****ing LEA

[CadburysHeaveEgg]

Yes they can see that DS the wood eating voice hearing underachieving autistic boy has special educational needs, but they're not going to assess him. The two ed psych reports from may and July last year aren't good enough. It needs to be more recent.

Fucking bastard wankstain shitheads. And on top of that, the panel decided on saying no to assessment only 14 days into the 30 day period for submitting information. Ratfaced knobcheeses.

I'm a little bit , can you tell?

I thought when/if they agree to assess that they send in an EP to make another report anyway? Plus he would see the school doc/pead also?

Must be wrong

Can you ask the school to call in an EP to assess again?

Buggering bastards indeed.

Did the school submit a report too?

Presumably you'll appeal? If so, make sure school/nursery (how old is ds?) submit a report backing you up. And Ed Psych and SALT if necessary.

You know that of course their refusal is more than likely just an obstacle they're putting in your path to delay providing (ie paying for) support. They're hoping you're not educated/assertive/strong enough to appeal.

IPSEA site has advice.

Poor you, and poor ds .

That's what I thought too. They were sent two ep reports, a salt report, two paed assessment reports, a battery of assessments like the ccc2 and bas II plus an assessment by the local autism specialist school etc and they STILL refused even to assess as they want a more recent ep report. in equal measure.

It was school who requested the assessment and they sent in over 100 pages of reports and assessments to back it up.

What do they think will have changed in the last 8 months since the last fucking EP assessment? again.

Sorry folks, I could kick small cute mammals for fun at the moment.

x-posts. Unbelievable actually. Just skimming the first page of this board today there are three separate threads on refusal to assess. Wonder if something to do with time of year (ie financial year end)?

Anyway - assuming that the reports you submitted all concur, and school are saying that SA+ is not enough, you have clear grounds for appeal. But of course you have to bear the cost of another EP (unless school do it?) and the time/stress/delay in support for ds.

The EP report can be ordered as part of the statutory assessment.

They usually want reports within the last 6 months. Were the other reports more recent? Does your son have ongoing support/provision from these professionals? How old is he? What does his school/nursery say?

bilay is right. Just stick the appeal in. It's a weeding out process:

Get rid of some at SA stage
Get rid of others by refusing a statement
Get rid of others with crap provision in a statement
Delay to Tribunal

Even in the case of those who pursue it to the bitter end, the LA have managed to save themselves a significant sum and the child has often lost provision they will never get back.

Get your appeal in.

i haven't got anything to add, i know nothing about the process but wanted to offer [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lbiiltiisL1qcxvxao1_500.jpg this lil fella] for you to growl at, Heaves

offers to sup as you read useful replies

oh ffs

try again

Oh if ever I've seen an easy appeal it is this one. Not saying you'll get a statement mind but you cannot be refused simply down to lack of evidence. If that were allowed then no LA EP would have a job.

Recent evidence is THEIR responsibility to find. What you have already submitted should be used. If they don't like it they know what they can do.

Put your appeal in. It sounds like refusal is routine where you are . Is it SW London by any chance?

We didn't even have a EP report when they agreed (on appeal) to assess DS. Increasingly they are using the period to decide whether to assess, as the actual assessment - when the assessment is when you are supposed to get reports. You only need to show your DS probably needs a statement.

Appeal. But also check if you are eligible for legal aid on the legal aid website as then you can get legal aid to pay for you to get private reports

Following what agnes said it does seem that there's no standard criteria on which LAs base their decision to assess or not. Our request for SA for ds was simply a letter with a copy of his diagnosis report from the paed. All the assessments themselves were done during the SA process itself, to then decide whether to issue a statement or not, and if so how little what support would be provided.

Sadly this is but the first rung in a looooong ladder to try and get adequate support.

Don't get disheartened though, as starlight has said, this sounds like a piss-easy appeal to win.

for you.

As others have said, the LA would request another EP report as part of the SA process anyway. Our original EP report was from 11 months prior to our request. They didn't turn us down, they just requested an up to date report as part of the Statutory Assessment.

I think Bialy could have hit the nail on the head. It can't be insignificant that its the financial year end. They are just trying to stall you until next year and should back down on appeal.

So sorry you are being messed around like this.

No Scumbria.

It's the fact that they've rejected out of hand before the 30 days was up. The letter on the 15th waffled ins out how they would make sure our views were taken into consideration and the second letter pisses all over that as they met before we even submitted our details and didn't let us know.

DH is home now. He's fuming and has gone out to chop wood. He doesn't do well.

Did they reject it before your parental advice had been submitted?

I think you can identify a couple of contraventions of SENCOP right there:

2:2 Parents hold key information and have a critical role to play in their children?s education. They have unique strengths, knowledge and experience to contribute to the shared view of a child?s needs and the best ways of supporting them. It is therefore essential that all professionals (schools, LEAs and other agencies) actively seek to work with parents and value the contribution they make. The work of professionals can be more effective when parents are involved and account is taken of their wishes, feelings and perspectives on their children?s development. This is particularly so when a child has special educational needs. All parents of children with special educational needs should be treated as partners. They should be supported so as to be able and empowered to:

• recognise and fulfil their responsibilities as parents and play an active and valued role in their children?s education
• have knowledge of their child?s entitlement within the SEN framework
• make their views known about how their child is educated
• have access to information, advice and support during assessment and any related decision-making processes about special educational provision.

2:13 LEAs need to ensure that:

• they are accessible, welcoming and value the views and involvement of parents

Not sure its enough for appeal on its own, but it might help.

That's very helpful info, thanks. The panel met 14 days into the 30 days and before they had our feedback.

I can't believe they met before the deadline for your submission. Surely you can appeal on that alone.

If its not in direct contravention of something official and legal it bloody well should be.

I know they're probably the last people you want to speak to, but have you considered calling your named office and pointing it out. Could there be just a tiny chance that it's a screw up and you can be resubmitted at the next panel?

named 'officer'.

Please get in touch with your Parent Partnership officer - they will be interested to know what has happened and will try to help you...
Have you heard about the group "Learning to Change Cumbria"? they will be very interested in this as their last conference for parents was based around education so try to get in touch with them too

pm me if you want to

I've called my parent partnership officer and he was on holiday, but bless him he called me when he picked up my message. He's going to call me on Tues to work out next steps.

He said it was pretty unbelievable what they rejected things for. I think thats as close as he was going to get to saying what a load of bollocks it all is.

I have calmed down now, thanks to M. Bordeaux