Thank you, thank you, thank you Mumsnetters!

[AllThatGlistens]

I'm a long time lurker who occasionally posts and who owes a huge debt of gratitude to the amazing Mums on these boards, particularly here.

In short I have 3 DC, DS1 (9) who has Autism, Tourette's and Hypermobility Syndrome. DD (7) and DS2 (2.9) who's awaiting assessment for ASD, speech delay, and suspected Hypermobility issues so pretty certain we'll eventually end up with a similar diagnosis to DS1.

I first found this place when googling for pregnancy info and never left!

Without the wealth of wisdom I found here I would never have known to apply for DLA for DS1 (and from following advice here and links to Cerebra he was awarded 5 yrs High Rate care immediately).

Without reading here of other parents fights with schools and Local Authorities to secure funding, resources and the long painful road to statementing I would never have had the knowledge of the SEN code of practice and enough confidence to stand my ground and be able to quote the relevant legalese to his named officer at County when we applied for Statutory Assessment.

Despite our school being very supportive of the application, our County are difficult to get statements out of, in our school there are quite a few 'high needs' children and the SENCO had already told me that only one child had a statement after being left with a Note In Lieu for over a year and all of the others were only offered a Service Level Agreement so we suspected we'd be in for a battle!

Thanks to this board I read up on the appeals and tribunal processes and made sure those involved knew that we were aware of his rights and were willing to fight for them.

His Appendix A (all 80 pages of it!) and professional reports were sent in by the deadline of 20th June, last Thursday. We were expecting a decision by mid-August. I received a phone call this morning to say he'd been awarded his statement!!! In less than one week!

We're stunned, completely. Been shaking and cried with relief this morning! Obv we now have to go through the draft statement with a fine tooth comb but we got it!

So thank you, a million times thank you for unknowingly supporting and advising a long time lurker, I wouldn't have gotten as far as we have without this board.

Thank you

Fantastic x

Great news x

Thank you not usually one to show much emotion but I do luffs this place!

Very well done! - and I second your enthusiasm and gratitude to the brilliant SN Mumsnetters who have unknowingly educated me and forewarned me with their experiences - you've helped me to apply for a Statement - I'm now awaiting the Draft, but am forearmed with 'what to look for'. Thank you all (sorry to hijack your thread, but I just wanted to agree).

Not a hijack at all, I'm feeling the love for MN today

So we're in the same position at the moment then Grey! Hope that your statement has everything you need for your child included and you don't have to fight for much more

I'm very aware that we've been incredibly lucky thus far, and I know a lot of people have to fight unbelievably hard to get the provision their children need so I dont like to go on too much, but I really did want to reiterate just how much this board has helped us.

We also are v lucky to have an awesome Autism Outreach worker that sees DS weekly, she's been on the phone for over half an hour this evening already discussing the specialist High School she wants to get him into, she's so fiercely passionate about 'her kids' - I wouldn't want to argue with her!

I don't profess to be an expert in any way shape or form, but I do hope our story will give a little bit of hope/encouragement to other parents starting out on this journey, just as previous threads did for me.

Okay, I have to stop with the slushiness now, it's all getting a bit too flowery