Do I really have to do nothing and wait for my son to fail more??

[2Siobhan]

I had ds IEP meeting and was told to wait till my son fails more before they will apply for SA. He is in reception and this environment allow his to cope and not cause much concern to the school thought he is not leaning as he should. I KNOW he will not cope in year 1 as dose his ot who said so at the meeting but they want to wait till he fails in Y1. This means waiting a min 6 months. I know I can apply but I really don't know how to prove he needs more help without the schools support.

The easiest way around this is to apply yourself, [http://www.ipsea.org.uk/ IPSEA] have a template letter that you can send to your LA's SEN dept. A statement takes 26 weeks as it is. If OT is in agreement with you then I would say you should put that in your letter.
When you apply the la will then contact school to see if they are in agreement, the more evidence you can include with your request the better. Make a few phone calls to paed, EP and alike to ask them for a little letter you can send, have a look at reports you already have and see if they will help.
It is quite common for schools to do this, sometimes they think they can managed anything.

IPSEA sorry link didn't work.

Problem is OT is discharging us as when he goes to year 1 he has to change to the mainstream team and school have to reapply. I have been asking for caf but school said he can't apply as he is geting ot and salt already and it won't help him get any more help. At that ot said to use her discharging as a reason to apply for caf now. I don't have a dx and as much as I dont want one it really would help. We are still waiting to see pead and tried to get ep when he was at nursery but failed. School has its own ep who is on school side. Only feeback i got was that he floated about the class, not purposely or involving with the group. And that he isnt blending at all. Ot said she thinks he needs one to one for 2-3 hours a day and will not learn to read without this. School say this is to little support to request.

Forgot to say thanks for replying I am sending myself with worry xx

You have been given some great counsel and I hope you take full heed of it.

Would apply for the statement yourself and asap. You have far more power than school ever would have in that respect anyway; you can appeal if the LEA say no to assessment and school cannot. IPSEA's website as mentioned will give you pointers.

Its ridiculous to have been told such a thing; I would argue that school are failing your son now by uttering such nonsense to you as his mother.

Schools are supposed to put in a certain amount of help. But that is not the only reason you can get a statement. You can also get one if the support which has been put in has not led to appropriate progress. Its not enough to have the 1:1 they also need to be implementing programmes which are actually effective.

You can create your own evidence by:

1. Downloading the full version of early years foundation stage and scoring your child against it at regular intervals to monitor progress (my DS was going backwards!)
2. Getting the school to do EYFS scoring termly
3. Making the IEP targets really clear and measurable eg within 3 months your child will be able to ...... If the target is not met that actually helps you get a statement as it shows lack of progress. So a target might be within 3 months you child can work supported in a small group doing a simple game or turn taking activity for 5 minutes. So they actually have to work on him 'blending'.
4. The EP report for statutory assessment will have to be more detailed than what you get at other times, ditto other reports
5. If they don't give you SA and you have to appeal - do the appeal - it will take 6 months but you will be able to spend that time collecting more evidence of failing and it will also speed up diagnosis as the LA will need reports for the tribunal

You could also look at specialist placements / unit placements if there are any and you feel the present school will not provide enough support

Also schools do not know what evidence is needed often - if you speak to Parent Partnership they will tell you that there is rarely consistency between children - which there would be if decisions were based on evidence - instead parents who push get statements and those who don't often won't. This means a child with much lower needs can get a statement when another child with much higher needs won't and both cases will have gone through the same panel.

Look at the SEN Code of Practice - it talks about what appropriate progress is and give you ideas as to why you can say his progress is not appropriate. You can also argue the importance of early intervention - lots of govt docs on this - and that this is a crucial stage. You can also argue statement is needed to make up for lost time when being failed. We won good provision on the basis that the Tribunal agreed DS had been failed for 2 years already and there was an urgent need to make up for lost time.

Thanks again. Getting a statement itself is hard enough without battling the school too. I only have OT on my side so guess I will wait to see what pead says. SALT isn't really concerned. I don't really know really what's actually causing his difficulties and currently described as having GDD. OT Think's some are either caused by auditory processing problems or with motor planing but she is not sure and has said these are problems for me to discuss with SALT.

Great advice thanks. A while ago I brought in ds eyfs profile from nursery and suggest it be uses as a way to measure progress. School did no take it on board.

Someone else will know better about the CAF and how it works - but we had one, applied for by paediatrician, and had lots of people already involved. It is not just to get more help but to coordinate and target properly the help that is there already - if you haven't got a statement it would at least bring together all the professionals involved. I am sure it is not just school who can set it up.
Tried to find a useful link for you but in a hurry - this might help www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/caf

Also do speak to Parent Partnership - they can help you now, they are not just for statemented children or those going through that process.

Sorry this is a bit rushed but hope it helps.

I just do not understand schools telling parents that children need to fall so far behind their peers before they will assist in requesting a statutory assessment. DS2 is actually ahead of all his peers, however, it is clear he needs full time support and will need this in order to progress next year in year one, as obviously it is much different than reception. Senco has said right from day one that a statement is the goal with DS2. They've never once suggested that because he is advanced he shouldn't have a statement. How can they justify just sitting by and watching him struggle until he reaches a certain level? Horrible!

I agree with others - apply for it yourself.

You can request a SA yourself. You can also request a CAF yourself and appoint yourself as your ds' keyworker.

Thanks again for the great advice. I have made an appointment to see markfields and have said that my paed appointment will be key so to push even more for that.

Have you asked your GP to refer you to the comm paeds?

I did in Feb and ds1 is being seen next week (and he doesnt have GDD).

Thing is, this attitude is so normal in MS schools.

I was told it too and my son, who is nearly 8, is still suffering because of lack of intervention at a young age....if I knew than what I know now!!!.........sigh

Yes and I am still waiting. DD was referred at the same time but referred from the hospital and has already been seen. I have been thinking that it is probably the same in all school. At few friends/family have been just saying to move him to another school especially since I have recently moved and really close to an apparently very good school. But I see this to potently make the process take longer. Thanks again it good to be able to talk this through. More productive then crying like I did earlier.

hmmm...I would be inclined to agree with your friends/family.

I moved my son to a different (much smaller village primary) last Nov and its working well for us.....they are so much more pro-active and he is - finally - getting some help.

Go and have a look round and ask about their inclusion and SEN policy.

xx