how much notice do I have to give the school regarding indie assments?

[armani]

I am appealing dds statement (parts 2&3) through sendist. I have had indie ot and salt booked for a few weeks now, when should I notify the school that they will be coming in to assess dd?
I have already been told by LA that they will be initiating their own assessments if I obtain indie advice so I am reluctant to tell them incase they assess first and then we are having to dispute their reports rather than them having to dispute ours etc.
anyone been through this and how much notice did u give the school? thanks

When DS saw indi OT - I took him to her, so I took him out of school for a medical appointment. The first the LA knew of my advice was when I submitted it to SENDIST on the last possible day.

Difficult one as my OT has always gone into school to see the child at school. I usually give the school about a weeks notice. Same when the EP went in. With the salt report I've just had done that was done outside of school so no one knows that one is coming yet. That said the salt who saw my son also went into school as well, I was lucky as the school last time didn't tip the LA off , this time it's different and school working hand in hand with the school so keeping my cards close to my chest.

its really difficult as the HT has been named as a witness for tribunal so I know as soon as I tell them the LA will know.
Also I have to have the assments done in school as LA are disputing their own nhs assments as they were not done in dds educational setting, so they cant possibly be accurate assholes.

I told HT when I would be seeking an Indie OT, but we'd already discussed the dearth of OT help we'd had, anyhow. As it happened, we got an appointment pretty quickly. My situation is different from yours, though, with HT being sympathetic to what I was doing.

ive discussed the salt ot issues with ht, senco, ct, 1:1ta and la but they are all insisting dd has made such great progress with 3 weeks of therapy that neither need to still be involved . despite dxs of dyspraxia, verbal dyspraxia, phonological disorder and mcd. dd also has to have physio input due to tight muscles.
the la are saying that dds salt and ot issues cant be helped with salt and ot due to gdd. although with both she has a spikey profile and aspects are on par with her peers whilst others are 0.5 percentile so how can they label gdd? argh

Good grief, armani. Is there such thing as "GD"T? No. That's why the individual issues need dealing with, hence SALT for language and communication issues, OT for motor and other physical and neurological manifestations of her delays and so on.

And the LA are not diagnostic or therapeutic experts. They're in an administrative, paper pushing role. They can not decree that individual therapies can not be helpful due to more widespread delays.

love the 'paper pushing role'
I am just preparing my side of the case statement to send to my solicitor and im feeling positive now. they have manipulated every bit of info the school has given them. I am so glad I have kept every slt report from reception. they are still trying to address the same targets since reception - through ta input yet they are saying dd has progressed

I think you do need to give reasonable notice, not least to make sure that dd is around and doing work of a type that the experts can assess. It would be pretty disastrous if they came on day when the class was doing mock exams, for instance, or going out on a field trip. The school is entitled to say no if it doesn't get enough notice. Also you have to bear in mind that if the school were to play stupid and refuse to allow it, you need to give yourself time to apply to the tribunal for an order.

Don't worry about the LA testing thing. They have to have your permission to assess your child, so what you do is to tell the school that they absolutely do not have your permission to let anyone assess her before your own experts have been in.

thankyou nenny! should I put this in writing? as last time LA EP assessed I wasnt even told until afterwards

I wrote to the school and gave the HT a choice of two potential dates for the independent EP to go in. I think it was with about 2 weeks notice, more for the EP to make arrangements than the school.

I know the school were terrified and that it hadn't happened to them before!

Sorry, only seen your post, armani. Yes, definitely put it in writing, and ask for confirmation that this is agreed.