Any tips for writing the 'My child My story' bit for the statuatory assessment process?

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

dd is nearly 4 and we are in the middle of the statementing process - she has cerebral palsy. I have until march 11th to get in my bit - the 'my child, my story' bit.

The advice mentions starting with birth and babyhood which I have done tonight. It's so depressing and has left me feeling quite anxious as it was a very distressing time for us all. I also feel it's going to be an epic - have typed 2 pages already and only just got to dd's diagnosis at 14 months!

Do you think it can be too long or is it important to include all of the details? we're also involved in a legal case with dd's birth negligence and it is all very complicated. I want them to 'get' dd but also want to try to keep my cool as it all feels very emotional at the moment.

I'm babbling now, finding this very distressing, like the DLA form filling all over again.

Wish I could afford to hire someone so I could just talk and someone else type it all up. I'm just so tired.

I included all the details for my boys that I felt set the scene, concentrating on examples of things that highlight the difficulties my boys have, how they are now and what I feel they need. I don't know if you got the list with lots of headings, but even though my contribution was very long, using the headings, it ended up in half to one page sections, so wasn't so bad.

Mine was 17 pages in the end. I used headings, too. I think you know your DD the best. The way I saw it, that was my opportunity to tell them about DD and what she needs, so tough if they had to make a cup of tea and -a- -sandwich- to have while they read it

i put photos in too - i thought it made her seem more like a real person rather than 'case x'. although the draft needed a rewrite, we did get everything we wanted in the final statement without too much fuss. (and then we moved lol, and it was rescinded )

i might have it saved electronically somewhere i'll let you know if i can find it...

sympathy on the neg case too. they take so long. we are about 3 years in i think, and had obs ind report last year, and i asked lots more questions which he clarified. solicitor now wants to get mw ind report as well, so needs to apply for more legal aid. it just goes on and on.

Our PC was 18 pages of carefully honed stuff on ds (but double spaced so not tooo bad). (Took ages to write!) As Starlight says it was totally ignored. For me though it did highlight the glaring gaps in the proposed statement. It's also been useful in setting the scene to independent witnesses that we've ended up having to appoint.

Mine included a nice photo (LA asks for it) and bits of my report went into the statement.

Just adding that my contributions weren't ignored, so it seems to vary between LEAs. (We also got what we wanted, with just a little clarification needed. Talking to the ASD advisor at DS1's review, last week, it seems that TPTB locally are usually very much on the ball and quite pro-active, when it comes to statements involving ASD - something which backs up what DS2's portage worker was telling me, way back.)

Ours was very long too (over 20 pages - one page per question/section form the LEA form)

and again, nothing was used.

But it is still useful, as it highlights just how little the LEA know/realise about dd1. (which is exactly what we will be using it for come tribunal)

we used ours to explain what is really happening form dd1's pov wrt behaviours as school (eg why she refuses to eat with other people, and what the consequences were when they made her do so 9she stiopped eatigng hte meal she had for lunch that day - has not touched it since)

it is soul destroying, but we saw it as a chance to get as much of dd1 down onto paper as possible, and to add more colour into the mix to counterbalance all the other reports form people who do not know dd1 at all.

Sorry - the powers that be!

Thanks for the advice - I have to say I hadn't thought of including a photo but it sounds a good idea. I have a feeling mine will be quite long but I want to include all the bits that no-one else knows as they don't live with dd day in, day out.

off to do some more now..