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Tribunal panic! Been told I need a solicitor for refusal to assess!

31 replies

2boysnamedR · 18/12/2013 11:38

My ds senco has called me, she has asked around people who know in the lea and who know my son. She asked what chance we have of winning the tribunal to assess him. Answer "depends on how good their solicitor is"

Panic! I don't plan to get a solicitor! This is step one, if I need a solicitor for this step he hasn't got a chance in hell

OP posts:
StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 11:53

You don't need a solicitor. Don't panic. If you have funds then hiring a solicitor can take some of the pressure off.

Mencap (Merton) recently did some research and showed that outcomes for people with solicitors were no greater than for those without. This changes a bit when you are fighting for very expensive provision OOC, and some residential type placements but for the more 'basic' of tribunals, no difference.

And refusal to assess is the simplest of the simple.

What I would ask you now is this. Wtf was your ds' SENCO phoning you, and what was her motivation from eroding your confidence in your ability to advocate for your ds?

2boysnamedR · 18/12/2013 12:18

Ah thanks, god I could just cry. She called me as he had a lea assessment yesterday for his learning difficulties. I asked her to phone me to tell me how it went. The solicitor comment was just a random comment as she mentioned the tribunal

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StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 12:35

Just ignore these kind of comments. You'll get more. Now it is your turn to do the nodding and smiling.

What is your relationship like with the SENCO? Is she on your side do you think? Is she against you? Or is she just in a tiz and wondering where she put her unread copy of the SEN COP?

2boysnamedR · 18/12/2013 12:39

She said she is very much on my side, she wants him to win. She thinks she has good evidence and we can get more.

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StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 12:39

2boys, You're good. I haven't met you in real life but you come across as perfectly capable of doing this and some.

You're on top of your child's needs. You're on top of the information you will need and have a clue where to find it.

None of this guarantees a win of course, but neither does a solicitor.

What you need to be absolutely certain of is that however friendly or supportive LA and school staff appear to be, at the tribunal they WILL turn on you, and you'll be surprised at the backstabbing nature of the paperwork when you get it late in the day. This IMO is the main reason parents lose as they are caught off-guard, not because they don't have a solicitor.

THEN, to repeat the process you WILL need a solicitor as the first process would have caused an almighty mess.

StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 12:41

Good. That is good. (not what she'll say at the tribunal though).

I think you should write her a thank you letter, for all her support and her help and promises of additional evidence. Quote her where you can. Send a box of chocolates if you like.

Photocopy the card/letter before you send it.

claw2 · 18/12/2013 12:51

Has SENCO provided you with a copy of the evidence? Have you applied for a copy of your childs school file?

As Star said, our SENCO supported us and in writing all the way up to Tribunal. I didn't bother requesting a copy of school file (or the evidence) as I thought I was supported.

A change of heart from SENCO at the last minute, who decided school could meet ds's needs from budget, too late to apply for a copy of school file = lost tribunal.

2boysnamedR · 18/12/2013 13:03

Thanks I feel shacken by what she said, I was hoping solicitors would only be needed at the provision stage. I have to go in the new year to go over this lea report when she gets it. I will ask for his school file to be available for then. She did say to me they can prove he has progressed with1:1 and when it stopped he fell back. She told me to keep a record of how he fell back, to contact his case worker via email for a paper trail. I need to email her I think. Deadline for the lea to say why they refused I'd this friday

OP posts:
claw2 · 18/12/2013 13:06

Which LEA report?

How does SENCO plan on proving he fell back?

Case worker? LA case worker?

Why is deadline on Friday to say why they refused, if they have already refused?

ouryve · 18/12/2013 13:12

You don't need a solicitor at all - and a bad solicitor can be far worse than an informed parent, when it comes to outcomes.

2boysnamedR · 18/12/2013 13:17

The deadline is Friday sendist have set for the lea to put their refusal case in writing for me.

The report is a learning and language report

Yes case worker is the lea case worker

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StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 13:29

Yes, you're rattled. And you'll be rattled again so you may as well get going with a coping strategy.

There's no denying that this process is bloody awful, and you'll find it very stressful as every step requires you to imply that the people who are supposed to care about the wellbeing of your child, and worse, ARE working with your child, are not doing a good enough job. No way do you want that relationship to deteriorate, and yet, how can you put your needs for a happy relationship before your child's needs for adequate provision.

And often, these people don't even KNOW they are doing a shit job because all the professionals around them, on which they base their own self-worth, are telling they they're bloody marvellous.

I would put in writing, a request for both the school file and an additional 'subject access' request for all information they hold on you or your ds, including emails and handwritten notes.

I would also send the same request to the LA listing the departments with the caveat (And any other departments that hold date on us). And then send one to the Trust that governs any SALT or OT.

They may feign horror but they are more than used to replying to these requests, so don't be put off. Christmas is your advantage because if you put in the request now, they might not be bothered to spend the Christmas hols weeding out the stuff they don't want you to see.

This action might not just get you an assessment but a statement of half-decent quality because they have been warned that you'll tie them up in paperwork exercises if they don't.

2boysnamedR · 18/12/2013 13:30

Starlight thank you for your kind words.

I have been in a bubble the last month as its mostly been waiting. Then I hear more bad news about my sons struggles at school followed by a ' your screwed' type statement. He absolutely needs more help, he can't offird to fail at the first step. I feel scared now. Every week the news nd his chances in life are slowly just going down the drain

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claw2 · 18/12/2013 13:32

Oh ok got it, you have already lodged your appeal and you are awaiting a response from the LA setting out why it is opposing your appeal.

Did SENCO already provided evidence in your appeal?

Fingers crossed they might not even oppose your appeal.

StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 13:34

Again, with Christmas here they might not bother opposing it.

StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 13:37

'You're screwed', you'll here a lot, or other such things.

Buy a box of very posh chocolates. Every time someone says something designed to knock your confidence or make you out to be either off your trolly, greedy, deluded, unresourced, guilty, think 'hooray, I get another chocolate!, and then carry on as you were.

StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 13:40

The chocolate thing btw (I know I probably sound insane) but it is a way of deflecting the blow and standing outside of it.

You can also imagine yourself as a Valkyrie running through the woods with a shield on each arm deflecting arrows. I dunno. But you need to find a way to remain focused and not let these comments get to you.

I know that some posters find that when they hear a difficult comment they can think 'Wait until I tell my MN posse THAT, oh how they'll laugh!'

claw2 · 18/12/2013 13:41

Yep you will defo need a bullet proof jacket, make it out of all the peoples skins who tell you 'youre screwed' and snigger every time you hear it!

claw2 · 18/12/2013 13:50

and look at this way, the decision from the LA (IF they decide to oppose your appeal) will contain school reports, IEP's etc. This will likely be the evidence they are basing their decision on.

You are saying school are supporting you....I guess that will make them 'screwed'

bjkmummy · 18/12/2013 14:11

Very good advice from star and that her posters. You don't need a solicitor - my appeal was a complex one against all parts and asked for independent school and I won without a solicitor - the support on mums net was invaluable. I look the advice re a chocolate :-) fingers crossed they don't oppose it - quite a few peeps recently have had their LA back down at this stage so keeping everything crossed for you x

2boysnamedR · 18/12/2013 15:59

Thanks I'm just so emotional. At this latest assessment he has poor short term memory, awful sequencing, poor processing memory. Awful word finding. I know all this but it's so horrible having it confirmed. And yet get no closer to proper long term help. Another thing said was the child I see isn't the child they see. Wtf does that mean? So they see a boy who isn't very good at anything - I can see him too!

She said he was trying so hard at concentrating but that broke my heart as no matter how hard he try's he doesn't seem the capacity to learn.

It's like grief. But again and again. I can't say my hopes for him died a long time ago, they keep dyeing and dyeing a bit more every month. I am worried it feels like there will be nothing left except this cute looking thing but nothing inside of him. He's just not good at anything bless him

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StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 16:12

He is good 2boys. He tries hard to concentrate.

A curriculum that factors in concentration in short but effective bursts will help him progress. A statutory assessment should identify WHAT provision makes the most of his strengths and enables him to learn.

He might need a specialist placement with access to things that help concentration not normally available in mainstream. He might need less noise, or less people bobbing up and down just as he is about to grasp a concept.

I'm not down playing your concerns however, but he's much less disadvantaged with provisions matched to his need. And 'being' good at something is relative, not absolute. So what if he learns slower, as long as he DOES learn. I'm 38. My DH is 45. Is he 7 years more developed, cleverer, better educated than me? Nope.

He learned how to handle money before me, and read a bus timetable, and read a pizza menu, but that didn't mean I was stuffed. A developmental delay, is not a developmental halt.

bjkmummy · 18/12/2013 16:12

it is hard but the right schooling can make a huge difference - it maybe that the teachers are just not teaching him in the right way or environment - my son now at a specialist school and the change in him has been huge as the staff understand him and have the right expertise etc - that's why we all fight so much for our kids. it is hard when at this stage all you seem to hear is the negatives

StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 16:17

And I'd just like to add, everyone but you has a financial, professional, self-esteem motivation to insist that your ds's difficulties stem from him and therefore nothing can be done.

Like that facebook quote featuring a child with Down syndrome which said:

'My teacher said I'd never learn to read or write, so my mum got me another teacher.'

If only it were that easy eh? However, this is broadly what you are attempting.

StarlightMcKingsThree · 18/12/2013 16:17

And your Ds is very very lucky.