I have to be realistic, - the gap between my asd ds and his peers will widen

[MoonlightMcKenzie]

says the local authority when notified us that they are at the end of their assessment period (After a 6 month waiting period) and can now offer us the maximum provision of 3 hours a week.

progress is going to be slow apparently and we have to change our expectations.

When I mentioned the 20 hours national guidelines we were told that with their 3 hours, his 6 hours in preschool, we easily had that when you take into account the meetings and report writing that they have to do.

phew, thank god for the meetings and reports.

Bring out the big guns, tell them you are taking legal advice on your position, or tell them your uncle works in David Cameron's office and they are looking for a case study to publicise how badly wrong the govt's SEN policy is going (check first what your council is, if Lib Dem change the politics around accordingly). Tell them it's going to be made an election issue. Check the spelling of everyone in the SEN dept's name and ask for dates when they joined the dept., and tell them you feel you should notify them this will likely lead to some national publicity. Then sit back and wait. Worth a try?

Dd2 also gets 3 hours a week but i think if i put up a fight i could easily get more.

I can't be angry. I have a plan B (ABA) and have to be focussed. I am optimistic about my ds' future. I can't yet think about all the other parents in my LA who are getting the same without a plan B, but I won't forget them.

My chin didn't wobble once in this meeting. I was cool and collected. Told them we thought that was lousy but left it when the said it was the best they could do.

I don't think I can be shocked any more by my LA. I no longer feel sorry for myself at how badly we have been treated. The partnership with them is ridiculous, it is hopeless, it is ........ over!

Found out today that they spend £30m on out of county placements. No surprise.

I don't mind them continuing to be crap to us tbh, as it makes good tribunal material, and - when my heart is no longer stone and my ds is set up, I'll take them on a second time on behalf of those that can't.

we are so in the same boat - yesterday I was almost having a wobble about whether we were being unreasonable in asking for 20 hours but it is all just tactics. I am sure we will get the same lousy offer, we were offered 1 hour a week portage after 8 months, she came once, blew some bubbles and said we seem to have it all in hand and not sure its worth her coming again as autistic children don't really play well with strangers they preferred to teach us and the nursery to do it (so we put in the hours and I never work again!). We too are doing some ABA (probably not enough). I just feel such a sense of relief when I open our textbook and there is a full curriculum of what my boy needs to learn and I can find where we are and what we do next - it has a clear plan and purpose - left to the LEA we'd be blowing bubbles for the next 2 years as preparation for school. But the good news is the less they offer you the easier it will be at tribunal to show that is inadequate. If I were you I wouldn't challenge it - just let it go and let them justify it at a tribunal. At least you had an assessment - we can't even get that so we have to take that refusal to tribunal - which won't be heard for 5 months and then if we get them to assess - back to tribunal 6-9 months later - by which time Ds will have lost 18 months and we will be flat broke. The portage lady told us we seemed stressed out and "should take some time to ensure we enjoyed DS" + implying it was the ABA not the s*t they were throwing at us that was stressing us out! I would have told her to leave except she would have gone back to the office and written on the file that we had refused LEA input - always got an eye on that tribunal! There's always a chance they will up the offer before a tribunal - just hold out to the last minute to save themselves some £! It does p*s me off when the UK were 10 years behind US and Europe on cancer survival rates it was a national scandal but every LEA person I meet doesn't even seem to have read a single piece of research in the past 10 years. If I had been 10 years out of date when I was doing my job I would have been sacked. The entire staff at my LEA seem to be brainwashed and incapable of independent thought. The NAS seem to be totally useless on this - surely they should be campaigning on intervention intensity? And where are the clinicians calling for this? As long as its only parents asking for 20 hours we are just dismissed as neurotic and greedy. Sorry long rant - I'm having a rubbish week with our LEA and depressed by how long until our tribunal. Where is the 20 hours a week written into national guidelines by the way??? I can't find anything official on this???

Hi, I have seen the 20 hours banded about. I'm sure it was in this document but can only find 15 as a recommended minimum atm.

www.nas.org.uk/content/1/c4/34/54/NIASARep.pdf

Even so, this document isn't mandatory, but is full of useful info.

hth

I got a lot of help from my County Councillor: they are there to represent us and ensure that constituents get their rights from the council.

It worked for us: maybe try it?

I agree with the mums who suggest taking this to an upper level (MP, whoever). From this and your previous posts, tbh it really is beyond the pale how offensively useless they are. Sorry I can't do much except join in being very angry

I think that the lack of support is shocking and frustrating, getting help seems such a struggle for so many people.

I found it - the 20 hours is further down the same document - I read this ages ago and forgot about it - its great! I am taking it to my LEA meeting next week!!