Received DD2s statement today

[Sidge]

Well the provisional one for us to read and approve anyway.

They have awarded her 25 hours of one to one and from what I understand all the other stuff that I (and everyone else) think she needs.

What a relief!!

Oh brilliant Sidge, really glad for you all.

I am really pleased for your dd!

I am sure you have had lots of advice but, just to reiterate what others may have told you, make sure that there are no "weasel" words in her provisional statement like: access to, opportunities for, would benefit from, small groups (is that 3 or 30?) etc. Her statement needs to be QUANTIFIED in Part 3 otherwise the LEA can wiggle out of it if they choose to.

Classic example - child who would benefit from having SaLT and to have OT in a small group with opportunites for social interaction and life skills lesson.

None of that happened because the LEA only stated that he would "benefit from" not that he had to have... and no opportunities arose for him to have social and life skills lessons.

Sorry if I am teaching you to suck eggs but I think it is SO important that parents understand just HOW the LEA write their Statements and how they can wiggle out of anything there UNLESS it is SPECIFIED AND QUANTIFIED.

Thanks for that, I was warned to look for vague non-specific language; having not seen any other statements I'm not sure how hers compares - for eg her part 3 says she is to have one to one and small group support with 25 hours per week of support from an LSA under the guidance of the SENCO and class teacher.

I want them to clarify small group (as you said) and to expand on her SALT provision; she has no speech but her statement says she is to have 'advice on communication from a professional with experience and expertise in this field, with programmes implemented by school staff'. I think that's too vague.

I'm quite happy with it, but need to sit down with her pre-school SENCO who has years of experience and see what she thinks!

Thanks for your help and congrats it has been so stressful, I know it's not completed yet but at least we're nearly there.

Hi Sidge,

Re your comments that I have put in quotemarks:-

"I'm quite happy with it, but need to sit down with her pre-school SENCO who has years of experience and see what she thinks!"

She may well be quite happy with it, these people don't always spot vaguely worded statement documents either.

Would also suggest you run Parts 2 and 3 past IPSEA and or SOS;SEN as well because they can tell you what should be in there. They know an awful lot about statements.

"She is to have one to one and small group support with 25 hours per week of support from an LSA under the guidance of the SENCO and class teacher".

That's also too vague for my liking as well. How much of this is small group and how small exactly is the small group?.

"advice on communication from a professional with experience and expertise in this field, with programmes implemented by school staff".

This sentence is not good at all particularly for someone who has no speech. Note the word "professional" - this is not specific enough. There are many problems with that particular sentence quite apart from the fact that the school could site lack of time/money/expertise to actually implement programmes. How would such be monitored?. No way!. Not specific at all, sounds like a fudge on the part of the LEA not to spend any more cash than absolutely necessary.

Thanks Attila, that confirms what I was thinking, that it's not specific enough. I shall contact IPSEA and run it by them, it would be handy to go back to the LEA with a draft of what I want them to put in there!

I appreciate your help

I'd agree and I am a salt in field of SN.
Statements like this are utterly meaningless.
'Specify and quantify' is a great mantra/