LEA waitin for more info, which will take us over the 6 week deadline!

[sweetteamum]

I have been in contact with LEA to see when we'll expect to receive the decision, from the meeting held on 27 August. I did email but never heard anything back - hense the phone call.

The lady took a message as she said it would be easier for someone else to discuss with me but she thinks they want more info before deciding to assess DD or not. She said that EP was going into school next week.

My concern is, that it will take us past the 6 week deadline and the EP is only supposed to be seeing her in school the day after the 6 week deadline, which will take another few weeks to get that report back.

What should I do now? DD isn't even in school at the minute and highly likely she won't be in for the assessment with EP.

FLIPPIN HECK :(

Is this a decision in whether to have a statutory assessment? When did you submit your application? If they are over the six weeks you should write and complaint particularly if your child is out of school. It is completely unacceptable.

Why is your DD out of school?

She's not in school as she's highly anxious and after the very little time in school she's been unable to cope without support they've said they've provided. She won't talk about school etc.

The 6 week deadline is up on 16 October. Oh and it's to decide if they will go ahead with stat. Assessment.

I think the key here is when you submitted your application. If it was over the summer holidays, I believe the six week limit is no longer binding.

I wanted to submit my application for ds just as school broke up last term, but was advised to wait until the first week of term so the 6 week limit would be clear and binding.

It would still be worth complaining though :)

It isn't going to make any difference - the EP is seeing her whether or not they decide to assess? So it doesn't make any real difference whether it is one day before, one day after, or several weeks after a decision?

I would be concentrating on requesting a home visit or getting a private Ed psych assessment if you don't think you are going to be able to get dd to this appointment. That is your immediate concern, getting assessments done to build your case, not fretting over a delay to an LA decision. Once you have those assessments there will be more evidence that can be used to get SA.

I submitted everything the same week as schools started back after the summer, so definitely no delays there.

I sent a raft of info with the application which included:

Examples of work.
Levels.
Camhs letter and care plan.
Individual Ep report - through dyslexia action. Will this count?.
Private salt report. This showed age equivalents coinciding with nhs salt.
Nhs salt report. Receptive language significantly delayed and expressive moderately delayed.
Community paed report - which said dd had social, emotional & communication difficulties and is being referred for asd assessments.
LASC referral forms.
Pictures of dd head where she's picking due to anxiety.
Copies of messages between dd and friends showing she's unable to start/continue appropriate conversations.

Think that's everything I sent.

If the LEA do decide to assess, they send in the EP then. To request SA you need only to say that your child is either a 'mystery' or that despite doing everything possible your child is not progressing adequately and that they may need a statement. My own LEA refused assessment twice because they had only read the school submitted evidence and not the reams of paperwork I sent them. Case worker admitted their error and SA was granted.

They do not need further information or an assessment by an EP to decide whether to assess. If they insist they do they are admitting that DD is such a mystery they have to go to extra-ordinary lengths. Have you considered that this may be a tactic to get you to persuade DD into school?

Sorry, forgot to ask.

If I can't get her to appointment, is there a centre they can assess her as I'm presuming they'll need to see her mixing with other children etc.

I have thought its a ploy to see how easy it would be to get her in. But if I'm honest as it stands, with school not able to meet dd high needs, there's no chance ill get her there. I just wish a had 24 hr CCTV - I would happily give it to the lea and say . . There you go!!!!!

Hi sweetteamum, how old is she? When I applied for SA for my dd 2 years ago, she was barely attending one or two lessons per week. She refused to see the EP who bent over backwards to accommodate her (home visit, venue of her choice etc), the paediatrican, and anyone else. She also had no reports apart form her dx of AS.

However the school report was so telling she was granted a statement - a rubbish one - but she got one. So it is possible without an EP's report.

You are doing best, and can't do anymore.

Dd is 11 and just moved to secondary school. The school didn't take my concerns seriously when I flagged them up and just classed me as an anxious parent.

They don't know her at all, which is only adding to the stress.

Any other ideas/advice would be really appreciated :)

To be honest, I think you would be better off getting the gp to start doing referrals, or I assume she has a paediatrican already? Get them n the case - leads can be v good at writing to LAs. Does she get camhs support? How often? Did you send in all of the camhs reports with your SA request? Does she get any youth outreach services? How often does she see the counsellor?

You need to be building up an evidence base. That way the SA request s more likely to succeed. A one off vist from a bog standard EP at a basic school observation won't hold anywhere near as much weight. Concentrate on your own evidence base.

What did you submit with the request?

Did OU get an extensive report from her previous setting and include?

I submitted all details a little further down . . I've just had a call off the right person and have been told that they have deferred the decision until the next pap meeting, which just so happens to fall within the 6 week deadline. And also they want to wait until the outcome of meeting tomorrow, when we will discuss strategies of support for dd to enable her to get back into school.

They were more concerned with getting her back first than making a decision about stat assessment.

Feeling quite lost and think we r going to be put off track at this meeting tomorrow.

They gave a bog standard report to us madwoman and as I was so naive back then, I didn't think we would need it.

God I'm really messing this parenting lark up :(

Oh and they had the nerve to say to me " everybody at the meeting tomorrow, knows your daughter well and will all have her best interests at heart"

I made it clear that me and dh were the ONLY people who know DD at the meeting.

From the SEN code of practice.......... 7:4 An assessment under section 323 of the Education Act 1996 should only be undertaken if the LEA believe that the child probably has special educational needs and that the LEA needs or probably needs to determine the child?s special educational provision itself by
making a statement.

So, I would push the fact with them that if they have enough doubt to have the Ed Psych see her now to help them decide then they should really be carrying out a proper assessment and agreeing to SA. Stand your ground and don't let them give you excuses for delay. Put it in writing including why they are wrong to delay and ask them for a written reponse for their reasons if they insist they will not budge on this. Lots of mention about the LGO might just be enough to get them to get a shift on.

Thank you beautiful I will be highlighting and quoting this tomorrow and take my code of practice book along with me.

I'll also be prepared with a letter asking their reasons for the delay and suggesting that because they're going to be putting support in place this indicates the need for SA in itself.

This is stupid and because the SENco is on long term sick there is an inclusion officer from lea attending.

Seems we're expected to 'make do' with assistant head playing the role for a while longer.

The fact that the area inco will be there is good. I actually always call the area inco if we are moving to a new area. Because they are the poc or next level up for the sencos, in some ways they can be more helpful with procedural stuff (obv on a day to day level the senco ought to have more immediate knowledge).

(In many settings, the senco is the assistant head, lol. With three kids and about 10 schools, only two have had designated ft learning support positions. Double hatting is pretty much standard. Secondaries usually have a much larger learning support dept though - often having a 'safe space' that kids can access if the environment becomes too challenging. Has dd visited? Do they have a designated LS area that she can retreat to?

Hope it goes well x

Oh, camhs? Is she getting counselling or outreach at the mo? If not, why not?

It sounds good that the inclusion officer is attending then. Probably as there is no other person experienced enough (which we are concerned about). They do have an sen 'section' where she could go for lunches and breaks but she doesn't want to stand out and anybody asking awkward q's. especially that she won't be able to answer.

Camhs are going to assess her anxiety (if its part of possible asd or something in itself) and only usually get involved if its having a huge impact on family life - which it is. She's picking her scalp and pulling hair out.

It's the day of our meeting, to try and discuss how to get dd back into school. I'm nervous as anything and would welcome any 'pushes' in the right direction.

I need to focus and keep strong

Hello again, I'm not sure what a PAP meeting is; am guessing it's like a Team Around the Child/multidisciplinary meeting.

Do you have someone supporting you at the meeting? Friend, Parent Partnership?

I don't have any specific advice, but with the benefit of hindsight, here is what I would have done when I was going through something similar when dd crashed out of school in Year 8.

• accept every offer of "help" even if you know it won't help. If not this will forever be flung in your face as you will be judged to be stonewalling/obstructive
• do not let them try to give you strategies to get her in. It's up to them to make school a place that's safe for her and meet her needs
• CAHMS is your best friend if they are supportive. Do everything you can to get them on your side, attend meetings, and write supporting letters.
• do not blame school for any shortcomings
• the best lesson I was taught by my psychologist was to agree school was wonderful and had put every support in place; hence you need a statutory assessment. Do this even if it sticks in your throat and you want to gag.

Good luck!

Thanks for coming back iceflower

It's the provision and panel meeting (something like that). It's basically the meeting to decide if they're going to assess DD or not. However they now seem to be using her being out of school to their advantage, rather than needing to get the assessment done! However, the clock is ticking and we need decisions by next wednesday at the latest.

Thanks for those tips and I will gladly agree to anything they'll put in place to help her. DH and I have already said we've done all the bribing we can to get her to school (this was in the first couple of weeks in term when she was only managing to do 2 days a week, due to the pressure she was under). It really is up to them to put these things in place now as we're certainly not dragging her into the place that terrifies her!

DH, myself & Parent Partnership will be there and there is going to be the Assistant Head (aka temp. senco), Head of year, Lasc lady and Inclusion officer from LEA.

I'm not very good in these situations and can feel myself getting worked up already.

Good luck at the meeting. Stand your ground. The application for SA is a separate issue to your DD not being in school and cannot be put on the backburner. If they are unable to decide within 6 weeks this is a good indication that longer is needed for assessment of a complex case. If they need longer they should agree to SA (circular argument - need assessment to see if DD needs assessment - crap).

My DS is very much like your DD in some ways. The school he is not attending have bent over backwards, have other ASD DC who cope, have a safe place to go etc but the stress he experiences is very much related to the effort of trying to pass for normal. This is made harder the more interventions he has. As far as he is concerned hiding in attending the safe room at break or lunchtime would ruin his chances of passing for normal once and forever and would be like painting a target on his back.