urgent advice needed please

[oramum]

I am appealing parts 2&3 of dds statement and have had indie salt and ot assessments done. they indicated that dd needs to be assessed by an EP, which I am in the process of securing a date for assessment.
the la are now requesting that their EP assess dd next week, using standardised assessments. this is the same EP who assessed dd as part of sa and didnt carry out any formal assessment.
can I object to this assessment? I am concerned that if this assessment goes ahead, it will not be in dds favour and my indie EP will not be able to assess
any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

can anyone offer any advice? thanks

Bumping for you - I'm not sure what to say - I'm sure there are other on here who will know. Te issue is that as you say if the LA EP goes first it means you EP can't do the same tests but there must be a way around that as a lot of people end up with LA and indie EP reports. The LA EP reports tends not to do the full test just parts of it. I think if no one comes by on here to answer to try and contact IPSea or SOS SEN for some advice as I expect you are against a time deadline. I would not want the LA EP to go first but its just how you go about doing it without appearing to be obstructive. In my 2 appeals an EP never saw my kids so I avoided this headache although if it gets adjourned having a feeling this is a dilemma I may well have myself in a few weeks time.

You will have to let the LA do they own EP report - if you object to it, the Tribunal won't be happy with you because you will be prejudicing the LA's case. However, if they go first, you might then jeopardise your own indie EP being able to complete their assessment.

I would talk to your indie EP. The indie EP might be able to say if the LA assessment would conflict with the assessment s/he would be doing. Or the indie might be able to give you a firm date, and then you can go back to the LA and say they can do theirs after the indie's date.

In my DS's case, indie went first and LA EP went a couple of weeks later. By the time the LA EP did hers, DS had been over-assessed so LA EP had to resort to limited observations and she also talked to indie EP.

Talk to the indie EP - they are used to this and might be able to tell you want to do.

I'm wondering whether the 6 month exclusion covers all batteries of tests so, for example, if LA EP did a few tests from the WISC, the Indie EP could test comprehensively using the BAS? Probably worth asking your Indie EP about.

Also, if the LA EP is happy to rattle off a selection (whether it's the most helpful or not) of test results but does an ostrich impression as far as classroom and playground observations go, then the shortfall is what you could ask your Indie EP to concentrate on. Unless you're trying to demonstrate the presence or lack of certain abilities, the minutiae are often more useful when it comes to the backbone of a statement anyhow.

DS1's LA EP just did a few brief tests to confirm that he was cognitively very able in a few key areas but spent a lot of time on the classroom observation which picked out obsessive behaviour, rigidity, deficits in peer interaction and so on, as well as highlighting historical problems based on interviews with staff and her own encounter with him having a very bad day. All much more useful, in our case.

Agree contact IPSEA etc but you have a right to be present at assessment. I am not saying you want to be but you could use that as a reason to postpone.
I would write back and ask to set out exactly what tests the LA EP is going to do. I would be vague and say you are awaiting indie EP report (so don't say haven't seen your child yet but don't lie, just leave it ambiguous).
Say you know that the same tests cannot be repeated within a set timescale and need to know which tests the LA EP will do and check these with your EP first. Be clear you cannot consent to the assessment until you have this information.
Tell school the assessment should not go ahead without your consent (& you being present if you want to be) as sometimes LA staff just turn up.
In theory it should not matter who does the tests as they can't fake the results, but I can see why you would want to know they had been done properly.
Our LA EP has never tested DS in 5 years! Just observes. It's rare they do the same as indie EPs in my experience.

Thanks for all of your advice. the la ep has not been interested in assessing dd until now and they have told me it will be standardised and dynamic assessment, so im assuming my indie wont be able to re assess .
thankyou agnes for suggesting that I ask to postpone so that I can be present. this wont be held against me by the tribunal will it?

also I know that the results of the assessments will be the same whether indie or la assess, its just the recomendations im concerned about. this la ep doesnt even agree that dd should have a statement, any 1:1 or salt etc so im not hopeful with what will be recomended in the report.

you have a right to be present at assessment

Absolutely insist on this. In my DS's case EP tried to stop me and it took several very strongly worded emails from my solicitor pointing out my legal rights.

My DS was being assessed for dyslexia (amongst other things) - as I was present during the LA assessment, I caught the LA EP making him read a book for a 5 year old (he was then 9) and with a lot of help from her prompting him - and it was book he had read countless times when he was in school. This book duly turned up in her report that he had read with nearly 100% fluency - but absolutely no mention that he knew the book and she sat prompting him to read a book for a child 4 years younger

thanks towie, I am going to insist on being present during the assessment. this is also an assessment for dyslexia.
im just waiting on a call back from my indie ep. im hoping I can postpone the la and then havee my indie assess first!

When our ds was assessed the LA Ep and our Ep did the tests within 2 weeks of each other but spoke beforehand so that they didn't do the same tests and then shared results with each other!! I agree insist that you are there for the assessments. My ds wouldn't do it without me being there anyway.