Will Dd3 survive in secondary without a statement??

[Ineedpigsinblankets]

Dd3 as many of you know has a dx of ASD.

When things are going well she is pretty much ok at school although she still finds it difficult to ask for help.

When things are not going so well like at the moment she is struggling with the high expectations of the Yr 5/6 staff, she has been ill and now is not eating, she has been awake most of the night worrying that she hasnt got the right costume for the xmas play, she sobbed this morning because she didnt want to go and even if she did go she didnt want to stay for lunch in case she was sick.

If all this can happen in a safe and secure primary school, how the hell is she going to cope in secondary??

She needs a statement doesnt she??

How the hell am I going to convince my LA that she needs one??

Ineed, tricky. I think you are probably right. I have no idea about what such a statement would look like, though. The whole setup of secondary school means that there are so many variables.

Hi Ineedpigsinblankets. It does sound like she is going to need more support yes. What are school saying about her issues or are they seemingly in denial of any problems? If you can get them on side it will be a big help for evidence but you can still do this even if they are not helpful. I would start with requesting statutory assessment and take it from there. Keep a log of all problems and conversations etc to be confirmed back to the school by email etc if not otherwise documented. If the LA decline the statutory assessment then appeal that. Many will back down when you appeal and from there then Ed Psych assessment plus other professionals should see her as indicated (?SALT, OT etc). If the LA is not backing down then you will need to consider if you need to get private assessments done for a tribunal hearing.

IPSEA is a great place to start for advice and they have phone lines you can call for specific questions and advice.

Thanks both, lougle, that is what I thought, how can i possibly say what she is going to need support with when I dont know from day to day myself.

I am seeing the senco after christmas to talk about it but thought I would run it by everyone on here.

Tbh I doubt whether they will have applied for a statement for such an able childe before

Ineedpigsinblankets,

Did you know that you can personally apply for a statement; you certainly do not need the school to do it. You'd be far better off applying for it yourself, some schools can and do sit on such apps for ages. Also if the school apply and the LEA say no, you have no right of appeal. Only parents have a right to appeal.

Statements are there also to address social and communication issues; flag all this up with the LEA when you write your application.

IPSEA's website is good re the whole statementing process and their web address is www.ipsea.org.uk.

Ineed, TBH, your DD is only functioning so wel at school because you found a really supportive school for her with experience of SN, lots of classroom support and a lovely, inclusive ethos. If she was still in her old school you would have already applied for a statement. See if you can get the backing of the school, emphasise to the school (only) that this is about transition and secondary school. If they can document how much extra they already do for your DD above and beyond an NT DC, you may be surprised how much it is.

And start to look for an equally inclusive and supportive secondary school. My DS is thriving at his school, with a statement, but they are supporting him above and beyond his statement. He has 15 hours plus 5 lunchtime written in to his statement, he gets full time support in lessons, 26 hours plus a lunchtime and breaktime club. He could go to their after school homework club for SN as well if I could persuade him to!

But do try to get a statement.

A SEn is based on what help does your DD need to access the national curriculum.
So if you take onee of the worse periods - which is what you will need to focus on for this exercise, what help would she need?
Would she need a TA to prompt her to start work? Need things explained?
need PE curriculum changed due to group work? Need careful selection fo groups and supervision of group to ensure she can participate and the others work?
Need social skills training? Does she need OT input? What is her handwriting like? - Will the writing be good enough to keep up at High school?
Does she need help with organsiational skills?
Does she need work broken down into managable chunks - ie no open ended questions?
Each difficulty that she has you need to ssee how it affects the access to the National curriculum and what help is required to support that?
Does she need help with transitions and change? Moving between lessons ( do you think she will?)
Has the Ed Psych seen her? Can you persuade the school to do so and see her/him and explain you worries about transition.

Beautiful, Thankyou I think she will need support when she starts secondary and maybe all the way through because it doesnt take much to send her into a wobble.
Atilla yes I did know that I can apply I have found a local parent partnership website which explains how to do it and I have looked at IPSEA, Thankyou

ellen, of course you are right, her school is amazing and even though she is in mid wobble at the moment I still feel that they are there for us as a family. Especially the management team, sometimes it takes a while to filter through but the vast majority of staff are totally on board with inclusion. The secondary she is heading too is the school that her current school feeds into, they are also very inclusive and run a fantastic transition program for the SN children. It sounds like they do all the things that your Ds's school are doing but my fear is that without a statement she wont be able to access it.

ListenThanks for giving me some ideas about what I need to think about, there are some things on your list that she needs support with and some that may become more apparent as she gets older. She has never been seen by an ed psych, she is on school action plus and is currently getting 90 mins SALT input in a group per week.

Thanks again everyone