Advice pls: when to start planning for secondary?

[mariasalome]

ds1 age 8 has definite ADHD (medicated), and definite asd (reasonably well compensated but not mild). Just to complicate the picture a bit more, he also had high tho spiky iq, poor core tone and the usual sensory issues, auditory processing disorder (probable), anxiety, aggression (at home) etc. His schoolfriends are amazingly lovely and they really look out for him.

In many ways he is like an average 5 yr old, but academically scores more like a 9 yr old. He's had a lucky run of experienced teachers who have had dc with similar sn recently (school didn't tell me this, their mothers did) and who just seem to 'get' quirky kids and cope well with potentially challenging boys.

So, given all this, I guess we will be off to tribunal at least 4 times: for refusal to assess, to challenge the inevitable NIL, to specify and quantify tge statement and to try for the right school in part 4. SA was declined last year on the grounds that school felt they could meet his needs (and in fairness, the obviously academic ones and the short term behavioural ones are showing modest progress, but the cracks are widening and nothing is being done to try to narrow the widening gaps)

I'm worried about when to start the long and drawn out process. Too early, and i risk everyone seeing only the 'compensated' ds1 that they did last time too late and there's not enough time for the multiple attempts to overcome LEA inertia and blanket refusals.

The reason I'm panicking is because I know (in the same way i knew about each of the eventually diagnosed problems) that he won't cope without really substantial help, it's all academies in our area and secondary school lacks everything that he relies on, whilst everything which sets him off into a negative spiral will be there in massive doses.

Hi maria, I am in the same position as you, in that ds is 9, in year 4 and already just about hanging on. He has AS, dyspraxia, SAL difficulites, spd, etc etc. He receives informal help from school, eg lsa support when available, parent volunteer support, special desk, avoids assemblies, etc.

With all this informal support, he is managing to achieve academically and performing at least 2 years ahead across the curriculum, except for written English where he has made a sub level in 2 years .

Like you, I know ds would not cope at secondary school. It has taken 2 years to get assessments and the school onboard. I have also been to the secondary school he will probably go up to and got them on board. They will be attending TAC meetings and said it is essential ds gets a statement. The HT wishes all parents started earlier, rather than being landed with dc in Year 7 who obviously can't cope!

So you are not panicking and doing absolutely the right thing.

Now is a good time re secondary schools; never too early to start sounding them out properly. We're also now in the last full term before the six weeks holidays.

Also a transistional statement review will take place in Year 5; by year 6 the groundwork started in Y5 is already established for transfer to secondary.

Have you now reapplied for the statement from the LEA?.

Hi Iceflower,

My son is already at secondary and has a statement.

Re your comments:-
I have also been to the secondary school he will probably go up to and got them on board. They will be attending TAC meetings and said it is essential ds gets a statement. The HT wishes all parents started earlier, rather than being landed with dc in Year 7 who obviously can't cope!"

Well done for already going to the secondary school. Re TAC meetings these are really a bunch of hot air; would suggest you apply for the statement yourself and asap rather than the Secondary school doing it or waiting for him to start a potential crash in Y7. I am not saying that to upset you, this is what I saw at first hand with one of DS's peers who now has a statement (Junior school failed this child). Would certainly endorse this HT's comments.

IPSEA's website www.ipsea.org.uk is helpful.

Hi Attila

ds has a TAC next month and statementing is on the agenda. If there is suggestion of delay/backtracking, no fear, I will be applying myself !

I know firsthand what it's like when dc fail, dd has the tshirt. We have been through such a journey that the LA flinches at the sound of our name .

You are right to start now. Sounds strange but the worst thing in many ways that happened to ds was that in year 4 he had a great teacher who got his sen, knew which strategies to use to motivate him and help compensate for his difficulties. It meant we were lulled into thinking he's not so bad really, he can cope with the right help. It should have been obvious but unless you can guaranteee the teachers your dc has will always be experienced, intuitive and knowledgable about sen (in other words exceptional), they won't cope at all with the increasing challenges they face, especially at secondary school.

You can start now by looking at what the options are for secondary from mainstream through units, special school, private or maintained. You can ask the mainstream sencos what support they offer to a child with your ds' profile at sa, sa plus and statement level. In september the mainstreams will hold open evenings for all the children in year 6 who will be applying for the following year. go early and get a feel for the different schools. We visited one private all singing and dancing outstanding ofsted school (real coffee and danish pastries) but the student guides didn't know who the senco was and turned out she wasn't there for the open evening.

Of course you may well visit some who talk the talk but how do you know they walk the walk? One possible way would be via local autism or other sen support groups. If you talk to parents who have older dcs, you can get their feedback on how well supported they feel their dcs are.

Ice, Attila and pink, thank you. I thought it probably was time to get started, so I will up my pre-SA request preparations a bit, and start calling the secondaries. I'm wondering about taking the direct approach and just booking in with the senco's to ask what they think, and how they manage unsupported dc with similar profiles.

A good statement is my plan A, without the right help he'll probably end up excluded, self harming or school refusing... I'd rather the schools knew that and refuse a place if they can't handle him. I presume non-statemented dc who need statement level support are a financial and administrative nightmare for schools, and I can see how that could 'impact on the efficient education of other dc at the school', so it's not impossible he'd be school-less come y7.

SA was declined last year on the grounds that school felt they could meet his needs

This is so stupid.

The whole point of an SA is to identify all a child's needs.

Without an SA all school is doing is guessing at his needs and, consequently, gusessing they can support them.

I would definitely re-apply and use the above as legal argunment against any future refusal to assess.

Ah, that was the unofficial verbal version when I asked for clarification (along with a suggestion I ask a social worker for help if ds1 was having major difficulties, since maybe I just wasn't coping

Obviously the letter was the standard cut and paste job, along the lines of 'panel assessed the evidence and concluded that the schools intervention at school action plus was effective and ds1 is making adequate progress'

The evidence, of course, was that provided by school ie their assessment that they knew what his needs were, that he was doing fine thanks to their help. So the unofficial version isn't documented but is the trigger for the official wording.

All semantics (sigh), but probably not provable at this stage.

I think the irony is that the system seems to be set up so that your dc has to fail to cope catastrophically before they are deemed in need of a statement. We accept the idea that preventative medecine saves lives and money, how about some preventative educational intervention?

yes pinkor, exactly