My first Annual Review

[kittyfu]

I have been given my part of the annual review to fill in, due to all the proplems we have had at the current school, we want to change to a special needs school. should i inculde this in the questions i have been asked to answer or should i do that seperatly.

all so should i be bothered by the fact that the answers to the questions they have asked my ds would never have come out of his mouth. the answers are not anything important just things like 'i do well at my numbers and my sounds'

I did for dd3s. There's always a bit at the end where you can put any comments, so I specifically asked for the school we wanted to be consulted with a view to her getting a place there. Here you have to put a request in writing and they were happy to accept that as is would all be included in the review paperwork along with the other reports. Make sure you've asked for the case worker from the LEA to attend and anyone else that will back up your request. Have the school said they can no longer meet his needs?

As for the comments, I'd add something in writing about what he says at home being different to what's been said at school. But as far as the review goes you want your main concentration to be on school placement so would bring it up at the end when you've covered the subject of the move. Hth

almost forgot. If you ask for the statement to be changed at a review, must be in writing, and are turned down, you now have the right to appeal.

Thanks bigcar,

The head and his teacher?s exact words were we do not have the funding or the recourses to deal with a child like ds.

They have also really been pushing us to change school for months now, even to the point of arranging the visits and driving us there.

The school asked for the review, I know ds case worker will be there but I?m not sure about anyone else as they asked for it and set the date for 2 weeks later.

Just had a call from my ds case officer about his statement review, and the panel has decided that he doesn?t need a special school, but they will offer him a place at a language unit.

I?ve been to see the unit before and I?m not very keen, there?s nothing major I can think of as to why I don?t like it. It?s just a feeling. There?s the big things, like it?s not secure enough for my little nut nut, and they would have the same issues if he was having a meltdown, (of having no where to put him,) as his current school has. And I know that all schools follow the curriculum as the senco kept telling me today, but when the teacher at the unit says all the children learn to read at the unit eventually, I?m not exactly filled with hope for his future, am I really naive to want him to be able to do more than just read?

I feel that I don?t have a choice, the school ds is at obviously don?t want him, they refuse to have him for more than part time, and they are still not giving him his formal speech therapy. The panel won?t give me the school I want, and I don?t think I want the one they will give me. I don?t think I can make his current school have him full time, even tho he is statemented for 30 hours, or how he would be if I did.

What to do, what to do?

once you have the decision in writing you can file your appeal if that's what you want to do, sendist. Have they said why, try to get them to put it in writing? You can still negotiate with them once you've put your appeal in but you will need to be specific about why the unit can't meet his needs, safety is a biggy as is peer group, what does his statement say about needing time out? Go look round the unit and ss again and see what extra info you can pick up. Have the unit seen ds with a view to a place or do they still have to assess? (tis bigcar btw)

Love the new name

Still waiting for the decision in writing, spoke to case officer again today and she said she would email me the minutes for the panel meeting. they don?t seem very minuety ( not a real word, I know , more of a paragraph on the decision made. they basically state that they recognise that lots of outside agencies and the school are working hard to make sure the current placement is successful, but that he should be in school full time and some of the environmental requirements needed to do this are providing channelling for the school to provide. on revisiting the paper work there is no conclusive evidence that a special school is needed, but a resourced mainstream would be better, ds would benefit from good mainstream role models, for both language and behaviour, and that the outside agencies could still continue to give support if needed.

His statement does not say anything about time outs, it focused more on his medical issues and his speech and language, and there is a line or two about his hoarding. All the other delightful behaviours he exhibits have only really started to get very bad since he?s been at school to the point that he now bites his ta.

I think I will go look at the unit again and I will try to get somebody else to come with me, I think I fell in love with the ss and now nothing could possibly match it, so I need to take somebody who is going to make me think about it logically.

The unit haven?t seen ds yet, the paper work is being sent to them to assess and then they observe him at the school. The ss have seen him and have given the school advice on dealing with him.

do you think his statement needs amending to take the behaviour changes into account? How do you feel his behaviour would be affected by the move to ss as apposed to the unit? Is the unit going to be able to offer the right kind of environment and peer group? Has the ed psych been involved to see what is causing the change in behaviour?

If you are unsure about the unit going with someone else is a good idea, may also help if you write down your reservations and go through these with them when you are there. You may also want to mention the behaiour changes as they probably won't be aware if there is no mention in the statement, I wouldn't rely on the current school telling them everything either, you know your ds better than anyone. Obviously you will want to see a way of reducing this that the current school cannot offer, what can they do differently, do they have the facility of a quiet space somewhere if that's what he needs? If the unit have to start buying in extra support for him it will get to a point where ss becomes the cheaper option, so don't write off the ss.

are you going to the ss again as well? You may get a different feeling if you visit again or you may be able to pinpoint exactly what they have to offer that the unit doesn't. Although really the statement is the document that sets out need so they only have to provide what's in it, not extra, which may be why panel have asked the unit to consider your ds, so definitely consider if the statement needs amending.

i've been looking at his statement again, and it does proberly need amending, how would i get that done, i'm guessing i could just write to them and ask or do i have to ask for anougher review to say i want it amended.

i've been to the ss a couple of time, they were very informative and answered all of my questions. ds's dad went as well and came back feeling very possitive about the school. i'm sure they would let me visit again.