Just got final statement for DD - advice now on an appeal please! (Mostly regarding SALT provision)

[pannetone]

This whole process is pretty tortuous... DD is y5 and has HFA, selective mutism and anxiety and we've just got her statement almost a year after making our request for assesment.

We are happy that the LA has named the school we wanted - an indi special school in Part 4. BUT we aren't happy with the amount of SALT - or indeed the provision overall to meet DD's speech and language needs.

Dd's selective mutism means that she has never spoken to a teacher in class with the other children there (to the extent that she can't answer the register), and has only occasionally managed to speak to a teacher outside class. DD can speak to one friend in class and a few others in the playground, but can't speak to the majority of the class.

Proposed statement had 12 sessions a year of 'indirect' SALT, we wanted weekly SALT as per our indi SALT's recommendation. Final statement is 12 sessions a year 'direct' therapy. These 'direct' sessions are meant to focus on supporting DD 'indirectly through a TA and her parents.'

Now the questions!

1. When there is a big disparity between the recommendation of 1 SALT (NHS one recommending 12 sessions a year) and indi one (recommending weekly SALT) is it going to be very hard to convince a tribunal that a weekly session is needed?

NHS say DD's language skills are age appropriate and DD doesn't meet their criteria for therapy but their SALT recommended 12 sessions be 'bought in' by DD's school - she was still in mainstream then (but not there because of anxiety.)

Indi SALT says that DD needs weekly sessions to establish her needs because it is not possible to fully assess her until she has built rapport with a therapist.

Because of her selective mutism DD never spoke to the NHS therapist who saw her for about 12 sessions or to the indi SALT who did an assessment, which had to be more of an observation.

1. In our amendments to the statement we asked for an hour of TA time because as well as SALT sessions DD needs short sessions with a TA several times a week to work on a SALT programme. BUT the final statement makes no allocation of TA time but states DD will get the TA support.

Should the school be expected to find TA time to specifically support DD? Is it reasonable to expect them to give the support from within the school fees? I'm not sure how individual support works in an indi school.

1. The statement talks about DD having access to programmes, advice, monitoring and review from 'mental health professionals or similar psychological services.' But the LA don't have any 'clout' when it comes to DD getting services from CAMHS do they? DD is meant to be getting 'psychological support' from CAMHS (in addition to monitoring by a CAMHS doctor as she has been prescribed medication) - but after psychotherapy 'wasn't indicated' no other support has been offered.

As the statement has now been finalised is going to appeal the only way to get amendments? I mean in theory I suppose the LA could amend the statement but presumably they have finalised it as this is what they are prepared to offer.

Have you taken it up with LA case officer? Understand that appeal may be only way to go if statement is already finalised, but sometimes if you present things clearly and in a factual way, (in writing) to the case officer, evidence based (quote professional report) they will agree to put it in.

But before you get really stressed out over thought of tribunal - have you checked what indie Ss are actually doing?

With both of mine that ended up in(different) indie s.s. - we couldn't believe the culture change and 'can do' attitude they took. (world away from fighting for every bit of provision in m/s and la Ss.)

First term - as standard they reassessed all new children for SALT OT PHYSIO and other THERAPEUTIC needs.

End result was the amount of ot / salt DS received immediately after these assessments increase so much from that put on statement (had nhs provision for half termly salt provision as that was as much as they would put for mainstream child.) once in SS with onsite therapists - he went to twice a week 1:1 SALT sessions straight away in addition to group SALT led social skills etc. I had run out of fight when it came to SALT provision during his statutory assessment - getting the nhs SALT to specify 6 times a year involvement at school was like getting blood from a stone. I couldn't afford to get an independant SALT in to assess him during SA. In the end I didn't need to, as the school when they took him, just saw and sorted out his needs.

When it came to A/R they just wrote in the new (considerably higher) provision for SALT etc as amendments to the statement.

Mainstream I found you needed everything documented in statement, (and still they didn't always do it) but I found the move from Mainstream to independant SS was such a jump and they were really good at upping provision to meet their needs, as they had the resources and staff on site. I think they factored it in when charging LA for first year. By actually reading all the reports with the statement, when they took them, they knew they needed more than the prescribed amount of therapies on the statement. So they just got on and did it. Not saying once in indie SS to take your eye completely off the ball, but I did find that they were very good at seeing and doing without me having to fight for every little thing.

Maybe I was particularly lucky that both DS and DD indie special schools did this, but I really think it's worth a chat with them. How long has your DD been in school? Have you had a chance to talk with them about how they are setting up things for her / how she's settling in? Again, I found they are much more transparent and willing to talk to you about what they're up to than mainstream who were very defensive.

Good luck with it all.

I agree with asdmummy - talk to the independent school before you do anything. There is case law that you don't need as much detail in a statement for a child in a special school because they don't need everything spelt out to them so much and have the expertise to work out what is necessary and to adapt programmes as time goes on. Particularly if it's a school that specialises in children with communication problems, you may well not need as much direct therapy as the expert suggested, and that DD doesn't need as much TA support if she's in small classes.

I agree talk to the school, but while that might apply to speech and language schools, I have come across two specialist residential schools, who did not have a speech therapist for 4 years and none of the children got speech therapy, even when it was specified in their statement. (Both schools typically charged well over £100,000 pa and one specialised in autism)

We got speech therapy and OT specified in DD1's statement at tribunal in a specialist school, costing well into 6 figures, and she never got either as per her statement. I spent more time explaining to staff why DD behaves the way she does, then the speech therapists have in 2 1/2 years - given her profound language disorder!

Thanks asdmummy and Icimoi.

DD's indi SS is not a specialist SALT school - the one near us is for children who have a severe speech and language impairment and DD (almost certainly) doesn't. And DD's school does not have an on-site SALT (though one of the teachers initially trained as a SALT). The school has therapists that come in from a separate private therapy service.

DD did taster sessions at the school in the summer term and started morning sessions in Sep and has done full days for a couple of weeks. We have been paying the school fees. We have also paid for a weekly 30 minute SALT session with the therapist who comes into the school. We pay the therapy service direct. So as the therapy isn't provided by a school employee it is not as if the school can increase it to meet need. (They do think that DD should have weekly SALT and put the cost of their fees and a weekly SALT session in a 'quote' to my LA but they had to separate the costs, rather than it being an 'all in' price as they don't employ the SALT.)

We just feel that the statement has too much emphasis on 'integrating' DD into school - she was out of class in her old MS school from Jan to July because of anxiety. And it is great that DD has settled so well into the new school and is interacting more and more (and beginning to put pencil to paper in class as she had become too anxious to do that) , but the lack of speech is still an ongoing issue, and if anything her selective mutism is more entrenched.

I agree DD needs less TA support than she would in MS - the classes at the indi are small with about 8 in the class, and there are various support groups that she can access. But she will need a specific programme in school to tackle her SM and a TA to lead it. I will speak to the school and clarify if this is something they can provide.

Cross-posted tempe. That is awful that children including your DD are not getting the provision specified on their statements when they are at specialist schools charging 'specialist prices.' My LA is getting a bargain - the annual fee is just over £13,000, so even with weekly SALT on top it wouldn't be as much as many specialist placements.