Classic comment from SENCO this morning........

[bjkmummy]

My daughter gone back to school today. Handed in margos report to her teacher /senco and quickly explained that she has been dx with asd. No great response from her over that. She then asked me about what was happening with the statement and I explained they have issued a note in lieu - she then responded by saying - whats a note in lieu! There really is no hope for my daughter is there! She also didn't know hat dyspraxia or hypermobilty was so I'm guessing she has no idea over ASD either.

How this person can be a SENCO is beyond me! It's appalling.

She's isn't new in post and has been doing all the training et. But don't think she's ever had a parent like me before and how hard I will fight for my daughter. She said she would read the report this morning which will be interesting as it goes into great detail on how the school is letting her down. Anyway I've done what I needed to and now will have sealed lips as I continue the fight. I did tell her we would be appealing and then she took an interest by saying I hope they don't call me again.

Sencos are unbelievable! We had two who were utter idiots as well. I don't think the job comes with any requirements for qualifications or any knowledge of special needs at all. They don't seem to know even the basics.

Tribunal date has come this morning. Deadline for response by from the LA about my complaint today and as expected nothing has come in the post. Maybe I'm getting a little visit later.........

Sencos are supposed to do a national qualification!! But it is seriously shocking how little some know.

An early years senco once told me she had never had a child with Asd in her setting!! I wanted to say "You mean youve never spotted one!!" Poor kids

current SENCO at dd's school tried to tell me that statements were not meant to be specified and quantified in terms of provision and that in 10 yrs of her being a SENCO she had never seen a statement that specified hours of 1:1!!
one tribunal later and she has now finally seen one lol!

well this is the senco who keeps telling me I wont get a statement cos shes not more than 6 years behind and even when told by a tribunal they wont hear blanket policies she is still saying it - guess in a way she has kinda been proved right as the LA have not issued a statement but a note in lieu - given last time the not far behind enough reason used we are now on 'needs can be met under delegated funds ' argument so on we go although nothing has been specified or quantified - see my thread further down - Im now thinking it may be best to shut up and just gather my evidence rather than complaining head on - leave it to the tribunal - by complaining im going to reveal all of my cards so to speak so maybe best now to go under the radar

I've just posted my appeal form to tribunal Bjk. Can I ask when your date is roughly?

I recently received a copy of my sons NHS salt/CDC records and the amount of rubbish his SENCO has been telling them there's no wonder we never get anywhere!

She's noted as saying very recently that he has no social communication difficulties, has made great progress academically this year and doesn't need any therapy!!

The reality is he has high social anxiety that manifests as mutism at times, his speech is regularly unintelligible to me and he's only made 1 NC point progress in reading/writing/listening/speaking despite having a wave 3 intervention all year!

I've recently discovered that DS is the only child in his primary school of 240 kids and he's the only kid with a dyslexia diagnosis as well!

It's gonna be so hard not to say something to her

its the end of January sazale - I would guess yours will be mid feb. my LA are saying my dd needs can be met at school action plus - she needs OT SALT and dyslexia teaching - is 3 - 4 years behind and I don't think she has made any progress but school say she has but she is in a tiny school which she isn't going to get when she goes to secondary next year. her list of dx gets longer by the day as each person assess her and we still have daphne keen and the indie EP to go plus she now has the asd dx as well which is now just being ignored by the LA

Surely if they've issued a Note in Lieu they've sent the school a copy? Sounds like they're not to efficient at getting these documents through to the people who need to see them.

no apparently not - I 'own' the NIL strangely (did some digging when I got it and found this out...) so it can only be released to other people once I give permission for it to be released so I have asked that she now passes it onto the school. im struggling with the whole delegated finding v statement argument as that's clearly going to be the LA defence to all of this that her needs can be met under the £10k of delegated funding they say the school have even though they school in a different LA and the LA EP report is completely unspecified and quantified and they have put in writing they will not do it as its a NIL so they don't have to!

once the LA issue the NIL that's the end of the LA role in all of this so they now don't have to do anything although they will now due to the appeal that's just landed on their desk

There is no real justification for not giving a statement even if the level of funding for resources required to meet need does not exceed the amount it has been decided that the school should meet from its delegated SEN budget at this point in time/this financial year. Funding policy and how it is shared between the school and LA is irrelevant to the actual needs that DD has. If the LA has been sent reports that show that DD has lifelong conditions that will have a impact of her educational career rather than just needing a temporary boost and given that transition is known to be a very risky time and that if it goes wrong it may be 18 months before the issue is resolved at tribunal, they should really issue a statement, even if she were top of the class, just in case it all goes Pete Tong. Other LAs do this. Aside from the fact that needs and therefore the resources needed to meet them is very likely to have been ignored or minimised, it is always possible for the LA to issue a no-funding statement. I know because DS2 has one! He would be entitled to the same amount of resource at school action never mind SA+ now that SALT and OT have disappeared.

Keep - she's seeing daphne in a couple of weeks. Margo was fantastic and her report was very very good and dx her with asd. I know how expensive they are but could daphne and margo could be an option for you and your son?

When I end up back at tribunal - which will either be when the proposed is finalised (heard nothing from LA since meeting at the end of last month but tbh delay suits me and I cant face how smug they will be that the paed has effectively removed her ASD working diagnosis ) or if I have too much other stuff on/need more evidence of failure/have sunk into a deep depression, at annual review - and if DS2 does not get an NHS diagnosis and I can't get tertiary referral, then I will go to Daphne and Margo (again). I'd probably use Ruth again too. And Fiona for the hearing. I might as well set up a standing order into their accounts.

When Margo visited DS1 and diagnosed him, she asked about DS2 and I am embarrassed to say that my first reaction was horror - not that he might also have an ASD but because I had not factored in paying for an assessment of him as well and there was no way I could afford it at that time whether he needed it or not .

i know how you feel!!! its the twins birthday in about 10 days time and on that date ive got to make a payment to my EP, 2 weeks later pay daphne, just paid margo and another payment to the EP in nov and no doubt another on in jan for the tribunal - I reckon this is going to cost me about £5k and that's with no legal representation as I simply cant afford it so paying the money for the best expert reports I can and hope that enough although this is 'just' a NIL appeal - part of me thinks should I be calling margo but then I doubt the LA will go and get a SALT report - they didn't with her twin and then tried at the eleventh hour - given they have had it now for over 2 weeks there is no excuse for them not to be trying to get one now if that's what they intend to do

I was planning to go to the hearing with no experts and no representation because of the cost but bottled it when Ruth advised representation. I ended up calling Ruth (because the LA were calling their EP) and Margo - not because of the SALT stuff (LA got their own SALT just before hearing) but because the LA case was built on trying to refute the ASD diagnosis (despite the fact that the NHS had confirmed the diagnosis). There is a horrible logic that once you have spent £5K, you cant afford to lose and so need to pay another £5K to give yourself the best chance of winning.

Hopefully as she's seeing Daphne and if she also confirms the dx there's no where for the LA to go. Even if they dispute the asd dx she still has lots of salt difficulties that she will need support for but the LA do like to muddy the water don't they

Just because the LA have nowhere does not mean they will try and go there. DS1 saw Margo who diagnosed with DISCO and diagnosis was confirmed by Daphne. Submitted to LA at proposed stage but totally ignored in finalised statement. On run up to tribunal LA, through their solicitors, insisted that DS1 was seen by NHS comm paed. Their solicitor spoke to the comm paed directly to find out if she agreed. She did but despite this the LA specifically asked their EP (not qualified to diagnose) to find evidence to refute the diagnosis. This evidence was solely the reported views of the teaching staff that they did not think that DS1 had ASD. At the hearing the EP tried to argue that DS1 had good social skills because he had some friends but I pointed out that this was a measure of the social skills (tolerance) of others rather than skills that DS1 possessed. Besides which, it is a lot easier to be friends with Dr Jekyll than it is Mr Hyde!

Be prepared for them to fight this. ASD is a deal-changer.

I am on a similar route to bjk keep. NIL tribunal just a couple of weeks before bjk. LEA agree that sons needs are long term and complex but won't issue what would be on their own banding policy an underfunded statement. When in line with 8.12/13 of the SEN code he should have one.

mine are saying that 8:13 code says that if they need 1:1 doesn't mean that they need a statement and that it is used as an example only... but its not just that that she needs , theres so much more but that was just something I highlighted. do we know how many people actually end up at tribunal for a NIL? ive seen loads of posts that people have had them but not what the final outcome was when they appealed

my son has full time 1-1 individual timetable, do a foi request in your area not many challenge and lea often win when they do was the info from by foi request.