Where to now? A statement?.....

[curvychick]

My DS (dx dyspraxia and probably ASD/AS) transfered to junior school in sept and is now in year 3. He is on school action as his handwriting is very delayed and his behaviour is disruptive ie calling out a lot etc

We havent reviewed his IEP since it was created in Sept and since then i have been keeping a note of additional problems as they have been cropping up and have compiled a letter to send into school. To my mind he is not meeting the targets set in his IEP, particularly his handwriting. He is also struggling with the general level of organisation that is required in year three, ie bringing work home, letters, handing in of completed homework. He cant seem to write to task, often interprets questions wrong, starts on his work and gets told its wrong and has to start again (not good when writing is so tricky anyway). He has no friends and often spends playtimes alone as his social skills are poor and he doesnt seem to be getting any encouragement in making friends or maintaing friendships with the children he moved from his last school with.

We have paed/OT/physio involved and after doing my research i now realise this in itself should mean he is on SA+. I dont know where to go from here....he is bright as a button, top maths, good grades etc but the areas that he struggles with he really struggles with iyswim

Do you think i should keep pushing with IEP and get SA+ on record officially, or should i start down the statement route? How 'bad' does a sitaution have to get to get a statement or can you get a statement, strategies and support in place to prevent things from getting too bad?

I hope someone will be able to advise...this last year really has been hellish, coming to term with ds problems, and navigating the joys of the nhs and school. Now the fug is clearing and i am feeling stronger, i really want to get support strategies in place but dont really know which way to turn tbh!

I'm a teacher in a SEN school (although for younger children)and we hold IEP's every term with parents and the appropriate therapists. This is also true for the mainstream school I worked in before. IEP dates are set at the beginning of the school year and parents should be notified by letter (also true for therapists as it is important everyone gets enough notice so they can attend).
If he is not achieving his targets then at the IEP you can request for him to be put onto SA+ and you can also request an ed psych evaluation. (They don't always know more then the teachers but other agencies pay more attention.)You have to go down the route of IEP's to get a statement as you need to demonstrate that his needs are additional to that of another child his age, e.g. he is not succeeding.
Statements can be useful if you want to ensure specific help (1.1 tutoring or set number of OT hours).
Unfortunately, unless the disability is medical and/or complex it can be very difficult to get a statement and often you have to make sure everything stays on time schedule. For example, once you get everyone to agree that a statement is needed it can take from between 6-12 weeks for all parties to write reports. Once all reports have been submitted the SEN panel of your LEA have to get a 'draft' statement to you and then it can take 6-12 weeks for it to be confirmed as a actual statement. So basically an academic year.
Hope that helps and was not too lengthy!

I think I misinformed you in my last post. As a parent you can write to your LEA and formally request a statement assessment, which would begin with an ed psych visit (best at school and insist on enough time for the ed psych to observe your DS in class, speak with his main teacher and also to meet with you - maybe together with the teacher?. But if you had an IEP in Sept or Oct your school should be having another one soon and raise it with them first. If the response is not supportive then go to your LEA.
Good luck. It's exhausting enough being a parent without adding on the stresses of taking on such a system.