Statement advice/info please - can you include medical/physical reasons?

[Grey24]

Sorry if this sounds a stupid question, but I'd be very grateful for your experience and information. I'm just trying to start the 'asking for a statement' process for my DD who is 3 and has ASD. I've read lots of your threads over the past year and found them so helpful. But I'm still slightly confused - as well as the ASD, my DD has some medical/physical issues such as severe motion sickness, which may be linked to her ASD but are not strictly part of it. They are not learning disability issues, but they DO impact upon her education and where she can go to school. eg she can't travel in a car at all, and her ASD means she sometimes won't walk at all, so has to go to a school as close to home as possible (in our view).

Can I include such 'physical/medical' issues as part of the reason for wanting the Statement or wanting a particular school? Or does the Statementing/Assessment process not take these kind of things into account at all?
(Please note that I'm not suggesting that ASD isn't at all 'medical', I'm just using the phrase 'medical' to mean something with potential 'treatment'/physical things etc, as opposed to something that has an obvious educational/learning-impact. Sorry if I've described that badly. I hope you see what I'm getting at). Many thanks if you can help at all.

The answer to your question is 'yes' - you can put anything you like.

However, logically, I don't know that it would be useful for you to make much of her motion sickness with relation to the SA request itself. Once you have a SA decision, then including it is fine.

If you were making a normal school application, then the severe motion sickness may be able to be included as a 'psychological or medical reason why only this school is suitable.'

Lougle - thank you very much - that makes sense. I didn't know how much to write for the application itself - it sounds as though I was going to write too much.
Many thanks for the clarification - and for all the v helpful info I've gleaned from your recent posts.

No, certainly not! It isn't about writing too little/too much, but making every word count. You want to make it clear that you know your DD needs a SA and why.

The grounds for SA are 'severe' or 'complex' needs

So, think of it in 3 areas:

Academic - do you have any grounds on which you can say she isn't making appropriate progress despite intervention?
Developmental - do you have any grounds on which you can say that her developmental signs/symptoms (I say that deliberately, because you shouldn't get a SA based on diagnosis, only on need, so the ASD dx is a label to describe her set of symptoms) require resources which the school cannot provide out of its own budget?
Medical - does she have medical conditions which require specialist equipment or intervention which affects her education?

If her needs aren't severe, think about whether any of these combine and overlap to make your DD's needs 'complex'. Generally speaking, ASD as a pervasive condition makes your DD's needs complex as there is no area where her perceptions, reactions and responses will not be filtered through her ASD traits.

So, you can mention the travel sickness, but don't major on it because there's bound to be other more relevant stuff that will justify SA. Once she's got a Statement proposed, then you have the right to name any school anyway.