reasons for appeal: advice please

[mariammariam]

Hi guys. SOS SEN said make sure to get this right as good cases fall apart if the original reasons are badly witten. They'll fine-tune / advise / have a look for me, but I need to get the basics worked out first. Please please pleae anyone who has a mainly social-behavioural-communication tribunal experience, what did you write?

DS has IQ 125, ADHD, Aspergers, dyspraxia. 9y old. The usual mixed extras: anxiety, sensory, ODD-ish plus subtle language stuff plus a few minor allergies etc.

Too bright to be academically failing at school (yet) ie knew much of the NC before starting primary. Too naive and sweet to have totally alienated his classmates (yet). In trouble all the time but scared enough of teachers to obey them (ish). Lots of problems, lots of low-level help, school say "it isn't affecting progress"

Those that understand the spectrum spot his difficulties and comment in the reports (couldn't do this, wasn't joing in with that, confused by the other). The others write down anything they spot which looks normal and if the issues are pointed out they say 'lots of children do x, he's a boy, they all develop at their own rate'.

I've sort of been through something similar (though didn't make it to tribunal), happy to help if I can.

What stage of appeal are you at? I'm a bit confused about what SOS SEN said. The bulk of your evidence should come from professional reports rather than (just) parents report, as though of course that will be taken into account, it will be the prof ones that hold more sway. So your prof reports need to back up what you're saying.

Have you had an independent EP report? You really need a good solid report from an EP who totally gets it and can see past the 'lots of children do x' crap.

Anyway. In answer, for our ds (5yo HFA, asking for ABA support, difficulties all social) we:

• highlighted how much his impaired social interaction, and impaired communication impact on his ability to access the curriculum.

Emphasised examples of how his obsessive behaviours and conversations become non-functional and can become barriers to learning.

How stimming impacts on focus and participation in class (he has very low-level stimming like which many nt 5yos do but we had to point out how it is different).

Emphasised different kind of motivation from that of nt children eg not motivated by normal praise or in case of many 4/5yos being told to do something to be a "big boy" - not applicable to your 9yo probably but I hope yswim.

I'd have a look at some of the "twice exceptional" stuff over on gifted and talented board. You say he's too bright to be failing but with an iq of 125 he should be consistently getting results that place him in top 5-10% of his peers - providing he were neurotypical and no other barriers to learning were there. If this isn't the case and particularly if his profile is uneven with for example poorer results in areas that require sustained concentration or imaginative thinking or fine motor control or (insert relevant difficulty here...), you can demonstrate hopefully that with right support he could be achieving more evenly/more in line with his potential.

Hi bialy and leonie. I think sossen meant that the "reasons" need to point clearly to the conclusion that ds needs a statement. A bit harder in complex children, and when school keep quoting his (good, but irrelevant) NC levels

The private EP report is awaited, other reports show the difficulties you'd expect, but there's the usual problem that school deny most of the issues altogether and say the others are mild and they can handle them quite easily. The difficulty for me is that "adequate progress" is hard to demonstrate or disprove unless it's something which lends itself to SATs and sub levels.

He's doing ok socially/ No he's not/ Yes he is / I'm his mum/ Well I'm his senco. Heck, If I were a LEA, I'd exploit that dialogue too.

See, they said the iq test 'just shows you what we said, he's a very bright boy" but to the LA ed psych, real life performance trumps artificial tests in terms of reflecting a child's 'real' ability.

Hmm yes it is difficult. We were sort of lucky in timing that when we applied for ds's statement he had much more obvious impairments - a year later and post-ABA we probably wouldn't have got one. We're now waiting for AR anticipating that they will try and take it away from us as "he's doing so well and making such good progress".

Anyway sorry to digress and go on about me

The difficulty for me is that "adequate progress" is hard to demonstrate or disprove unless it's something which lends itself to SATs and sub levels.

Yes. I'd be tempted to try a different tack, separate from the 'adequate progress' argument. Schools are only obliged to provide adequate education after all, and to ensure children are able to access the curriculum, not necessarily to provide a gold standard education to match your child's IQ.

So, you could try and find every single instance where his other difficulties result in barriers to learning - which includes social interaction as well as academic (pshe). A statement is not just about support for academic areas, but all areas where a child cannot participate in school life without support.

Has he had assessment by a SLT? It might be possible to find an angle there too if you can identify some language difficulties that are also barriers.

Also could raise motivation difficulties, and also if anxiety results in non-participation.

What are you appealing - refusal to assess/statement or contents?

I'm a little out of my depth I'm afraid as my ds is so much younger - hope someone else can come along to help a bit more.

So, reasons for appeal, all with evidence & followed with an example which demonstrates why impairs education.

1. limited progress in behavioural issues (ref eg link book etc)
2. marked pragmatic language issues (ref eg therapy report)
3. social difficulties (ref eg DS own recorded views)
4. inflexibility of thought (ref eg school report)
5. anxiety and insomnia (ref eg hospital consultant)

6 dyspraxia.... 7 following instructions

1. Paying attention.