What can I do,is it worth it to complain?

[MISSSIXTY2]

Hi Guys

My DS due to overall school difficulties and expressing want to self harm had a school education assessment done in 2009 by an l educational physiologist .Ed report said nothing wrong with DS really he just needs more positive attention and praise from school and from home....felt like the worst parent ever,but I got on with it and put everything into my DS to help him.

Things never improved if anything they got worse much worse,failing everything at school.extreme meltdowns,extreme odd behaviour.I stated to surf to see what I could find to help my DS,everything I looked at brought me to dyspraxia/DCD.I took DS for private assessment in in 2011 and yes he was diagnosed with dyspraxia/DCD & SPD.
Fast forward to now both his physio therapist and OT fells he needs to be assessed for ASD....I am so angry with school ED assessment, as I feel I lost years and didn't help my DS in the right way.I cannot understand how the original school educational physiologist got it so wrong.Is there anything I can do,can I complain and if so to who?

thanks

Ask yourself "do I have time and energy to carry this fight to the end". It sounds like you have a lot to deal with and personally think your better spending time helping ds. Fighting takes alot and you need to have time to do it.

While I agree with Lisad to an extent. I don't think it would hurt to write a letter and copy it to your school and EP dept also CAMH if your DS has had any involvement with them. If nothing else it gives you a start for the paper trail you may require in the future.

We had an educational pysch assess our DD in nursery she came to conclusion our DD had mild ASD but also completed a GARS assessment incorrectly with no input from us as parents. Turns out our DD has dyspraxia and ADHD which we had to pay for private assessments to ascertain. We did complain it didn't do any good we were just told that ed pyschs do not make formal medical dx and what they say should be taken with a pinch of salt!!! We were going to complain to her professional body but decided just to put all our energy into getting help for DD. we think because we complained so much initially the board were perhaps more agreeable to granted our request for statutory assessment and full time TA hours!

Effing bs aren't they? How old is your ds? I too have a complaint against NHS for failing to pick up on ds's problems, when he should have been on an at risk list. I haven't actually lodged my complaint officially (have made myself clear verbally). I have however made a smaller complaint on a specific issue.

Personally I think yes, lodge a complaint, but accept that you will just get a standard reply from the department of Back Covering.

As others have said, I think it depends on what you want to achieve from complaining.

I have recently written letters to OFSTED and the Sec of State for Education, to complain about how badly Dd3 was treated at her last school.

I am pretty certain I won't get anywhere and I know Dd3 would never get an apology from her old HT/SENCO but just to write the letter was enough for me, just to get it off my chest.

It depends on how you feel, personally I decided to put my energy into helping Dd3 not waste any more on the stupid cow who refused to help her.

Good luck.

Thanks Guys,DS is fourteen now and just so mad that I wasted years going on that report.It made me question everything I had done as a parent for years.I hate that we are only really getting to help him now, it is a long road and I wish I had gotten on it sooner.I guess I will write a letter of complaint as suggested, but yes I dont have the energy for the fight as I need to put everything I have into my DS.God help the next professional who asks me why I did not come sooner though....thanks again for sharing

EPs can't DX DCD/Dyspraxia or ASD. You need a specialist OT for Dyspraxia and a developmental paed (or clinical psychologist or a team in some areas) to DX. The EP should certainly have picked up any educational difficulties your DS was having, though, but it takes following the medical route, either privately or NHS, rather than an educational one to get a DX. I think you may not get very far with your complaint, sadly.

Exactly what others have said. I understand your frustration and annoyance. But what do you want to achieve? If you could you would snap your fingers and get back to 2009 and do it all better second time round I imagine. Thats not going to happen.
Get a letter out, so it's not rattling in your head. Then plough on with the Dx now. Our brain's plasticity means that he can still learn a lot with the correct intervention.

The main question to me is what do you want the EP to do differently next time they assess a child like yours.

Obviously for a professional to get it right first time, every time, would be ideal. Almost as useful though, would have been, 'I really think it's emotional and nothing else, so please give lots of extra attention, and if in six months that hasn't helped at all, we should have another careful think about him'.