Advice needed on deferring a place for adopted child with speech problems

[maindoors]

Could do with some helpful advice from others who have had similar situation to us if possible...
Our recently adopted son, now 2.5 years old, with cleft lip and palate who has spent two years in an overseas orphanage is now doing really well although his speech is unintelligible (will need more surgery soon and subsequently speech therapy)and he is probably a little delayed, and could do with an extra amount of time at home regards attachment etc. We probably don't fully know his needs at this stage to be truthful. The real bummer is that his birthday is right at the end of August making him the youngest in the class on top of all that. Have been speaking to the likely primary and its pre-school to which he is due to go in September when he is just three and however many days. School is very understanding and have said that they will defer him to the following year. However, they also advise that without a Statement this cannot be "official" i.e. I presume it could be revoked if anything changed. And that at the secondary stage it is quite likely that we would come under pressure to jump him up a year.

I know that getting a Statement is a huge thing and initial thoughts from a few professionals are that he wouldn't get one...so I'm not sure that I have any options but to go with what the school has offered and fingers crossed for the future?

Any thoughts on our situation vis a vis deferrals or on any of this would be much appreciated...

How lovely.

The admissions code now allows for this:

"2.17 Admission of children outside their normal age group

Parents of gifted and talented children, or those who have experienced
problems or missed part of a year, for example due to ill health, can seek places outside their normal age group. Admission authorities must make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case, informing parents of their statutory right to appeal. This right does not apply if they are offered a place in another year group at the school." here

Now, that doesn't mean the school has the right to defer. It's a decision made by the Local Authority.

Apply for a statement, and ask for deferral too.

Cleft problems really need to be seen by a Speech Therapist who specialises in Cleft. It's all about articulation and controlling airflow through the mouth rather than the nose. He will have a lot of learned behaviours speech wise that will need specialist input. Whereabouts are you? I have had really good experiences with the Spires Cleft Centre and GOSH. My DD was born with a huge cleft palate.

I agree with all the others opinions about the statement. You will need it to have his TA trained in SLT cleft therapies.

What a gem of a school you have found!

Try to get "recovering attachment disorder / issues" formally suspected or diagnosed cos it'll strengthen the case for deferring. If there is any chance he was premature, that's worth having on paper too.

The global delay, speech delay and cleft have to go on the list too (without too much optimistic flannel about possible (probable?) catch-up before school age. A good community paediatrician needs to be your new best friend here.

If it doesn't work, you could always skip reception (or maybe flexi school him 1/2 day per week if school agrees, to keep his place . ideally, as an ex-LAC he should get priority admission

Thank you everyone for your good advice...I wish I had tried Mumsnet sooner!

I have the nagging sense that I should be trying for a Statement but with a newly adopted child and everything that goes with that I lack the umph for any more bureaucracy at the moment...particularly this one when we might not need it...

We have what I think is a very good cleft unit that we are working with but they say that he would not get a Statement on the basis of his speech because while the speech part is not there the language part is coming along pretty well given that he's just had a complete change of language. We have been told we won't get speech therapy on the NHS until after his next surgery for VPI - basically a redo of his previous palate surgery but as SallyBear said I am worried about the speech habits he is acquiring that will have to be unlearned. May talk to them again about ST now at the unit.

Lougle I am fascinated to see that the code allows for this from the school. We started this whole thing with a ping pong match between the school and the LEA about whose responsiblity the deferrment was and in the end were told it was the school's.

MareeyaDolores I really wish we could pull the LAC card on schools but criminally in my opinion all children adopted from overseas are not included. You see, neglect experienced in an overseas orphanage just doesn't count apparently and as far as the government is concerned since these children are not "ours" they don't receive the same kind of treatment as UK LAC. I could go on at length on this subject !!!! Makes me very

Maindoors, that's truly outrageous. And racist. And cruel .
I wonder if your adoption agency would be able to help you with the statementing issues?

Portage example self referral Independent slt helpline at ICAN How to get a statutory assessment speech therapy grant and getting DLA to help pay for things like extra SLT

Try to get hold of a copy of the LA policy on deferring. If a statement is the only way to guarantee it, and he needs to be back-classed a year, then it ought to be quite easy to get statement on that alone

Congratulations on your new arrival!
You mention that ds is newly adopted. I know that some newly placed children do delay starting school (or any activity that takes them away from their new primary carer) to give the best chance of healthy attachments forming (vital - more important than education). However if you defer school starting, you would need to be sure that ds could stay in his younger year group for the rest of his school life. There have been recent changes recognising adopted childrens needs(such as being considered LAC for a year after adoption now), so I am out of date. Can adoption UK help with answering your querie?