The year of the TRIBUNAL- come and post if this means you!

[StarlightWonderStarlightBright]

Thought we could collect ourselves together.

Final statement supposed to come today. Expecting it Friday. What about you?

yep, we are off to tribunal this year.

statement was due this week, but due to us telling the LEA that we would not accept ANY delays (they wanted to delay for another panel meet) they sent it early

mind you, they ignored all our amendments, and sent their original draft statement as the final statement, and named a preschool for dd1 (who should be in Yr1) - the one that we removed her form as unsuitable...

so tribunal here we come!

You playing with the appeal documentation yet? Do you have any help lined up for writing the case?

just getting into gear with that now, post Christmas etc.

dd1 goes back to school tomorrow, so will have a bit more time once she is there full time (part time for 2 more weeks as settling)

no-one lined up for helping write that up - do you think we should have? any recommnedations?

we have an independnet Ed Psych lined up for the tribunal (he hates the pre-school dd1 was at - thinks it is the worst example of an ASD pre-school he has ever seen!) and obv dd1's ABA cons too. by the time we get to tribunal, dd1 will have been at ABA school for 6 months, so as well as data from our (part time) home programme, we will have full time data on dd1 out of the home environment, which will help enormously. the LA's case at the moment is resting on the LA's EP view that dd1 has a form of selective mutism, as she copes and learns at home so much better than she does at school (she didn't learn a single thing last year at school. didn't say a word. barely engaged in anything except sensory play stuff. at home, she is coutning and starting basic maths. knows her alphabet and phonics and is beginnign reading. learning to play the piano. playing nicely with her sister. she obviously still has huge difficulties, as well, and a very severe language delay/impairment) and so dta form the school showing she is doing all these things there too will easily prove that ti si the LA's choice of school at fault.

We will use whichever legal bod ABA cons and EP (and school) advise - I think it's better to have a "team" as such, used to working together.

Yes we'll be jumping aboard fairly soon. Final statement not due until mid February. Delightful Christmas spent going through draft word for word and writing our lengthy dossier in reply as determined they would have no more than the 8 weeks. Our LA ignored their own ed psych so we suspect they will start talking to us eventually but on past experience will probably hang out until a fortnight before tribunal date. Having a break before I start writing the appeal - although I could pretty much write it now. We have been recommended these by two people now re ABA packages. Fiona Slomovic. We can't really afford it as we need the money for ABA but I think for the stress level it would be worth it. Also the world of ABA funding is so secretive I think we would need someone with experience to spot the pitfalls.

Were be going some point this year , have called a urgent statment review as ds placement AT mS not working , mind considering moving so will probably haVE TO DO IT TWICE but hoping if tie it up now .New lea might think argh not going argue with her

I dunno whether you need help writing the case. I know there is someone who works for sensos who enjoys it and charges reasonably depending on how much evidence you have.

pheonix I'm thinking that after we win (and we will becase we'll do as many rounds as it takes) we'll take legal action against the council. Compensation is in the region of £200, so a lot of stress for not much financial compensation, - but I am hoping for the real compensation to be them never fucking with me again. I cannot bear the thought of another 20 years of this.

ANyone else scared shitless btw?

Although the anger kinda pushes you through it.

thanks, grumpy, i'll take a look later, and discuss with dh.

Phoenix - is it you who had the "maybe moving to Kent" thread? I kept meaning to answer, but got caught up with all things festive.

We moved away form Kent because they were so bloody hopeless and procrastinating. ironically, we now want dd1 to go to school inKent (a private SN school) and so are arguing for uot of county palcement form Surrey (which was approved in theory as Surrey have no SN place for dd1)

I currently drive 40 miles each way to dd1's chool (we are privatley funding awaiting Tribunal), but we cannot contemplate moving back to Kent as they are, in our experience just so bloody awful. They would re-assess instantly (assuming we win Tribunal) and would fight hard and dirty. They have recently emplyed a full time lawyer for tribunals, and fight to the death (said lawyer used to win against them a lot. they offered big money for lawyer to switch sides)

Starlight - yes, scared shitless here too. we know we have a brilliant case. Our ABA cons reckons he's never seen sucha clear cut case of a child needing an ABA school (dd1 appears not to have huge LDs, but her autism is a massive barrier for her. her control issues are immense, and she is an expert adult manipulator. put her in any "normal" Sn school, and she calls the shots without the staff even realising it ) but still, there is always the "what if..."

we are privately funding dd1 at ABA school while we fight, but cannot do so forever. I cannot even contemplate not winning, tbh, as it would all be such a mess.

'said lawyer used to win against them a lot. they offered big money for lawyer to switch sides'

I drew breath sharply when I read this, but I dunno why. It isn't really such a big surprise. I'm not a swearer but words I never even know have entered my vocab in recent months.

Satrlight, just to make matters worse (for us) - Kent engaged them specifically to fight ABA cases. They were lsoign them hand over fist, and they are now winning more ABA cases then athey lose

we are awaiting appeal for DLA for DD1. Been fighting since june, still awaiting paprerwork

oh sliverfrog! That is nasty and making me huff at my screen.

lisad good luck. You and I should meet up one day. I reckon I have spoken to EVERYONE in the council by now what about you?

yes it was me silverfrog , but house was looking at could not swap as according to there Ha i need 4 bedrooms not 3 that I have now and here will never get 4 my bedroom is the frontroom

Hmm worth me bearing in mind then was looking at Kent as they have s&l units at scondry level which are few and far between and know reality is ds will need it even though hes reception now .Hmm does Kent ad Medway council differ or same Lea?

Startlight im going for the same here i tried there way ad its ot worked thats icluding schools opion plus now got reports i to back me up going take this the whole way

mind trouble i have there is nowhere suitable for ds, ms not workig due to S&L problems .The only unit here do`t sign and ds be in ms side most of the time so wouls still struggle

Dont want mld school as ds has no Ld had it confirmed right ow cognitvley he is where he should be all his problems are down to his S&L or his physical problems

Feelig im going have to give up my H/A house and save go private rented and try fight Surrey for I can school

We are going through the appeal system for DS1's DLA atm. Lisad, if your appeal claim was being dealt with by Wembley, they have been closed and the transfer of cases hasn't gone smoothly. DS1's file had been lost, and they had done a half-arsed job on entering it on the system so it didn't register as being outstanding. It was only because one of the telephone operatives was really rude to me that I pressed further to speak to someone and found out what had happened. Whenever I rang the general enquiry no I was told I would here soon/papers had been passed over etc etc. So worth checking into whether it was a Wembley case.

I'm hoping DS1's statementing goes better

Good luck everyone

I have a tribunal date in April due to a refusal to assess one child and I have statutory assessment taking place for another child. Switched of from it all over Christmas time to switch back on again!

Yes the large majority win, but actually it is even more than that because many LA's settle before tribunal.

yes starlight feel like i have been round herts and back again, and I bloodly work for them! madness here, but def fancy a meet up some time

I'll be going to tribunal too and feeling tense about it too! Waiting for LA to finalise a rubbish proposed statement before I can get the appeal started for parts 2&3. Then another appeal when they amend it in Feb to name a secondary placement. We've named an independent residential school, so no way is that going to agreed without going to tribunal.
Am not really sure which school the LA will want to name. They wanted me to look at a local special school for MLD, but I know a parent with a similar child was told by the headtecher that he was too bright for it. So I'm hoping he'll say the same for DS.

I'm fretting mostly about the finances. I'll need my EP report updated and possibly a child psych report as well, on top of the legal fees. I've been told that they need to appear as expert witnesses really, but that means borrowing and even that is difficult at the moment.

Well waddya know?

I got me a final statement!

Am I in the lead? No, - think it is SilverFrog.

sugarcandy ouch 2 tribunals within such a short space of time.