Should I appeal?

[adrianna22]

Ok.

Just received DS final proposed statement.

A few things are missing- or weren't agreed, in part 2 that I put down for my changes. But I can let that one slip.

Part 3- is a bit unclear- but I think this is just due to the layout which is written in.

• DS will not get a direct therapy from a speech therapist- but the speech therapist will train the LSA- so he will get an 'X' amount of time in a week with the LSA to deliver the speech therapists recommended activities.

-To have access to our local autism outreach team- Which I am very worried as they may try to implement a workstation at school- which I specifically wrote down that it would NOT be beneficial for him at the moment.

-I don't agree fully with the speech therapists recommend therapy activities.

Part 6: For some odd reason- the advice from the speech therapy is in part 6.

Should I appeal?

Is it worth it?

Oh-regarding schools- his mainstream school is written down as I haven't decided on which specialist provision he should go to.

Thanks everybody for the advice! I feel confident to appeal now!

First thing tomorrow, Ill contact NAS regarding the volunteer. I've messages Jackie Harland- so I'll see what she says regarding costs. Booked a call appointment with IPSEA- but will try tomorrow as the end of the week is too long for to wait.

Regarding part 4- Could I appeal to change the school, which is named on the statement-( even though I kinda agreed to put his mainstream school down -though I did not put this in writing, plus I kept going on about dual placement- but couldn't find any suitable special schools.

Yes you can appeal part 4 but you will need evidence to show that his needs can only be met with a dual placement or special school if that's what you are asking for.

If you qualify for legal aid then i would forget about NAS and IPSEA and go straight for that. So much easier having a solicitor to help you fight.

Yes you can appeal part 4.
I made the mistake of not appealing part 4, just parts 2 and 3.
When my indie experts went in to assess they discovered dd's needs were severe and complex and much worse than I originally thought. They advised an indie specialist school but as I had not appealed part 4 that was not possible. so we had to rethink that idea and plan how we could make ms work, which works out much more expensive than indie ss as the LA have had to hire a team of specialists including 3 OTs and indie slt and dyslexic specialists to work with dd and train staff. dd has a team of 7 specialists working with her now.

Oh wow! BillieJean... But it seems you had a good overall outcome.

Though I'm a bit concerned- say like the Judge suspected DS needed a specialist provision full time- do I have to agree with the judge?

Or for example- the Judge reckons that DS needs would not be met in mainstream and for him to go to his local special schools- even though I'm happy for DS to stay in mainstream- would the Judge just ignore me and put down the special school in part 4? Or would I be able to leave the statement as it is??

Good luck with the Legal aid. all fingers and toes crossed

NAS have worked alongside Maxwell Gillot and other legal aid solicitors in the past so if you can't get hold of your solicitor, you have your trained volunteer to fall back on if you have a question or a possible new bit of evidence you want to discuss

If you appeal part 4 then you are handing the decision over to the tribunal. Their decision can be appealed only if it is made unlawfully.
However a judge would not just decide a ss placement is needed and that's the end of it. The decision would be made based on the evidence presented by both you and the LA. Nowadays there is the thought that a child has the right to a mainstream education unless this is detrimental to the children already at the school.
I'm guessing as the LA have named ms then they will fight for ms. so if your indie experts back dual placement a judge is unlikely to over rule all of this and order full time ss. If that did happen and the decision was not based on evidence or reasoned by the tribunal, you could appeal against it.
You could have problems however if the LA change their tactics and decide actually it would be easier and cheaper to go for a full time ss place. However you could point out that they originally named ms and you feel they are making this choice due to costs instead of need.

Our overall outcome has been positive - dd now has a lot of specialist support at school. However this does not change the attitude of the staff who believe dd is fine etc. It also means I have to keep a very close eye on things to ensure that dd does get her 1:1 and therapy. It also provides the school and professionals with more time to gather evidence to use against me for secondary transfer and annual review! One of the things that appeals to me about indie schools is that they are not ran by the LA, they tend to be honest about a child's needs and progress. Therefore you wouldn't have the SENCO turn up at tribunal against you and lie about all this amazing progress that your dd has made.

I'm not sure if I'll appeal part 4- as I haven't decided on special schools- I haven't found any that is suitable so far.

If you don't appeal part 4 then you will be left with what is in there already and you can't request to change the school until AR unless their is a significant change in DS's needs or the placement breaks down.

My DD's school says that all of the TAs have been trained at one time or another to deliver SALT strategies.

The SALT in part 6 means that they will grab a TA who once met a SALT at a coffee morning. Are those hours that the TA will deliver the intervention specified? Are they for your child alone or will the model look more like a wholeschool 'social skills group' during numeracy so as to not let the potential disruptive kids affect the learning of the others? Is the level of training, experience, qualification etc. of the TA specified?

Access to Autism Service means that they are on the other end of the phone should the school deem it worthy of buying their services, as schools must usually pay now for LA specialist time.

I strongly suggest putting Part 4 in the appeal at the start. It keeps your options open.

If you appeal Part 4 now, saying you are taking advice on placement, you can always amend the appeal when you have more expert advice to say which school/type of school you want.

If the LA spends time thinking they may have to pay for something really expensive, they can then feel quite relieved when they end up with a smaller bill. If I were them I would score it as a victory.

If you do not appeal Part 4 at the start, it MAY be possible to amend the appeal to add it in later, but it is harder to expend an appeal than to contract it and by no means certain that it would be allowed.

So start broad - you can withdraw your appeal to part 4 any time including on the day of the tribunal if you want to

Hope this helps

Jackie Harland is expensive.

Ranging from £600-700- for a 1-2 hour assessment.

Are her reports really good?

If you qualify for legal aid you need first to ring the Civil Legal Advice helpline - 0345 345 4 345. These days you can specify who you want to be referred to, and I would strongly recommend Maxwell Gillott.