Confused about my ds statement

[CloserLook]

You'll probably think me a bit stupid but since my ds diagnosis of autism a year ago I think I've sort of zoned out of every conversation about his education.

I know the school put in for his SEN about 9 months ago and about 6 months ago I filled out a CAF form but I'm not really 100% sure what all that means. I asked about the progress of the statement in June but was told it was held up in the Local Authority Office.

I'm now worrying because ds is not doing as well in the mainstream school now and we want to move him to a specialist school in another area (nearer family) if possible. Looking at the schools I see most require proof of Severe Learning Dificulties as well as ASD. I don't know what qualifies as severe. I know he's very behind at school.

Can someone please explain the system to me?

The local authority should have written formally to you within 6 weeks of the school requesting statutory assessment to let you know whether they were going to proceed with the assessment. If they decided to do so, they should have carried out a full statutory assessment within 10 weeks and notified you by the end of that period whether they were going to issue a statement or not. If they haven't complied with those time limits you need to get in touch immediately and threaten them with court action to make them do so. However, first you really need to establish whether the school actually did ask for statutory assessment or not, because if they haven't asked then the timetable hasn't started. In that event, you really need to put in your own request immediately - there are sample letters on the IPSEA website.

If you want to understand the whole system, look on the websites of SOS SEN and IPSEA.