LEA Decision not to assess

[cjn27b]

Our LEA has just informed us they don't plan to assess DS1. In their letter they stated this was because he was making good progress in his nursery. Much of this progress is attributable to the fact we pay for a private SALT to go once a week to the nursery. To date the nursery (which is part of a local primary school) has not offered any SALT. We get a block of 6 group sessions every 9 months or so via local children's health centre.

Also, in the letter and documentation sent a form was included that showed the LEA had contacted DS's SALT who claimed he wasn't on their books. They'd actually contacted a SALT in a neighbouring borough, hence the reason he wasn't on their books?!? Meanwhile, DS's SALT had done a full assessment and sent all reports to the LEA SEN team. It would appear these were either ignored, lost, not recieved or something. His SALT report contained a very strong argument for his need for a statement.

I understand we now have 8(?) weeks to appeal and need to contact our local Parent Partnership to organise mediation.

Please could anyone point us in the direction of where we can find more information to back our case, letter templates, tips on what to do. Many, many thanks.

IPSEA is a good place to start.

What are your DS's main difficulties (apart from SALT, obviously) and when will he start Primary school?

Who asked for assessment? Was it you, or the nursery?

He has ASD, mild-moderate hearing loss resulting from chronic ear infections, various other issues (possible epilepsy, allergies, chromosome mutation etc..). His major difficulties relate to ASD.

We, as parents, asked for assessment with support from the nursery.

Thanks for IPSEA tip, I've got their 'Refusal to Assess' pack.

Many LAs refuse every request at nursery age to put off paying for more provision, don't take it personally just assume they do it to everyone as a way of reducing numbers.

When we appealed the LA suddenly 'found' new evidence and overturned the decision within days

All you have to prove is your child 'probably' needs SA which your private SALT report does on its own. The LA will need to produce evidence from SALT, EP etc at Tribunal that your child has been seen and definitely does not need support over and above what a nursery can provide.

I would also do a request to LA for your child's file so you can see what info, if any, they based their decision on - helpful if they 'add' info later. Sometimes you get internal emails that way.

You can also self refer to the LA EP.

Cerebra charity offer £500 SALT vouchers to children not getting NHS SALT or who have to wait more than 6 months for it.

Ok, well the SEN Code of Practice (which you can read online, or order a copy) is the document you need.

"7:14 For some very young children with complex needs the LEA should accept as evidence one over-arching report from the lead professional involved with the child. This approach might also be appropriate for an older child who through an accident or ill health suddenly acquires easily identifiable complex needs that require the LEA to assess and make provision."

You can contact your paediatrician, ask for a report in support of a statement, then include that with your letter of appeal, reminding the LA of this clause.

You don't have to contact PO for mediation and I certainly wouldn't do this.

You need to show that all progress has been due to an outside/additional resource that the school does not have available to them, and that without this no progress would have been made.

Does the nursery support your request?

The nursery (attached to the primary school we're hoping DS will go to) do support our request to SA.

The letter sent by the LEA states: 'It should be noted that there is insufficient inofrmaiton from DS current placement and he does not meet the criteria for an SEN Statement. The local authority has noted in particular a report from XX ASD Service which indiated that DS is making progress and also his receptive and expressive language is at functional level. In addition, there is a report from teh Ed Psych Serv which indicates that he is working to expectation for his age. The local authority therefore considers that DS should be carefully monitored by the ASD service and other profressionals and time needs to be given for stregies and recommendations to be implemented'.

However, in the pack sent by the LEA there was no information from the school. I know they sent a lot of reports etc... Would copies of these normally be included in the pack? I am wondering if they got them given they didn't get the NHS SALT report.

The NHS SALT report states:

• DS attentiona d listening skills are moderately delayed
• DS play skills are moderately delayed
• DS shows significant difficulties with social communication skills
• DS receptive language is mild - moderately delayed
• DS expressive language skills are mildly delayed and he has difficulty with the social use of language, and using his language to communicate in a meaningful way
• The summmary states 'DS will continue to need high levels of adult support within the learning environment to ensure that he is able to access the curriculum and to learn'.

We are hoping that the fact this report, which has some of the strongest evidence backing our case, will help the LEA reconsider it's decision no to SA. The Ed Psych report seems so off to us, and he only spent one hour doing an observation with DS, while the NHS SALT spent a whole afternoon in nursery and a morning in clinic and seems to have a far greater understanding of DS's difficulties.

We are now wondering what to do. IPSEA suggestions we're following. The other thing we're wondering is whether to get a lawyer. What are people's experiences? Does anyone have a lawyer they'd recommend? We've looked at other posts and seen Chris Barnett of Levenes - anyone got any experience of him?

Many thanks all.

I have used Chris and found him very straight and hard-working.

I also like Irwin Mitchell who have seemed very feisty and responsive.

Bung in an appeal before you start negotiating.

Advice from a qualified teacher of the deaf can be handy (ASD dc generally produce more language than they receive, so further specialist assessment is needed before they can dismiss his hearing-related needs)

And get a copy of all the information which was available to LEA when they made the decision plus a copy of the "criteria" they refer to. You might want to simultaneously get a copy of the full nursery file.

I'd also ask exactly what extra stuff they require from nursery to consider it 'sufficient information' and then check with school to see how it can be gathered.