had the LA EP on the phone re the statutory assessment

[bjkmummy]

I asked for the assessment in dec and sent in my own EP report - LA then refused to assess , won the tribunal and now having the assessment.

LA EP phoned this morning to say that looking through her file he can see she has had lots and lots of assessments done and he feels that she has been though enough so isn't going to assess her as such but wants to use my EP report which I don't have an issue with.

what frustrates is that they have had this report since dec but now want to use it. the tribunal basically ordered the assessment for the LA to look at all her needs - it appears tahts not going to happen at all - they are just going to use only what is already available which I don't have an issue with as my reports show her difficulties but blooming frustrating that they are going to do the bare minimum. they will be idiots now if they don't issue a statement and drag me back to tribunal as there will be now way they could argue (again) that they have assessed her fully. DH reckons they will issue a statement in the hope we now go away or save their efforts if we appeal the statement - I think the LA assume we are going to go for specialist schooling which is actually not what we want at all!!!!

If you don't want specialist schooling, then put that into your Parental Views and submit asap. They might not be so inclined to issue a NIL if you want mainstream.

Have you met this EP before?

I know you don't want to piss them off at this stage, but if they already have all the reports and don't need to do any assessments then they really should have the statement ready by the end of the week.

Yes I have met the EP before - he is the one and only EP in the county! He also attended the tribunal last year against my son. He looked a bit daft as he hadn't seen him for a year so couldn't add anything to the hearing. He was also asked quite a difficult question by the panel and he replied' i couldn't possibly comment!' He's an okay guy, my son had a soft spot for him!

I need to go and speak to the mainstream secondary school again and show them the new reports and see what they say. Last time i went, now nearly a year ago they said she would need a statement as she would need support in most lessons and that was just from seeing the EP report we had done. I need to find out what support she would get particularly how much specialist teaching would be available for her there. If school look at the current reports and say they would struggle to meet her needs i may need to change paths but hopefully they won't.

The climate is such that many schools who probably could meet her needs don't want to have to. Those schools that are honest end up with more than their fair share of children to support without additional money and their league tables suffer as their intensive coaches are redeployed for the children with SEN.

Mainstream schools round here all insist they are unable to meet my son's needs. In truth they are frightened by the specified provision and the commitment of resources that would require.

I am in no hurry to subject my son to such a resentment of resources and doubt they'd be used as they should be anyway, so he's in a special school.

Anyway, just warning you to check out that angle.

I've also ready experienced that from the nearest academy - the other one seemed more open but I have got more reports since then so whether that will change their position and attitudes i need to go and find out. The other academy do have specialist dyslexia teachers but they are part time and she would get an hours teaching so need to explore if she needs more how that would impact on things.

Our nearest specialist school is at least 3 hours away so I need to try mainstream first as I don't think I'm ready for her to go away and not sure how she would cope anyway plus the god awful battle i would have to get her there as well

im wobbling now and think that they are only doing the minimum to say 'look weve assessed her, yes we see she has difficulties but all these needs can be met at school action plus so poke off'

I think its due to when the LA did their case statement they stated that an assessment was pointless as even if they did assess her needs would warrant a statement (yes my LA really do have a crystal ball) and also the part in the judgement where the panel say they were not saying she needed a statement but an assessment to see where her difficulties lay - maybe im over reading everything, know I always do but my gut instinct is telling me that there still aint a statement coming anytime soon.

ive emailed the secondary school we are considering so will see if they get back to me - I hope to god they do because if they now start messing us around or backtracking we are screwed as this is the only school that has even shown any attempt to be interested in taking her.

right now off for coffee with DH and think im going to have a full English as well to get over my nerves!

What indie reports do you have? Has the LA EP got copies of all them? If not, email her everything. She should be reading everything about your DD - not just her own assessments/observations.

Make sure your indie reports become appendices to the eventual Statement. Appendices are part of the Statement and should be sent to any potential school along with the Statement. (LGO upheld my complaint that my indie reports weren't sent to potential school by my LA)

ive got the dyslexia action report plus ive got indie OT and SALt reports plus reports from specialist dyslexia teacher as well - in one of the reports she retested her to show she had made no progress is the last 6 months - her working memory is on the 2nd centile and this is in the dyslexia teachers report, SALT and dyslexia action EP report - my plan was to submit all the reports again with my parental report to ensure that they are included. in all core subject she is on the 2nd centile and is about 3 - 4 years behind academically despite the school trying to argue she had made 6 NC points progress in the last 6 months!

if they do drag it out and issue a NIL I will get an indie EP report done as way over 6 months now since the last one. The EP said yesterday about looking at her file etc so im assuming hes seen the reports but not sure if its just the EP report he has read or if he has read all of them. the other frustrating part is that this is going to go on for months when the LA now basically saying they have the reports albeit we are awaiting the appointment for the medical report but I think this will be dragged out especially also as we have the 6 week holiday approaching.

she is also being bullied as well which is something I need to address as well - nothing is never easier for her. she is struggling in a school of 24 - how will she cope in a school of 900.

Don't assume anything with LA EPs. At no point have the LA EPs had my indie reports - I always send an email directly to the EP and list all the reports they should be reading and then send them any missing ones.

I'm waiting to see if the EP doing my DS's AR in a couple of weeks has got all of mine. I've sent her a list of them - just waiting for her to scrabble around and work out what she's not got and what she's let herself in for but I doubt my LA has sent them to her - despite LA getting a severe rap over the knuckles from the LGO for not sending reports previously.

tbh I don't think LA EPs realise that parents get indie reports and that they should be reading them when doing their own assessments.

Our first statement was def one to shut us up. They offered 75% 1:1 in nursery (10 hours) then upped this to 100% (12.5). Lots of we never give 100% comments. I am sure the autism outreach teacher who is extremely arrogant told the sen officer to give us the extra 2.5 hours and the problem would go away. 9 months later we won 35 hours ABA.

Just using your reports gives you a def advantage if you have to appeal contents, what are they going to use? I might tactically show some cautious enthusiasm for SS and cost it out to explore all options and then use that as a lever to up the mainstream offer. My LA is telling sen officers to be creative and do anything to avoid out of area or indi ss so there is more leeway for parents who want mainstream to say I will have mainstream but only with x hours of specialist private support added via direct payments etc. Just an idea. Esp if transport costs to ss also in the mix.

good point agnes - we have no specialist schools nearest would be a 3 hour drive or more away so going to be residential plus transport. its all kicked off at school today -got to go in tomorrow and meet with teacher to sort it all out - some things my dd has been saying are sending huge alarm bells ringing and shes only in a school of 24 kids!! I am having serious doubts that she will be able to cope in a large secondary school. secondary school senco has agreed to meet me next week so will go and sound them out. will also try and bring class teacher back on side tomorrow and deal with whats going on and get her to support us rather than having her head in the sand as well