How do you make the professionals work hard for your situation?

[kafkesque]

I have long been unhappy with our situation - 4yrs in fact. Now that we have a proposed statement I am making the professionals work harder especially as I feel our DS has been neglected over this time and feel the need to catch up.

I usually ask more and more questions and refer to other professionals in the TAC. How do you do it?

I usually ask nicely, try to work with them, then quote the Law and SEN COP if they are failing in their responsibilities.

Thanks claw,

So far I have been nice to them and they have been nothing but mean. God knows I have tried to work with them and I still try.

Since SA I would hope that changes will have already been made to his education. Available from all the reports published before the proposed statement was published. According to the SENCoP. This will be my main concern in the TAF meeting.

Just because the law states you must do something in the form of a Statement does not mean that changes could not have already been made. I don’t want DS to be neglected any longer. I want his education to progress as soon as possible there is no need to wait.

What can I quote in this situation?

The proposed Statement will give you an indication of what support is required but the support does not have to be put in place until the Statement is Finalised.

Meanwhile.... I think there's too much emphasis put on obtaining Statements and not enough in actually checking that the Statement is doing what it what designed to do.

Statements describe support but IEPs monitor the delivery of that support and whether the support is effective.

So, although you may not have the Statement finalised it's worth concentrating on getting a SMART IEP drawn up now and start ensuring the support that is delivered is effective.

You can quote whatever you like, Herts pay no heed to the law, to moral or ethical standards and most of the people there have been employed for their unquestioning low IQs.

I have totally failed to get professionals in the State sector to work hard for DS. We have employed an ABA provider for 4 years (first privately and then via LA funds via tribunal) and everything has been great. Good relationships, no egos, amazingly dedicated staff, exceeding expectations of progress for DS. I don't have to tell them to work hard for DS, they just do. I genuinely feel they care for him and about him. We now have private SLT (funded via education direct payments) and again it goes just as it should. Parents automatically involved, recommendations on the money, everyone gets on and works together. But in every single part of the State sector and almost every single State paid professional we have had involved has caused me far more work and stress than they have provided benefit. Most of the time I find dealing with them causes me more stress and sleepness nights that DS's autism. Its like dragging a reluctant child up a steep hill and then them expecting me to be grateful they have shown up at all.

There is something about SEN world which allows publicly paid people to behave very badly, do a terrible job, be nasty and mean to their 'clients' parents, be lazy (reel off a list of off the shelf recommendations irrespective of whether they fit the child in front of them), be years behind the times on research and knowledge, spend endless hours in meetings and on reviews and 'contacts' without producing any positive benefit and being completely unaccountable for showing any evidence of a positive benefit. In the most part I wish I had never met them, had never wasted my time letting them into my home, felt bullied by them and spend vast amount of time trying to manage their egos and keep them on side because they have the power to rip apart the funding for the private provision we have achieved. I find it really depressing and while I am not usually a fan of the private sector I think moving the power to parents to take the money and buy a service elsewhere is probably the only thing which will lead to change.

There have been a few diamonds in the rough but they are few and far between and tend to get moved / made redundant / forced out because they make the others look bad.

I agree with Agnes.

Just this morning, met my LEA just to be told they dont support ABA and they wont consider any of my recommendations.

Ahhh, so sorry salondon.

You know what. I was never that bothered about ABA at the beginning. I just wanted someone to do a detailed assessment of need, then design a programme to work on those areas. You'd think that would be the bread and butter of any SEN provision!?

No. Lots of platitudes and meetings is all that is offered. No proper assessments and no measurement of outcomes to test whether intervention is effective.

That was all I wanted. It's still all I want. Why would ANYONE want anything else, especially those that work in SEN?

Its the same thing Star.. The case load manager and her boss werent even half prepared for the meeting. None of their facts were straight. They just wanted to meeting to see what I was made of and will I take them to court.

I am a very nice, polite NUISANCE to them.
I explain the issue, ask them what they can offer to help.
Usually I tell them what I would like, always aiming high. We usually end up meeting somewhere in the middle.
I always end a meeting or phone call with, so to recap... youa re going to do X&Y and i'll do Z. I always get them to agree a date by which it will be done, sorted, in place etc if that's not possible if not a date by which they'll come back to me with an update etc.
If what was agreed doesn't happen & I nag & nag & nag & then nag their boss & then their bosses boss etc.
I treat all calls/meetings as I do a business meeting that way I am usually able to stay calm & not get upset.
and DH says i'm very good at Nagging!

My Mate - are you looking for a job as a nagger? I am so good with nagging, but even I loose it with these caring carrot types

I am already fully employed as a full time nagger :)

I'm afraid with Herts, I tried polite. I tried not polite. I tried the law. I tried compassion. I tried a lawyer. I tried policy documents. I tried professional codes. I tried understanding. I tried threats. I tried action. I tried reason. I tried logic. I even tried monetary incentives.

But there really isn't a lot you can do with 'No because I said so' or 'You don't run our department', however many of the above strategies you use.

Ultimately I used the 'Fuck off out of my live, - I'm off to live somewhere else', which is the only thing that got ds a fraction of what he needed. But that is okay, because the rest I have learned to deliver myself and the 'fraction' that he has got is delivered by decent people who incidentally, are not in the state sector and who can give a decent argument and compromise and above all give a shit about ds.

Threads like these send shivers down my spine, in the process of requesting a statement and having a meeting with the EP. Lets hope they are professional

LOL @starlight, I like all the different methods you have tried only to lead you back to the same path, its bloomin pants isnt it how messed up things are

I'm sure my sister was saying herts were good for SEN and my sis is considering moving there (she is in Enfield now) I may send her your way, before she makes the move as Enfield were actually ok..tried it on a bit, but nothing too ridiculous.

Not sure have ever tried "nice" Ive tried "patient" and "logic" now I just do "crazy" and it sort of works, lol, but only with the LA/NHS bods, and certainly not the school.

I know I have a bad rep in my LA, and I know because the heads of departments deal with me now rather than the minions at the bottom and my LA case manger actually said "xxx dept are now wary of you as you put their colleagues job on the line" but at the same time they cant totally dismiss me as they need people within the LA to counter argue my claims, etc..but lets just say no one volunteers to do it as they know one false move I am on them like a rash and 2 of their colleagues are living proof.

The upside is for my other DS, they are being a bit more accommodating (so far) as they know I will not let it drop and land everyone in it

Herts are okay for some disabilities, but stay away if you need help with ASD or SALT unless very severe (they have a couple of okay MLD schools)

Sammy, although you will read lots of threads on here about nightmare LEA'S they really are not all like that.. some no doubt are & some people have a nightmare dealing with people who quite frankly are in the wrong job.
BUT on the whole our LEA have been great, yes I have on occasion I have had to nag & chase but ultimately I have always believed they wanted to do the right thing & his school (ms primary) are fantastic with great people.
Don't despair it MAY be ok :)

We live next door to two which are allegedly much better, eg they do actually talk to parents and compromise. Our plan B if we lost tribunal was to move.

my lot actually started off ok with me, it was the school that in some ways forced the LA to be how they are now. I will always remember the SENCOs face when the LA case worker said DS would continue to get intensive support, she was so pissed off...she still managed to cock it up and not give him, from then onwards it has been hell, and if the LA just paid for 2 year of inde we would all be good now, but no..had to be difficult so back to wasting more taxpayers cash again.

asking for reasonable adjustments makes them do their job

SENCO daily raking me over the coals:

"DS bit another boy on the back so was told to stand with me and hold my hand for 5 minutes. He did so and was calm after a few minutes. I bent down and said to him that he could now go and play but not to bite anybody and he headbutted me. He was sent into school to be with Miss Nice and then he apologised to me later.

DS also scratched a boy at lunchtime, leaving marks on his arm.

We need to think about how we can deal with this as I am concerned that a similar incident could happen with another member of staff or a pupil. We will continue to monitor his behaviour in school and ensure that he is encouraged to play safely with others at playtimes."

My reply:

"Unfortunately these problems are not going to go away as DS has Special Educational Needs. It’s a simple case of cause and effect. We are able to cope with them at home as we understand DS. This is not his typical behaviour. In particular he has a Sensory Processing Disorder as mentioned in the Proposed Statement and several reports. They tell you how to “deal” with him. Although the NHS OT report was rather limited to information that could have been supplied about DS. Have school left all these recommendations until the statement is finalised? You are not responding to his sensory needs.

I am trying to obtain an Auditory Processing Disorder diagnosis as well via Paed who will refer us to the audiology department. Hopefully then we can get the right environment for DS. Thank-you for letting us know as this is all good evidence for the correct placement.

He just cannot cope with the level of noise in the playground and lashes out I suggest you make reasonable adjustments as soon as possible, no need to wait for final statement as this a definite problem of DS’s. This is why I feel DS is neglected as no one seems to understand him or act quickly on the recommendations made in several reports."

I'm tired I just wish they would sort it out.