Statement app for teen son - urgent advice needed

[meagle]

I've requested a statutory assessment for my 13 yo son, newly diagnosed with ADHD, ASD, OCD, and have a couple of queries about filling in the form that I hope you guys can help me with. Form is due in by 22nd so I'm slightly panicking!

First, I am ignoring the LEA form, which just gives a small box where you outline your concerns, and submitting a potted history of son's probs, from when he was little till now. Is this the right approach?

Secondly, the school are filling in all their details. Do i have a right to see what they have put? Up till now the SEN dept have been pretty useless, which is why I've requested the assessment myself. To support my application I've emailed them to ask the dates from when he was on SA+, and why he hasn't got an IEP but they haven't replied. is there any way I can get this info from them?

Lastly, do you think the chances of getting an assessment will be jepoardised by fact that school hasn't rigorously followed SEN procedure, eg, by not drawing up IEP, etc?

I would contact someone lime SOSSEN for help. I would say NAS but they are really hard to get through to

parent partnership are helping me with mine you can contact IPSEA and NAS advice line CAB too but i did ask for copies of all reports and everyone gave them to me , im sure its yr right as its yr DC they are talking about plus gives you the chance if you think its incorrect to counteract it, to get the details from school go in ask to see the HT and senco/inclussion if they have done IEPs and you were not asked to sign them this is very bad but even worse if they have not been doing them, having said that my DS's school did this to us and i was advised if we wanted them to go ahead with the statementing it might be better not to highlight this better to say although hes been on IEP and now SA+ hes still not improving IYSWIM

You don't need to provide a full history when you request an assessment - just enough evidence to show there is cause for an assessment. So you could list his dxs, state what his difficulties are and that he is not being provided with sufficient support.

If the LA decides to undertake an assessment you'll be asked to provide Parental Advice, which is your oportunity to write pages, and pages and pages.

The LA will contact the school and ask them for a report. You probably won't see that until it appears as an Annex to the Statement.

However, you can request a full copy of your son's school file by writing to school. That should contain everything, i.e. IEPs, letters, reports etc. If he's at SA+ then there should be a copy of a letter from school to you informing you of that. You are legally entitled to have a copy of the file.

Your chances of getting a Statement will not be compromised by the fact that school have disragrded SEN procedures. It will put school in a bad light in the LAs eyes if your son is shown to have serious difficulties and school hasn't done sufficient. You just need to provide evidence that an assessment may be required.

As I understand it under the 'freedom of information act' I think you have a right to see reports about your child. I agree with others that the schools incompetance ie. no ieps, may act in your favour and certainly won't jeopardise your chances. Get as much info. as you can. Make sure all assessments that need to be done are done. If you can afford it you could always have a private assessment done if the LEA/NHS therapists don't come up trumps. Sometimes they bias reports to tow the LEA's line. Get help from pp if you can although again not sure how much they are in the back pockets of the LEA. Sometimes good to play things close to your chest, when it comes to the statementing procedure. Get reports from people involved with your son at home too ie. relatives and friends. Good luck.

i know they(PP) are funded by the government but thus far my PP advisors been spot on supermum and is really fighting for me so dont rule them out that was a slight worry i had tbh too,but i was completely wrong as a lot of the advisors are parents with children/relatives with SEN too and are volunteers not pais staff, i think a lot of people dont use them for that reason as everything else appears so corrupt its hard to trust anyone

Thanks everyone for your input.

WetAugust, I double checked and you're right, it is the pre-assessment form (PA1), so I'll save the in-depth stuff for later - thanks!

I'll also write to the school and ask for DS's file, tho' I can't imagine there's much on it as the SEN dept have been totally disinterested in him. They never informed us that he was SA or SA+ - I only found out after learning on MN that involvement of an outside agency (in our case CAMHS) led to SA+, and when I asked the SENCO confirmed he was on it.

The LEA have said they have written to the school for further info - does anyone know what kind of input the school gives at this stage?

The school will describe his difficulties, say whether they are long-standing etc and state what strategies they have tried and what level of support he is currently getting / needs. they may include IEPs if he's had any and SATS results etc.