Peculiar situation ABA related

[zumbaleena]

My school ABA tutor has spoilt my relationship with my school by going behind my back and telling HT stuff which she wasn,t supposed to know....simple stuff like me giving some targets to tutor and asking her not to tell HT, asking my tutor for daily reports. My tutor is partly employed by school at lsa rate and I top up. Also my dd has been seen by an eminent EP and he has recommended winding down ABA for her. The HT is using this goof up by the tutor to "not back me up" for more funding fir my statement in the coming annual review. My ABA tutor is leaving cos we are winding down ABA but I don,t want to lose the statement.

This is something I have fought very hard to get and HT not backing me anymore under the pretext that dd does not need it anymore fills me with dread as with autism....one never knows when the child will fall apart.

Any pointers or thoughts about this?

The tutor is in between a rock and a hard place. She's employed by the School, but topped up by you. You're both her employers. It was probably unwise to trust the tutor not to share targets and to be honest, I don't think it would have been right for her to withold that from the HT as her employer.

Why did you want to withhold it?

Is the EP state or private? Was the report instigated by you or the LA?

I can't imagine them trying to go from ABA to nothing, to be honest. A tribunal would have a field day - there's no evidence, yet, that your DD will be able to cope even without the ABA let alone without support.

I wanted to withhold it for a simple practical reason - telling the school everything complicates stuff - oh! You are not doing it our way and so on and so forth. No other reason really.

EP was private - DU. When he said no ABA required, I can,t really argue against it.

I like your last point lougle....there is no evidence as of yet to say dd will cope without any support. Even DU said 12 to 15 hrs LSA support is ok fir the next 6 months.

Thanks lougle.

I take it you were hoping he wouldn't say that??

I sort of knew he would say that. Before I wound up ABA program, I just wanted someone as experienced as him to say that.

But I don,t want to give up the statement as that has been very hard for me to get. Hence I wanted HT to back me up for LSA funding atleast but she is using my ABA tutor,s going behind my back to get rid of support altogether

I have DU booked. He's the best EP ever for not playing stupid tribunal/LA games and credible for his integrity and refusal to change his reports to match a placement.

Did he not give a view on what level of ongoing support she needs? Surely he didn't think that ABA-> 0 was appropriate?

The school cannot withdraw your statement without clear evidence, and if they try to withdraw at AR, you can appeal. They really will not have anything to back their position up, and tbh they are foolish if they try to change the number of hours.

We're in a sort of similar position, in that we don't have ABA exactly funded through our statement, but have it written in (after appeal, obviously) that the TA will be trained by our supervisor, and will continue to work to jointly agreed targets.

We also had our own tutor going in one day a week, but she has just left on maternity. Needless to say, it has been a battle for 2 years to ensure that school do not just take over and ignore any ABA input, and I think without our tutor (and the current TA leaving) it will get worse, but as it stands, his current statement continues. As you have said, this is what you need to concentrate on. It is really hard though, esp if the LSA is partly employed by school, partly by you, and it sounds like (like us) school don't really want ABA, but have to because of the statment. Like you, it's not a question of funding/number of hours for our school, but an ideological (and obviously ignorant/prejudiced) opposition to anything that they don't control.

Must've been a slight shock for DU (we used him too) to say that. But then our consultant said that ds could 'wind down' ABA two years ago! And it didn't mean it goes from ABA -> nothing.

You can ensure that the approach is consistent - ie the school really cannot justify at all going from full support to nothing, and a switch in the type of support can be argued to be extremely detrimental for dd. Has DU written his report yet? Can you ask him to include in it that even though a full ABA programme not necessary, the positive-reinforcement approach is still essential? This is kind of what he said for us - we were never going for a full funded programme, so he said that the approach used so far was so successful it would be the most appropriate form of support to continue with. And presumably you'll have data to back up the areas of support dd has had, progress made on them, and areas which still need help with.

Or have I misunderstood - how many hours are currently in dd's statement?

There are 12 hours in statement. Thanks bialy

If the LA want to cease the statement they have to do an interim or annual review where they collect reports etc. Then they have to have the meeting and get HT report and then make a decision to cease. Then if you appeal they have to keep the provision and current statement (i.e. the ABA) in place until a tribunal hears the case (and you can appeal and then pull out late in the day if you want). So it could take about 10-12 months for the LA to get rid of the statement. So in my view you actually have quite a bit of bargaining power as if the LA just amend the statement, not cease it, the ABA funding can stop much sooner. Therefore it is in the LA's interests to keep the statement and change the provision in it rather than cease it.
Also don't get caught up in the argument if provision needed is less than £x or x hours then no need for a statement. A statement is needed for anything which it is beyond the resources of the school to provide. So if for e.g. you wanted to keep some ABA supervision during a transition period then that would be beyond the resources of the school and justify keeping the statement. A piece of expensive equipment and no 1:1 could still justify a statement.

I think everyone is presuming ABA is in my statement. It is not....I just hv 12 hours lsa in statement

Oh well then usually then you would not get a statement for 12 hours as that would come out of school's delegate budget. But the advice about ceasing still applies. You can still appeal it and hold things up for many months

Thanks Agnes. Dd is in nursery still....hence 12 hours is ok. Hopefully the hours will expand when they go to reception.

I think you need to go in to school and explain exactly what information you were withholding and exactly what your reasoning was. Because what seemed very logical and sensible to you, left the tutor between a rock and a hard place, so she talked to the HT.

The outcome sounds like the HT fears you're playing games with her. Which could be why she is no longer backing you up for the next stage of the programme. And that's just silly: your dd may not need formal ABA now, but a LSA doing a behavioralist-lite approach is fantastic for most dc, SEN or not.

From the school's perspective, it's far better for them if they keep elements of the approach which works best: if your dd is doing as well as possible within her allocated hours, her LSA will be able to work flexibly with (say) your dd and a small group, rather than strictly 1-1.

I think you need to go in and apologise profusely, bringing chocolates, taking all the blame, and thanking them for their amazing work with your dd, their consistent support etc, really pile it on. And then say what a lot of stress you were under, how you misjudged the situation, you're not used to the state/ private /UK / overseas (delete as applicable) school system, you didn't mean to offend anyone, yadda yadda.

If you really can't manage to eat humble pie convincingly, then send in your dh to 'apologise for my wife, she gets carried away sometimes'. When you've upset an important, powerful ally, without meaning to, you just have to grit your teeth and do whatever it takes to fix it. Even (or especially?) if in your own head you're convinced it was their fault.

Thanks Maria....I can definitely do that

and Honk