Why do LA wait until Friday pm to give you bad news (by email of course)

[grumpyoldeeyore]

So we are due our final statement next week. Last week we got an amended draft statement - which took into account some of our minor points (ie recognised provision to date had not been regular or weekly) but changed nothing substantive (no ABA). Today we get an email to say that the LA are consulting with three nurseries attached to local schools. DS (ASD) already goes to a private day nursery which takes LA funded kids over 3 and has 75% of his nursery hours funded with 1:1. We've asked for this "mainstream" setting to be named in Part 4 but with input from ABA & alongside ABA home programme. So why are they consulting with three other mainstream settings? We have made our choice. The reasons we are not happy with it (no specialist teaching) would be no different in any other nursery, school or private - any LSA would need in our opinion significant autism specific (pref ABA) training to be effective. All mainstream settings private and school get the same input from Autism advisory staff (blink and you miss it). Our nursery could (with ABA tutors &/or ABA training) provide for DS.

We assume they will argue if DS was in a school nursery with a qualified teacher it would all be wonderfully better and ABA specialist not be needed. Or is it that School would have to put 12.5 hours 1:1 in from their own budget? It will take us 5-6 months to get to tribunal.

We have already visited and dismissed two out of the three school nurseries in the past and decided to keep him where he was (one told us to go and look at the Montesorri nursery instead of sending him to their school!) and the 3rd is too far. Also I have just got some work which means we can't now do pre school hours - the private nursery lets us join sessions together so DS can go 8-1 rather than 9-11.30, which makes all the difference.

How can they just announce by email they are asking other school nurseries about your child. And if they name one of these schools on the statement does that mean they could stop the 1:1 funding his current nursery gets so we would be forced to remove him until we get to tribunal and I would have to quit my newly acquired job.

And why do they always do this to us on a weekend. And by email. Surely reorganising our son's future deserves at least a phone call. Are they just trying to find an alternative so they can say well X school has much more autism experience but the parents refused it and so are totally unreasonable?

I know me too LA have always acted as though its really personal against us and they really hate us and now the feeling is entirely mutual! Have just posted on ABA UK.

I feel really outraged. How dare they ring round schools about my child without my permission. I choose where my children go. We did for DS1 and DS2 what makes them think they can act like they're DS3's parents.

It might be because our nursery is happy to do ABA / have ABA people in whereas school would have to toe the LA anti ABA line? But I still don't get how / if they can force us to move DS. They have funded 75% of his hours since Jan, got good OFSTED etc so why is the setting suddenly considered unsuitable?

Just heard of a boy locally who has been turned down for statutory assessment even though he has a severe ASD / SLD dx - ie so severe the autism advisory teacher is warning the mum the SLD school might refuse to take him and he'll have to go out of area and he can't even get a statutory assessment - and then they tell us there is no blanket policy!

grumpy - sorry your LA are being tossers.

we had our final statement beofre Christmas.

Our LA sent dd1's papers out ot schools we didn't want them to send out to, although they did at least include her current school in the line up too.

sadly, the answer is yes, the LA CAn name any old school on a statement. It isn't a parent's choice. Parents can express a preference, and all other things being equal that preference should hold out.

But of course LA will claim nil costings for state provisions, etc etc, and so things never really are equal.

In our case, the LA sent papers to 5 schools (one of which is where dd1 currently attends, and where we want her to stay - ABA school)

when push came to shove, however, they actually named a 6th provision on her statement (leading to many WTF?! exclamations at this end). the provision they named is the same one we wthdrew dd1 from as it was so thoroughly unsuitable.

to compound the WTF feelings, it is also a private provision...

so they are refusing our private provision choice, whilst naming another private provision (and one that is actually completely unsuitbale for dd1, not least becasue it is a pre-school and dd1 is (or should be) in Yr1)

To be frank, LA's are a law unto themselves.

I don't know how the funding issue would work for you. I assume our LA are not paying for the place they have named on dd1's statement (they were funding her there full time before we withdrew her), so we have the reverse of your problem there.

the fact is, the tribunal timings work in their favour. I think they can pull funding (they have made their decision based on statutory assessment, and their decision is X), and you would have to fight to get it back.

Once at tribunal, your arguments would eb strong (why were they funding it in the first place if it was so unsuitable?) but by that point potentially your ds is no longer there.

is keeping him there totally out of the question? (ie funded by you?)

They used to phone me on a Friday afternoon as well (when they could be bothered that is. It took a face to face meeting with them to make them behave a bit better). And my LEA is shite on a stick as well.

Parents can name a school on a Statement (this part is always left blank) but the LEA can refuse the parents request. Its usually down to the usual bugbear cost - my guess is that your LEA figure that your child can be dealt with by a different nursery for less money so they will usually go with that option.

If you can somehow prove that your preferred option is cheaper than what the LEA is proposing you may have a chance. Also you have seemingly talked to the other schools just to see if they would be able to accept your DS anyway, then you can turn to the LEA and say that the school could not because of ...

You certainly need an outside and independent advocate; ACE, SOS;SEN and or IPSEA are all worth contacting. They could also give you good advice.

Off topice so apologise here

They don't do e-mail to parents here because of the LEA staff being afriad of all the spam they may receive on their computers!.

Remember the LEA do not (legally) have to provide the best education - only a suitable one. So you need to show why the provision they are recommending is unsuitable. If one has already said it isn't suitable that's helpful. The other is too far - good. So one more to go.

That's useful to know. It's just think it's always worth remembering that when dealing with the LEA telling them how great your therapy is might be less effective than pointing out why their suggestion isn't suitable (or adequate and appropriate). This was something I didn't understand when I first started dealing with the LEA.

It has to be "appropraite to age and ability"

Yes, most effective strategy is to not necessarily plead the case that your programme is gret but point out that theirs is substandard.

It's pretty easy to do actually in 99% of cases.

I don't think its about the provision, I think Silver is right its £. My LA have delegated a huge chunk of their SEN budget to schools and it will be cheaper for them if DS went there.

There are loads of reasons why his current nursery is better - we had looked at 2 of the schools way back when they refused to assess DS for a statement and we thought the only way we could get 1:1 was in a school via EA+. But we decided to keep him where he was as class sizes much smaller, hours longer (I can do 4 hours work between drop off and pick up - this would reduce to 2 at their choices - ie I could not get any job that would take me for 2 hours!), outside spaces were not escape proof and no quiet space for DS do structured work (even LA Autism teacher advises DS needs a distraction free environment)!

They would be hard pressed to say the private nursery is unsuitable as they have hardly been in so if it was unsuitable why have the autism team not been in very often and of course they fund all the kids over 3 for their free hours and there is some sort of oversight that the LA only fund free nursery places at settings considered suitable and who sign up to SEN policies etc. The nursery could have refused to take DS being private, but they have said they are happy to keep him and deliver his statement but did point out the support from LA services to date had been pants!

Its the worry of what will happen between now and tribunal. If they name the new school does the funding transfer straight away ie next weekend?

The ABA is a side issue I think, its probably all about the £90 a week 1:1 which the schools would have to foot themselves from money already allocated.

I'm just shocked they can tell you they are shopping around for other nurseries. He's not even school age and I haven't given them permission to give out his personal details.

Also they must know if they name a school away from where our other boys go to school we'd have to move all of them (DH and I are shift parents only one of us can drop off / pick up, we can't both wait until 9.15 to set off for work).

All DS reports say he needs specialist nursery or ABA. We didn't name the special school (and wondered if LA would try) as we are happy with way ABA is going and nursery happy for us to do ABA there. No-one supports mainstream on its own for DS so we should win at the end of the day. Just how much damage they do to us in the meantime.

I know its super s**t. Still on the plus side Miss "have you looked at the Montesorri" SENCO would run a mile, she must know we would be her worst parents yet . If I am forced to look around again to look reasonable DS is going to come too and I am going to force them to show me how experienced at autism they are with a demonstration