How am I supposed to make a decision?

[Aspieparent]

My 4 year old will be due to start school September 2018. He has development language disorder. He is also in 16 to 26 months for all development apart from self care which is in 8 to 20 months. He has Additional inclusion support at nursery. The nursery have applied for a educational physiologist but been rejected as he's making some pleasing progress however in the last caf they said he wasn't really progressing it's more one step forward 2 steps back. Me and dh have applied for a echp we have 2 weeks of the 6 week deadline left to see if they will assess.
We have visited mainstream school and the impression we are getting isn't great it's all we will do are best we will try. Both has asked about if we have thought about special needs and we have and we do believe it's what's best for him but without echp it isn't a option. I am so at a loss as to what school to apply for or what else we can do.

[Aspieparent]

I sent in a parental assessment request form and a all about me page profile. I was sent it by sendias with the email address to send it to.
I am not panicking that they have either ignored it or haven't got it.

[Ceto]

But reapplying is 6 weeks, so what’s the advantage of appealing?

Because if they say no again, you've lost 6 weeks. As Starlight says, LAs are currently rejecting requests to assess on almost a routine basis. Also many LAs don't seem to understand what the legal test for assessment is, whereas that's the starting point for the tribunal.

[Aspieparent]

I ment I am now panicking not that I am not.

[StarlightMcKenzee]

'in our area you aren't allowed to re-apply for 6 months after a request has been refused, but you can appeal'

The law states that you can reapply from the day after refusal. You don't have to wait for 6 months. The law applies equally to all Local Authorities.

[Aspieparent]

Dh spoke to send today they said they never received the request and gave him a email address to send it to. Spoke to son's senco and she confirmed that the original address is the correct address and the one they have dh is wrong.

[Allthewaves]

Iv had to fight every step of the way and Lea didn't keep to the expected timeline. Got them to agree to assess then got to 18 wks and no provisional statement (we still have statements as not England). Only after making official complaint did I receive the provisional then it was rubbish and asked them to make 10 pages of amendments. This lead to 4 hour meeting of negotiations about what they would include in assessment and most importantly for my dc stated clearly word for word he got 20 hours of one to one support in mainstream - it's legally binding. Our Lea fobs parents off with a wooly statement that is not legally inforcable if they can get away with it.

[Hurricane74]

Just wanted to send support and say we are also in some boat. Have applied for EHC Assessment and waiting to hear at moment. We are looking at mainstream schools and schools with autism DSP. Will have a look at SS next. I just can’t see my DS (whose speech is entirely in single words only to very familiar people when highly motivated) settling at mainstream school right now. But would prefer to give it a try first.

[MonochromeUnicorn]

When will you hear hurricane?
We found out DS will be discussed at panel next week so we should find out soon. Feeling horribly pessimisstic ATM. Looking round schools (mainstream) and not feeling massively impressed with any of them for DS. They're all so big, especially early years where they tend to mix either nursery and reception classes or 2 receptions classes for at least part of the day. 60 little kids in one room, madness!

[Hurricane74]

Not sure when we will hear, I need to check so I am ready to chase. Think it was 6 or ten weeks from sending the request in to getting a decision on whether to assess. It’s only been five so far. What part of he country are you in?