am so angry and upset after parents evening

[boocha]

Ds has just started yr1, he has a statement for 16 hours a week as he has a specific language impairment. He has a speech therapist that comes into school once a week and also a specialist teacher comes in once a week as specified in his statement.
The school employed a ta when ds started reception who just worked mornings(ds 16 hours)as well as her there is also a full time ta anyway in reception a ta in yr1 and a fulltime ta in year 2. I was under no illusions that the ta that was employed when ds started school would work solely with ds but none the less she was employed with ds statement money as he needs additional help.
Anyway last week when picking up ds up I noticed that his "part time" ta was there at 3.30 so I asked her why and she said "Oh I'm here all day now" I didnt really think much of it, just thought as long as ds gets his 16 hours support (which btw I do doubt anyway) then its nothing to do with me.
Tonight was yr1 parents evening but they did it as a group with all the parents as there isnt much to say yet just mostly talking about transition from reception etc. Ds teacher is very experienced and excellent but basically half way through this talk she was giving she announced that
the usual full time ta had left for a new job during the summer and we are very lucky to have mrs...... (ds ta!) any problems etc, etc and you can also go to her, she knows all the children very well.
I was absolutely amazed, £6k of ds statement is this teaching assistants salary so basically by making her full time they have not had to bother employing anyone else.
I nearly burst into tears, What is the f##### point of getting your child a statement if he will get no benefit from it at all.
When the meeting finished tonight, dh and I had a word with the teacher and we said to her that we thought ds support/ta was in addition to the already full time ta in place, because lets face it if she hadnt left over the summer this wouldnt be an issue.
She has basically told us that ds has fleeting 10 mins 1-1(quality time) here and there and we should take it up with headteacher who by the way is the senco!!!You could tell that she was embarrassed.
Sorry for rambling,
What are we going to do? Ds cant be treated like this, also ds statement is funded across counties, so a different lea is funding this. I feel like ringing lea tomorrow and telling them they are getting ripped off!!
Help!!!!!

Outrageous!
You need to go and see your SNAP?parent Partnership office asap. Also make an appt. to see head and get the fact on paper.

I am a salt and my own child has an SLI and I would be VERY pissed of indeed with this and for them not talling me.

What!!!

I would talk to IPSEA in the first instance to get their advice then also contact the Head before speaking to the LEA. I'd ask for a meeting with the Chief Education officer at the LEA to discuss this.

www.ipsea.org.uk

I'd also start looking for another school.

Ask for a meeting with the head. Contact parent partnership and write a letter to the statementing officer copied to the headteacher, parent partnership and the head of lifelong learning and explain that if they don't meet the provision as specified in the statement you will take your complaint to the local government ombudsmen.

In fact I'd arrange all the meetings but go ahead and write the letter. It will work. Councils HATE complaints going to the local govt ombudsmen as the figures have to be recorded and this would be one that was upheld.

We have the same issue at DS1's nursery - we feel that the nursery accepted funding for 'autistic support' more to fund one of their assistant's pay scale upgrades than to give proper 1-1 support to the autistic children. We are trying to get details of the funding using the Freedom of Information Act. It's not just me being paranoid, the other mothers feel the same way - at least that they do not feel what their child gets is 1-1 nor for the time supposed.

Agree with all the above but just wanted to say how awful to have found this out at the parents evening. I think my head would have exploded on the spot!
I hope you manage to get some answers from the head teacher today.

Grrrr. So sorry and frustrated for you. That isn't right at all. Hope it gets resolved quickly.

Thanks to everyone for responding
Ds teacher came up to me on playground this morning and said she was lying in bed at 5oclock this morning thinking about us. She was trying to reassure me that he will get the attention he needs but I said I very much doubted it with just her and a ta and 29 other children!!
Have arranged a meeting with head at 3.30 today and I think he is going to get a big shock because unless he agrees to employ another ta then I am pulling ds out of this school straight away, bye bye statement money.
Feel like we have made a big mistake by sending ds to mainstream because lea wanted us to send him to language unit in the first place where there are only 7 pupils plus 2 teachers a ta and full time salt but because our daughter atends the mainstream school and the head assured us in intial meetings then we really wanted to give mainstream a go.
We have been royally let down, how dare they do this.
Really want to ring lea right now but going to speak to head first.
There is still one place available at lang unit and will be telling head this.
Will let you know how we get on. Cant wait till 3.30!

I cant wait til 3.30,so have rung the lea someone is ringing me back in 10 mins. I want them to tell me what to do, after all it is their money that is being wasted in another borough!
Have also rang the parents partnership but was an answer machine, We need to go into this meeting with the head fully armed.

Boocha, I must say that i would think very carefully about having turned down a language unit place. Your child will get the best support and intervention there in terms of salt.

I agree with moondoog, if you can still get a place in the language unit, I would take it in a shot - in fact I would beg, steal, torture.... do anything to get it!

I've got to agree with moondog. DS1 in mainstream had full time support specified in his statement and regular SALT (in part 2 and 3). He was completely non-verbal and a got about 3 or 4 sessions of SALT a year. It's been far more regular since moving to special school (where the SALTs are onsite).

agree with the others about a language unit place. boocha - if you can look at it this way, that some time in a language unit would be the best way to help your lad to cope in future in m/s with minimal support.

MD - the EP told me (and no reason to not believe this) that a lot of parents turn down language unit places in my city.

I'm not surprised TC. Perhaps if the EA and SALT dept. could bother to get together and think of ways of how to explain their purpose properly,the paretns would change their mind (and supply would increase.)

It's estimated that 1 in 10 kids has a communication difficulty of some sort.

I agree MD. As it was always me asking SALT about whether DS should go to a language unit (having read about them on MN), never anyone mentioning it to me as a possibility. I think they only bother to mention lang. units to those they are fairly imminently about to offer a place to - and once they are that far down the procedure, it will probably come as a bolt from the blue for parents. I found there was a complete and utter lack of support in general for kids with language problems and applying for primary places.

yes am aware of the 1/10 statistic. If only similar attention and media attention was paid to language problems as childhood obesity.

It is so hard to make the right choice of school.
My daughter strarted in MS with support and after 1 year we all agreed that it didn't work and she should move. She is now at a resourced school which is mainstream with a resource class of 10 kids with very different needs. On paper it sounds ok but the reality is very different.
We have been fighting for 18 months to get her moved to a special school, it is non-maintained and the LEA refuse to pay. I hope it will go to tribunal by the end of the year so we have a final decision.

If only we could turn the clock back and send her to a special school from the start.

yes agree vgj. you don't get given an explanation of each type of placement and then a free choice between them.

What happened at the meeting Boocha?