has anyone found involvement from the MP helpful in fighting the LA?

[bjkmummy]

My son is only in school part time - we are tryingt o get him into a special school. LA have just increased his TA hours which doesnt address any of the wider issues. We have appealed to tribunal on parts 2 3 and 4 - the school we want is £8.5k a year so less than a full time TA but the LA gone quiet , refusing to speak to us etc etc.

we saw our MP on friday - he is a government minister as well. He was really good and wrote a letter to the LA which they would have received today asking them why they are putting us through this without no real explanation from the LA when our placement is cheaper and our son is not havinga full time education whilst they deliberate. The letter was very well written and he also said he was going to speak to the chief executive after we left on friday afternoon.

Nothing from the LA yet but i just wonder whether the letter will help or if LA are so used to getting them that they dont really take them seriously. My MP has asked me to phone him next week if i dont hear anything so that they can chase it. It was quite nice to receive the letter today with the house of commons logo all over it - im easily pleased!!

so has anyone else found their MP helpful and did it make any difference. at the end of the day, if nothing else, i can submit my letter to the tribunal as evidence that even my MP made them try to see reason

Watching with interest as may be considering this myself. Out of interest how much does a full time TA cost the LA?

My ds was also only part time for months until support was increased. Like you I'm not sure it will address his issues and think it's been done to help the school more than him tbh.

my head says thats its around 18k a year - my school place is 8.5k a year - an asd school with all staff qualified in sen - my current school staff have had 2 hours training. there are 29 children in his class - my school there are 8 children and 4 members of staff - transport likely to be 15k a year so my school is 23.5k v 18k but then my school has OT and SALT on site - if the LA force us to tribunal and he remains in teh mainstream then they will also have to buy in OT and SALT which is going to be expensive - think OT is £60 per hour. the current school have clearly stated they cannot meet his needs but the LA just seem to be ignoring them and hoping if they do i will give up on trying to get him into the other school. its so frustrating as the other school has a place for him sat there but the LA are playing the game of just ignoring us. they promised to visit the school as its out of county a few weeks ago. my current head told me that they have yet to even make an appointment to view the school so a move is still many weeks away whilst he continues to be in school part time only.

Why is he only part time? Is that your decision or the school?

he cannot cope - he has a sick note for the afternoons. if he stays all day he vomits repeatedly - he can cope with the mornings - just as more structured - afternoons much more difficult with PE , art etc - hes 9 and in year 4. hes been part time since june - the doctor would have signed him off full time but the LA made it clear that he would get 1 hour tutoring and we would have to take him to a strange place etc - at least this way he is getting some education albeit not full time. the LA said he would get everything he needs in the interim whilst a new school placement was sought - that has amounted to autism outreach for the first time ever coming to see him and watching him for 2 hours - she then left and hasnbt spoken to the teacher, head teacher or myself - head has now heard shes coming back again at some point to watch him again :-(( tribunal is in february so its going to be a long drawn out process if the LA decide to fight me

we got a private OT report done as one wasnt done as part of the statementing process last year. you cannot get an OT here on the NHS for sensory intregration - i tried and have all the letters showing we were refused. the private report said he needs a special school and he has so many needs - we have asked for the OT recommendations to go in teh statement but again the LA refused - had an emeregency review in may - the LA then announced they would pay the NHS to write an OT report on him - this took until last week to finally happen - the NHS OT report found the same as the private report - LA kept stating they would do nothing until they got the OT report and then stalled in getting it - now they have it they are still quiet and refusing to speak to us. after the review in may , i gave them a list of schools i liked but they just ignored me. they said the school did not give enough evidence post review and that his statement was a mainstream statement - the school submitted over 70 pages of evidence ansd a report saying they cannot meet his needs. teh LA then rejected all our amendments, upped his TA support to 32.5 hours even though he was only attending part time and that was it - i told them no way would i accept it and would appeal - then found this new school and asked them to name it - again they say they wont until they get the OT report - noone from LA has now spoken to me since July - we are in limbo - i have lots of emails etc with me asking them to please consider our school choice with absolute silence in return.

Our current MP, no totally useless. The previous one had a much more high profile role nationally and a particular interest in education and he was very successful at getting SS places offered to children. I think it helps if they are high profile.

that is possible but as the school have already argued 1:1 doesnt work for him - he cannot cope with someone sat next to him - he will not interact with the staff. he cannot cope with the children even looking at him and he reacts furiously if someone accidentially touches him - mainstream is just not right for him - the school could keep going with him with full time 1:1 but whats the point when it is not the right school for him. the LA accept he needs a new school but just dont want to go to the extra length of actually doing something about it. also of course wh have the argument about parental choice of school - the new school clearly is not an inefficent use of resources so there is no real argument why he cannot move to his new school - noone has yet given us any reason as to why he cant and thats part of the frustration