SENCO has mentioned about trying to get DS a statement before he gets to secondary school. what happens once you get one?

[Pinkchampagne]

Does it mean he will get 1:1 help?

He hasn't got a dx yet as assessments seemed to get us no further, but things aren't improving greatly & there is concern for how he will cope with secondary (he is yr 4 atm), so she suggested trying to get him statemented. Not sure how much this will help him as I don't know enough about statements. He is school action plus atm & has been for years.

I don't know all that much about statementing other than generalities as DS hasn't got one - but as I see it yes, a statement should cover both 1-1 help and any therapies such as SALT or OT he might need. Would have thought that having him statemented before secondary would be helpful in that it should really make secondary think about how they support him, whereas if support was all as informal as SA+ there could be a horrendous period at start of high school where he was without support at all and gets lost in the system.

a statement does not necessarily mean the money to pay for a 121 or whatever though unfortunately (at least it does not here in S Yorks - I am SENCO at a pre-school)

statement will set out what extra support he needs, and will be beneficial to him I am sure. Can't be more specific as am fairly new to the role and not got any statemented childrn at present. sorry.

I am in the process of getting dd statemented.As a parent you can request a statement.You write to the SEN part of your LEA.They have to reply within 6 weeks legally.Today I received a load of bumph to fill in all about dd,they request supporting info from school/health profs and take it from there.Then it goes to a "panel" of SN type peeps (Ed psych,SENCO and whatnot) and they discuss it in relation to childs needs.

I have a bog standard supporting letter given to me by dd portage worker.

Dear Sirs

RE:Childs name (d.o.b xxxxxxxx)

I am writing to request a statutory assessment of x's special educational needs under section 323 of the 1996 Education Act.

I am making a requeast because x has (detail issues) that are impacting on his/her ability to access school life and make adequate progress.

(List evidence,including reports from medics and other agencies.)

I understand you have 6 weeks from the date you receive this letter to make your decision whether to proceed with this statutory assessment.

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours faithfully

Parent of x.

HTH

request knew I'd get a typo in there somehow

PC

You are your child's best - and only advocate.

You will need to write to the Chief Education Officer at your LEA and give this person six weeks to reply (note that date on your calendar).

Apply for it yourself, you do not need anyone's permission to do this and you know its been done then. Most importantly you as the parent have the right of appeal, school does not in the event the LEA say no.

A Statement is a legally binding document setting out the child's needs along with details of the extra support provided.

IPSEA's website is very good, there are also model letters on there you can use.

www.ipsea.org.uk

hmm once trey replied do they have to give me answer within the 6 weeks if there going asses just wondering as 6 weeks up 24 feb Ep not seeing till the 9th March though has been seen by ep 6 months previous

They have six weeks to decide if they will carry out a stautory assessment once you have requested it. You should get a letter saying yes, (and giving you the forms to complete - parental advice etc) or no, and the reasons why not.

OP - a statement does not mean he will get 1-1 support, the statutory assessment will be carried out to detail what his needs are, and then the statement will be written to quantify his needs and lay out how the (named) school will meet them. So, in some instances this means full time 1-1, and in others it does not. It should also lay out the details of any other help that he needs ie OT, SLT, physio and can include ASD outreach etc.

Have you got the IEPs etc documented from school as to how they have been helping him currently? These can be used in your request for assessment to prove that his current level of support/ intervention is not enough and more is required.

does the assessment get done by the ed psych?

It does round here, yes, with advice from other professionals and the school if required

no. here you are given a 'named officer' at the LEA, who is responsible for drafting the statement after receiving input from all the professionals involved (of which the EP is only one - so only provides one report). if the EP is the only specialist who provides a report to the 'named officer' at the LEA, then clearly their report will be what the statement is based on, but they will not draft it. the EP's report will make recommendations, but will not guarantee what eventually is written into the statement, although most LEAs hold EP reports in high esteem and do not contradict them (this is in comparison to other specialist reports lol - eg SLT,OT,physio, CAMHS, where their status as NHS or pct often stands in a secondary postion to 'educational' advice such as EP or STAs. this is only our experience though.
nb - i got everything i asked for lol

if your ds does get stamented (long prosses going through for my ds2) he should be entitled to 121 as school will get funding for him to have this good luck.

He is down to be seen by the Ed psych sometime soon. I didn't realise I could apply for a statement for DS - I thought the school had to do it.

PC

Not the case at all that the school has to apply for it.

Infact you're better off applying for it yourself as you can appeal their crass decision if the LEA say no. The school has no such right, you have far more power than the school does in this regard.

choccy - only if the statement includes 1-1 support, and it depends how many hours 1-1 is included. it is extremely difficult to persuade the lea that full time 1-1 is necessary (but not impossible if you stick to your guns lol). children whose education requires 'non-contact' time - eg for programming communication aids etc can get 'more than' full time hours written in, but again it ids dependent on the child's needs and can be difficult to argue, often requiring tribunal etc.
for example dd2 has 15 hours 1-1 included in her statement (she has athetoid cerebral palsy) and i'm quite happy with that.

PC - you can apply yourself and retain your right to appeal etc - it is better to do it with the backing of the school though - the named officer at the lea will pay a lot of attention to what the school say, so you are better off having them onside. if they aren't helpful, you should be thinking about whether they offer an appropriate placement for your ds... it is possible to do it without them, but much harder...

btw - extremely unusual to get full time 1-1 support for mainstream secondary. ordinarily the statement will give a set number of hours support (eg to cover maths and english - 7 hours or whatever), which will be pooled in the Learning Support dept and different LSAs will support in the set lessons as required.
hth

HI PC, I'm in same position as you with my DD. She is also in yr 4 and has been on school action plus since yr2. I have just applied for statement with the full backing and help of Ed Pysch and SenCo. Has been stated on application that she needs 1to1 and even with that they feel they cannot meet her needs at MS school. I have this morning been to visit a SN school in our area on the advice of SenCo. I was extremely impressed. DD is really struggling to cope in MS school and they are concerned for her emotional wellbeing. Like your DS my DD does not have a dx although has traits which indicate ASD. I'm finding the worst part now is the waiting to see what LEA decide regarding her statement, I understand it's a long and daunting process but will hopefully be worth it in the end. Good luck with your DS statement

Having a diagnosis adds a lot of 'umph' when applying for a statement as it is more 'black and white' . You also have the backing of the dr's then. You can apply for a statement yourself but you do need the support from the school as this is what the statement is for and their evidence is vital to the statementing procedure. In our LEA only a child with medical problems gets full time support and in fact in monetry terms it costs the LEA the same as 27 1/2 hours to support a child in mainstream with an LSA as it does to educate them in a specialist teaching Unit. You can usually get more if a child has basic needs e.g. can't feed themselves or toilet themselves.I have more success applying for statements if there is a diagnosis and if they are in the upper juniors. Statements have to be reviewed once a year and all personnel involved with the child are invited and submit reports. We always use these meetings to ask for more hours if the evidnce from IEP's etc supports it. A review can be held at any time and as a parent you can request one if you are not happy with the provision.

Should have said I am a senco in a primary school - we have 12 statements currently.