So, what cuts would you make to SEN provision?

[StarlightMcKenzie]

In light of the Wirral report and the suggestion that the parents they interviewed were 'pioneers', innovative, open to change, outcome-focussed etc. and of these parents a total of 4% listened to the SEN team for advice etc... I was wondering if it would be possible and indeed desirable, to make whole SEN departments 'Big Community' run.

By that I mean, take said innovative open-minded outcome-focussed parents and get them to run the departments in their entirety. Ask them to get better outcomes for the same money. Ask them to get better outcomes for less money in fact.

I am utterly utterly convinced that it could and WOULD be done.

I would cut parent partnership. IPSEA give better advice.

You could even pay them the same in wages, pension contributions etc. and they'd STILL make huge savings I reckon.

Yes. Absolutely. Cut Parent Partnership and put half of the savings into a condition-free donation fund to IPSEA.

I would cut the waiting times for anything to actually get done.

Oh, wait.

I know, I know - I would cut the fraud and over-spending that seems to be rife in academy converters, special schools included.

Also get rid of the Head of each service/school/special school or insist that they work at the chalkface with parents and children, rather than sitting in an office delegating.

That would save Millions ouryve! Not just in money now, but in future outgoings due to timely interventions.

I would definitely cut the catering budget.

I would also most definitely request submission of amount of time spent in meetings and aim to cut that by 15% annually.

cut parent partnership, use 1/4 of the funds as direct donation to IPSEA.

Use the other 1/4 for school staff training from the moondog school of thought e.g ask first is this intervention measurable? If not why are we doing it. Too many inset days have become sales days for various companies looking to flog a product as the buyers of SN services are so clueless.

cut all non graduate qualified cahms "support workers"

run a formal change programme to focus on staff performance management in terms of children's outcomes rather than meetings attended.

Have parents run a series of workshops for all school staff on SMART targets for IEP's as having worked in a variety of industries I can never get my head round so few educational professionals understand what these are.

Change 50% of LA run parenting courses to ones appropriate for different disabilities. e.g Swan parents, strategies for behavior management of deaf child, challenging behavior etc. So much of the generic stuff is just not relevant.

Cut all automatic NAS early bird style LA courses and make the NAS put in bids to parental governance body against those courses run by other organisations so that parents could choose the most effective post diagnosis courses available locally (in other words generalise awareness of ABA within the community).

Introduce an automatic internal fine for every case that goes to Tribunal & is won by a parent due to basic procedural error on the part of the LA.

Cut meeting times by

(a) Not using stupid acronyms which have to be explained every time. (Our EHCP assessement procedure is called a DAF - how could no-one have failed to notice the missing T)

(b) Have a central list of everyone involved with each child. Every time a report is produced send it to parents for approval and permission to share and then email to everyone on the list so that time is not wasted because someone hasn't seen something. Personal fine for anyone who hasn't read all the material before the meeting.

Fast-track support to children in need. I truly believe if appropriate intervention had been implemented sooner my ds's would have coped in mainstream and not needing specialist provision - which would save the LA tens's of thousands over the coming years.

Create a mandatory training course in autism that all teachers must attend plus a refresher when they are allocated with a child diagnosed (or even thought to have) autism.

Create LA managed schools that specialise in high functioning autism instead of having to go to highly expensive out-of-borough schools and astronomical taxi costs.

Only smartprice/basics bubbles to be used in an educational setting. No pricey elc stuff.

And agreeing with 1in8's more serious last one. That provision should not simply be a "unit" tacked onto the LA school with most spare places where those children can do worksheets while children who aren't overwhelmed by their class of 33 can carry on with their interesting lesson.

Totally axe all LA SEN middle management. Keep just the case workers.

Boc - having been through a long drawn out LGO process and seen how TOWIE County Council managed to very nearly wriggle out of all of my complaint which was about a procedural error (basic one - not following Education Act and SEN CoP) - not sure about that as theyd wriggle out of it. I'd say for each Tribunal, LA has to pay a sum of money (but not the parent). If the LA "win", then they get the money back. If they loose, then the money directly goes to the child's provision

Where do I sign up for this utopia land?

Personal fine for anyone who sends out a meeting demand without including the following in the invite:-

1. Purpose of the meeting.
2. What the expected benefit to the child of having the meeting is.
3. Any relevant documents, supporting information in pursuit of 2.

Ban coffee, tea and biscuits from all meetings and use the monies saved to create an assistive technology fund for those children that need it.

This would also have the expected benefit of reducing meeting durations to tolerable levels, as I'm of the firm belief that if things haven't been sorted in an hour, usually they are not going to be.

All reports should first be sent to parents before being put into general circulation so that basic info such as child's name can be checked.

Introduce a penalty payment and publish the results annually for every school that tell parents they will not get a statement who then go onto win one at Tribunal.

The LA response to my complaint that ds had been known to them for 6 months and had not one minute of intervention was met with:

'But you've had 3 multidisciplinary meetings!'

HOW much more effective would have even a clueless TA in partnership with the parents have been and SO much cheaper........

All together now and repeat after me

^"A meeting is NOT an outcome,
No a meeeting is not an outcome
ooh yes believers
A meeting is not an outcome"^

We have an LA funded school for hfa - unfortunately they try to wriggle out of giving anyone a place.

My moneysaver - listen to the parents - they live with their child every day and are in the best position to know if mainstream will not suit their child.

To add to this list

Phone meetings

Dont print and post all the documents.. Use Dropbox

Type meeting minutes as you go and email at the end of the meeting

video evidence and upload to dropbox

I vote for defenestration of the whole SEN Essex department.

^ I second babiki

(Not that I had to look the word up - good word! Very appropriate!)

ooo like that word as well.....

how about sack all the useless EPs who insist of robbing children of provision, resulting in them needing specialist placements in the future?

second getting rid of parent partnership! absolute waste of public funds.

definitely impose a fine to the schools that claim dcs wont get a statement and then go on to get one!

all schools sen funding should be ringfenced and the school should have to produce evidence of how the money is spent to the benefit of each child. no more useless TAs or pretty flower beds

The only thing I've had out of PP is a visit to a SS that ignored my emails. If SS had answered their emails, even to say sod off, we don't want your type here, they wouldn't have been needed.

I'd cut spend on laminators....