Who do I contact now??

[luckimum]

Im enduring a long and hard battle to get my son the help he needs with his education and I feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall.

Long story short(ish), my DS has Meningicoccal Septiceamia when he was 3 and despite being discharged after one follow up appointment and being told I was worrying about nothing it is now very apparent 6 years on that my son has been left with an ABI. His levels are 3 years younger than his actual age, he has difficulties with his memory and concentration and is really struggling.

At one of the many school meetings I have attended for my DS's SEN it was decided last July he needed a statement..although this has not happened. An Educational Psychologist met with me last January and told me she was going to assess DS and meet with me again in March to discuss findings. However this did not happen and it now transpires that the E.P I spoke to is no longer working with DS'S school and she has been replaced with a retired E.P who only works 2 days a week!! She has apparently been out to see my DS IN April however I am yet to hear from her 2 months on!!

In frustration I got in touch with Meningitis now who have offered brilliant support and explained all the difficulties that the ABI has left DS with, I have loads of information on this so I contacted my local NPPN and after talking with her she agreed to arrange a multi agency meeting at the school.

Eager to get a meeting underway before the end of this term as he has already lost a year due to the dragging of heels of the school and P.E I have now been told because the E.P only works 2 days a week and is fully booked up till September!!

Im SO ANGRY, it seems I am the only person who is trying to get DS the help he needs. I have contacted the Childrens Brain Injury trust however Ive been told there is a delay in response at the moment.Im also constantly trying to get hold of someone at IPSEA to see If they have advice they can offer.

Has anyone else had to go through this to get their child the help they need?? If so who can I yell at to get them to sit up and listen??

I think most of us have probably experienced the same, unfortunately as a parent, we are the only ones who will have our children as our top priority. Ime it's up to us to be proactive, keep chasing and pushing for support to be put in place, schools will only do so much on their own and if they've said they will do something then you need to check that it has been done rather than assuming that it has Email is a great way of communicating with school as there's no dispute over who said what.

you can apply for a statement yourself, details are on the ipsea site with a model letter for you to send. The EP should have written a report after a visit, do you have a copy of that, if not ask school to provide you with one. The EP should have included strategies that will help your ds as well as the results of any tests that were done. He should also have an iep in place, chase the senco if you don't have a copy. You can book a call back with ipsea here

have you seen a developmental paed? You can ask your gp for a referral if not as having a dx of ABI will help (even though it's not supposed to make a difference) with the statementing process.