Statement needed for school place HELP NEEDED

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Hi

My son has inflexibility, environment control, lack of impulse control, obsessional about screens, meltdowns with rage, odd adult language, super intelligent, great language but poor word clarity, behind on gross motor - i am suspecting aspergers, as are pre school.

We didnt get him into village pre school (.3 mile away) due to lots new families - first time children in village havent got in, there is one other who didnt get in.

I am worried for many reasons - continuity with peer group and friendships he has made (which is great he has buddies), exclusion from community, minibus with no chaperone, will miss out on scooter/walk to school for fitness/muscle devt as he has is a home body.

Pre school thinks he should have a statement, council said no way as he is not 'bad' enough.

he has been referref to speech/language, the link inclusion scheme to help with school transition, and the local sen centre. I have telephone appt with IPSEA next week, and with a consultant from schoolappeals.com.

Any ideas/help very much appreciated TIA

Hello again!
To get a statement you need to apply for statutory assessment. When you do this you need to tell the local authority what you think your DS needs are and why these needs can not be met without significant additional help at school. You do not need to have a diagnosis but it seems to help as and when that is obtained. Make sure you get relevant people to document the difficulties he has and the help that is or should be given. Having preschool on side will be a big step so ask them to put a report in writing for you about his needs and issues. Regardless of how much info you send you may well expect the local authority to refuse assessment. In this circumstance you will then need to appeal to SEND. If you have a fair case it may be that the LA will then roll over and the appeal paperwork will be enough for them to act without a hearing being necessary. Once an assessment has been carried out then the LA will issue either a statement or a note in lieu. Do not accept a note in lieu, it is not worth anything and can not be enforced in law. Also be careful how the statement is worded - don't accept "DS will have access to...." but insist on "DS will have 3 hours a week of x therapy delivered by a LSA experienced in ...." Once the statement is issued then you get the school choice consideration. Within reason the LA has to allow your choice of school.

The SEN code of practice (google will locate you a copy) is a valuable publication to use. It will help you show the LA that they have an obligation to assess and then meet his needs. Lots of very relevant guidance in there but a long document to read (great for insomnia!).

Keep fighting here, don't give up because the LA or other professionals tell you your DS isn't bad enough for a statement, or other children are worse but don't have one. My DD is about to move to a specialist school this week after fighting for 2 years, first to get assessment, then against a note in lieu, then against her poor statement. If I had believed what I was told along the way we would have given up before we started.

Hi beautifulgirls, thanks for your reply. I am up to my eyeballs doing the appeal, its a full time job at the moment, pulling in childcare favours everywhere I can! Am planning on getting further along with springboard(local sen charity) , speech therapy and then asking for stat asses. I will be getting a full report from pre school, who are on side, for appeal, would this be suitable to also use for stat asses? Would you recommend me waiting a bit til more evidence before asking for stat asses or just going ahead sooner? tia

Having had a child in ms school without a statement (diagnosed earlier this year and statement just received) I would say go for it now.