Lies and Tribunal

[Claw3]

The decision notice of Tribunal, is filled with comments from SENCO that are not true. I have evidence that the comments she made are not true.

For example decision notice states "SENCO told us that school are not aware of any self injury" which she did. But i have a letter she sent to the LA, when they requested a list of ds's difficulties and she listed the self injury and told LA they were managing it. I also sent her a letter and photographs of the various injuries ds had caused himself in school, all prior to Tribunal.

Also things like telling the Tribunal that ds was receiving help, that he isnt, saying he met IEP targets when he hasnt etc, etc. All of which i have evidence proving the opposite.

I have written to SENCO asking her to clarify. Have i done the right thing?

Agnes, there has been a reduction in his anxiety levels and self injuries behaviour because i removed him from his old school. When he started therapy at CAMHS he was a nervous wreck, he was punished at his old school for ASD behaviour, he was refusing school, he was being bullied several times a day, strangled, hit with sticks, having his lunch taken away from him by older children etc, etc. he was harming himself badly, he couldnt sleep, he was having nightmares, he couldnt eat. So he has made improvements.

But he still suffers with high anxiety levels and his behaviour is affected, but not as bad before, although he still resorts back to self harming, tics, not sleeping, not eating when he gets anxious. CAMHS was also going to suggest school keeping a diary, which comes home with ds every day, so that i can help him to make sense of his worries too.

CAMHS will be discharging ds soon, he has been going weekly for a year 1/2 and he is not the nervous wreck that he started off as. We will then go for 3 month follow up appointments. I have told CAMHS that it worries me that his anxiety management will now be left to school and if ds is going to have a mentor, i want someone with training, she agrees the person should have training in ASD and mentoring, but that it should not been seen as a replacement for CAMHS therapy. I dont think CAMHS would provide any guidance, other than you can phone for advice, but i can ask.

I think school need to recognise the anxious behaviour first, before we can lower it. Which is why i think Star's idea might work.

I will pm you my email, thank so much.

I say not as bad as before, thats not quite right. His behaviour is the same as before, just less often. For example his sleeping has improved, but the minute he gets anxious, he cant sleep. So it is fairly obvious to me when he is anxious.

Thanks everyone for your comments and helping me work through this. I now have a plan of action, rather than feeling there is nothing i can do

Ive had a reply they didnt answer my questions or provide copies of any programmes.

They did provide 2 IEP's, evualtion section filled in, ds didnt met the success criteria, they havent written achieved, just excuses about success in unrelated areas. Im not concerned with IEP's, they did what i wanted. Im really concerned with SALT programme and what they have done.

SALT programme dated Oct 2010, two targets both failed. Due to be reviewed termly, no review.

They got SALSA team (joint communication team) to 'assess' ds on listening and attention skills, understanding skills, social interaction, speech sound and say she has no concerns, ds is making good progress and based on this doesnt need a follow up.

Claw, just get the school file, and do the subject data access request of the SALT and SEN team and pretty much anyone who you can think of who might have had a conversation about your ds over the past 12 months.

You have other tools. Once you have all the information. No-one can pretend that there is further stuff that you just don't know about.

You can then pick them off one by one, starting with the most important. The SALT will have a line manager that is not the school, and their own codes of practice.

Be systematic and unwavering.

But be warned, if you are systematic and unwavering, they will make something, make up some excuse, find a piece of paper or a meeting they forgot to tell you about and lie.

They are beyond accountability so don't expect to hold them to account.

In the end, they will stop communicating with you if you get too close to the truth and fob you off to pointless ombudsman.

Just think long and hard about what you want to waste your energy on. These people have lied in legal proceedings - frankly, they don't give a shit and will shift shape endlessly.

There is no 'victory' to be had here.

No, appropriately. There isn't. Even if you get a panel that has resepect for morality and the law, all you will ever win is your child's entitlement, nothing more.

But Claw still has to keep going. How could she not?

Star yep that is going to have be my next port of call. Im also going to save like mad and get legal representation and my experts for next Tribunal.

appropriately what i would really like to do is to sit down with school and work out what support we can put into place for ds, given the difficulties that have been identified and observed by experts. Ive been wanting that for 3 years now, buts its impossible all the while people are prepared to lie and cover up isnt it.

You know what i might just start looking for another school, surely that has to be easier? A school that will read the reports and recommendations and say, we cant follow these recommendations without a statement.

Sorry guys to keep going on, but i dont know what this means "Enclosed are the last two IEPs. The Feb 2011 was continued into summer term due to the changes in SEN categorisation and his targets still being relevant.

Claw, you have to be careful what your next move is.

Yes, there are good schools out there, but they are subjected to the same pressures as the crap ones wirht regards to funding, provision and SN knowledge and there is huge pressure on them too, to keep their number of statemetns low.

Also, it sounds to me that some of your problems with this new school stem from the rumours from the old school following you there.

If you move schools and it ties in with the tribunal, it might work against you as it did this time, in that they might feel that the school have 'promised things' that you haven't allowed them yet to deliver. It happened with my case to a certain extent.

What I did, was move completely across county to a whole new neighbourhood, and checked that all the SEN support teams were different to get a fresh start. It sounds drastic, and I suppose it is. Appropriately is moving county. Silverfrog also moved county several times.

Other ideas:
Can you video your ds talking about school? Be careful not to ask any leading questions, and try to be positive in your questions.

Do you think it possibly that CAHMS know of a school and would be willing to nudge you in the right direction?

If you can hold on long enough to get a statement, you can tie in your move with that and get new school named on the statement. All things being equal, you'd have to get you're preference, and it is likely that a M/S placement of your choice will be considered equal to the M/S placement that he is in.

Claw That particular sentence doesn't mean anything at all. It is just there as the best excuse they can come up with and to rile you.

Don't question it as you'll waste time and play into their hands and you'll deteriorate with frustration.

Those IEPs will have to appear at the tribunal, and that is the appropriate place to ask them what the hell they mean by it.

Just try as I said to thank them for the information and request a meeting as you have some suggestions of your own that you would like to appear as ds' targets. Try to act like the IEP battle has concluded, provided you can move on.

Yeah that is true Star, it would be my worst thing i could do, that is what i feel like doing though, i will have to learn to 'switch off' again.

Im having exactly the same problems at this school Star, as i did at the last and will probably have the exact same difficulties at any school, they just cannot recognise ds's diffculties. Last school felt ds didnt have any difficulties, that was pre-dx, pre-lots of different assessments. I now have assessments and reports coming out of my ears and this school are saying 'on paper ds has these difficulties' same thing as last school, just worded differently. So no one sees any ASD related behaviour except me and the experts who assess or observe him. Im begining to feel like the 'mum is making it up' is about to start again.

They promised nothing at Tribunal, in fact since Tribunal, they have been removing help.

For ds to understand the question it has to be very specific "what do you worry about" he will tell you his dog dying, hurricanes, pretty random stuff. Even if you ask "what do you worry about in school" he will literally tell you about the school as in the school building "i dont like the colour of the walls". So i think if i were to question him, it would like im leading with very specific questions. Ds usually breaks down in tears and then everything that he has been worrying about spills out, always school related and always related to what experts have seen him struggling with in school.

CAMHS are really funny when it comes to schools, they really dont want to get involved. Even though in therapy they have stated lots of anxiety around school, this will be there first meeting with school and that is only because they are discharging ds.

Youre right, i have to bide my time.

They have told me in the letter to discuss ds's next IEP with his class teacher at forcoming parents evening, she sits with a timer next to her and parents are allowed 10 minutes LOL.

I will write back to head teacher and thank her for the information. I notice they dont list what info they supplied, just in response to your letter i am enclosing copies of all recent reports. They are certainly baiting me "i am sure you will agree that the school is giving comprehensive support to ds to address his specific needs" LOL again.

Star after seeing what little they did supply IEP's are the least of my worries, no wonder they didnt supply any of this at Tribunal. The wonderful SALT programme, which was 'designed' for ds by SALT at regular planning meetings, turns out to be a couple of lines of SALT saying "refer to page x in the i really cant be bothered manual". The social skill programme doesnt exist, the OT programme doesnt exist (at least they admit to this in the letter and said tribunal had made a mistake, it should read SALT apparently).

I will nod politely until Tribunal. Fighting anything in the meantime is a waste of time.

Still request the school file and subject data so you will be able to see any emails that have gone between this school and the last, and also the LA.

Ask the Last school for their info too.

Perhaps consider an independent Cahms type person (not sure of the persong is it a clinical pyschologist?). They might recommend an independent school which will make the school/LA sit up and try harder.

Ds sees a child psychotherapist, but yes the overall running of it is a clinical pyschologist. I could do that.

Now to write my polite reponse. I will thank HT for the information, do i need to list what they supplied, what they supplied isnt what i asked for and they are making it sound like they did supply what i asked for, without actually saying what they did enclose.

They also say that SENCO spoke to me about OT referral (she didnt) and would i like ds referred to the OT. How do i say no i dont want him referred, but nicely? Ds has already had a full assessment from an ind sensory OT, i dont want them 'assessing' ds, like they did with the SALSA team. I already know that the OT they want to refer him to is not a sensory trained OT. Can i just say that ds has already had a full assessment and i dont think another is needed.

Sorry not sure i explained that properly at Tribunal SENCO claimed the 'jump ahead' programme was designed by OT and that they continued to call upon OT services and tribunal recorded this in their decision as reasons for believing ds did not require the help listed in ind OT report.

In their letter to me they say there is an error in the tribunal decision and ds is not yet being discussed with OT. SENCO has spoken to me with regards to a referral and would i like to go ahead with the referral. (she hasnt spoken to me about this)

Yes. But thank them. And yes I would list what they have included.

re: the OT. I would do as you suggested. Thank them for their offer of referral but explain it isn't necessary at this time as you have the matter in hand.

When you thank them. A simply thank you is what you after. No 'thank you for your kind offer' should be written. They are not kind, nor was their offer relevant or needed. Don't write that though. Just stick clearly to the facts.

Don't make further requests in the thank you letter. But do list what they have given you.

A bit later you can mention that you have now done through the documents and the list and it appears they have left out x. But you might not need to do this as when you have the file you'll probably have some substantial missing information.

Bloody cheek. I would write to the SENCO and ask her if she, instead, would like to reimburse your expenses of getting an independent OT.

Grrrrrr

(no don't do this)

Could i say thank you for the offer of OT referral. Ds has only recently had a full OT assessment and i dont think we need to duplicate it?

or how about OT has recently completed a full and thorough assessment of ds?s Occupational Therapy needs and i dont feel we need to duplicate it? or is that too much?

Too much. Did the OT make any recommendations that the school could/should implement?

Just say thank you for the offer of an OT referral, but ds has only just recently had an OT assessment and I understand that they should not be repeated within at least 6 months.

Claw I agree. collect evidence and bide your time and target an indep school. It becomes easier to win this as children get older as secondary support tends to be even worse than primary (sorry!). Lots of HFA/ AS secondary schools or BESD schools with a high % HFA / AS.
We stood back and let nursery fail DS, it was the only way. We compensated as much as we could at home.
We were sweet as pie except when it came to targets when we insisted they were measurable - and therefore we could gain definite proof when they failed. But we didn't harass them about what the targets should be we let them choose but then made them SMART and stood back and waited for the inevitable to happen.
We knew once we had clear measureable targets for SALT and nursery they would fail them even though they had picked the focus themselves. Because they didn't have a clue how to teach DS. Which wasn't their fault - that was always our argument he never belonged there.