What a Mess

[Dee31]

Hello everyone it has been along time since i posted ,my son with ASD traits ,semantic pragmatic language disorder and Anxiety issues and learning difficulties is settled and starts college in September he is so looking forward to it also after appeal he got awarded his DLA again so he is fine a strapping 16 yr old of whom i am very proud,My daughter well things are a different story there ,she was expelled from school local SLD school last December my daughter has Autism ,severe learning difficulties , Challenging behavior she is also non verbal ,after quite a few come and fetch her she was expelled we called for a re statement she was only allowed in her school part time till they day she left i had to fetch her from school every day at 1pm ,well now its the middle of August and we still haven't had her statement through ,we want to send her to a specialist school not the local SLD senior school it is clear they wont be able to cope with her and things will be as bad as before ,a meeting was held with the LEA and they said yes she can go to the specialist school yay celebrations NOT only for one year when her local SLD senior gets a new building she will have to move back !!! i want my daughter now 14 to have a settled education for what little time she has left in Education ,if they try to put this nonsense in her new statement i will take it to SENDIST but i am so bloomin angry ,we had her draft statement on April the 5th they have 8 weeks to issue the full statement it has now been over 17 weeks i am starting to loose my patients my daughter has had no transition nothing i am at my wits end with it all and i haven't got a clue to what the hell is going on sorry to moan but i would just like it done and sorted it just seems like our whole lives are on hold till its sorted i couldn't book a holiday in case i have to attend meetings
arrrrrgh thank you for listening i just had to get it off my chest

Oh dear Dee, how crap! It sound like you really need some advocacy. Have you contacted the NAS Advocacy Helpline? It takes a few days for them to get back to you but then they are great. There is also an organisation based locally to me called Elfrida Rathbone, I believe they now work nationally having only been LB Camden for many years. They are GREAT, can't recommend them enough. Someone (other than you) needs to kick some arse and get them to meet their obligations, even only in terms of paperwork fgs. As far as moving her out again, I would take advice of someone above on that, but get her in there in the first place come what may. Good luck, you deserve it.

Not sure how a new building will help them deal with her challenging behaviours..... I would have thought with the right help it would be relatively easy (legally speaking, not emotionally, in terms of tie etc) to show this to be the case. Does sound dreadful and agree about getting help from the NAS education line. Good luck and much sympathy.

I have a lady from parent partnership helping me but she seems unwilling to kick but ,i have phoned IPSEA they say i am to phone back when her statement comes ,if it ever comes !! i will contact NAS advocacy thanks ,i have been told to get her in but IPSEA advised me if the move is in her statement i will have to fight it now because i will have no chance in September 2008 my daughter doesn't do change at all the slightest change can set her back , i just want it all to be over

parent partnership are often funded by the LEA- someone independent would be better (e.g. the NAS)

Hi Dee, glad to hear your son is doing well and is settled.

Sorry to hear you are having problems with your daughters education. How has she been coping with all the disruption of half days? How have you been coping with it?

Have you a reason for the delay in issuing the statement? It could be worth sending a letter or e mail to the senior assessment officer (much harder to ignore than a phone call).

I have has no communication with the LEA since our last meeting apart from the letters we have sent to them which i know they have received ,my parent partnership lady was supposed to be ringing them today to see what was going on but i have not heard from her yet ,they have not explained why the delay ,my daughter coped well with part time a little too well how they are going to get her back to full time i don't know and she is now used to mommy picking her up another routine to get out of !! ,have i been coping with it no we never get a chance to breathe i have no respite because they don't have the people to cope with my daughter in my area ,if she goes to her specialist school i will get respite but then if she comes back to the local SLD senior once again i will be without any respite or help ,life is hard with my daughter she can be extremely violent towards me i have had a few trips to A&E , she has regressed so far back with all the school disruption but hey we just have to carry on