finally got 25 hours, but!

[iwanttoscream]

the school asked for 1-1, but la have given us access to 25 hours per week learning support assistance to enable small group work and individual attention. what ratio is small group work? she has been having 1-2, sometimes 1-1 in maths,literacy and reading and speech and language, as she did have 15 hours last year. would like that written into her statement. last year at primary this year, so her statement will be sent out to the schools we have named the first two are special schools the 3rd ms as we had to name one. does anyone know is it just her statement that gets sent to them or does her iep go as well. it's a relieve to finally get the extra hours, but does anyone know what ratio small group work is defined as? when changes are made to a proposed statement how long does it take? as i know that you are a knowledgable lot

ask them to tighten the words up, ds2's says small groups of up to 5 children of similar abiltiy to work on specific strategies, X to have access to a 1to1 classroom assistant at all other times.

Are you in Kent? We have the exact same wording for DD#1 in her statement (taking to appeal however). They refused to change the wording when asked and all aspects of the statement are vague and unclear.

We had similar on our first version (before appealing).

Wording like "access to", "will benefit from" etc should not be accepted. A statement must be specified and quantified - which means support must be set out precisely and specifically.

You need to go through the statement in detail and see if every single one of her needs is being specifically met with the support outlined. The ACE guide (the pdf link) is really useful, it tells you exactly how a statement should look.

"Access to" a LSA for 25 hours a week is meaningless unless the time is actually specified as being allocated to DD. If it's not, the LSA could be in the classroom for 25 hours a week but spending no time with DD!

If they don't change it you can appeal.

Also might be worth talking to Parent Partnership.

Re the timescale - the LA should provide you with a breakdown of the timings and deadlines. I think you have 15 days to get your changes back from the first Proposed Statement.

Re. the IEP, I expect the new school will want to do their own, but they should do this in consultation with you, and they should also use the existing one as a starting point as it is likely most of the targets on it would still be relevant.

Agree with bialystockandbloom. If you read the ACE guide she linked to it will tell you all the 'weasel words' to look out for to make sure the provision is properly specified.

I have just finished eliminating all the 'access to' 'should have' 'should be provided with' 'would benefit from' etc from ds1's statement. The LEA changed a few on the first round of amendments, then refused to make anymore but had a sudden change of heart.

Likewise, small group work could mean anything and should be specified by whoever/whichever report identified it as a need/provision as the specifics will vary from child to child.

In bialy's example

"Access to an LSA for 25 hours a week" should at the very least read "DD will be provided with 1:1 LSA support for a minimum of 25 hours a week."

My ds is in his final year of primary and we've been told that a copy of the statement will be sent to our named school, then the school will be invited to his early spring IEP review in order to tailor a specific transition programme to suit his needs.

Can't help you on the timescales as my LEA doesn't seem to believe in them. There is a timescale diagram within the SENCOP that they are supposed to follow, but in my experience, this all goes out the window once you get to the amendments stage. (It took my LEA 10 weeks and a threat of judicial review to issue a second amended proposed statement after we sent in our amendments.) Hopefully though, your LEA are better than mine and will get it done in a couple of weeks.

Why did you have to name a third school and it be MS. By naming it you are implying that you think it coukd meet her needs.

I woukd write immediately asking them to clarify their insistence on your naming an inappropriate school placement so that any tribunal in the future can see that Ot was their doing, not yours.

Thank you all for your replies, going through her statement now, had to name a ms as if i didn't choose one they were going to send her statement to the nearest ms, though did attach a letter to it stating that we had to name a ms but it was NOT of parental choice, parent partnership helped me with that, as they won't be able to give her adequate support. must get my head down into dd's statement while it's quiet. thankyou again for every reply.

Oh I see. Caught between a rock and hard place. I probably wouldn't have named it however and stated ms was irrelevant but then I would have been quite certain at that point with my particular county that I was going to tribunal.

The statement should say 'child x RECIEVES......' for all provision.
Providing is not the same as receiving. Wrt to TA hours I woukd add 'exclusively for child x' if that is what child x needs.

Can i request extra time after the 15 days proposed statement. Had speech and language report come, ie updated information for secondary school transfer 2013. DDs scores range from 4yrs 6 mths - 8 yrs 6 mths, need to contact afasic to get guidance. If anyone knows if i can ask for an extension please let me know, thankyou.

Are you currently within your 15 days?

One day left, been chasing this report for ages, as it was completed on the 31st July. But dd was assessed in May and June for it.

IRRC you can request a meeting with the LA - in which case you have a further 15 days from that meeting to get your response back.

But double-check the timings (please don't fully rely on my word, it's been a year since I went through this). The LA should have provided a timescale for you with the proposed statement. If not, phone them to ask.

And bear in mind if you do this that the LA then also shift their timescale, so the whole thing is dragged on for longer. This doesn't matter if you're in no major hurry to complete the statement, and if you think they will be reasonable about including your changes and amending the statement. But if you suspect they won't change anything in any case, there's not much point asking for a meeting as this won't achieve anything (except of course give you a bit more time).

In our case we didn't ask for a meeting as we'd already put forward our changes/amendments, which they didn't include. So there was no point asking for a meeting, we knew they wouldn't change anything. We just ticked the 'accept' box but then put in our appeal to tribunal.

Hope this makes sense, it's all a bit confusing!