Help Needed - son got special needs and been excluded informally and on occassions formally...

[Frustrated2003]

Hi,

I have a son that has a complex range of needs or so im told. He is autistic and hearing impaired. We moved to Oz for 8.5 months but prior to leaving the country he had a full statement of SEN. We have now returned back to my family and to a different part of the UK and the LA are giving me the run around so to speak. We also had really bad experiences with the last Local Authority.

The LA advised they were not able to provide him with a specialist provision as they didnt have an understanding of his needs and would only consider mainstream so they could assess him far easier.

The LA will not answer whether they have re-issued my sons previous statement or if they are re-assessing him. My son is in a main stream school, in a class on his own, with one to one support. School have stated that he is not being educated he is being contained. He is not allowed to mix with other children and is floating between a part time and full time timetable.

The Local Authority are stating that they dont know what his needs are and so are unable to provide him with an alternate provision at the moment. They have further stated that the Education Act provides a provision whereby they can place a child on a part time table, for a limited time, with a view to full time schooling.

This week he has been excluded for 5 days due to his behaviour, which to be honest has always been due to his needs. when his needs are being met his behaviour improves. School have cited vandalism, physical and verbal assault and the police being in attendance as reasons for the exclusion. I have a meeting for re-intergration next week and apparantly they will be putting him on a part time table. I feel that the exclusion is down to them not having the skills or expertise to deal with his needs, but I also feel that they are discriminating against him because of his disabilities. I am considering launching a sendist appeal for disability discrimination and going to tribunal for a long term plan and challenging the statement when I get to the bottom of where we are at with it.

I do feel he needs a 24/7 rolling curriculm which I know can only be achieved by going to a residential specialist provision. I am not sure what I am asking really, but I would really appreciate some support and guidance..

Hi, forstly . you will get a lot of support ehre, but it might take a while on a weekend.

I can suggest to start off that you contact groups called IPSEA and SOS!SEN as theya re specilaists; NAS might also be able to help (I have 2 asd kids and find them useful).

You need to start by collating evidence really. In these times of fiscal constraint no LEA will fund residential without a fight. So keep written notes of everything that happens, never ever collect your child from school or allow them to be excluded without a full explanation in wriitng (LEAs can put pressure on schools to not produce that evidence trail). make sure he ahs been referred to a Paed, Ed Psych, etc by school and / or GP.

you will also need social services input; here the lea funds resi school and ssd fund the resi part- get that underway now, demand both an assessment for him and yourself (carer's assessment).

And never trust lea's: in truth, they are budget first welfare second. Chase, record, fight.

Hey,

Thank you so much for your advice, you are right never trust an LEA. They are a law unto themselves in my opinion. I have done a request for access to all of his records, so am just waiting at the moment for that. Social worker is caring out an assessment at the moment, but its taking forever and he seems to be supportive of what the school are doing. Do I need to get specialist reports done and if so have you got any recommendations of names and contact details for specialist.

Many thanks for the support

Hi
The SEN COP states that

" When the responsibility for a child with SENs changes from the LA maintaining the Statement 9old LA) to another LA (new) the old LA must transfer the Statement to the new LA. Upon transfer the new LA becomes responsiblefor maintaining the Statement and for providing the SEN provision specified in the Statement.

Which appears to be simple, but for the fact that you've had a breal away from the UK.

But, a Statement is a legally binding document and it can only be formally ceased, so I woudl argue that, unless you received a letter from your old LA telling you they intended to cease the Statement, the Statement should remain valid and therefore must be honoured by your new LA.

LAs will do anything to avoid their responsibilities - especially if provision is expensive.

Other routes you could try are complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman about your new LAs failure to follow due process by not providing the support in the Statement. The LGO will consider these sort of complaints quickly.

If you can afford it you could instruct a solicitor to wrote to the LA pointing out they are breaking the law and that you may have a case for educational negligence or DDA.

IPSEA can also advise.

If you want to start gewtting paperwork together and moveing forwards you might try BIBIC or the Dyscovery Cnetre- BIBIC paperwork helped push teh LEA into giving us a statement and certainly filled a gap when we moved from England to Wales. Well worth looking into (just google).

As for toehr specialists, NAS can recommend people but be aware that LEA's can try to argue it doesn;t count if it's private: IIRC that usually works only as a delaying tactic as SENDIST often override it, but nonetheless it's extra time and money isn't it?

Definitely start with SOS!SEN i think, theya re the battlers IME and got my non verbal (then, not now), incontinent 5 year old out of mainstream with part time 1-1 and into a wonderful support base where he thrives.