you are his mother, you know him ? (I know from home life with * and attempting to complete small amounts of work with him that he needs huge encouragement and gets upset extremely easily) ?At home I take every opportunity to support * with his school work. However, he requires huge levels of encouragement to attempt any work, as his self-esteem is extremely low. He gets upset easily and will abandon his work at the slightest setback.?>. Even what appears to be the simplest task, such as making the letters ?o? and ?n? into a word causes him to shut off completely and refuse to attempt any further work.< I find this extremely upsetting on his behalf (change to ?This is extremely distressing to see? > as verbally he is a very bright, talkative child. CAMHS at the TAC meeting on 3rd November said that he has low self esteem, which impacts on his learning achievements.

* anxiety/confidence also his life outside of school. He does not participate in any after school/weekend activities, he did start football training and even won man of the match, however on the 2nd training morning he refused to participate, citing the fact he had been asked to wear a coloured mesh vest for the game. In his words he hadn?t worn it the week before and wouldn?t wear it now. He has flatly refused to go again which I find extremely sad. On holiday he has many little friends at the caravan park we frequent, he is extremely bossy and doesn?t like it if things do not go his way. Again he will not participate in any new activities, he has never played rounders before so a small group of 5 of us went to the park. wouldn?t play it and said quite happily that he would have a little sleep while we played, so he did, he laid down in the field and shut his eyes while we played for an hour. This is usual behaviour for * as far back as I can remember.

< I have received a hospital phone call to inform me that> Liam is to commence another medication on Monday 8th November, this will be followed up 8 weeks later with an admission for tests to see if the medication has helped ease the symptoms.

This The medical symptoms mean frequent testing which leads to more time off school and interruption in his learning, the knock on effect then is the psychological state he is left in which has a profound effect on his cognitive abilities. At present Liam is on 4 drugs (including the new one), these are DDAVP melt, trimethorpin, melatonin and detrusinol. Professor Dattantis for December 8th at outpatients. The nurse made me aware that Liams Growth Hormone results was borderline so they will either commence Growth Hormone Replacement therapy or retesting him.
I hope this information and the subsequent copies of letters enclosed are of help to you.

Yours sincerely"

It just shows that he has had extensive and ongoing medical input. This isn't going away.

Oh that ** thing has happened again

thankyou lougle! you have been extremely helpful. im going to leave it for tonight now, just got him to sleep, i need a brandy,lol. Hes at his dads tomorow for the day, im sending him with his homework , let dad have a go! then i can get on with rearranging the letter and doing the timeline, although if i include ALL the day only tests and the overnighters the list is gona be huge! mum wrote it all out for me a year ago and left it with CAMHS, wish i had copied it now. thanks again.xx