HELP!!!!!. Please

[XxAlisonxX]

Our SN LEA woman has phoned me today and told me that there is a meeting on friday at a MS high school with an SLI unit, regarding my DD and what there going to do. Now this school turned my DD down, months ago and said that they couldnt meet her needs and that there is no way she would cope in a MS high school, I am in the process of making a list on to no matter what they do she will not be able to cope there list IYGWIM, ( she really would not be able to manage at all ) plus i am in the process of looking at an independant residental school that will work wonders for her if i can get her in. Any ideas on what i need to focus on for reasons on why they shouldnt stick her in there and send her to the 1 i want. hope this makes sence.

my DD has very severe SLI, with no short term memory, she is statemented, and her levels are that of a 5/6 yr old, she is nearly 11.

Are you invited to the meeting? Can you phone the school and discuss with them why they have suddenly changed their minds? If they say they havent could they please email you with the concerns they have that they cannot meet her needs to add to your list.

Have you spoken to the independent school to see if there are any places?

So what has changed since the school said they couldn't support her? Nothing except pressure from the LA, I guess. Did the Mas school with unit give you any reasons why they felt they couldn't support her last time? These reasons are still going to apply and will be a starting point. I would be asking what peer group your adD would have. Will there be anyone there at her social level? If there's no-one that is a bloody good reason it's inappropriate.

you will need to prove why this school can't meet her needs and why the other one is the place that can. Not that its the best. Has she been for an assessment at the residential school yet. I would go to the meeting at this school and check out very carefully everything they can't do that your daughter needs. if you have an assessment from the residential school it will probibly have lots of things it provides that your dd needs quietly suss if the ms can do them. Does she need. a 24 hour curriculum if so keep this quietly up your sleeve too

She goes for assessing on the 23rd at the independant school.

Yes i have been invited to the meeting, and i intend on going, the said school stated that they wouldnt be able to meet my daughters needs cause her scores were to low for them, they even said that they wouldnt know where to start in teaching a child that low, that they have never admitted anyone with scores that low and they would refer her to the SN school up the road from them. They also said that due to her lack of short term memory she would not beable to cope with the size of the building, size of the class, change of teacher, change of lesson, change of room. Im not sure how on earth the LEA is going to get round that. There is also the fact that she will have to travel 45 mins twice a day to get there and back, and cause of this she isnt going to be able to maintain friendships after school or join in with after school activites. Which she would benefit from due to her being socially immature and lacking social and self help skills.

We were offered an independent day school after we had named an independent residential school -previous to this we had only been offered MS without any units attached .
We went to see the school they offered ,but after visits and discussion the LA said " the other children were more learning disabled " and agreed with our choice .
Our solicitor said that peer groups were hugely important and not to be over looked .With all the other reasons stated by this school ,I think this needs to be reiterated.
Did you get any of the reasons for refusal in writing? We did , from 2 schools , along with quotes from SENcop. I think this helped enormously ,though I know it is too late for you now. But one thing I learnt on here is get EVERYTHING recorded.
I think you have a good case .If this is a SLI unit and they say they cannot meet her needs for all reasons quoted ,then it seems they need to look at something else .
Do you have EP ,SALT.OT, reports ? I know they are very expensive but we went private. I believe it made all the difference .
My DS had scores as low as your DD -2a in yr 6 across the board and was statemented for 20 hrs -though with extra school hours it was more like full time.
One last thing -I believe we only got our school because of tribunal .... Have you threatened this yet ??
It is a horrible time ..... keep strong

TBH - it's just a try-on and they know it as you already have sufficient evidence froin the form of an admission from the school itself that they can't meet her needs. that alone would win it for you at Tribunal. The LA are just having a last ditch attempt to save the cost of the (expensive) independant placement.

Apart from the obvious i.e. the school must be able to meet her needs you can also use:

Education must be appropraite to age and ability. Being in a MS school when she is off much lower ability is not appropriate.

Travel must be non-stressful. If you think 90 mins travelling each day would be stressful for her that's grounds for stating the placemnet is inappropriate

Lack of experience and ability in teaching children with her specific difficulties etc.

I'd go on Friday but be very non-committal so I didn't agree to anything and then continue with the assessment for the other school.

I'd also take a witness with me.