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Refusal to assess received. Looks like tribunal then

30 replies

bjkmummy · 23/01/2014 12:14

Only 2nd one in 2 years - sigh.

Refused as needs can be met at school action plus. School screwed me over completely.

She was assessed by dyslexia action EP in October - she had a reading age 6 years 8 months by nov she was assessed by school and put at 8yrs 5 months - she's 10

Spelling in oct by EP was 7 years 4 months - teacher nov 2013 its 7 years 2 months so actually she has dropped.

Their main argument is that she has made progress on the NC levels - the LA say since summer to autumn term she has made 1 level progress from a 2a to a 2a/3c but since year 2 she has been on level 2s so progress is at a snail pace and as each year goes by she fall further and further behind.

I just want to run up to the school and drag her out but I can't do that. School said they would refer her at my request to be assessed for dyspraxia as had to be done via school nurse. I would then speak to school nurse myself and no referral had need done, in the letter today it specifically mentions that the school have no concerns re dyspraxia. The school refused to call the EP in to assess her for dyslexia as she wasn't more than 6 years behind so that's why we went private.

I would also add we ourselves are paying for a dyslexia teacher to go in an hour a week so you would expect more progress due to this. Sorry if I'm rambling, my head is swimming with this and the thought of having to go to the school makes me feel sick

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wasuup3000 · 23/01/2014 12:51

Sorry to hear that - Just got a date from the first tier for an appeal against refusal to assess, took over 3 weeks to arrive as they have a bit of a backlog but instead of getting a June date like I expected the tribunal date is only just over 2 months away and the LEA can't play dirty tricks anymore and pull out within 5 days of the tribunal date who try to submit anything new.

wasuup3000 · 23/01/2014 12:52

or not *who

bjkmummy · 23/01/2014 13:00

Yes was up - a few people with refusal to assess I have heard have got the dates through very very quickly, I'm not madly getting the appeal ready to post today. Not had time to cry yet but no doubt that will come. Contacted my OT , I'm just hoping towie will be along later to answer a query about which EP to use and then get that sorted.

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TOWIE2014 · 23/01/2014 13:08

I've already PM'ed you bjk!

wasuup3000 · 23/01/2014 13:37

My ds is in year 3 only just on level one because he ticks 1 or 2 of the relevant boxes, wears coloured lenses, has adhd, asd, dyspraxia, dyslexia, auditory processing, visual processing, verbal processing difficulties, language disorder, has behavioural difficulties and has toiletting difficulties and this is the 2nd time I have requested a assessment for him, the first time I managed a note in lieu. He meets the LEA's criteria's ect. So took a break and am trying again as we have to. You think we would be used to it by now but it doesn't make it any easier.

JJXM · 23/01/2014 14:01

Take a step back. Cry. Get angry and frustrated. Then, take all of those emotions and focus them on getting what your child deserves. Get your appeal in and be prepared to fight - from what I've read, you've done it once and won.

Sorry that you are faced with this horrible battle Angry

Ineedmorepatience · 23/01/2014 16:07

Similar situation.

Dd3 has Asd, Spd, dyslexia and dyscalculia.

Due to massive anxiety issues the senco suggested that we put in a parental request and then back tracked when I did.

She is now toeing the party line and saying her needs can be met at SA+ and wont support us to get a statement before she goes to secondary Sad Angry

We have our tribunal date and now the battle begins.

Good luck to everyone in this situation.

2boysnamedR · 23/01/2014 16:37

Yes get all your emotions together and use them to fuel the fire to fight. I was told I'd better have a good solicitor. These people are cowboys. Enjoy rubbing their face in it I say

KOKOagainandagain · 23/01/2014 17:33

Bjk - you need to stop the LA using NC levels to assess progress. Before DS1 got his ASD diagnosis I 'only' had SpLD. Search my earlier posts on how I got SA despite DS1 not being 6 years behind. Not blowing my own trumpet but maybe laying down a trail. Smile

KOKOagainandagain · 23/01/2014 17:36

Wine Btw - an anticipated kick in the teeth is, nevertheless, a kick in the teeth. You know it's not personal.

Take care Smile

bjkmummy · 23/01/2014 20:03

thank keep and for the virtual drink as well - been out for tea with a friend - her NC havent increased anyway - the LA just spun it - if she had it was one sub level but thats debateable and thats over a few years - up unti year 2 she was making progress. how do i in simple terms stop the LA using NC levels? i intend to get my own EP report and OT report

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Theycallmestacy · 23/01/2014 20:31

We are just about to apply for the 2nd time. I am not feeling confident though.

Good luck with your appeal.

wetaugust · 24/01/2014 00:55

Bjk Flowers

I think the worse part is realising that professional people that you should be able to trust are deliberately lying to deny your child the support they need.

That's a difficult concept to get your head around. Angry

bjkmummy · 24/01/2014 07:35

yes and I moved her to this school so she could get the support and instead ive got a school who say what I want to hear to my face and then do nothing and actually lie behind my back. so Ive got the joy now of asking for her school file on Monday - will send DH in with the letter! this is a tiny school with only 24 kids so im in for a very uncomfortable ride. no one speaks to us as we don't live in the village and I spend my time alone in the playground. all the other parents adore the school so its just me. they have thrown her to the wolves and they know that. im faced with the fact that the school will be probably be called against us as tribunal. the LA have completely disregarded the fact that she needs specialist dyslexia teaching - what upsets me as well is that her teacher is dyslexic! I know the schools budget for sen is tiny so that's why they are behaving like this as they do not want to pay for any help for her. they refused the EP to assess her so we went privately to find she had severe dyslexia. they can call in specialist teachers themselves but have refused to refer her. I asked them to refer her for dyspraxia as it had to be the school. told me they had done it then when I chased it up found no referral had been done and then in the letter yesterday the school are quoted that they have no concerns re dyspraxia.

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KOKOagainandagain · 24/01/2014 08:21

Have you read the Rose report?

dera.ioe.ac.uk/14790/1/00659-2009DOM-EN.pdf

Do the school do standardised reading and spelling tests termly? If not they need to. You can then calculate the ratio gain. Seems complicated at first but you can get your head around this.

The LEAs SEN policy will say what they define 'adequate' performance as. (I assume you have a copy). The Rose Review which is/was the main LA document covering dyslexia. Apologies for the long quote - according to the Rose Review (2003, pp 178-9),

'Many UK studies report results not in standard scores but in reading and spelling ages, from which ratio gains can be calculated in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. A ratio gain of 1.0 means that the child’s skills are developing at a normal pace, but they will not be catching up with their peers. Brooks (2007) suggests that ratio gains of less than 1.4 are of ‘doubtful educational significance’, between 1.4 and 2.0 of ‘modest impact’, between 2.0 and 3.0 of ‘useful impact’, between 3.0 and 4.0 of ‘substantial impact’ and above 4.0 of ‘remarkable impact’ (Brooks. 2007, p. 289).

However, Brooks (2007) points out that ordinary teaching (i.e. no intervention) does not enable children with literacy difficulties to catch up, and hence it is fair to presume that, in the absence of control or comparison groups, and where effect sizes cannot be calculated, findings of ratio gains in excess of 2.0 may be taken as good evidence in support of the method employed. Indeed, several studies have shown that, without help, dyslexic pupils progress at around only 5 months per calendar year in reading (ratio gain 0.42) and 3 months in spelling (ratio gain 0.25) (Thomson, 1990, 2001; see also Rack and Walker, 1994). Dr Singleton suggests that in cases of dyslexia the achievement of ratio gains of 1.00 or greater represents substantial progress for these individuals, even though they may still have literacy skills below levels required to access the curriculum effectively.'

I reported results to the LEA saying 'With regard to spelling, IEP data records assessment in November 2011 (nfer Nelson) of SA 7.06 at CA 10.11 (- 3 years, 6 months) whilst the post-it note recounts September 2011 (nfer Nelson) result of SA 7.05 with CA 10.09 (- 3 years, 5 months) and April 2012 (nfer Nelson) of SA 7.08 with CA 11.4 (- 3 years, 10 months). Thus in a six month period DS has made progress of around two months. This represents a ratio gain of 0.3, during the course of a Wave 3 intervention, and is clearly inadequate. This demonstrates that the intervention has been unsuccessful in improving spelling performance. This is commensurate with rate of progress prior to the specific intervention (ratio gain 0.3, July 2010-July 2011) whose effectiveness is being evaluated, and, is similar to that expected by a child receiving no help, rather than the maximum permitted at Action+ level.

Some LEAs also use ratio gains to assess the persistence of dyslexic difficulties. According to these criteria, the measure of persistence has been taken to be a ratio gain of less than 0.5 whereby with maximum SA+ support dyslexic learners are making only half the expected progress (6 months in one year). The data (ratio gain of 0.3) clearly demonstrates the persistence of learning difficulties despite well-founded intervention. Furthermore, the data clearly demonstrates the widening of measured attainment gap over time in response to appropriate and thorough learning opportunities.'

You need to work out how many months are between standardised assessments and then how much 'progress' there has been in that time. Just because some progress has taken place, it does not mean that the progress is 'adequate'.

You can do the same comparison with teacher assessed SATs Levels which you will have. LEAs have different criteria of what constitutes adequate progress (eg 1 sub-level each 2 terms or per academic year). Hence a couple of sub-levels progress over 2 years is actually regression which means that you can demonstrate 'lack of progress'. This use of language is standard 'spin' - when someone is ill we do not say that they have a lack of health!

DD should have Wave interventions (step before referral to specialist services usually although this was not offered to us until tribunal hearing). I had a meeting with an LA rep, following refusal, about our different views of whether or not progress was 'adequate', and it was agreed to measure progress during a Wave 3 intervention - standardised testing at beginning and end of one term and then calculate the ratio gain. Less than 6 months in one year was 'inadequate' according to their own policy and so they had to assess.

Simps. Hmm

If you PM your email I will send you my initial application for SA which has charts and standard distribution curves to demonstrate progress over time (I'm a tad anal).

KOKOagainandagain · 24/01/2014 08:29

Oh, forgot to say, the reason that you do all this jumping through hoops is because you have to show both severity and persistence. Persistence is code for evidenced failure over time. NC levels are purely subjective and if you look at the level descriptors you can see that use of punctuation such as quotation marks and use of 'wow' words justify the levelling of work at a higher level than it really is. Your school may collect APP data termly but may not level more than once a year. If all else fails they can lie - one sub-level is equal to 6 months progress and therefore adequate and it always will be until the child is in the bottom 1-2% (1b in year 8 in these parts) - ie never during primary ed.

bjkmummy · 24/01/2014 09:41

My LA don't appear to have a SEN policy - there is absolutely nothing on line so its keep secret I think. The feeling seems to be here that the SEN officer just makes it up as she goes along, I'm about to do a request for her LA file so I can get her results from the SEN panel. They have disregarded her dyslexia action report which put her in 2nd per centile. That's not even mentioned in the decision. They put her NC levels in th summer as 2a/b and then in the autumn term as 2a and put this as one point progress. I will pm you my email address. I think I've been a bit rash in getting the appeal straight it as I didn't write anything lengthy for my reasons to appeal but I can always submit more later. I'm waiting now for appointment for OT and EP to assess her independently. I also pay for a dyslexia teacher to see her 1:1 for an hour a week in school so I could ask for her to write a detailed report on her progress. Even if they say she's made progress she is in year 5 and still at level 2a. She ended year 2 on a 2c so progress has been very very slow

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KOKOagainandagain · 24/01/2014 10:04

My parent partnership emailed me a copy of the LA policy - also not online. Try this.

Personally I would not fund specialist teacher unless you plan to do this long-term and instead of school supporting. Any progress that this allows will be used to prove that DD doesn't need assessing.

You could stop this without it looking 'tactical' by saying that you don't want to muddy the waters whilst assessing effectiveness of school intervention.

BigBird69 · 24/01/2014 10:21

My son has a statement for "severe literacy and numeracy" difficulties. My LA categorically refuse to accept the words dyslexia or dyscalculia. In effect they do to exist. They will not fund assessments for them as in their words, if you test one child you have to test them all. It is this terrible prove to fail that our kids have to go through. My sons levels are of a 4yo he 8 and at a specialist school .

bjkmummy · 24/01/2014 10:50

I understand what you are saying keep but its only an hour a week and its not having any impact on her progress if I'm honest. This is a kid who at age 10 doesn't know her vowels and keeps forgetting them. There's more I guess than just pure dyslexia going on. The hour a week is actually good for her self esteem and ends up being more like counselling for her! My argument is that even with this extra support progress should be being inch more excelerated when in fact she's stuck still. The school should be paying for it is the reality but they refuse to do anything for her although off the record agree she needs much more specialist teaching but they will never say that publicly.

One of the other reasons for refusal is that she's only has an Iep since nov. the targets on the Iep due to be reviewed in April and now way she will meet them. One is to learn all her timestables up to 12. She's currently on her 8 x but is struggling and she said today that the 6x which she is meant to know who tested on it she has competely forgotten them

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bjkmummy · 24/01/2014 10:54

Also keep even if I stopped her dyslexia teacher going in the school will still screw it that she's making progress anyway. At least the dyslexia teacher is writing detailed reports on what's she's doing with her and how she's struggling. The school accept she needs speciailist teaching which if I can force them to say that at tribunal then that is grounds to at least assess her

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KOKOagainandagain · 24/01/2014 11:32

That's why you use objective measures of progress so that the school can't screw you.

Private reports are not accepted as evidence of progress for SA purposes. This should be NC levels, IEP targets and standardised testing. The rate of progress may be different. DS2 is average progress at NC, no progress on IEP targets and above chronological age on standardised testing.

You have to win by their rules but first you must collect the right sort of evidence.

KOKOagainandagain · 24/01/2014 11:36

The school can afford I hour 1:1 specialist teacher from the delegated budget. This alone would not justify assessment. They could admit this at tribunal. It would be expected that wave interventions had already been tried and had failed.

KOKOagainandagain · 24/01/2014 11:41

DS1 also has the Groundhog Day style memory when it comes to times tables. He would learn one table, get the bronze, silver and gold certificates and then promptly forget it. Plus he never actually used multiplication but only addition in his day to day work. Waste of time.

bjkmummy · 24/01/2014 11:53

I do have a report from school which explains that they did 6 months of intervention with her and the intervention failed and everything learnt was then forgotten, at the end of this x6 months they said they would call EP in but then u turned on it as she's not 6 years behind as per their LA SEN policy. That's why we went to dyslexia action. Since then school just done normal teaching with her, says she's getting some support but she's in a class of 10 so nothing extra really. This is really giving me a headache! I thought it would be straightforward - she's x number of years behind, normal teaching ain't working so lets assess her and see what's going on but it's sounding so much more complex, in reality how many refusal to assess are unsuccessful at tribunal - I know its early days and that's why I'm stressing but I'm just feeling over whelmed by it all and thinking I shoud just give up. But I can't let my daughter down so time for a coffee I think"

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