Statement problems again!

[donburi]

Although DS has informal diagnosis of ASD, his formal diagnosis will not come through until after the statement is finalised. I know that you do not need a diagnosis for a statement, what is the statement really worth when the level of knowledge surrounding ASD among the professionals is woefully low and they are wrongly attributing symptoms to behavioural/emotional and incorrectly basing the statement on this instead?

When we originally discussed statement, the school identified learning diffs and speech as being the main areas of concern as this has been their opinion for years. As I am currently sorting out access and custody with exH, they have suddenly sent through a proposed statement which prioritises behavioural /emotional and works the statement around this.

I feel that this is very unfair as DS has never been seen by a behavioural psychologist or CAHMS and is a happy child who would surely be faring a whole lot worse to be categorised like this. A lot of what they are suddenly claiming as problems is basically ASD related. Also, I have taken great pains to emphasise that the relationship with exH was not full of rage and conflict as he would have them believe in order to 'score points' and any issues were mainly just about his own inability to control his temper. If DS is displaying any anxiety it is because they are forcing him into direct contact with exH against his will (at the end of the marriage there was a short period when exH turned on DS well beyond the boundries of normal discipline which led to the demise of the marriage). Not sure how to approach this?

If its not written in a report obtained during the statutory assessment it should not be in the statement. The SEN Officer cannot make up her own view, she / he has to write the statement on the basis of the evidence. And the written evidence not gossip someone has said in a corridor.

Go back to the reports and pull out what supports your view. Cross out the wording you don't like. Put the new wording in and quote the source eg report of x, page no. etc. If you have quoted it from an official report there is no reason not to include it.

You could also add a section headed Parental View. This is your opinion and you are entitled to have your view in the statement. So you could write that you consider the behavioural problems are due to the ASD and entirely consistent with ASD

You can ask for them to issue a new final statement after the dx if he does get a dx too.

Agnes has given great advice. On what evidence are they basing their characterisation of his problems? Schools are entitled to provide evidence of behavioural problems (and most children with ASD will have them) but it would beyond their expertise for them to 'diagnose' the cause of this.

It depends how they are presenting the difficulties. My son has provision under communication, physical/sensory and emotional/behavoioural. It is all ASD related.

Identify the issue: is the speech and language being compromised by the behavioural provision? is it the way your son is being described (i.e. his social communication issues are being ignored/downplayed and replaced with a focus on behavioural)? How are those behavioural issues described? Is what is said supported by evidence? What do the reports highlight as the key issue?

Bear in mind it is far cheaper to blame parents for a child's SEN so side-step that rubbish. Also be aware that generic 'behavioural' strategies are much less costly than S&LT intervention!