First statement advice please

[sayjay]

Hi My son has dx of ASD and is Reception age. We were undecided about which school was better for him in September so he has so far remained in his MS nursery.
We started the statement process over 18 months ago and are still waiting for finalisation. It took exactly 12 months for the LEA to issue a draft statement. At that time (Sept last yr) it was looking likely we were going to accept a place at the (not so local) specialist provision attached to a MS school.
Anyway, for one reason and another we were never completely sure this was the right place for him and have recently agreed to proceed with a place at our local MS with full time support.
Whilst this has been going on we have been, er, negotiating , his statement with the Lea and finally had a draft we were happy with, then we decided to change the school so it needed redrafting the amend part 4.
The Lea requested an updated reported from SALT after our decision to change to MS. The first I knew of this was a copy landing on the door mat. They have now used this update to basically write out his SALT. I believe this was a deliberate tactic as his previous draft had excellent SALT provision, which would be overseen by the SALT who spent one day per week on site, at the Specialist Provision placement. Obviously they don't want to fund the same level of Salt if he's not at the most convenient place to do so.
In my view, his needs are the same as they were in Jan when we finally decided to go for the MS place instead of SP. I want them to revert to the previous draft and leave in his SALT as before. I feel the SALT report is somewhat lacking in specifics. She has managed to carry out formal assessments on him now, which show he has comprehension and verbal ability which are age appropriate, but she is clear he has a communication disorder and social difficulties and although he can communicate his needs he will not always do so.
What do you think my chances are?
Any words of advice?
I feel the Nhs would not be prepared to offer him the same level of salt at MS as he would have got at SP and this is why they have under reported his problems.
Do we have to go for a private salt report you think?
Urgh
Sorry if this if full of typos or hard to read, ranting on phone, not easy .....

Oh they have given him "full time support" but not stipulated that it should be 1:1. Should I have them stipulate this?

Statements should be quantified i.e. how much, by whom, at what frequencies etc.

If LA are saying SALT is not required it's almost certainly because they don't want to fund - not because the need has disappeared.

You'll probably have to take the LA to Tribunal to get SALT reinstated. To have the best chance at Tribunal you should get an assessment done by a private SALT. You might also want to get a private EP assessment too as it will be much more comprehensive than any EP assessment an LA-employed EP will undertake.

What WetAugust said.

SALT should be in Part 2 as well as 3 of this document.

Thank you. The really annoying thing is the draft version 2 was everything we wanted. The SALT report was excellent, very specific recommendations which, on second attempt the LEA put into parts 2 and 3. It was only part 4 we wanted changing ie placement. Now they've rewritten the whole bloody thing and it seems SALT are on their side as her updated report is much more woolly than the previous one she wrote when he was going to the ASD unit. If it makes any difference she is the one who would be on site at the ASD unit, and now her reports indicate he would be attending clinic apts with his TA for her input. I feel her workload pressures may have a part to play in her down grading her recommendations.
Can anyone recommend a private SALT in the north west?