Meeting with LEA SEN Officer?

[sahs1969]

Hi,

We have very recently had our refusal letter to assess dd for her statement and we are going to appeal this decision.
However we have been given an appointment to go and discuss the reasons for the refusal next week with the LEA officer and just wandered if anyone on here has done this and if so what questions would all you experts advise we go armed with-need to go prepared.

Thanks
x

Speak to IPSEA before the meeting. In general they will tell you that there is no point to such a meeting except as an attempt for the LA to stall you and trick you into missing your appeal deadline.

Submitting your appeal will almost certainly get them to change their minds (depending on the issues of course, but generally if your child has a SN and your not living a delusion they will do). Submitting an appeal is not a big deal at this stage, nor is it frightening or complicated.

If you do go ahead with the meeting, go with a battered copy of the Code of Practice and pay attention to Para 5.42!

hth
(make sure it looks like you read it on a daily basis, and not brand new)

Thanks so much-where would I get this Code of Practice from-have looked online but cannot find 5.2?
s
x

Hi sahs1969 SEN Code of Practice - open the PDF, and you will see it is set out in chapters. Chapter 5 paragraph 42 says:

"5:42 Adequate progress can be defined in a number of ways. It might, for instance,
be progress which:
closes the attainment gap between the child and their peers
prevents the attainment gap growing wider
is similar to that of peers starting from the same attainment baseline, but less than
that of the majority of peers
matches or betters the child?s previous rate of progress
ensures access to the full curriculum
demonstrates an improvement in self-help, social or personal skills
demonstrates improvements in the child?s behaviour."

Another useful paragraph is:

"7:4 An assessment under section 323 of the Education Act 1996 should only be undertaken
if the LEA believe that the child probably has special educational needs and that the LEA
needs or probably needs to determine the child?s special educational provision itself by
making a statement."

Would you like to give us a brief idea of your DD's SNs? We might between us all have some useful ideas/hints for next steps.

Definitely take someone with you and also take notes - they hate that.

Unless the LA overturn their decsion not to assess the only way of getting them to see sense is an appeal to SENDIST.

What the LA are doing by asking you to this meeting is showing that they are keeping the channels of communication open (something that SENDIST expects them and you to do).

You need to leave no doubt whatsoever in their minds that you will pursue this refusal to assess to SENDIST unless they capitulate.

If they know this they are more likely to roll over and change their minds to save themselves the bother and expense of having to justify their decision at SENDIST.

So be tough and focus on what you want - an assessment

Best wishes

In terms of taking someone with you, I would be a bit wary of Parent Partnership. In some LA's they are great, in others (such as mine) they are just too cosy with the Education Office.

Maybe better to take a friend with you.

Definitely take notes, go in to the meeting with a clipboard, and look like you mean business!

Hope the meeting goes well, but in my experience the LEA Officer's just tried to intimidate me...

sahs1969

If you do go, keep as quiet as you can. Don't 'argue your case', let them do as much talking, more than you and take notes as these will give you heads up about what you are appealing. You can insist that you would like them to do a SA, but don't be bullied into getting defensive. State your reasons if you want but if they shout you down say simple 'thank you, I will think about it over the next couple of days and get back to you'. Don't concede or agree anything there and then.

Also, if you can possibly bear it, ask if your 'support person' or you can take notes, with the promise that you will read them back to them and they will be the official record of the meeting.

Don't be intimidated. Have it in the back of your mind that you are going to appeal anyway, but this meeting is just so you look willing to negotiate in the eyes of the tribunal. Then it will be a nice surprise if they change their minds.

good luck