EP report - "atypical" needs?

[SgtMumger]

I'm just reading our LEA's EP report and it refers to ds as having "atypical needs" and having "delayed and atypical development".

I agree with those statements, e.g. at 3yrs he knows his numbers and shapes but has huge deficits in other areas... but I was just wondering if "atypical" carries any weight in SEN terms - I don't remember seeing it in the code of practice?

My basis for applying for a statutory assessment at such a young age is that he has "significant and complex needs" (autism, GDD, non-verbal, suspected dyspraxia). I was just wondering if "atypical" was a weasely word used by LEAs to avoid saying "complex"?

We've got a tribunal in a few months to appeal their refusal to assess him... Maybe I'm just paranoid? I post a bit on here but have also namechanged due to excessive paranoia... thanks in advance

hi i dont think so id ask PP to look at it but heres a link see if this helps

autism.lovetoknow.com/What_Is_Atypical_Autism

hmm. I would be wary, and maybe ask them to spell out exactly what they mean by 'atypical'

dd1 was always described as atypical. it usuall meant shorthand for "don't know why she isn't progressing under our crappy regime - it must be her fault not ours. if she were 'typically' ASD, we would be having more success"

but they might just be meaning it as in "not typical", you never know.

thanks very much - think the EP is being woolly (whether its on purpose or not) so I will try to persuade him to put something more concrete in there...

Isn't there something about 'low incidence' vs 'high incidence' where high incidence is meant to be dealt with by school from within their budgets, and low incidence qualify for statements?

I would think 'atypical' was 'low incidence' and would help regarding statements?

Also sounds to me like EP doesn't have a clue what's actually wrong.....

it's all a minefield, really, isn't it? and and definitely

speaking form experinece, "atypical" didn't help us one bit.

we had years of "oh, but she isn't typically ASD" when we were poiting out a method was not working - as I said earlier, inference being it was our problem, and dd1's to sort out, not the school/SALT/paed/whoever.

it was used ot hide behind a lot. EP said she was the most extreme example of compartmentalising he had ever seen (re her ehavour diferences between school and home), but that in neither situation was she typical (ie, she is not progressing at a very good school because she is not reacting like we expect an ASD child to react)

it means, to me, that the EP/SALT/whoever is actually trying to bundle all ASD children together into a set of behaviours/needs, rather than looking at an individual child and their specific needs.