DD turned down for SEN assessment, Tell me what i need to know about SENDIST please

[twocutedarlings]

DD 5 AS, has been turned down for a assessment, due to the fact that i moved her schools. They say that we need to wait and see how she settles.

In principle i see there point, however she is still needing support for pretty much most of the time.

Im going to appeal, so i need to get clued up on sendist.

Please tell me your experiances and what i should expect.

I would go and see your Parent Partnership?Special Needs Advisory Project people first (all councils have them) to talk through options. Best of luck.

I would also contact either IPSEA (www.ipsea.org.uk) and or SOS:SEN. Both are independent of LEAs.

Some Parent Partnerships operate out of the same building as the LEA does and are funded by them. They are thus not fully independent. Bear this in mind if you contact them.

Hi thanks for your replys

Has anyone been through a sendist, just how daunting was it?

hello,

am due to go to my 4th hearing on the 20th of this month.

havent actually managed to get through the door of the previous 3 as they have always backed down the day before, so cant tell you how it goes on the day.

i would say the same as attila, contact IPSEA, they are brill and have helped me every time with my appeal.

its always worth taking them to appeal as a lot of them will drop out and sometimes its the only way to get your child the provision they need/deserve.

will let you know what happens if we do manage to get through the door on the 20th.

Never actually got to the tribunal as LEA backed down 24 hours before hand. It was stressful BUT doable. I used an advocate and paid for her services (not very much - not compared to a solicitor) and don't think I could have done it without her but I was going for independent special school and the LEA will do anything to oppose that.

You need to have a good standard of literacy yourself and be able to write well and be very organised.

SOS SEN are brill. IPSEA very difficult to get hold of on phone - you need to be persistant but brill once you get hold of them. SOS SEN run courses on how to take your LEA to tribunal although the legal side is rather dry. The NAS have their own advocacy service.

You need to be 100% of your case and have the evidence to prove everything you say. Is her current school providing her with the support she needs? If yes then to be honest they are meeting her needs. If not then go for it. How long has she been there? If it is less than a term then I would really give it longer than that because you need to collect evidence that supports your need for a statement. You also need to know exactly what you are asking for - so number of hours support. Getting the school on your side is a biggie - I don't think we would have managed had the primary school not been so supportive but we were in different circumstances.

I went to SENDIST to appeal against LEA decision NOT to assess DS for statement. We had moved schools in the June and had already got date for panel in September. We had plenty of evidence laready that old school was not coping and despite New school attending and saying that DS was doing well in his honeymoon period we got approval for assessment and now have 32.5 enhanced funding package so i would say defo go for the appeal!
As for the actual panel meeting.....It was VERY daunting BUT I had prepared before hand and had all the evidence i needed to prove that DS needed full time support despite what his new school was saying. I presented my DLA acceptance forms to prove DS needed more care than a child his age normally would need and i basically gave the LEA rep enough rope and she hung herself quite literally! I had help from Parent Partnership who were brill and helped me compile a very indepth and copmplex case book which we presented to SENIDIST.

twocutedarlings, did you get my e-mail? I'm in the same LEA as you and have recently been to SENDIST against them.

It IS daunting, but remember you have one thing on your side that the LEA haven't: time and passion. If you're prepared to spend every night for several months reading up on case law and writing case statement etc., and really get on top of your case, you have a good chance of winning. Appeals regarding refusal to assess are almost always upheld!

There's one drawback to the whole thing though: the LEA are very likely to drag the head teacher of the current school in as a witness, and that might completely ruin your relationship with the school. The head teacher is, after all, an employee of the LEA and unlikely to back you up at a tribunal hearing.

Thanks for all your replys.

Homsa - Do you know id forgot all about that. Yes i did get your email weve had abit of a week of it to be honest, and ive not been online much. I will give you a call over this week end if that ok (once ive recovered from the banging hangover ) LOL.

The whole thing is already really stressfull already tbh, im so angry about it at all and im not sure how much more my stress levels can take.

The thing is im crap at putting anything down on paper, it took me days to write my letter to support her schools application .

Shes only been at her current school for 5 weeks. She has coped really well with the change, however she is still needing almost FT support.

If spoken briefly with the SENCO on thursday, ive given her letter that the LEA sent me, so im hopeing that she can advice me on the best way to move on this.

Ive got parent partnership coming out to see me on wednesday ive not had many dealings with them yet (have you had any help from them homsa?) hopefully they will be supportive.

Once i know exactley where we stand i will contact all the organisations that you have recommended. Do IPSEA actually come with you to the tribunal? Jenk.

Once again thankyou all for your support and advice, not sure what id do without this board, watch this space girls im sure i will be back later (once ive got rid of this sodding hangover ).

No worries, call me if you want to have a chat!

We used both IPSEA (initially) and then the NAS Advocacy for Education service. IPSEA don't normally provide you with a representative, and I think you need to be on income support or something to qualify. The NAS have an agreement with Clifford Chance (the biggest law firm in the world I believe) and can provide you with a pro bono solicitor if they feel you need one and if Clifford Chance can spare one on the given day (we did get one - lovely guy and did his very best, but didn't have much experience with SEN law unfortunately).

I've found PP pretty useless, but haven't had that much contact with them tbh.

Hi. I've been through statementing with my ASD son. He was initially refused an assessment but they backed down when I appealed. After much work preparing submissions, he now goes to an independent special school funded by the LEA. It was exhausting and stressful but ultimately worth it because he's now so much happier and is doing much better. But the key is: Don't give up. You are your child's best advocate. There are lots of resources out there. I have written about my experiences at www.specialneedsjungle.co.uk in case it can help anyone else. There's too much to repeat it all here, but please have a look and I hope it is some use to you. Good luck!

Thanks for the link SNM - most helpful!! im sure i will use it alot

Glad to be able to help a little and if you need any other help such as finding your LEA's policies etc, there's an email link on the site. Good luck!

UPDATE

Spoke to parent partnership (over phone) and she seem to thinks that we may be able to get things put back to panel rather than go to sendist, we still plan to apply to sendist, but im hopeing that we can avoid that by proofing that my daughter is still needing almost FT support in class.

Had a meeting this week with class teacher and SENCO (this was planned b4 the LEA turned down) the meeting was ment to be basically about how she is settling at her new school.

So far her teacher is really pleased with the procress she has made and she is now starting to work more independantly (for some of her day). Teacher feel that she can now start and see what she a capable of accademicley. At the moment DD is included in a group with the other SEN children in her class (two of these have a place in the Intergrated unit and have quite complexed learning difficulties). I am actually really greatfull that the school have included her with this group as its meant that she has had almost constant 1 to 1.

The SENCO feels that we will have a real battle on our hands, getting the LEA to agree to assess DD, as she has no problems with learning and to get an assessment done by our LEA for social and emtional problems is almost impossible. She said by all means see it through.......but warned us not to be to hopefull.

Now this is where im starting to get confused!! (so bare with me) I know that once her teacher sees what she is accademicly capable of, she will see that the group that she is currently included in is not really appropriate for her - but to move her groups will mean less support (if any) than she is getting at the moment.

The thing is i dont think that her new school have really got to know her that well (after all its only been 6 wks) I am obvioulsy as hopefull as the school is, that my DD will indeed manage to cope and work independantly, but i know my own daughter and even at home i struggle to get her to listen, follow instuctions ect ect. She has almost zero social skills and this is what causes her the most stress, due to her condition she just doesnt get the other kids.

I know the ideal thing to do here would be to wait and see how she does, but we have got things this far and i think to not take it to the next step would be a waste. DD is still wetting her bed some nights (this was not an issue before she started school last sept) so is obviously still feelin stressed.

The whole thing is really wearing me down, i feel like just letting the whole thing drop.

Its like the LEA only care about the learning bit and not the whole picture, If the LEA wont help her with her social and emotional needs..... then who will ???. Its like they need her to fail accademicly before they will do anything.......why should she ???? she has a passion to learn, but need someone to help her. Its like she need someone to help learn how to learn.

I feel that if she could get the support that she needs in her early education she will be able to aviod all the obsticals that we read about on here every day!! Hopefully as she gets older she may not need the support... The heartache we went through getting a DX was a waste of time!!.