Makes me mad...

[lou031205]

I have been asking about a statement since January 2009. I was told to 'wait and see'.

Last time I asked, they said they would get the ball rolling 'around October' & decide whether DD might need Special school after January.

Having been MN educated, I say "Don't think so".

Persued statement in early September, final statement naming special school arrived January 20th.

On Friday I talked to the woman who told me to wait & see, etc. She said that had DD got her statement much later, there wouldn't have been places left at special school, because they start filling up about now.

Also, that having been in preschool on Thursday, it was clear that DD still needed complete 1:1, and Hants never gives full 1:1 in her experience. Also local ms has curtains & open plan, rather than doors, so very difficult to contain DD.

So where exactly did she intend DD to go?

Special school would have been full, and MS wouldn't have had enough 1:1.

So grateful to everyone here for warning me to do it myself.

Yeah thanks, Star, I know really. But why is it that we have to play a game where the first challenge is working out the hidden rules that are behind the rules we are told?

What about those parents who don't have resources, practical or intellectual, to dig & fight?

What about the mum of the other child with SN at preschool, who told me that her child will go to school with a 'learning plan', as if that will magically make her ok?

Countless children & their parents are just pawns in a bad game of chess.

I know what you mean Starlight. I've met other parents who are a few stages behind me and I wanted to be militant and tell them to prepare for a fight, but tbh I don't think they would have thanked me for it. The best I can do is to encourage them to access the same helplines as I've used, the information is out there for everyone.

If you do feel strongly about helping other parents in the same situation, there may be ways to volunteer, maybe with a local support group or one of the helplines. I expect you're too busy now but I've thought about doing so at a later stage, when/if we get through tribunal...

I think professionals often just come up with vague on the hoof explanations for anything - An EP told me that 'Oh places are in very very short supply everywhere' yet as if by magic there are always places where they wish to place your child. You don't have to be Einstein to realise that they look at available places before they look at what an individual child might need. We managed to get a better placement partly by holding out but partly down to nothing more than good luck !