First IEP meeting today. CONFUSED! Any advice?

[Floopytheloopy]

Hello!

I had a meeting with the senco and dd's 1:1 this morning and I have to say, i'm a little deflated. Which, to be fair I was kind of expecting.

Dd(4) has 1:1 with an already exsisting teaching assistant. I'm just making that point clear so you know that nothing has yet needed to be funded. If this 1:1 wasn't with my child, she would be with another who needed her. Just thought I should put that across.

Apparently she had been assessed and it was decided(not to my knowledge) that she wasn't severe enough to be on the 'school action plan'. Suggesting that with a little bit of guidence she would be fine.

The senco made the point that they have a certain amount in "the pot" if things should regress and that would be enough to fund a few hours a week support. He then went on to say that a new govenment legislation says that children who at one point would have got the funding, lets say children who's needs weren't particuarly viewed as severe, those same children today wouldn't recieve the funding. He then shrugged that" it was a shame.............but hey, thats how it is now"

He did make the point that this would be reviewed again soon and if there are any changes then we will be informed.

Even though my back was up with the "that's how it is now" comment, I genuinely didn't know if that was right or not. I did say that if in the future it were agreed she needed extra support that I would expect that would be available to her. I got a response something along the lines of, we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.

Can somebody let me know if this information correct? If it is and she does need help, it paints a very dim picture of her future.

Thanks for reading and I would be really grateful for any advice/experiences.

Don't know much about the whole IEP process, but do remember reading in last 6months or so on the news about changes to funding for SEN as too many people 'dx-ed' with SEN. Can't find exact article but is mentioned at bottom of this one which might give you more to google from, if more knowledgable bods don't come along.
I thought though that Action, just meant school could deal with things internally - ie provide that little extra help, that if I read above correctly they say she needs, without needing professional help. If a pro is involved then it becomes Action Plus.

Ah, this is what I was thinking about...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11287193

Well, this is what I thought. He also mentioned that even though we were asked to come to an IEP meeting, technically that wasn't what it was, as no pros were involved as of yet. She doesn't have an inclusion support officer or anybody like that. She was seen by the health visitor 18 months or so ago and she didn't think it was anything other than a delay and then the inclusion support service said that they would agree with what had already been said by the health visitor.

Maybe it's different rules for different shools. I don't know. All I know is that i'm feeling rather negative about the whole thing at the moment.

Thanks for the link by the way. :)

Floopy where are you based? Has your child had any outside services carrying out observations? A SENCO is not qualified to assess a child's specific needs. Their job is a bit like a GP ... they can advise, but have to refer to qualified professionals and should never be diagnosing. What do 'they' say your child's specific needs are? Sorry for questions, but have been through up to the School Action Plus stage with my ds2 and may be embarking on the Statementing process soon. My understanding is that School Action is where your child's needs are met with teacher intervention. School Action Plus is when an outside resource has been bought in or consulted about your child's needs (this was the point at which we got our GP to refer ds2 to a pediatrician for full assessment of ADHD). The next step would be a Statement of educational needs. School's do have an 'SEN pot' to dip into if the child's needs can be met in the classroom ie: like you dd's with the help of a T/A. Schools can apply for more funding beyond the pot if the child's needs are deemed worthy, so would need to be pretty urgent and based on outside observations/assessments and recommendation. A Statement is a different thing altogether and a legally binding document that states specific needs that a school must put into place (again, can be a bit mine field due to funding and a lengthy process). Sorry if I have stated the obvious to you, wasn't sure how new all this was for you

is your dd on school action? She should still have an iep and it should be smart, so technically, it was an iep meeting. She should be on school action plus if there are outside agencies involved. I'd suggest you have a good read of the sen code of practice link here on the right hand side where it says 'SEN Code of Practice - Large print for the web'

I think LEAs have changed the way they fund but that shouldn't stop your dd getting support, so that's not how it is! Schools are expected to fund a certain amount of support themselves, not start refusing to support children who need it.

Floopy,

re your comment:-

"She was seen by the health visitor 18 months or so ago and she didn't think it was anything other than a delay and then the inclusion support service said that they would agree with what had already been said by the health visitor".

Was also going to ask where you're based.

I would now be asking your GP to refer you to a developmental paediatrician; health visitors are also not qualifed enough to diagnose a "delay". You need up to date information on your child from the paed.

If your child already has a 1 to 1 provided by the school then I would also be questionning them as to why they don't think she should be on any school plan (btw such plans are not legally binding so their scope is limited anyway).

You are your child's best - and only advocate. I think you are being messed around here.

You're being fed a total pack of lies :(

there are 3 levels on the SEN register. The first is school action, and about 20 or 30% of the school should be on this level. All this level means is that the child needs some form of extra help or the child is on some interventions.

All kids on this level should have an IEP which is reviewed termly and contains SMART targets. If your child is getting 1:1 then they should def be on at least this level.

The next level is school action plus. This is for kids who are also receiving help from outside agencies likeSALT, the ASD team or an EP

the top level is a statement. This is for kids who need more help than the xchools can fund.

You are abdolutely being fobbed off. I don't know what probs your DC has and if they need a statement or not. But the rules for getting s statement have not changed. School is lying to you.

Your child should at the very least be on school action and have an IEP

Good advice above already.

If your child has any sort of developmental delay you need to see your GP and get a referral to find out more about the delay and what caused it.

Educational support is needs-led. Therefore you need to think about what your DD needs in order to access the curriculum. Then you need to ask the school what they will be putting in place to meet those needs on school action. This should be documented in the IEP.

If they can't meet her needs from within the school's resources they should put her on school action plus and involve outside agencies.

If that is unsuccessful they should request a statutory assessment to get her needs met from additional funding which comes with a statement.

Don't let them fob you off in this way any more. Your DD is entitled to access the curriculum and make academic progress. It's up to the school to work out how the ensure that happens.