letter to ask for assessment for a statement

[meerkatsandkookaburras]

hiya, weve finally persuaded people who see ds that we should get him assessed as hes not coping well in preschool and has been there since january. his problems are essentially getting worse, and were in nottinghamshire so the system is difficult to say the least. ds has autism and essentially major problems alongside that are behaviour, sensory and obviously all the normal autism issues. ive seen people suggest websites on here to help with writing the letter to ask for assessment and what i actually have to do but now im ready to do it i dont know wat to do, please can someone hold my hand and tell me what to do??

thanks xx

Hi meerkats

fellow meerkat here.

My first response was, "Oh no - Notts!!". They are truly terrible re statementing and their Parent Partnership is also shite of the first order (they put people off applying). They are not independent of the LEA and work very closely with them. There is another poster who writes on these special needs pages who also resides in this county. I'd put up a thread on this particular special needs page asking for any Notts residents to make themselves known to you.

You need proper advocacy from independent organisations like IPSEA and they also have a helpline number you can call *evenings are best. Also try ACE and SOS;SEN for advice and information; the more advocacy you get the better.

www.ipsea.org.uk

There are letters on there you can use. Be prepared for them to say no, if they say no (which is par for the course with them) you must appeal their crass decision.

Never forget that you are your child's best and only advocate.

hi there!

im in notts too (as im sure you both remember), we are on the second round of applying for assessment - (but this time the timing is such that it WONT be summer hols at the deadline for appeal), and we WILL appeal WHEN they undoubtedly say no.

Attilla is right, dont bother with PP as they are the councils yes men - or rather 'no' men!

Is there anyone else out there from notts?

thanks so much, sorry not been online much for a few days so forgot to come back on and reply, thanks though xx