What is a statement for exactly ?

[TheodoresMummy]

DS has a DX of Aspergers.

When he was being assessed, nursery manager said (in a supportive way) that even if he was DXed it wouldn't be anything severe, as in he wouldn't need a statement or anything.

Now we are thinking about school (Sept) and my friend, who's DS has HFA DX and is in his final year at the school my DS is going to, says to go for a statement.

What do statements cover ? He is bright, will prob be reading by the time he goes, is beginning to getto grips with some basic numeracy and scientific ideas, etc.

But he will find the transition hard, he will hate the lack of adult interaction/attention, he will struggle (at best) in the playground, he needs organising, constant reminders (gently tho), he struggles following verbal instructions if they are not part of the set routine, and more...

Would he get any support ?

The good thing is that the school are very up on SN support anyway. But I can't hepl feeling he won't cope without 1 to 1 most of the time (perhaps i'm just being overprotective), he certainly won't thrive.

The only important thing to remember about a statemen is that it is a legal document, guaranteeing uor child right to cetain services. It cannot be changedcfrom year to year without permissin.
Whjatever anyone tried to flog you about SENCOS,School Action Plus and so on means nothing really as it is not guaranteed from year to year. As a SALT with 12 years' clinical experince in SN, I would advise you to push for a statement asap.

Have to totally agree with MD, My DD (5 AS) started school in september (on SA+) she had had a very rocky start to her school life, her DX was actually given the same week she started school, so at that point i had very little knowledge on what a statement even was .

You have no idea how much i wish i could turn the clock back . Her start to school life has been a very bumpy to say the least, we are currently just at the start of the statementing process (because i was adviced to wait a couple of terms to allow the school time to gather evidence). If she the support had been put in place before she started school, life would have been so much easier.

Hope this helps.

Riven - the hideing under tables, is exactly what my DD was doing, the TA thought is was very cute !! .

"the TA thought is was very cute !!"

• WTF ??

Thank you for your replies !!

So a statement isn't just about supporting children academically then ?

I have seen numerous posts along the lines of - 'my DS/DS is bright and doesn't disrupt lessons so doesn't qualify for a statement.'

This worries me, altho DS has been known to clear tables/throw stuff/generally disrupt in certain situations at nursery.

Riven - originally thought I would Home Ed for a few years, then move closer to one of the more 'Alternative schools' I have found out about. But have found that one of our state schools (generally thought of as the least desirable) will allow children to attend part time/flexi school and are ace with SN. They also have a language unit in site.

We are going to visit with DS next week and will discuss statments a bit then I imagine.

Just wondered if there would be any chance at all of DS getting one.

TheodoresMummy

I would take heed of your gut feelings as well as your friend and start applying for the Statement now. If you can obtain one of these for as soon as possible after he starts school (they can take six months to set up so he will likely not have one for September) it will hopefully go some considerable way to making his school life much easier. It can also cover social issues and difficulties as well as academic ones.

I know of a child with AS who is in my son's junior school. He has to date no statement and his Mother explained to me has found the social and organisational sides of school life in particular extremely trying. It affects family life too, at the end of the school day he used to come out and take out all his frustrations on his Mother.

To my mind no statement = no support of any real value. Know also that depends very much on the school's attitude as well (which can be poor) but I've seen a lot of children suffer, not just educationally (this also affects family life) because they need a Statement and do not have one. Your son has AS - he MUST have a Statement to safeguard him.

You will need to write to the Chief Education Officer at your LEA (phone them for his name) and be prepared for them to say no. You as his parents need to write, to him asp and you can appeal (school has no such right). You need to give the LEA six weeks to reply to you (note that date on the calendar).

As others have rightly stated, a Statement (unlike other plans that school offer) is a legally binding document which will give details of your son's needs and how he will be supported in school. He will be given a set number of hours per week; this will be set out in the document.

IPSEA are very good at the whole minefield that is the statementing process and it is a good idea to get them on side particularly if there are problems. There are also model letters on that site you can use - its www.ipsea.org.uk.

SOS;SEN are also worth contacting.

You are your son's best - and only - advocate. No-one else will fight or is best placed to fight his corner for him.

Good luck.

Re applying for the Statement I would say that you won't know until you start trying. Applying for it earlier rather than later will help him.

Oh, just apply for it anyway!!. I do not mean to sound so forceful but I feel bloody strongly about this, have seen too many children go under at school and my son certainly would have if he did not have a Statement in place.

BTW if you visit school be prepared for them to perhaps say something along the lines of, "well he won't need a statement because he is both academic and able". Its a fob off designed to put parents off applying, parents whose children desperately need such a document to safeguard their children's educational rights.

If there is a language unit on site too he will likely need a Statement to access their services.

Sorry Theodoresmummy to hi-jack but i have a meeting with ds nursery teacher next week and i now have a feeling they are going to offer me SA+. We have assess starting a week on thursday and dx 3 weeks after that. If i agree to SA+ will that affect me trying to get statement? Sorry but i'm really confused now, do i refuse SA+?? Also i am right in thinking that you cannot apply for statement till you have dx?

Hi fannysparkle,

Re your comments:-

"I have a meeting with ds nursery teacher next week and i now have a feeling they are going to offer me SA+"

I would take it for now, you need to be seen by school as co-operative. SA plus will have imput from outside agencies but do bear in mind its scope overall is limited and it is not legally binding. You should be given an IEP (Individual Education Plan) to discuss with the school each term, they should have your feedback as well on this. The IEP should certainly be discussed with you.

"We have assess starting a week on thursday and dx 3 weeks after that".

Good

"If i agree to SA+ will that affect me trying to get statement?"

No. BTW do not let school apply for the statement, you as the parents need to apply for it. Your words carry far more weight.

"Sorry but i'm really confused now, do i refuse SA+??"

I would accept it for now for the reasons shown above

"Also i am right in thinking that you cannot apply for statement till you have dx?"

No. You can apply for a Statement prior to receiving a diagnosis and you don't need a dx in order to have a Statement (although many children do). I'd put in a request for a Statement as soon as you receive a diagnosis. If you do not receive a dx in three weeks apply for it anyway.

Be prepared for the LEA to say no and keep trying.

It identifies his needs and the way forward. It's a contract. It binds them legally to providing whatever is listed in it! So if they say he'll get 20 hours funded plus 5 from the school, then that's what he gets and they can't decide not to bother one week! So it is protection really.

AttilaThe Meerkat- thankyou that's made things alot clearer. I just didn't want to shoot myself in the foot by accepting SA and it meaning no statement.

Sorry again for hi-jacking!!

my DS has NO DX of ASd yet but does have huge behavioural issues. he is 7 now and we have just got a full time statement based purely on his needs to support his beahviour. My DS is very bright (recently been described as intellectual age of 10 year old and emotional age of 2 year old.) Things in his statement include that any person working with him has positive handling training (as he gets aggressive and needs to be restrained), 32.5 hours support (he cannot function in Ms without this becasue of his behaviour), All instructions to be broken down and visual time tables to be used (DS has poor audible memory and problems with change in routines), Extra support to help with turn-taking and social development. These are a few things in DSs statement and sound like the types of things your DS will need to ensure his needs are met in Mainstream. These things are not guarenteed in MS school so i would definately recommend applying for a statement. Be prepared for a fight but keep pushing!

Thank you so much for all of your replies !!

Yes bonkerz, that sounds like the sort of stuff he will need support with.

Looks like we will def be getting him a statement then.

Whilst I re-read and report to DH, just one more question...

If he gets a statement with say 15 or 20 hours support in it, what about the rest of the time ?

As it happens, DS is prob only going to school part time. School are fine with this altho we have not discussed details yet.

DS1 has been on early years action plus and this brought recommendations of 3 half days out of 5 of support for him to be found by the school (which ended up being 2 half days due to lack of personnel locally and that only started very recently, almost a year after it was recommended) It did also bring with it extra support and training for the nursery staff in adapting the environment to his needs. So it's been better than nothing at all.

At his annual review, the ed psych recommended a statement, though and that's what we're going for. His report pointed out that although he's intelligent, he has limited communication and very poor understanding, plus is easily distracted, is often very oppositional and needs a lot of help with getting motivated to do something. It also made recommendations that he will need support with personal care, since he's showing no consistent signs of toilet training, so it's not just academic factors that are included in the statement.

Oh yes, he is not entirely 'toilet independent' either...

How do schools deal with this ?

when we applied for a statement we intially got 15 hours but argued that DS needed FULL TIME support because his aggressive behaviour is unpredictable and could happen at any time and also that he needed help with 'free'time ie in playground and that without a full time support worker DS would be a health and safety risk. I supose oyur only problem would be that oyu dont know how oyur DS is going to cope in MS just yet! Push for full time (i think we actually asked for 37 hours which was more than we needed) and have been awarded 32.5. If it turns out your DS needs more oyu can call a review once you have the evidence to support what you need.

We have a statment of 20 hours per week for our son who has Attachment disorder,Global Development Delay and Speech disorder. This is due to the fact that he is in Reception and our LEA say that he does not have to be at school full time to the term after his 5th birthday which is in June. So at moment he goes 20 hours a week.

We are just in the process of applying for 37 hours from June so that he can go to school full time ifnot then then def by Sept as school have already said he can't attend without full time 1-1. He still isn't properly toilet trained but is getting there.

Our school is okay not wonderful and they are the first to admit that having my son there has been a steep learning curve for them all.

Having said all that have just recieved letter from Lincoln county council which says that bands 1-3 will be withdrawn from SEN help and no longer qualify. So would make a worst case senerio so you get all the help you are entitled to.

Do request an assessment and try to get a statement! Be prepared to hear 'no'. Some LEAs are worse than others. Yours may refuse to start a statutory assessment (just to put you off), or they may refuse a statement. You just have to have a thick skin and persevere and you'll get there.

A statement is not just for academics, if it's specified and quantified enough it'll give your child the best possible support at school in all aspects of education. We are just about to go to SENDIST for the third time to tighten DS's statement, and are seeking things like staff training at school (all staff who interact with DS1 to receive autism training), how and when it is monitored, number of LSA hours, required experience that his LSA should have, behavioural management, IEP process, direct weekly speech therapy, direct OT, home to school contact book, etc. Our LEA is notoriously difficult and it has been a bit of a fight but it'll be so good when it's finally in place and I can stop worrying for a while.

If it is specified and quantified enough it is enforceable in the High Court in a Judicial Review, for which you can get Legal Aid in your child's name. Note that LEAs go out of their way to make statements vague, using terms such as 'access to' or 'would benefit from' or 'when appropriate'. If you get the statement tight enough (we've had to redraft and redraft) the school will have no leg to stand on and you should hopefully be able to avoid problems later.