SEN School Action

[lifesamerrygoround]

Hi all,
Hope you can help me.

DS was only put on stage one at end June. So this is only really being implemented past few weeks.
This isnt worth the paper its wrote on! It only says they are going to incorporate some of OT programme into PE (OT have recommended this to be done at school for past 2 yrs anyway and ive been doing at home for this length of time too) oh and a visual schedule too.

Am I within my rights to phone senco tomorrow and ask for him to be put on stage 2 and also an IEP to be done? I have heard of kids go straight to stage 3.

Is an IEP different to Stage action plan? Or are these the same thing?

How long does child need to be on each stage before they can be moved up?

My eyes are closing over reading through this COP! Cant seem to find what Im looking for.

Thanks :)

IEP = Individual education plan. This should be a simple plan of measurable actions and targets. I think it's supposed to be produced 2x a year + once a term is considered good practice. Lots of us have complained that often iep targets are worded in a very vague way so as to avoid them being properly measurable.

School action = Help school can themselves (eg sit short sighted kid at front of classroom, reading recovery programme etc)

School action plus = outside agencies involved - this is where your kid should be as OT counts as an outside agency : ) Schools get a certain numbr of allocated hours/budget of expert help as standard for pupils at this stage.

Statement = Kid needs considerably MORE than can be provided within the schools allocated budget/resources. (e.g 3 hours OT on one pupil a term or over 15 hours 1:1 TA help, the criteria varies a little from lea to lea and they don't publish!)> It's only at the statement level that anything is legally binding so anyone on the LEA payroll will try and put you off applying if they can.

If you feel your child's educational needs are not being met (and this is easier to prove if a kid has fallen more than 2 years behind academically, though theorectically social stuff is included) or they are unable to access the national curriculum in the normal way then you should as a parent make an application for an assessment to see if your child needs a statement.

A statement takes 6 months from application if you are successful . The first stage would be a visit from the lea EP to see how your child's educational needs are/not being met. There are strict timescales for each stage of the assessment and statement process the lea has to adhere to.

It's far better if YOU make the application, as it makes it easier to
a/ appeal if your kids needs are not subsequently met
b/ you are more likely to be included on any correspondance

I've noticed anecdotally that a parental application for a statement is good cos:-
1/ It tells everyone involved with your kid you are SERIOUS in that you want help (sadly it's those kids whose parents shout the loudest at this stage who get the help they need before it's too late).
2/ The younger your child is the more likely you are to get a statement and any intervention is more likely to be effective anyway. (It's as if lea's give up on teens sadly).

Ring a charity like IPSEA or SOSSEN for more info. IPSEA has fantastic model letters on it's website too.

The 'stage' thing isn't a standard tool. It sounds like it is a way of staging the provision before a statutory assessment.

Fine if it works, but if you're finding it isn't, it might be better to go straight to statutory assessment. The reasons for refusing won't be because your ds hasn't been on stage 2 and 3, but to cover yourself, write to the SENCO and ask that stage 3 is started right away.

You can go straight to applying for a statement; a child does not have to languish on either school action or school action plus beforehand. Both these are not legally binding so support offered on them can be limited at best. A statement however, is a legally binding document outlining support.

If outside agencies have been involved (like the OT for instance) then the child should be automatically placed on School Action Plus.

I would apply for the statement from the LEA asap and ignore any naysayers.
Use IPSEA's website for information www.ipsea.org.uk. Get your letter in asap and give them six weeks to reply.

You are your child's best - and only - advocate here. You are truly best placed to fight his corner for him because honestly, no-one else will.

Life - you forgot to tell people you're in NI. I don't know if that makes any difference or not :)

Bochead - this '2 years behind academically' is often quoted here. But I don't think it's true. Do you have any links to any document containing it? (because my DD is 2 years behind and we got turned down for a statement)

Also. Applying for a statement does not mean you'll get assessed by an EP. They can turn you down without doing any further assessments on your DC.

Ok Indigo here's my take on the English " 2 year rule".

The KEY bit you have to prove is that without substantial intervention (ie more than the school can currently provide from within it's own budget) your child "can't access the national curriculum". For this you need "hard evidence". Everyone's child is different so how you prove this will vary considerably.

A basic summary of my arguments as to why my kid "couldn't access the national curriculum," even after the initial flurry of "experts had been and gone).

1. The LEA EP report said that for most intelligence scores he was average or above average. However he wasn't able to access the national curriculum because his attainment scores were 2 years behind. This was an obvious discrepancy between expected attainment and actual attainment.

1. The school needed more help after he'd notched up 2 temporary short exclusions at only age 5 & 6. Without more support these exclusions were likely to continue and everytime a kid is put on a short exclusion (under 9 days) they aren't accessing the national curriculum.

Something I think really helped me, though as a novice with no support I did it on instinct alone:-
Include a one page summary of ALL school interventions to date so they can see at a glance what's already been tried. (Assume the person who gets your initial application only has a few minutes to flick through it). I assumed they'd only READ the professional reports properly if they thought it worth the effort iykwim.

I think some statement applications must not make it through an initial unofficial filter, a bit like lots of CV's go in the bin when recruiting as they lack simplicity and clarity at first glance. For us it's our families whole lives at stake - for them, it's just a job and some staff may be more thourough than others.

Well, DD hasn't been excluded and has no behaviour problems.

Besides that my statement request looked pretty much like yours.

Interesting to hear that you did get a statement just based on what you said.