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Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.

The Road to Statementing... Continued... Part 2

7 replies

CinnamonPretzel · 02/11/2011 21:58

Evening All,

Far far too much going on at the moment; but a quick question and in need of your help please

I'm completing the final part of my Parental Form (A3) for the Assessment of SEN Statement. Apart from needing to summaride what we feel our childs main difficulties are - haven't we already covered all that in A1?!?
Anyhow - this form details Early years, general health, child at home, child at school and then another child view for DS to complete (like the first one wasn't enough for him)

Would it be appropriate to send a copy of of the DLA details I sent in? This covers pretty much everything in sooooo much detail - obviously bullet point on a single page the main elements but is this a bad idea? Hmm

Your thoughts gratefully appreciated. Blush

One other thing on the form - it asks if we have a preference at this stage for a school? I like his current school and I have picked a secondary school but he's only in Yr3 so not sure if I'm supposed to put anything or not. If I am, what shall I put and do I have to put a reason for my choices?

Thanks very very much in advance

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ArthurPewty · 03/11/2011 09:31

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ArthurPewty · 03/11/2011 09:33

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Lougle · 03/11/2011 10:14

I think perhaps different LAs give different impressions.

I personally feel that it is insufficient to give the DLA form as evidence for the following reasons:

DLA is about 'care needs'. It is about the things that a child needs to function throught the day and/or night.

A Statutory Assessment is an assessment of 'Educational needs'.

Whilst the two can and often do overlap, they are not completely aligned.

It does matter what you write, and you can only be treated as equal to the experts if you approach it with the same attitude, in my opinion.

You can sway the person reviewing the evidence hugely, and it doesn't have to be overt. For example, in DD1's case, every single professional had assumed that while SS would be beneficial, it was unlikely that a child as verbal as DD1 would get a place. Therefore, they all swayed their reports to indicate a high level of 1:1 needed in MS school. None of them thought she would get the much more expensive but more suited Special School placement.

I however, was unsure. I thought perhaps SS would be better, but would accept MS school if they gave 1:1 from the minute she entered the classroom to the minute I picked her up.

I emphasised all the areas which could be a Health and Safety risk either to my child or other children. I didn't say that was what I was doing, but even questions such as 'what is your child good at' I took as an opportunity to say something upbeat and positive, but with a really negative undercurrent. For example "DD1 really enjoys gluing and it is the one thing that will keep her attention. However, the pretty items to glue with are very tempting for her, and she often can't resist exploring them with her mouth!" overt message is 'she loves this activity!!!' covert message 'choking hazard, watch at all times'.

The result for us, was that despite all reports from professionals saying 'MS with 1:1 (the cheaper option by far) the LA decision maker decided that all of the reports together, including mine, pointed at Special School being the more suitable setting.

My advice is that this is your one shot to get it right. If you end up in tribunal, you want, surely, to be proud of your efforts to give information, and for the LA to have to squirm that they had ignored salient information. If you just send them a half-hearted bunch of indirectly relevant information, they can say 'well the information from the child's parents wasn't too clear'.

CinnamonPretzel · 03/11/2011 11:45

Thanks Lougle,

I have worked extremely hard through out this process. I wouldn't sent the DLA as the main item - what I meant was, if it would be okay to attach it as an example. While this is education based, they also ask details about their early years, health etc which is covered a lot in the DLA (I went to town on that too!)

I'll just pick the relevant bits for my final bullets and summary :)

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EllenJaneisnotmyname · 03/11/2011 14:30

I'd say use the same words about care needs if you like, but cut and paste, rather than attaching the DLA form. Makes you look like you mean business.

Leonie is right, as well, though. It's the professionals 'advices' that hold the most weight, they'll probably only pay lip service to yours, but I'd still want the parental advice to look professional, IYSWIM.

CinnamonPretzel · 03/11/2011 14:45

Thanks. Yes - fully agree that the LA probably won't look too much at what I've put, but I want to make sure I've covered all bases. I didn't write on the DLA form boxes, but attached the answers as a word document so can delete and adapt as an additional as well as my Appendix :)

I've just had the Ed Pysch meeting at school and tried soo hard to tell everything I could think of, highlighting areas I'd discussed with teachers, SENCO etc. Tried, making things negative but highlighting where hes doing well its with soo much 1:1 support or he did well in Yr2 because of that jolly constant interaction etc.

Basically, I just want to make sure I touch on the same bits the school and the Ed Pysch, OT, SALT etc will but add a twist and hammer it in.

This has got to be the most stressfull week so far. Course assignments, secondary school picking for DD, constant headache since Thursday and this appendix.
Roll on tomorrow afternoon - I can rest with a glass of wine.

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CinnamonPretzel · 10/11/2011 22:17

I managed to finish my final appendix at 4am on the morning it had to be with the LA. I typed up my summary incl. just over a page of bullet points, added various general health and care elements (part of the question 2) similar to the DLA as that detailed a fair amount of comparison from school and then finished off with more home/school detail and a final snippet of details from a resent review meeting with one of his teachers.

In total 13 additional pages that probably won't mean squat because the EdPysch saw DS on a very good day!

I phoned on Monday and was told they were just waiting on the EdPsych report and would be sending all off to an independent bod to complete their report. We should get feedback within 4-5 weeks just before Xmas.

Waiting game...

I honsestly think I've done ALL I can and doubt there is much I'd change to make any difference to the outcome.

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