SAL centiles very low...has anyone ever applied for statment on these grounds and was successful?

[genieinabottle]

Hi, i posted a few weeks ago (used to be mysonb..) about the results of my DS'salt assessment. Therapists have been through the actual documents with me this morning (but i still haven't got a copy), she wrote down the exact percentiles as i wanted to know. These are: 2 for core language, 1 for receptive lang, 0.3 for expressive lang, 0.3 for lang context, and 1 for lang structure.

So it's all quite very low, no big news here, we all knew that DS had big struggles with language. DS is currently going through asd dx assessment procedure with Cahms. Autism team paed told us frankly on our fist appointment that it was clear DS has autism.

DS attends ms nursery and sen language unit atm. In september he will go to reception in local ms school on Action+. EP who is involved with DS at nursery maintains his needs are not severe enough for statement.

Me and DH are torn and so unsure of what to do. We wanted to wait until DS got a proper dx before doing anything re: statement. But in light of the salt assessment results , i have changed my mind and have written a letter to ask LEA to assess, (haven't send it yet! )

Could anyone tell me whether you have applied for statement and got one, with no dx at time of application, a reluctant EP and low salt results? or have i got no cat in hell chance??...
Cheers.

It depends very much on your LEA Genie

There's a girl who used to be in DS3's MS class with a statement for verbal dyspraxia operating above those levels, indeed for a while she had the smae number of hours as ds3. However, her Nan* was experienced in LEA / SEN matters (ex employee) so knew how to help Mum fill in all the forms correctly and was very pushy for help (A Good Thing).

I would go for it TBH.

*Am not in any way sating that's why they got it, clearly it isn't as another friend is the DIL of a head of dept and can't get a statement for AS ? epilepsy for love nor money (SENCO form filling issue- ie she didn't, then she went on mat leave for a year).

Thanks Peachy for reply. scary how each area varies so much in terms of provision and even dx isn't it! It's not a fair system at all.

In a similar position genie We've got a verbal DX and the paed agreed with Pre-school and SALT that DD1 needs help at school and will definately need help after that. We know of three schools close by that have language units attached especially catering for ASD language needs but can't get to them unless we have statement.

Our caveat is that the Ed psych has rung to say she wants a letter from pre-school but can't believe my DD1 needs help as "she's not already in a special school" there is only one school in Bucks and it's over 50 miles away! I see trouble ahead! She also said that 'girls rarely have ASD' and 'can't believe she's struggling that much'.....she's never met DD! She says she's 'not interested to hear from our SALT or OT' Our 20mth old is more verbally adept than DD1 who is 3.3yrs.

No - it's a cr*p system and our pre-school have told us that they've not had one child in 2 years successfully gain a statement without having gone to appeal....shocking! Thank God for MN - I've got my bare knuckle fighting mentality on now and am trawling every thread on here to get top tips!

Go for it - but get your armour on!

jeanjeanie, AS she's never even met your DD I would write and ask the LEA to provide someone else, stating what she has said.

Seriosuly.

DS3's education suffered a massive setback with a an EP who was completely closed minde3d, and I;ve read several similar tales, so would deal with at the earliest stage.

..."She also said that 'girls rarely have ASD' and 'can't believe she's struggling that much'.....she's never met DD! angry She says she's 'not interested to hear from our SALT or OT' hmm..."

JeanJ , that is awful !! Grrr.. on your behalf. Our EP thinks along the same lines. She saw DS once for less than 20 mins and 10 min of that was outside in the garden where his teacher was working hard at involving him into the play. But she still says 'DS is too young to get an asd dx!' 'SLI children can present very similar to ASD children, and as DS engaged with her for 10 minutes she 'd be surprised if he really has asd'... all poppycoks!!! and at the lenghts some professionals will go to discourage parents from applying for statements.

Good luck with your battle too.

genie,

Send the letter to the LEA asap and be prepared for them to say no. Then you must appeal their crass decision as a matter of course. You need to get your skates on; the time is ticking and it may not now be in place now before September (statements can take six months to set up).

BTW the EP we had in Infants was different to the one we saw at preschool (who came out with not too dissimilar crap to what this EP has said either). EP is also under pressure not to statement readily; actually this is not your problem.

You are your child's best and only advocates. No-one else is better placed than you to fight for his full educational rights, also no-one else is going to do it for you.

SA plus won't be enough at all for your DS; he needs a Statement and before he starts Reception. Apart from anything else he will be legally protected with such a document; nothing else is legally binding and can only offer limited support,

ds is statmented mainly for his s\7l units he does have other needs but this is his main crieta .\i would say start applying now

1/4 diagnbosed kids with asd is female but there's a lot of people who think that is becuase it is ahrder to pick up then becuase that's actual numbers. And with something affecting around about 1% of the pop., 1`/4 is still a rather high number of actual individuals.

We had an EP who claimed that ds3 did all manner of things he can't do now, 3 years on, and then we found out she was retiring when she suggested our applicaiton should be submitted letting her off the hook; we also had a SW walk in, glance at mid-dx non verbal ds3 staring obsessively at the PC and who declared 'I have an MA in autism so I can tell he has nothing wrong with him'.

WTF?

He's in the SNU with autism as a dx now of course, though thankfully now verbal.

You will encounter professionals who know little, are arse lazy or so biased they can't see any dx outside kanners autism as needing support, and even those who think that SN costs too much so hard cheese.

Fight them at every corner, set your stall and expect high quality input.

HIYA im also in similar situation, ds had reynell developmental language assessment in jan in report she says he is on the 1st centile age equivelant to 2 years 4 months, he is 4 years old in 2 weeks. the school have said they would get ed phyc in but havent and i mentioned statement to her few months ago and she said he seems to be coping, this is because he is ver ood at following what other people do but not fully understanding. i think i am going to ask her again for a statement. dont fully understand what the centiles mean

Thank you all muchly! Well - inbetween posts I've already contacted the school - who apparently have had three run-ins with this particularly ed psych(otic) and have advised that I ask for someone else!

I've spoken to our SALT - who said 'stuff and nonsense (that's the clean version) and she is already writing a report for me to check over tomorrow!

Am off to pre-school to plan attack and they've got a stash of goverment/legal stuff that they're giving me 'to quote' should I need to. I've got a book started too - where I log EVERY phone call - time etc. I'm going nail this evil c*w!

peachy OMG - that's awful. Why, oh why do people like this want to even work in this sector??? I'm amazed. Why do a half-hearted job? Mmmm, maybe it gives them a bit of power over people so that they can maximise their arrogance to its full potential

attila yep - time is of the essence! I can't believe how I can almost hear the clock ticking till we apply for primary schools...and it's only Feb!

I'm hoping having been a journo for 20 years will give be back my bloodhound instincts which have been sorely lacking since LOs came along! genie good luck your end - I'm sure our paths will cross over the next few months...we can perhaps indulge in some virtual wine/whine

pokhara

Apply for the Statement yourself to the LEA as you know its been done then. Do not rely on school in any way to do this for you.

www.ipsea.org.uk is a useful website and there are model letters you can use.

I applied for an statutory assessment 2 weeks ago and i dont have a dx, all i have is a private ed psych report and SALT report.

We applied for a SA on language grounds because ds was on and below 1st centile for language and the SALT said (off record) that such centiles would qualify for SA in our LEA. It was clear to us and his teachers that language was only one of his disabilities - but language delay can be measured in centiles! Once the SA started his other needs were acknowledged. Ds is now Dxed with ASD and LD but we were getting nowhere at that stage (pre-SA)and GDD was not taken seriously -and had already been turned down for SA at age 4. We got the statement and change of placement before the ASD Dx by a few weeks. HTH

Do you think it is best to wait until he nearly has his dx starL?
Cahms paed said the waiting ist for full assessment (ADOS+ ADI-R) is about 4-5 months, so to expect an appointment end of May-June.

Thanks for the tips. ... 8 months!! I really hope it won't be that long before the appointment. I'm going stir-crazy with the wait as it is

genie, you are just down the road from me. SEND THAT LETTER. I have found them to be quite fair, very prompt, efficient. 20 weeks from letter posting to receiving final statement, with no prior ed psych input.

I'd willingly mail you the different stuff I sent in at various stages, if it would help?

J had no dx when he got his Statement. They shouldn't have to: it's supposed to be done off needs and she clearly has needs that won't be met without extra help (the criteria for a Statement).

Having said that, sadly a dx does often help.
What I mean is that it shouldn't bar access to a Statement and didn't in J's case, though his Statemented provision did improve post-dx of autism (not post-ADHD dx though).

Ok, thank you all for your advice. I will post that letter tomorrow...should have done it ages ago...

Lou, yes we share the same Lea don't we. I'd be great if you could mail me the different bits you sent them, thank you. I'm slightly panicking...already!!

done x