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?

Agree with what bigpants said.

the LA wanted to speak to my Ds's Pyschiatrist and I refused to allow them - because like Claw, we were in dispute over what constituted adequate support.

And having told them on the phone that if they intended to discuss my son with the Pysch then I demanded to be present - AND i followed it up a letter to Pysch asking him not to speak to school without my permission.

School's are really over-stepping their professional competence when they start meddling in the dx / medical side of things.

You know that they don't need to be there and you know that they can only be there with your permission - because your permission was ought. It can easliy be retracted.

Star, the problem i have with school being there is the SENCO refuses to communicate with me in any way, shape or form. I phoned her when ds was refusing school and she refused to take my call or phone me back. So i emailed her and she told me not to. I write to her and she ignores me. I have never spoken to her on the phone, i have had 2 meetings with her in 15 months and i emailed her for the first time the other day, but she claims i pester her!

From my dealings with her, she has no understanding of ASD or even SN's or even how to write an IEP. As Wet said i might as well invite my vet.

Claw

Your post above is exactly what you need to tell the Paed - word for word - for your reasons for not wanting school present.

The Paed will understand.

Right how do i word email withdrawing my consent?

You beat me to it, shall i include the bit about the vet, i like that very much

Go for it - NOT!

Don't you think that aprt from the lies and disinterst and failure to engage it's a very valid reason to state that you are in legal dispute with the education authorities and the presence of non-medical LA employees at a medical assessment could jeopardise your SENDIST heating?

TBH - if they said they couldn't assess without school being present i would give them both barrells big-time.

If all they're after in inviting school is collaborative evidence that a disbaility exists then yes - I would invite the vet as DS tried to climb onto his table once .

Done, school are uninvited. I refuse to share this with the back stabbing incompetent bastards. They dont care about ds, they just want to see what else they can wriggle their way out of.

WET I completely agree with your argument about the smoke and mirrors and crap that goes with this dx system. These people hide behind panels because they lack clinical expertise.

I also agree that it seems very odd to have school at a dx meeting. Could you not ask the paed this straight and tell him from what you understand it is strange to have these people at dx meetings. This is a clinical matter after all. It is like asking them to attend a hearing test for your child - well not quite but you get what I mean. I think our panel has an ed psych sitting on it for any educational input and that questionnaires are sent to schools but that is it.

Who is the 'associate specialist'? I would get them to set out their local protocol for diagnosis.

Our panel also see their role as distinct from ed psychs to the extent that it is very hard to get any of them to do anything if it relates to school matters!

Claw - another thought - if you get an opinion (dx or not) you are then entitled to ask for a referral to a specialist tertiary centre e.g. GOSH. Getting a final decision here and then asking for a second opinion from somewhere that might know what they;re doing might save you some dosh. I intend to do that if my confidence in the local brigade does not suddenly miraculously increase post dx!!

Claw I really do think you've made the right deciison and having read Debs post - even more so. These are medical / clinical matters. Support at school follows - it should not lead.

Debs - spot on. Especially the analogy with hearing tests. I make a point of investigating everyone that sits in judgement of my child by looking at the GMC Register / professional bodies etc as ppropraite. I am so suspicious of all their 'hidden agendas'.

Ed Pychs could probably dx if they were allowed to - our ed Pysch dx's it informally in conversation before the cons pysch issued formal dx. Most Ed Pyschs have qualified a Clinical Pyschologists as well as holding a teaching qualificaton. Plus they see ASD at it's most florid before interventions etc have blurred the condition.

Debs, im not sure what an associate specialist is, she is a Dr. I just looked at the letter i had from them to type her 'title'.

My Paed was brilliant, i cant praise him enough. To be honest he told me ds had ASD, I thought ds had ASD, so i didnt take much notice of the fact that he was referring ds onto a specialist team which he was part of to make it official. I thought it was as good as done.

He has now left, otherwise he would be going mad about the school denying any problems existed. He was the only professional i have ever meet who was willing to speak out about other professionals. He phoned me upon receiving a copy of the crap OT report and emailed them too telling them it was crap basically. I want my old paed back!

Claw

Let me propehsy that the assessment report will have something along the lines of

"Mrs XX expressed her frustartion and dissatisfaction with XXX's current educational provision"

There you are - forewarned.

I think they have a list of about 50 possible phrases and just throw the chicken entrails to see which to use. I had that particular phrase in 3 reports.

Only kidding.

Star, that was my first question, he is now a neurologist.

I havent meet the new Paed yet, so he may well be good, but i dont think he can beat old Paed.

Claw

Look up the Paed and the neurologist on the GMC Register.
It tells you when they qualified and what their specialism is. Can be quite revealing.

You know if you're dealing with young / old and whether they went to top Uni / young offenders institute etc.

I'll get flamed for this but i refuse to see any that have not qulaified in the UK - for very good reasons.

Ha ha! are they like school reports Wet, a standard response!

Claw could reach her full potential if she spent less time chatting, half the class received this report.

Just looked on the GMC register and there are 2 with this name.

1st qualified 1987. MB BS 1987 Bangalore. Not on specialist register.

2nd qualified 1997. BM BS 1997 University of Nottingham. Not on specialist register.

That doesnt sound too good

No it doesn't sound good Claw. If they are specilaists they must be on the specialist register.

If they were Cons Pyschiatrists they would be members of the FRCPhys.

My associate specialist

qualified in 2000. MB BS 1999 University of London. Not on specialist register.

Associate specialist must mean that her associate is a specialist!

the register usually states 'Paediatrics' or 'Child and adolescent psychiatry' or general psychiatry etc.

I wouldn't despiar - if they don't give you the dx you think is appropraite you always have the option of asking to be referred to 'real' specilaists.

Claw, I agree with Wet. That is what we have decided to do. The quickest way to get seen now is locally, but there are several specialist centres you can then asked to get referred to for a second opnion. I have all the details. None of them take private referrals and they deal with complex diagnoses. That is all they do....ASD all day. SPECIALISTS.....what all children deserve not a load of people who do a bit of ASD now and again.

Thanks Debs and Wet, to be honest i havent really been too worried where or who the dx comes from because I believe ds has ASD. I will certainly take another route if i have to.

I was wondering if i could call myself an associate lawyer, seen as i know you Debs, what do you think!

Star, il make the tea