Another Proposed Statement

[justintimefortea]

Follow on from Cats...

I too have a proposed statement a week ago. Have been through it and the reports carefully with friends.

The objectives (tho very long term) are good and what the say is needed to meet them is fine (again all wooly but ok in that its there and it can not be got out of)...

However...

How the provision will look in school is very non specific - we can choose a special school or mainstream. In Mainstream he needs access to a LSA for 30hours a week to deliver the programmes as described, etc, etc.

Now I KNOW I should challenge this HOWEVER I have two issues:

a) He was failed really badly by his last school and moved less than a month ago - we don't know what was environment or his actual needs as some really simple stuff hasn't been implemented consistently or at all. Basically I don't know what he needs at school not really.

b) I don't have the energy for another fight - the last one, to get him moved, nearly destroyed me.

The EP is good and put that his report is provisional. He has also said he thinks the statement should be reviewed very early after acceptance (3-6months) but there is no mention of this in the statement - just a normal review in a year. I have emailed and asked him if he would support a formal request for this.

Local Parent Partnership are not brilliant and IPSEA are closed. School have not responded to an email asking if they wanted to see the statement either.

If I accept the statement as it is could it realistically be changed later on?
I honestly don't know what he needs in terms of 1:1, working in small groups and everything general I have mentioned they have covered.
He's high risk of exclusion due to behaviour. New school are putting in 18hrs 1:1 before statement anyway and have a DSP unit which they are earmarking for him anyway.

Any tips?
Please, please be nice. I have had severe anxiety problems over school and I am just getting better. I can't take on the world and the professionals again at the moment but I don't want to make a really, really bad decision.

I would accept the school and argue the statement on the wording if you feel that SS is not the place for your DS.

We did we sent them back a statement with all the "access to" changed to "X will recieve" and all the "the school should provide" changed to " the school WILL provide" and all the items within the statement quantified. TBH I had no idea how to do this so I guessed - on the side of making the hours more - and when we finally met with the LEA when they asked me how I got my hours I told them they were my estimates as requested by them as the professional reports did not quantify provision. We talked them through and came to more hours than they had originally offered as a result. Originally I had only requested that the wording was tightened up.

My first request for changes was met by them issuing a final statement and then we appealed to tribuna.l So that the school got some money in the meantime and had to do what was in that statement and we continued to negotiate in the meantime. This way I got additional evidence to support my case.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

alison can I ask for an example of you "guessing" for hours to be quantified. I'm also going through trying to get changes made to a statement that isn't specified or quantified. Have made a very very long list of things I want them to change/include but am stumped in terms of what to ask for in terms of hours/time for each thing?!

I don't know whether you can name the unit or only the school, but would it be possible to word the provision such that it would only be possible to deliver it within the DSP unit?

pinkor, that's a cunning plan

Well you know pinkorkid I think you might have just come up with a plan

I got the proposed statement on the 18th (dated the 16th) managed to go through it (3 times) before hols last week and email the Ed psych who auto-replied to be on hol til tomorrow. I asked him about the early review but will ask about DSP too - he suggested a DSP statement might be in order.

So I have until Thurs / Fri to decide what to do.

The DSP at his school is full but ed psych said this was not my problem and the LEA would have to sort it... when I mentioned the plan to support in MS until a place was available (mmm yes I know!!) he just said it was an idea...

Soooo....

If I ask for a place in the DSP and there isn't one and meet to negotiate terms of alternative in MS I theoretically tighten up the statement at that point?

May aswell ask for an early review while I am at it if the ed psych supports

I think I can manage this - What do you think?

Howdie

Like Cats I couldnt get through to IPSEA or ACE yesterday so spoke to local pp

In Part 4 you can name the school and then specify the DSP unit provision within that school

You do not need to change / alter the wording in Pt 3 (unless you wish to) to name the DSP as long as the statement reflects a level of that a DSP would support.

Ed Psych called - although retiring v. soon he is emailing the SEN officer to say he supports an early review of the statement - this will give me a forum mid school year to challenge the statement should it not be working well.

He 'de-coded' the statement - it's a DSP statement really but with the option of MS should I wish. He felt a request for a DSP place would be advisable at this stage.

Thank you for your responses - I realise I should challenge the ambiguous nature of the statement and the need to have the statement 'de-coded' illustrates a wider issue about how statements are written by LA but I am happy with the decision considering the situation we have in the here and now.

I put things like 1:1 help in all lunchtimes and breaks - adds up to 7 hours a week
OT exercises to be done daily i hour a week
Help in literacy lessons - 5 hours
Support in PE lessons and other group work 3 hours
etc - Basically I made it up and thought how long does each activity last? does he need support here?
I had had some verbal guidance from a private ed Phych in trying to quantify things too. she helped me add organisational skills to this and in pinning down the type of help DS needs
For instance we added things like DS is most comfortable when ....
EG regular routine,
informed of changes in advance
etc etc to also add the little things they should do which make so much difference. In the end to get these in as they were not all in prof reports we got them in under parents views as you can put anything you like here and they can't dispute your views.

That's helpful Alison thank you. I'm meeting them next week and I have agreed to send them a written copy of all the things I am questioning and want cHanging beforehand. I feel more confident about what I'm asking for now and the ace website has given me so great examples of how a good statement is worded. (sorry to hi jack!)