someone talk me through the statementing process

[dietstartstmoz]

Hi, I have a couple of other threads on here already but thought i'd start another!

Have been posting about DS2, aged 3.6.
Since age 3 he has not made appropriate development and we are expecting a dx of ASD. We are already getting some help, we are getting some support from early years pre-school service, are having SALT, hearing test due, already seen paed once and go back in 3 weeks. I have applied to main stream school and will find out in April, but he will get in as he has an older sibling.

DS goes to a private nursery, where he has an IEP, the early years service are supporting the nursery. The 2 days I am not at work, I have DS at home with me and have some strategies from early years service and SALT and try and incorporate these into normal daily activities.

He doesn't get 1-2-1 in private nursery, but has an IEP and it's a small nursery and staff good. The manager is working with DS and he has 3 targets on his IEP which staff do with him each day (but each one is only 5 mins).

We are trying to gather evidence at the moment to request Statement, but haven't done this yet as we have no paper evidence. have seen paed, but have nothing written from that assessment, have anohter appt in 3 weeks and will ask for something then. have had SALT assessment and 2 sessions of obs, but again, no paperwork which outlines how DS presents. We go back this week for our strategies, and I will ask for a written report. Nursery are keeping a daily log of how DS is and when he needs extra help, but we think we will be requesting statement during March, when we have something on paper. I worry, if we don't have any evidence when we request stat assess it will be refused.
Who would decide how many hrs support DS needs? The support worker from early years service feels DS isn't 'too bad' (her words), but she does not have a full picture of him, and she told me he may not get any hrs funded support. Will she write a report that goes towards statementing process? If so, I don't think she will support his having 1-2-1 hrs in school in sept, so we need to prove to her also how much support he needs in nursery.

She has observed him twice and both times at nursery he was participating well and doing his own thing quite happily. He struggles with eye contact and does not interact with the other children at all. She will go back to nursery at the end of march and see how IEP has been, and how DS has been but I have no idea who decided how many hours support, if any, DS will need. Who's decision is this?
Thanks

how long do you think it will be before your dx? you dont need a dx to get the statement but if they are dragging their heels maybe the dx will help , in my case my son is ASD and is abt to go to a SS because hes been failed by his pre, first and two middle schools my DS had an IEP from pre-school at age 2 1/2 as soon as he started and still took forever to get his dx, its one of those cases if i knew then what i know now and hes only just about to get his statement aged nearly 11 and i was fobbed off at all the schools saying hes not that bad weve got worse kids (nice huh) so now hes so far behind as he has LD as well as ASD , so perhaps contact IPSEA/ or PP see if they can advise or NAS advice line there quite helpfull too HTH

Without a Statement the level of support is decided by the nursery/school.

With a Statement the level of support is determined by the LA following a full assessment of the difficulties and what support is required to help them overcome these difficulties.

I have no idea how long it takes to get a dx in my area. We have an appt with the paed early March and I think we're going to push for help, whether that is a dx or a further referral I don't know.

So, the LA decide the level of support as part of the statementing process, and this includes the number of hrs 1-2-1 support. I have spoken to parent partnership and they advised we have evidence to support our request for a statement.

Just wondering how much evidence is enough? Will get everything I can get my hands on, but don't want to be turned down when we request statutory assessment.

letters/papers and lots of them to acompany it,i sent copies of everything to them as advised to you really do need lots of evidence but you as wetaugust said to someone else reciently you need bullet point the facts you will get your chance to send in parental views later too where you can tell all good luck

You need to show that the nursery/pre-school are unable to meet your child's needs from the resources that they have available to them in order for the LA to agree to assess.

I assume that your DS will start school Sept 2012? If your DS is getting along well at the moment and the LA refuse to assess, if you make sure the request for assessment comes from you and not nursery, you can always repeat the request as and when evidence of your son's additional needs becomes clearer (I believe if nursery apply and are rejected they can't apply again for 6 months?).

In my case, DS starts school this year and although the pre-school arguably meet his needs at the moment (they have additional funding for 1-1 and therefore only meet his needs because they are super and get extra help) the LA are definitely carrying out the assessment, as are all the people involved, with an eye to starting school. It is accepted that what works for pre-school may not be enough for primary school.

BTW, we got funding for 1-1 from the Early Years Inclusion Service in our area for pre-school. The pre-school, supported by the communication and interaction team who work with DS, apply for it on a termly basis. It's not guaranteed like it would be if it was in a statement, but you might want to ask around to see if anything like this is available to your nursery in the meantime.

As to who decides what kind of help your child needs it should be the LA, as advised by the professionals as part of the assessment process (especially the Ed Psych). At this point I give a hollow laugh, because you have to be REALLY careful...recommendations by the professionals employed by the LA are often vague and non-specific. If the evidence gathered is really unclear then you may have to consider independent assessments. I haven't so far, the evidence supports the level of provision I am arguing for, although the Ed Psych recommendations are really broad (so I will have to make my case strongly to the LA or further).

Hope that is of some help

The LEA may well turn down your request anyway as a matter of course even if presented with a whole bundle of evidence.
You need to apply their crass decision if they do this.

Tell the EY support worker politely to go and poke herself with a sharp stick!. If I had a £1 for every time I had heard such nonsense I'd be quite wealthy by now. Ignore naysayers; you are your child's best and only advocate here.

The initial letter to apply for this document only needs to be brief - IPSEA have model letters on their website you can use.
The first hurdle is actually making the LEA agree to child being assessed.

www.ipsea.org.uk

Thanks, no he doesn't get any 1-2-1 funded hours, although the nursery staff have 3 point to work with him individually on. the support worker from the Early Years Specialist Service said there was no 1-2-1 funding available for pre-school, but I will make some calls about this this week. I hadn't heard about an inclusion fund, but in light of all the local auth cutback's it may have gone.
My concerns are because Ds will be 4 in Aug and it's only a sept intake here so he will start school in Sept 2011. If I hold him back a year it means he will not get into the school his older brother does so we will have 2 different drop off's and pick up's as part of the school run and they could be in different parts of the borough.

I don't see how he will make progress from his IEP, without particular 1-2-1 support, but it's so frustrating that we have to let it be tried for a period of time, before having that evidence to apply for stat assess.
I will get on with chasing paperwork from all the professionals we have seen so far, and I have asked nursery to document his daily probs to present to support worker when she visits to review the IEP and also as evidence for stat assess. Why is it so bloody difficult to get kids with SEN support?

"I don't see how he will make progress from his IEP, without particular 1-2-1 support, but it's so frustrating that we have to let it be tried for a period of time, before having that evidence to apply for stat assess.

No, you don't have to wait for anything to be tried for a period of time. Would apply to the LEA asap.