School want a diagnosis for funding.

[samithesausage]

Hi, I'm a newbie here! So be gentle!
My eldest son is 7, and has been having difficulties at school since reception. At the moment the school have put him into a nurture group which has a ratio of one teacher to five or six pupils, and at the moment he has caught up and is now at reception entry level. (he is in year 2).
I get called into a meeting with the special needs teacher, who informs me that in year 3 there are no funds avaliable to support him and I will have to go to the GP and get some sort of diagnosis for him!(she was talking dyspraxia and add/adhd)
Meeting with the psychiatrist was weird. "why do you want a diagnosis if you don't want medication".we managed to get through to the next round for assessment though.

Basically, I want to know:
If. He does get a diagnosis of adhd/add do I have to go down the medication route, or are there other alternatives?

If the doctors cannot make a diagnosis, what happens next? Will the school stop supporting him and leave him flagging behind everyone else?

At the moment it feels like winging it at the momentn, I haven't got a blinking clue about statementing, diagnosis and schools!

Ok, a bit of an essay! Sorry about that. Would appreciate any feedback! Thanks x

There are loads of alternatives to medication - and you never have to give him medicine.

A dx would help you do your own research about what you can do to help.

It's not 100% true that you can't get funding without a dx. The only way to get funding is to get a statement. School can apply or you.

But I think a dx would help you and school know what are sensible strategies to try.

The school will never give up on him. They will always try their best. But their best may not be good enough for him to make progress.

It sounds like he's going to need more support than they can provide without a statement. And to get a statement it helps to have a whole bunch of professionals saying he needs one.

I would echo Indigo's post.

Getting a diagnosis would mean he will be assessed by professionals who can offer advice and support (hopefully continuing!) for both you at home and the school.

Most children aren't medicated for problems like this, which is as it should be. Careful parenting and occasionally fish oil are the more usual first line of defence.

Diagnoses are sometimes a bit difficult because both conditions are often rather vague and wide-ranging, however schools like labels, so acquiring one can be very helpful. If you explain this to anyone assessing your child, then I am sure they will be as co-operative as possible.

The school cannot refuse to give him help on the grounds that there are no funds. They have to meet his needs, otherwise this is discriminatory. It is up to them to work out how to access sufficient funding - they will received a block grant for this purpose from the Local Authority and it may be that they have misallocated it, for example. Usually asking to see a copy of their accounts as well as your child's school record makes them pull their finger out, although this is a bit provocative.

Your Local Authority might be your biggest advocate here, oddly enough. If you get in touch and complain that the school has said there are no further funds to support your child, they might well get a bit of a -telling- -off-- practical support and a visit from the SEN team.

telling off

Tell the school that funding and the internal management of their financial affairs is of no concern to you, and that it is their job to provide an adequate education for all if their children, including those with difficulties and that any support is supposed to be based on need not diagnosis.

Therefore the oh circumstances where support can be reduced or stopped in year 3 is if your child no longer NEEDS it, for which they will need evidence.

These people are absolutely ace

IPSEA

You will also find that puting that conversation in writing ti the SENCO for your 'clarification' changes their stance too.

Agree with Star. School are being unfair. Yes, it is likely that a diagnosis will help school tick the right boxes to access funding, but support is NOT dependant on diagnosis.

Also - if your child needs more care than the typical child his age, you may be entitled to claim DLA (and possibly carers) allowance for him.

Thanks everyone! I will mention to every professional that the school need a diagnosis!

I didn't realise that he didn't have to have a diagnosis to get a statement, I was simply told by the special needs coordinator so I assumed it was true!

The no support in year 3 thing I assumed was a transition from infants to juniors, but I will be a bit more "shouty" about that now. I've got so much to think about and ammo to discuss with the school now! Thank you everyone!
It feels like I am stumbling around in the dark half the time with schools and professionals!

I assume the nurture group only runs in the infants and isn't available in the juniors. Is it the same school? Or will you be moving to a sep school?

Most schools don't have nurture groups. And most schools would not be able to fund the level of support you're currently getting without a statement.

It is not a case of them misallocating funds. Approx 30% of kids are on the SEN register, and they have one pot of money to stretch to cover all of that.

Indigo, the school may well not be misallocating funds, but if they are struggling to meet the needs of the child, they are most certainly misallocating their vent. This should be to the LA NOT to the parents.

The issue of funding is between the school and the LA. ALL children are entitled to an adequate education and to have their needs met. If the school cannot do this, it is the LA's responsibility to sort it out, not the parents.

OP, fwiw and quite aside from how things SHOULD be, having a dx DOES help, if only to prevent any SN being denied.

If you are okay with the idea it is probably still worth Persuing. However, I would be careful about who you tell. These processes can be lengthy and LAs can use this as an excuse to wait and see.

There is a funding formula for all schools in a LA. it's not something that a school can individually negotiate with a LA.

All they can do is apply for a statement or not. It's no easier for schools to get statements then it is for parents.

It will be helpful to everyone, including for the school to get a statement, if the OP got a dx. This is one (of many) things school cannot do.

The OP should do everything she can to help school get the evidence they need to get a statement.

I understand that Indigo, but there are pots of money, and additional resources outside of funding formulas, and funding formulas that are not meeting the needs of a child CAN and SHOULD be challenged.

There are reasons for not dx a child. Whether this happens or not, it should not affect the provision, as the label itself does not affect the need.

A statement won through copious amounts of evidence is still hard won, and a dx saves a lot of the denial crap that can get thrown at a school and parents.

But there is the law, and there is strategy. The school are trying to be strategic, and put pressure on the parents to contribute. That is fine, but the law is still the law and in theory does not require such strategies.

It is concerning that the school have misled the OP in this manner, even though I'm sure they see this as the most efficient and easiest path to provision.

There are always additional funds to apply for. Schools in some areas are able to apply direct to the LA for what is sometimes termed 'medical hours' payments for children without a statement, but who require, for example, special help with toileting. Schools can make a case if they are smaller than average that their costs for supporting SEN have ended up disproportionality higher, and acquire top up funding in some cases. If a school has a really high number of children with SEN who form an unexpected bulge in one year group, sometimes additional monies are flung their way as well, or training. I have seen schools in different LAs benefit from some or all of these.

I also saw one school who spent its SEN money on a new piano for the hall (money is not ring fenced) and then end up in a total panic when two particularly needy kids without statements suddenly arrived at the school and they had blown the budget.

The school is the same school for infants and juniors, but is basically two schools merged into one, so in a funny way they are separate as well.
The infants and nursery seem to be geared towards special needs as they have speech and language classes for the infants and nursery children. It seems that when the kids move up to juniors, that's when it gets a bit dodgy, and apparently diagnosis, statementing and funding is required to help with his learning.

What'll happen to the other children in his nurture unit?

I think, from what you've said here, it's crucial he gets a statement. But it's equally crucial you do everything you can to work with school. This will have a huge impact in the outcome of whatever they try to do to help him.