STATEMENT FOR SPECIAL SCHOOL - QUANTIFYING PROVISION

[mompa]

Hello I hope someone can help. I have received a proposed statement and it seems quite comprehensive but it does not quatnify number of hours that my son will receive each week. It is looking likely that he will attend local specialist nursery in September and the specialist nursery and case officer at LEA say that for special school statement does not state number of hours since the placment is specialist and is from 9am to 2pm Monday to friday. Is this correct? Should I insist on number of hours anyway? At the moment my son gets 15 hours one to one at mainstream but this is not helping since he needs specialist placement. Any help gratefully received

Agree with Justa. That's how it is in my LA also for SS. Any 1:1 or small group interventions should still be quantified IMO. Also, it may be a bit early, but what are plans after nursery, MS or SS? You will have to get the statement changed at transition annual review in either case, but if MS you'll need hours included at that time.

mompa, is this the specialist nursery that we have discussed before?

imo, a statement can and should be specific on all points, even at special school - there is nothing that shoudl be left open to interpretation (unless you are entirely happy that the interpretation given by the named placement will be the one oyu would give yourself) - if there is somehting happening which is in a group, for eg, the statement can specify: group size, number of teachers, and what qualifications they should have.

if it is the specialist nursery I am thinking of, I would want:

SALT quantified (and not be fobbed off with "it is delivered through the curriculum - it is and it isn't, at that placement, ime. and as soon as htere is a concrete issue that is worked on with your child individually, this is delivered by a TA, with unspecified training (at best in-house - which in fairness could be worse, as things go - at worst "years of hands on experience" - I have htis myself, but would not call myself an experienced TA!)

OT: do NOT let this be overlooked. this placement was shocking at OT support for my dd. get it specified and quantified - if the placement cannot meet what is specified, then maybe it is not the best place for your child? (if he has OT needs, of course!)

I owuld also get htings written in about:

meetings to agree IEP (ime, you get given it and asked ot sign it - no discussion allowed or encouraged)
meetings ot agree targets
proper progress reports, not just their report produced once a year - althugh comprehensive, it is no help in knowing what is going on daily/weekly
try to get a contact book agreed (this will probably not happen, but you can try)

hth

Hello Silverfrog. Many htanks for taking time to reply. Am aiming to get DS into surrey maintained nursery in Chertsey not the one where he is now since he is not making progress there. Will not know until panel in June whether he will get place and they want statement finalised by beginning of June and have promised to rename statment to new setting if he is to go there in Sep. Have noted about OCC Therapy and SLT being quanitified - how much do I ask for. SLT is in setting for one full day a week and there are 10 children in class?? Can I demand over and above that. When I visited they told me usual it is incoreporated etc etc. DS main need above all esle is SLT - thanks again

How can they finalise the statement if you don't know if your DS is going to SS or MS? What you have currently would definitely be inadequate for MS. As far as SALT goes do you think he needs 1:1 or group work? Often I've been told that SALT for ASD works best in context, ie in class or in small groups rather than out of context unless you are working on the mechanics rather than social communication. What does your SALT recommend? You need it specified.

My ds (4.4) is in a SS and now has a quantified statement. Until it was quantified he effectively got nothing - though a lay-person reading his statement wouldn't have thought that - and, unsurprisingly, made no progress. What's in the expert's reports that you can lift? Do you know any children similar to yours and what provision they get? My understanding is that what we were asking for was pretty much in line with what children with my son's dx could expect to get. Our experts backed it up and the LEA agreed to it quite easily.