Have a meeting with LA

[claw3]

LA have refused SA and have now phoned and requested a meeting with me on Monday. (I am taking it to Tribunal)

What can i expect?

Im assuming they will be trying to talk me out of SA, what kind of offers are they likely to make?

Who else could attend meetings?

Im afraid with school, they need someone else to tell them they should be helping. They tell me 'im the only one who sees it like that' with regard to connections between what is written in reports and behaviour.

For example SALT report states 'ds will have difficulty following and understanding instructions'

Teacher reports 'ds disregards instructions'

Professionals are giving school too much credit as they expect school to be able to see the connection and help ds accordingly, but they just cant or wont.

Star this is fucking bollocks, i have emailed the ASD assessment service and told him school are now claiming that Ds shows no signs of ASD and asked him to put something in writing for me, stating the purpose of the meeting of the 23rd June and what the likely outcome will be. (bearing in mind they gave me a verbal dx of autism and told me the meeting was just to make it official)

He replied - I am writing to confirm that the concluding Autism Assessment Service meeting will take place on June 23rd 2010 at X. The purpose of this meeting is to consider all the information gathered so far and to discuss whether any specific diagnostic label is appropriate to describe ds?s particular pattern of strengths and weaknesses and to also draw up an Action Plan to support him in school, as necessary.

From the information gathered so far, via joint assessment and observation on 3rd February 2010 at X Centre, a Diagnostic History taken on 10th February 2010 X, and information from, Clinical Manager of X Speech and Language Therapy Services to Children, many positive indicators of a social communication disorder have been observed and reported.

It is very important that information around ds?s functioning in a range of contexts is gathered from as many sources as possible before reaching a final conclusion. Representatives from X School have been invited to the meeting so that we can consider his strengths, needs and social functioning in the school environment.

I emailed him back and stated that school were unable to understand or identify his needs because they dont have any understanding of ASD and asked how much weight their opinion would carry in the diagnostic process.

He replied 'It is not uncommon for children on the Autism Spectrum to show different behavioural profiles in different contexts. Let?s listen to what the school have to say and put all the information together to reach a (hopefully) agreed conclusion'

School are saying he shows no signs of ASD, so how the fuck is that information going to help?

Am i being paranoid here, i feel like ive had the stuffing knocked out of me, he has already given me a verbal dx, is he back down now, have school got to him?

Star i will go private if i have to, whether i can afford it or not, i will find a way.

School were asked to fill out a profile for ASD service in January and they ticked all the boxes that indicated no difficulties. Yet in September they had filled out a similar profile for SALT and all boxes ticked were 'rarely or never appropriate'

It wouldnt surprise me if they had even phoned him to speak with him. They did that with my CAMHS appointment, phoned ahead of me.

I dont care how mad i sound, school are really trying to convince everyone that ds's only problem is an over anxious mother and I am the cause of his difficulties.

Im going to email him and tell him i dont want school there. Why the fuck should i have school sitting there, school have already filled out their profile, if they want more they can contact the school prior to 23rd.

SENCO wont even talk to me, so why the fuck should she be there.

Sorry an awful lot of fucks in there, the more i think about it the more angry and sad i am becoming!

I have copies of the SALT profile and ASD profile, they were in ds's school file. SALT was filled out at end of September, ASD beginning of January. Bearing in mind ds was off of school for the whole of December, so all his difficulties had disappeared in 2 months.

Will complain to the Board of Governors. There is so so much it will take some time.

I suppose me refusing school input, makes them look right, but im so that they are taking such an interest in his dx and trying to make sure he doesnt get one, but dont give a fuck when he refuses school or shits himself or scratches the skin of his face or pulls out his eyelashes and insist im being over anxious

Oh well, i feel better for saying fuck a lot, i should get on with writing.

Thanks Star for listening and your support, much appreciated.

It just keeps getting better, just checked ds's book bag and he has come home with another IEP.

Summary of concerns reads

Mum reports that ds becomes distressed on PE days.

Mum is concerned that ds will only eat a fraction of his lunch

Mum is also concerned that ds sleeps very little at night (WTF)

Mum has concerns about ds toileting (although the bit about school not knowing about it has now been removed since i handed TA shitty trousers this morning)

Help received

a list of all outside agencies involved.

Its so bad, i dont know whether to laugh or cry.

No im laughing they have just copied a Paed report for an IEP!

Star, i have been sending it back since his 1st IEP was written and refusing to sign them. I have even drafted SMART IEPs for them. I have requested that i be involved at the meetings. They ignore me.

The IEP doesnt even have any boxes, it reads like a story. The first page is just a page of text, it doesnt even have paragraphs.

'Ds is able to follow class routines and has also been given a now/next timetable to minimize any anxiety he may feel with regards to the transition from one activity to another. This has had a positive effort on his behaviour and learning. Ds has generally become more settled in the classroom as the year has progressed. However following periods of absence or unexpected changes to routine he can become anxious. It then goes to say mum reports x, y, z.

I had to give you an example to appreciate just how bad it is.

I thought an IEP was identify difficulties, not to state how well ds is doing.

Its an end of year report isnt it, not an IEP?

Perhaps i should send it back and tell them they have made a mistake and sent me ds's end of year report, instead of his IEP!

I think that is what i have already been doing to each IEP they send home. I have even enclosed SMART IEP's which i have drafted.

Having read the IEP, I am finding it very confusing. My understanding of the purpose of an IEP was to help teaching staff to plan for the child, teach him, and review his progress. It should also be accessible and understandable to all concerned. For example the IEP could easily be implemented by a teacher who had no knowledge of ds or his problems.

I found it very difficult having to flick from page to page trying to decipher what concern, matched with which help and target. I found there were concerns and targets, but no strategies in place to help ds achieve the targets or monitor his progress. I feel the IEP covered the following areas very vaguely or not at all.

? What help should be given
? How the help is to be given
? Who will give the help
? How often the help will be given
? How progress will be monitored and how it will be decided if the help has been successful
? What the agreed targets are

Will that do?

Covering letter states a child's IEP is a way of highlighting their individual needs, and ensuring that all the adults involved are doing everything possible to ensure good progress is made!

I wonder if this includes sitting in their own shit.

I always make sure my letters are polite and to the point, even the one to the Head explaining what happened over the poo incident. Even though politeness is the last thing on my mind, i save my fuckity, fuck, fucks for here.

Cheers Star for your help