Anyone gone through statutary assessment - advice needed please

[amynnixmum]

LEA have finally agreed to give ds a statutory assessment and they have asked me if I want to write a report. I do want to and have read through the leaflets that they have sent me but I wondered if any one else had done this and had any advice. He doesn't have a diagnosis at the moment. I know the school think he has adhd or similar but tbh I'm not convinced. He's seeing the community paeditrician monday week so maybe we'll get some answers then (but I doubt it).

the asses ment is when they ask all the professionals involved in your child to write a repot on them. Then you write a report saying what you think his strengths and weakness's are, where you think he needs extra support etc. and how much support he needs. Thenn you name the school you want him to have a placement at.

the all the the reports get gathered togather and the panel at the LEA decide if they will provide a statement of SEN.

Thats all i can remember it happened 2 or more years ago for us, but i remember it being quite depressing!

He's already at a school. He's in reception and was excluded for the first time after just 5 weeks because the school were unable to cope with his challenging behaviour. They excluded him agin a couple of weeks later for 7 school days - a ridiculus aamount of time for a 4 year old! Since then he has been doing just one hour a day, out of the classroom, in a little room with two adults. Sorry - I know that has nothing to do with the statement but I am very angry and upset about how the school are dealing with the whole mess. Since the 2nd exclusion DS has started wetting the bed again and having nightmares! Before this I could count on 2 hands the number of times he had woken us up because of a bad dream.

Sorry to read about problems. Been thru statements with 2 children with ds. Quite a deppressing process. in order to get max help you often have to concentrate on negatives and problems which can be very draining. Are any other pros involved?

He has seen on paedtrician already but she was at a loss to explain why his behaviour is so much worse at school than it is at home. She has referred ds on to her boss who is the head community paedtrician and he is seeing him monday week. He has also been seen by the specialist community health visitor who also says she cannot understand why there is such a disparity between home and school behaviour. The ed psych hasn't had much of a chance to assess him as he is speding so little time in school and none of it in the classroom at the moment. She has been in today to see him and he played up but i don't know exactly what happened - she is going to give me some proper feedback on it next week.

We were refused an assesment so I appealed. They changed their minds & said they would assess.

We saw the educational pycologist at home today and she's going into the school on Tues so she can write her report.

Phsio, OT and SALT are all writing theirs.

I wasn't asked if I wanted to write my own report but the ed.physologist today was making notes on things i said.

Have you soken to IPSEA?

What are IPSEA

Thomcat - you should send a report in as that's the only way they'll consider what you think Lottie needs. After all you know her better than anyone

Here you go

They are so helpful.

I'll phone someone on Monday and send something off the,
I'm in the same position as you now amynnixmum.
No idea what I'm going to say either.

I was sent a sheet with questions about dd. I just took it all from there really.

My DD is currently going through the statementing process and I received a letter asking for my views once the professional reports had been collected. I just really highlighted the areas I felt that my DD needed help and picked up on anything I felt had been missed by the ot,physio etc. It is quite a stressful process but hopefully worth it in the end.

Amynnixmum, I was sent a form called About Your Child which went through all areas of development/skills/history etc. I ignored that and sent in a dissertation! I think you should, they quote 'parents advice' quite alot. If you need any help, I can root mine out. CAT me if you like!

Hi Amynnixmum,

Would certainly second the suggestion to speak to IPSEA (Independent Panel for specialist education advice) as they are designed for people in your situation. Their website address is www.ipsea.org.uk. I would talk to them also about your son's problems at school, they will be able to advise you further on this.

Once the LEA agree to assess your son a statement will follow - the main task for you now is to convinve the LEA to assess him. It is a frankly depressing task (they can turn your initial request down - in this case gith that decision!!!) but you can list his strengths as well as weaknesses. You need to give a full and frank assessment of him.

I wish you well and hope the LEA in question do agree to assess.

Meerkats

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Will contact IPSEA next week. Hopefully I will have had some feedback from the ed psych about her visit to school yesterday. Thanks JakB - have catted you.

Well finally got hold of IPSEA today and they were very helpful. They have advised me that if ds mainstream school are only giving him one hour a day in school, out of the classroom then I have a case for getting him moved to a specialist school now while the assessment process is going ahead. Apparently it would be a temporary placement that would be made more permanent if a statement is made. Have been told that it is very unlikely that he will not get a statement as his problems in school are so severe. Also spoke to EP today and she has said that she is supporting the request for a statement and also supports my wish to move ds to a specialist school. Feel really sad though as I really wanted Ds to go to mainstream and feel really strongly that his current school are partly to blame for his problems. Keep being told that they are doing all the right things but this doesn't help when all I see is DS emotional wellbeing and his educational welfare being further damaged every day.

Actually sounds like good news amynixmum, or our version of it! I would try to hold back on writing your submission until as many professionals have seen him as possible and you can get a clearer idea of if he can go to spec ed, if you want him to, which school etc.

Monday mornings are a good time to phone IPSEA in our experience simply because we got to talk to the same woman each time and she really knows her stuff...she swears like a trouper tho so be warned!!!

Our Parental Evidence was really important to us because it was our chance to really shout up about the things that J needed whilst in school. Knowing that a group of professionals would be reading what we wrote about our child really helped us fight even more for his needs to be met in school.

27 pages of clear undisputed facts about our childs needs and how these needs affect his day to day life helped the LEA Panel have a clear idea of how his needs could be met.

It's not a nice thing to do ....no one wants to list their childs weakneses, but its something you have to do to get the right support for them in school.

I also made a point of listing his strengths as I felt this would help the Panel see that J is definately a hands on learner and that he suceeded in these areas when given the extra support.

We also had vast differences between school and home behaviour and it makes me so angry to hear your child is out of school for so much of the school day.....it is supposed to be about school fitting in to your child needs and NOT your child fitting in to school.

Can feel a soapbox moment.....so I will leave now before I really start on about how schools just are so underfunded and over populated to meet the needs of kids!!!!
EDUCATION, EDUCATION,EDUCATION......yeah right!

Well thanks to this thread I was suddenly aware that I hould be sending in my own report along with everyone else's and finished it at midnight last night. Has to faxed over the the LEA today.

Wish I'd had more time as no idea if I've said the right thing but it's better than nothing. So glad this thread came up and made me relaise thatat i had to write a report as well.

Amynnixmum, I have a list of guidelines that your report should follow and it makes it a lot easier to get your head round what to say and where to start.

If you'd like it, if IP{SEA haven't yet sent tou it pls let me know and we'll work out getting mine to you. amybe I could just bash it out on mumsnet to save time?

Let me know.

Have that slight nervous feeling in my stomach about mine today, God I hope my report is ok.

Thanks Thomcat but I have everything I need to write the report now. Let us know how things work out for you.

Jaysmum, has your ds got a diagnosis? Mine haan't and so far all the professionals seem at a loss to explain why they are experiencing such problems at school when we are managing ok at home. Got an appointment monday morning with the top paediatrician in the area so maybe he will have some ideas but tbh we just can't understand why this has happened. He didn't have problems at playschool either - he was lively there but they didn't even put him on stage one.

I know its good news really Davros but I'm still feeling sad and angry about it as I feel that there are other mainstream schools in the area that would have coped better and this would not be happening. My mum is a senco at another school and I know she has helped at least one child with far more serious behaviour problems than ds stay in mainstream and achieve well there. Have accepted though that his current school has contributed to us getting to the stage where the only real answer for ds is to go to a specialist school - at least for a while anyway.

Thanks Thomcat but I have everything I need to write the report now. Let us know how things work out for you.

Jaysmum, has your ds got a diagnosis? Mine haan't and so far all the professionals seem at a loss to explain why they are experiencing such problems at school when we are managing ok at home. Got an appointment monday morning with the top paediatrician in the area so maybe he will have some ideas but tbh we just can't understand why this has happened. He didn't have problems at playschool either - he was lively there but they didn't even put him on stage one.

I know its good news really Davros but I'm still feeling sad and angry about it as I feel that there are other mainstream schools in the area that would have coped better and this would not be happening. My mum is a senco at another school and I know she has helped at least one child with far more serious behaviour problems than ds stay in mainstream and achieve well there. Have accepted though that his current school has contributed to us getting to the stage where the only real answer for ds is to go to a specialist school - at least for a while anyway.

I'm not surprised you're feeling sad and angry, esp if you think the school hasn't done a great job although, as you say, has got you to the stage of accessing support I'm not sure whether you NEED a dx technically but I don't think I've come across a child with a statement who doesn't have a dx, could just be the circles I move in! But if you're about to see Paed that my change, esp if he knows what stage you're at. Good luck with it all and with writing your report. I kept mine very short, 2 sides A4, but they seemed to ignore it the first time!!

OMG, sent our report and it was 6 pages!

Size 12 font and single sided.

Don't worry Thomcat - if I'm reading Jaysmum's post correctly her report was 27 pages.

Think mine is about 6 pages. Are you in a rush honey? I can precis on e-mail as haven't got my act together to post!!!

JakB,
Thanks darling, but don't worry if you've got too much on. Have advice from both the local Parent and pupil support officer as well as Ipsea.
If you have time address is [email protected].
Sian xx