Further Evidence to SENDIST Appeal

[Daring]

First post! Apologies for the long explanation.

Struggling thru our own SEN journey and would value advice and experience as we are heading towards our SENDIST tribunal against Parts 2, 3 and 4 of the Final Statement.

Background: My DD just completed year 3 at MS school. She has a range of difficulties including a rare neurological condition associated with problems in visual tracking. She has a severe language disorder affecting both expressive and receptive language. Difficulties with balance and coordination and fine motor tasks affecting handwriting. She has been known to NHS SaLT and physio and is referred to OT off/on depending on needs since pre-school.

We appealed against final statement issued Jan 2014 which included 20 hours TA and fortnightly direct SaLT. An Independent SaLT assessment confirmed a severe language disorder, very slow processing and word finding difficulties and the need for specialist setting. DD was assessed and offered a place at a non-maintained specialist speech and language school. Furthermore indi EP report confirmed very spiky profile with near average non-verbal but low scores for comprehension, working memory, visual processing and scanning. WIAT scores were very low for reading comprehension and maths. Indi OT tests showed very low visual motor integration and visual perception scores, difficulties with handwriting, balance and motor coordination. All inde reports have been submitted, however no reports submitted from LA.

Current MS School supports her severe language disorder which makes it difficult to access the curriculum, and requires TA support. But her NC levels are fairly normal and school states her performance is inconsistent. Often she does not have understanding of the task in hand, her work is of a lower standard, requires support to refocus, limited attention, etc. NHS Salt provided a report at end of term highlighted current NC levels and progress on the language programme, however this was not submitted to SENDIST?

Queries
*CELF4, WISC and WIAT tests are standardised tests with proven percentiles. However can independent reports be seen as snapshots over NC levels. Is this sufficient evidence to prove against current MS that her needs are severe and warrant specialist speech and language school, where teaching and therapy are integrated into specialist curriculum?

*There is numerous past SaLT and EP scores from NHS to prove her longstanding language impairment and OT needs. As the LA have not submitted further evidence, can they ask for adjournment to consult their own NHS experts? If so how can this be avoided?

Thanks

I could have wrote your post - she sounds just like my daughter who is now heading to year 6 and just got a NIL but that's another story!

the difficulty I have had is that school obsessed by NC levels and as we know the school can so easily manipulate them hence why standardised tests are preferred as they are a more accurate reflection of need.

at my last tribunal the panel took a lot of notice of our salt report and the standardised tests - LA provided nothing and school relied on the NC levels but was able to put doubt in about the NC levels as the indie reports put her at levels much lower than what the school were saying.

I also did have at one tribunal the LA try to ask for an adjournment to submit a NHS SALT report but the tribunal refused them any extra time as they had had the same time as me to get their act together!

your journey is practically identical to mine - I too could have written your post.
my dd has also just finished yr 3 at ms and has been assessed independently using the same standardised assessments.
can I ask the name of the rare neurological disorder?
We have been to tribunal once in June but this was adjourned at the request of the LA to give them further time to submit evidence, as they had no evidence against our reports but were disputing all provision.
The judge did take into account the date that the independent reports were submitted to SENDIST and the LA so my opinion would be to prevent an adjournment submit your reports as soon as they are finalised and before the final evidence deadline.
Regarding the standardised assessment results the panel do take these into account and they are reliable. NC levels are subjective as they are not standardised, they are based on the judgement on teaching staff.
is your dd affected in any other way eg anxiety, confidence, that would suggest she needs the continuity of a specialist placement?

Thanks for the reassurance around NC levels. All expert reports were submitted a few days before and on the deadline date (end of July). So LA have had plenty of time to submit any further reports but due to school holidays not sure of what lies ahead.

She is a happy child who seeks interaction but due to language barrier has had peer friendship issues, feeling isolated and choosing to stay in class at playtimes. She does lack self confidence but is also becoming more aware of her failures both academically and socially.