SEN Advisory Panel

[Simone007]

Hello lovely Mumsnetter's :)

I posted on here a while back to ask for some advice re apply for SA and got some fantastic advice and support which I have to say REALLY helped. Long story short, my DS (7) was dx with ASD last Nov. He is HF ASD and academically bright. However, socially, emotionally, communicatively really struggles. He has an assessment for Dyspraxia in June as I feel strongly that this is behind his gross motor dysfunction/extremely poor organisational skills and so on.

School do not see his difficulties in the same way. This is wholly due to a lack of experience and confidence in dealing with ASD. It's a new school and up until 2 ish years ago they didn't have ANY children with SEN. School have put some provision into place for him but since our applying for SA (without their support) have changed tact a bit and report they've only involved Sendis (he's on School Action +) at parents request and so on. They accept his emotional difficulties but report he is 'coping' okay. He has no friends, hates school and is extremely anxious. He's often able/encouraged to leave assembly/PE and stay in at play time..

Aaaanway... we applied for SA and this morning received a letter explaining that our application for SA was going to be put before an Advisory Panel and inviting us to attend to present our case. The meeting is on WEDNESDAY!!!

I was hoping that somebody here could offer me some advice. I am sure I have missed loads out so please feel free if I need to clarify anything. Thank you X

I should add we only have five minutes to present our case to the panel!

That's an interesting way of doing things from the LA point of view, but hopefully to your sons benefit. I don't know if anyone here has done similar and can help, but if I was doing this then I would focus on knowing the SEN code of conduct well enough to refer to sections in there that support your case that he needs to be properly assessed in order to determine his needs and the fact that you believe that his needs require more support than the school can give without a statement. You don't need at this stage to prove all of his needs, though clearly any evidence you have at this point should help back you up. Also do not try and put the school down, no matter how frustrating their apparent support has been for you and DS. Simply explain how despite the schools support your DS is struggling. This meeting is about him and his issues, how he struggles in school, how his stress comes out in the rest of his life at home and how as the need to be more organised and independent is increasing so the gap between him and his peers is becoming bigger in these specific areas. Don't let them try and talk you down by telling you academically everything is ok therefore support is not needed, ensure you point out that support is about a lot more than just academic levels. Good luck - do feed back as maybe others will benefit from knowing how you get on.

...and talk quickly if only 5 mins...!! Sorry LOL

oh! this sounds brilliant! i am not aware of anyone who has ever had a chance to present their case before the SEN advisory panel of LEA. I believe you are part of one of the pathfinder LEA where the new model is being tried.

Anyways, your focus in this meeting should ONLY be to prove that your son's needs are beyond SA+ and require a provision above and beyond what the school can provide. so, list those points. each provision or need of provision should be linked with a particular problem her faces. Make it pointwise and stick to not more than 10 points.

Thank you Beautifulgirls. That's very good advice about referring to the code of practice and also resisting the urge to tell the panel how poor the support has been up until now. I will definitely use this advice.

I think I will have some homework to do before Wednesday ensuring I am up to date with the relevant parts of the SEN code of practice and applying these points to my ds.

I will most definitely feed back about how it goes on Wednesday. Thank you again :-)

That's interesting Zumbaleena and might explain why a Google search about going before a panel for SA didn't return many results.

My DS additional needs at school mostly revolve around his emotional/social wellbeing and also within PE. He is extremely hypersensitive and loud noises and strong smells upset him as does PE. He's become such a loner and has already fallen victim to bullying twice in the last year (He didn't know this is what was happening and it took another child telling their mum who told me for it all to come to light). The school just do not see this!! The HT told me she thought he was 'making good social progress' which is beyond ridiculous - I don't even know where to begin with that - she clearly does not know him at all!!!

Academically he's on target to reaching his expected attainment levels but he doesn't enjoy school (besides ICT... he's computer mad!).

It's not fair that he's expected to just 'cope' and I am sure he could achieve much more if he had additional support.

Thank you again x