Statementing: Do i have to accept a board appointed ed psych?

[mamadadawahwah]

Hi, my son has finally been approved to go ahead with the statementing process. I am in the process of trying to find a private ed psychologist to assess his educational needs. In the meantime, however an NHS appointed ed psychologist has been to see my child. I told him i didnt want him, that i was going to get my own private assessment.

Does anyone know what the law says about this? Can the school board come back and say to me, you didnt accept our offer of a psychologist and now we are going to turn you down? Do they HAVE to accept the findings of my private educational psychologist? Anyone know what the law is? I have had very different answers on this from Ipsea??

thanks in advance

Why wouldn't you want the LEA ed psych as well? You are perfectly entitled to get in your own assessment and can submit that as part of the application, but the LEA will want to do their own assessment as well.

In my experience the LEA did pay attention to outside reports and took their content seriously. I really really really advise you to try and work with the LEA though, not against. You will get further working with them. There are times when it pays to be stroppy- but save it for when they are being difficult. If you refuse their assessmens you are just going to piss them off for no reason.

In our experience the LEA'S Ed Psych was the key person. We had a private Ed Psych's report to. They were both included.
I would get on the right side of the LEA's Ed Psych!!
Sadly it is all a bit of a game!

I agree with the others - work with the LEA. You can include any evidence you want in your contribution but ultimately they will want to do their own assessments.

It definitely helps to have the local EP on your side because they have a lot of sway with the LEA. However, the LEA also has a lot of sway with them and it can be hard for them to be truly impartial as they are employed by the LEA. It is fine for you to get your own private report and the LEA is obliged to take that into account when considering your child's needs.

Here are my reasonings for not wanting the board appointed ed psych, (though i have since found out, I have to allow her to assess my son).

Basically, i was telling HER about autism. She suggested a book she read from the 1970s, and thought it would be good for me to read!!!

Also, she just didnt understand the merits of ABA. She was trying to suggest that I put my child in a nursery and i asked her which nursery, cause there arent any round her that cater to autism, much less use ABA.

I just feel that she will "tarnish" my attempts at getting funding for ABA much less a proper school with ABA instruction.

But as i said, it appears i have no choice. Further, she didnt even know what the law was about me allowing her to do the assessment. She went away from my house and said she would write a memo, thats it!

My son only has one chance at this and I dont want anyone who dosent know about autism and ABA to mess it up. I fully appreciate the politics of being pleasant with the board, but to what degree??

thanks

I can understand your reasons for not wanting the local EP to see your child. However, if you will only let someone who agrees with your beliefs in the merits of ABA for your child assess your son, you are also getting a very one sided view. It's sometimes useful to hear different, objective perspectives, even if they are not the same as yours and then decide who is the most convincing. I would always be reluctant to trust the views of an 'assessor' who was selling a product or who arrived with a bias. The most important thing is to find someone who is knowledgeable about your child's specific difficulty and who is able to give a truly balanced view. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like your local EP has reassured you they're up for the job.

If your local EP knows nothing it could work in your favour. if you employ someone who is up on autism and it goes to tribunal they will eat the local EP alive. The LEA is never going to recommend ABA (unless its already common in your area), although they may agree to it grudgingly, so having a dunce on their side works in your favour.

good lateral thinking there !! Thanks

Well, having just read the post of someone else who is having "problems" with the ed psycho! i wanted to update on what is happening in my own son's case.

I am having my son statemented and the Board ed psycho came out to look at my child. I told her straight away that her services were not required as i wanted to get my own private assessment. I later realised according to the code of practice that she has a duty to assess my son for statementing purposes. Anyway, while she was at my home, she took no notes and didnt do any tests that i know of. She was there for 45 mins and left saying if i changed my mind to call her.

Well i called her telling her that I knew she had to come out again to assess. She said, "oh thats not necessary, i can do an assessment from the time i was there." She said she was at my home for about 2 hours!!!!

Are these people for real?? She was at my home for 45 minutes, she took no notes, she watched my son play on the living room floor and that was it!!!!

She asked me to give her an example of ABA, as my son is in an intensive home ABA program. She didnt appear to know what ABA was about. Then she suggested some books i read from 20 years ago about asd.

This woman has no real idea of my son. She couldnt possibly. Based on her 45 mins at my home, she is going to write a report assessing the educational needs of my son!

I will be having my son assessed privately. Just to give you an example, this assessment will take 4-5 hours and will be a 20 page report. What is the board playing at? Does any of this sound familiar to you??

Absolutely, could really be to your advantage that she is so crap!
BTW, hope you don't mind hijack. Was that your message on another board about using volunteers for your program? I don't post there any more but I do read and I wanted to say that I DON'T agree with the responses you had. The only thing I think you'd have to worry about with using volunteers over paid tutors is that they may decide, if they like the work, to go to someone who will pay them. But if you build up a good enough relationship they'll probably confide in you anyway. Otherwise I really don't think there is any higher risk of them moving on more quickly, taking it less seriously etc than anyone else. SK, who answered you, would say what she did. She is well known for charging the MOST extortionate prices for absolutely everythihng and treating the whole thing as a business, so she doesn't want to see any ABA work going to willing and free people! HTH.

Thanks Davros, yep that was me, and thanks for the tip, very interesting, how cynical of her. As a newbie to this, i guess i will learn the hard way.

thanks again