8yr old with Selective Mutism and Asperger's Syndrome refused Statutory Assessment

[Flibertigibert]

Hi, the LEA have just taken over 13 weeks to decide they are not going to assess my son.
He has been seen by the LEA Educational Psychologist over a year ago who put him in the 'average' ability then immediately said 'but that's not accurate as he gave such bizarre answers'.
He's had no assessments, not even ADOS during AS diagnosis. The SLT has not assessed him for receptive and expressive language.
As he is quiet and compliant in school, with a permanent smile, everyone thinks he's doing great.
I disagree. I think the smiling is either a coping mechanism or he's trying to disarm.
Can anyone advise?
Someone told me to do a FOI to access his school records, do I need to do that and also would it be useful to do the same for the LEA?
We were discharged from CAMHS on the day of the Asperger's Diagnosis.
Nobody will help my child. I'm devastated for him.
My eldest son went through he'll at school due to in diagnosed AS and has ended up with severe mental health problems.
The little ones AS is more severe than his brothers.
Please help :-(

You have to put in an Appeal for Refusal to Assess to the SENDIST Tribunal it's the only way things start to happen for you poor ds.

It's really easy just download the forms and send off.

Don't be scared taking the LA to tribunal. For us it has been a really positive experience as all the experts got to do assessments on our son so we know so much more.

LA conceded reason- they have more information now and are going to go ahead with Statutory Assessment.

Download IPSEA refusal to asssess pack to guide you, easy.

Daunting but just go through it step by step and you will be able to do it.

Hope this helps.

"as he is quiet and compliant in school, with a permanent smile, everyone thinks he's doing great"

This was my son when diagnosed (save for the smile!). Two and a half years later, he is school refusing his third school and I am left picking up the pieces.

You know your child best. This stuff gets harder for them as they get older. They don't grow out of it

Appeal. Just because our children don't disrupt other children's education doesn't mean they aren't disrupting their own

You'll find some info and links here

Thank you!

Agree, do appeal here. DD was refused SA, appealed and they backed down immediately, then issued note in lieu, appealed and they backed down immediately. Poor statement so appealed content, meanwhile school placement not working out well so later changed the appeal to include placement. Went to hearing and got everything we asked for but had good evidence in the process to back up our concerns and her needs.

It seems some LAs just try it on and refuse requests to assess. A percentage of these parents will just back down so the LA saves some money.

Ds2 has autism on the other end of the spectrum and I always get the ' it's the parents with AS or worse still mild ASD jumping on the bandwagon that there is no money'. Most do not realise that DS1 has HFA (language delay but presents as AS) as I do not offer the information, he was lucky as his original Dx was severe autism so he has had a good support package, which now means hopefully he will be able to lead an independent life. It is so wrong that education packages do not reflect the cost of the welfare bill of an adult because if it did a lot more would be spent on giving those with a chance of independence the skills to do so.
You have to fight for everything.

My son has AS and selective mutism too. He doesn't have a statement and doesn't need one at present, but that doesn't mean your son doesn't. My son is doing and has always done well academically and he has a support package at present working on his communication problems that is combined SALT and clinical psych designed and administered by school TA in short 10 min packages 3 or so times a week, plus a new programme on his specific speech and lang probs (word finding) once a week delivered by an assistant psychologist. This is at SA+.

One thing I would say in terms of appealing is to not stress the diagnoses per se as a reason on their own for stat assessment but to look at what the effects of his difficulties are - how is he getting on academically? What are his communication issues and what is happening to support them (eg 'my son is unable to answer to a greeting or to a question or comment made by a teacher. At present because he is compliant, my son recieves no support to develop his communication skills at all. Evidence states that the best chance he has to progress would be for him to have a desensitisation programme or sliding in programme designed by a psychologist or speech therapist and delivered by a teaching assistant, as evidence shows that selective mutism can become entrenched and very resistant to change, significantly affecting an individual's capacity to get a job or function in society as an adult. Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder and rarely gets better on its own.'')

Thanks everyone! Parent Partnership are helping me. Definitely appealing.

Yes we appealed after 2nd refusal to assess
Got advice from ipsea on what to write in cover letter to Sendist
As soon as LA heard a date had been set, they backed out of meeting us (as we said we would like to informally chat too) and agreed to assess.
Definitely try