Turned down for SA - what next?

[farming4]

Hi, some of you may know me on here and know the navel gazing I have been doing re a statement for ds (verbal dyspraxia and epilepsy). Anyway finally sent off SA request on Friday, together with reports from all the professionals involved with ds eg pead, SALT, pre-school senco, hv and letter of support from ht of ms school ds will start in Sept, amongst others.

Anyway I have had a phonecall today from the IO for the LEA saying I am being turned down for assessment as there is no proof his needs cannot be met from the school SEN budget which will entitle him to 15hrs 1-1 teaching when he starts. School have already said they will give him 12 hrs 1-1 and I have met the TA allocated - really chuffed cos she is more than qualified to support ds and I know the school will do all they can to help him.

LEA have said that EP needs to be involved (told IO on phone that I have been requesting EP since Jan but EYIO deemed it not necessary ) and that the school needs to bring them in. I know I can ask for EP assessment myself but is there any point?

School are not happy and I have a meeting arranged with the HT and SENCO on Wed - any advice on where to go next and what should I be bringing up at the meeting?

TBH I am pretty pissed off as I spent a lot of time putting the request together, chasing reports etc and I just want the security of a statement for ds without having to wait any longer then necessary. Or AIBU in light of the support school have already said they will provide?

Thanks

No you are not being at all unreasonable here. What have school said about EP involvement?.

I would also be speaking to one of the charitable organisations out there re your particular case e.g IPSEA, SOSSEN, ACE etc.

Use IPSEA's refusal to assess pack via their website www.ipsea.org.uk.

I think you need to speak to the head and gauge which side of the fence the school are actually on. I know you say they wrote a letter supporting your application but they know the budgets they know how many hour they give before a statment kicks in. The fact they are offering 12 hours would ring alarm bells to me esp as they have the budget for 15 and I am guessing but if you had got a provisional statement of 15 you would actually try to get that increased for your son. I am a cynic and have litte trust and have worked very close with schools and heads and saw first hand the way they humoured parents.

Apparently according to the IO, as our primary is classed as a large primary, the LEA says the first 15 hrs of support required by a child has to come from the school budget - no idea how this works in practice - I might add that to the list of questions for the ht on Wed.

well you can appeal and explain that you are doing so just to protect your position - if the 12 hours is enough you can withdraw your appeal which will take up to 8 months to be heard anyway - if its not enough then you won't have to start from scratch.

an appeal will also most likely lead to an EP visit happening sooner rather than later as the LA will need evidence to support an appeal

Not sure why the school are not happy? Not happy with you or not happy not getting a statement? If not happy about the statement they can work with you for those 8 months to show that more support than 12 hours is needed eg some schools will put in more than 15 hours from own budget to prove that is what is required.

LeninGrad

"When you say they have the budget, how is that done? What if it becomes apparent a child needs some 1-2-1 as the year goes on?"

This is a political minefield, and one of the main reasons why the provision of SEN support in the UK is so bad. There is a limited pot of money, and those who control the money have some discretion as to how it is spent, which is not always on its initially intended use. And there are various flows of money to schools and Local Authorities to cover various nominal cost issues. The real problem is that the whole pot is not big enough, central government does not like providing the money so the schools and LEA etc have to fight it out amongst themselves. Leaving the parents wondering why their children are not getting the support they need, and blaming the various parties at various times for this provision failure.
All Education Ministers are as bad as each other, none of them in recent years, decades, have been able to secure adequate funding to provide for the SEN needs of our children.

I think if school have already promised 12 hours 1:1, and you think that is more or less how much he needs, you should go for this for now.

If that proves to be not enough help, then you will have evidence of that and you can re-apply for a statement then.

Your LEA has given money to the school to cover non statemented kids, and they have chosen to use that money to fund 1:1 for your child.

The thing with the school giving him 15 hours 1:1, is that it can be withdrawn at any time.

My ds started his new school on 20 hours, a few months later, that was withdrawn and he now receives no 1:1.

Would also add it is pretty standard to get turned down on your intial request for SA, appeal it.

Well just got back from the meeting with the HT and SENCO and have found out that our LEA has no EPs as the entire service is under review - wtf? No idea of when the school will be able to get one in but apparently they have another child who has been waiting for EP involvement for 4 mths!

Anyway I'm going to appeal and am going to put all the extra evidence in to counteract all the reasons for refusal namely

"Extra help has not been requested by ds's early years setting"
Actually the LEA funded a 2 1/2 yr old place for him at Pre-school. And he has had additional 2 hrs 1-1 help each week paid for during this school year.

"No request has been received for EP involvement"
EP requested at least 3 times since Jan but the jumped-up IO decided that it wasn't necessary. Thankfully she very stupidly kindly put that decsion in writing in an e-mail!

The rest of the reports speak for themselves so will send them in again.

Then just wait and see.........

Are you eligible for legal aid? If so you may be able to get a private EP report as part of appeal.