Our proposed statement is rubbish, what shall I do?

[mumgoingcrazy]

I've searched through some previous threads for advise but none seem to apply to us. I wondered if anyone could help me out?

We received DD2's (2.11 yr) proposed statement today and it's total rubbish. I very naively thought they would do right by us and feel totally stabbed in the back.

In brief her needs are: Physical ability of a 9-12 month old, she's just learnt to roll and lie to sit. She can walk in a kaye walker but is unable to sit to stand. Fine motor are at about 18-2yr level. Language 18mo-2yrs, social skills 18mo-2yrs, cognitive 3yr level. She has no balance at all which is why she is unable to walk and this is being assessed by GOSH in June. She has Sensory processing difficulties, mainly auditory.

She is in an assessment unit in a sn school and also attends ms pre-school where she has full time 1:1.

We sent in 20 reports with our application, the OT, SALT and Physio all stated what DD2 should get. Nowhere on the statement does it say what provision she should get and how much. Is this because she is currently in a sn school where the core provision is enough (except SALT which is awful). I ultimately want her to attend a special unit attached to a ms school, I already have one in mind. Or possibly ms with full time 1:1 (although I think this is a bit ambitious). We have to apply to schools this autumn for a sept '11 start. I'm happy with what she gets now but my concern is what happens in Sept '11. Do I just wait for an annual review (6 monthly due to her age) nearer the time to get the provision specified and quantified?

I find it really bizarre that all over the statement it says how severe and complex DD2's needs are and then not give her any help.

What else does it say about the provision/staff:pupil ratio? It sounds like they expect her to go to SN school as she sounds so severe. Provision should still be quantified and specified in a SN school as well as for MS, but it's considered to be less of an issue in SN school, especially if they have in-house therapy.

You have a right to request MS though and the LA should comply with that unless the school thinks it cannot meet your DD's needs.

You certainly don't want to wait for the annual review to change anything! It is actually harder to change a statement at AR as you will not get an automatic right of appeal if they do not change it.

I would seek advice from a charity like IPSEA, SOS SEN or ACE. They can look over the statement for you and help you make a request for changes to the statement. It will be quite a task with 20 reports to consider!

This sounds really dubious - you should have number of hours of support clearly stated. We're awaiting our dd's draft statement - she is 4 and uses a kaye walker for outdoors. We have asked for 1-1 full time so she can attend mainstream school and we have been told that it will be in the statement as a clearly marked 'number of hours of support per day' whilst at school. I don't know what we will get but will certainly fuss to get as much help as possible for dd. Hope you get it all sorted.

You need to get any provision on the Statement specified and quantified NOW. Certainly don't wait for any annual review because nothing will happen there. Once you agree also to such a document it is damn nigh impossible to get any of it changed.
A proposed statement can be changed, a formal one cannot.

If the provision is neither specified or quantified then the Statement document needs to be rejected. I'd be chucking it back to the LEA in question in your case and seeking independent advice.

Do speak to someone like IPSEA, ACE or SOS:SEN re parts 2 and 3 of the Statement as they will tell you what it should really say.
Parts 2 and 3 are the most important parts of the Statement and thus they need to be completely watertight.

go back to the lea and say you are not happy with the provision and get the ball rolling. go thro the reports and highlight where the specialist have listed provision and note what they have said - ie 1/2 half hour once a week with qualified ot salt etc etc - they will only put on the statement what is in the reports, if you are lucky. you have every right for mainstream or unit but you have a limited time now to reply - so reply with a letter which stops the time clicking away. good luck.

Sorry, I've only just managed to log on. Thank you all for replying, I'm glad you all think it's as rubbish as me. I will speak to IPSEA and SOSSEN, I've emailed and left 2 messages asking our case officer to email me a copy of the statement and she hasn't done it, so she's useless too!

Everyone seems to be in agreement that DD2 should go to the sn unit attached to a ms school (ed phyc and teacher at sn school and ms pre-school) so hopefully this should be straight forward.

Sugarcandy, there is nothing on the statement about staff ratios or provision.

In fact there is nothing about any provision let alone how much. There's also 2 paragraphs where they refer to DD2 as 'his needs', so they've clearly copied and pasted this from someone else statement. It's shocking really after all that time I spent writing the parental report and putting together all the evidence they've just discarded her like that I really am genuinely shocked. and

Am I in for the long haul?

Just thought I'd add that our Education Psychologist is being really nice and helpful. She said she will go through it with me and I've just emailed her a long moany email about it.

Should I be wary, does she work closely with the case officer. Should I be more careful?

Thanks

Be very very wary - they work in cahoots for the same employer!

Oh god do they? I hope I havn't said too much then. My anger got the better of me

Thanks

That's awful to do that, that's exactly how mine is coming across so I'll watch my back. Thank you!

Starlight

mumgoingcrazy, getting a statement is definitely a long haul thing. You definitely want to get it right now, because statements are often not changed at all once they're written - When a statement is amended, it triggers the right to appeal so LAs avoid amending it if possible.

You need to ask the LA what changes you want made now, but if they don't agree, it's often best to let them finalise the statement anyway in order to trigger the right to appeal. Sometimes the LA don't consider the changes seriously until they realise that you are serious about going to appeal.

The way we addressed this was that I ripped up what they sent in the proposed statement and wrote out what I thought the statement should say if I was writing it - tried to be brief and to the point, but at the same time made sure every single little thing that mattered was specified, and had the relevant number of hours clearly stated.

Had to to and fro with the LA 3 times over 7 months before they literally copied and pasted what I had written into the final statement!

Stand firm and do not budge. Argue every single word and figure, because if it is not in here you will not get it. If it is not crystal clear you won't be able to get the school to implement it and stick to it. Sorry to sound aggressive, but I have learnt that that is the only way to get results.

If you know which school you are likely to go to try and get them involved too. Although they used my words, I am sure that what really swung it with our LA was when dd's school wrote to them and said that they couldn't possible accept her unless they had proper support in place ...... and then listed the stuff I had already said.

The problem is there is so much to change, the whole thing needs tearing up and re-writing. I don't think I could ever let them finalise it like that. Is that really the only way to get them to make changes?

IPSEA are unavailable until Friday when they are open 3 hours so will try them then. Will call SOSSEN tomorrow.

I just don't understand how they can write many times how severe and complex DD2's needs are and then not offer any provision?

Also, make it clear from the start that you won't just accept any old crap. Every letter we wrote and conversation we had started with phrases like "obviously we will take this to appeal if necessary" and "we hope we can resolve this locally without having to involve a tribunal" or my favourite " having taken some initial legal advice, I feel ....."

Might sound like bullshit, but it does at leat set you out as someone who is not going to be pushed around.

Sorry, cross posted there.

Thank you kick. I think I might end up writing it. Is there somewhere on the net where you can see a good statement to base mine on?

Luckily I do have time as DD2 is only 2.11. She is already in sn nursery and ms pre-school with full 1:1 and this will be the case until she goes to school Sept '11. She currently gets good therapy at the sn nursery as they are all on site (apart from SALT which isn't DD2's biggest problem anyway). It's making sure the statement is right for when she moves onto the sn unit at the mainstream school. As it stands she'll be getting no help at all.

Thanks for the tips kick, I like it

They've got my back up now, I'm ready for war!

mumgoingcrazy, as your DD has quite a bit of time before starting school, you might not have to worry about finalising it quickly. In cases where a child needs some of the provision immediately, it's usually better to finalise then appeal so that the provision can start. But you have quite a bit of time to negotiate and you have 1:1 in place already, so it sounds less urgent for you.

The SEN Toolkit is quite useful for understanding how LAs should be writing statements. ACE also have a guide to checking the proposed statement. But the exact wording is crucial, so I would recommend getting advice tailored to your own situation.

Thank you for those links sugarcandy, that's really helpful. I'll get my brain into gear tomorrow and start making my phonecalls and start putting my own statement together.

Thanks for all your advise everyone, it's brilliant.

Apparently time is not on my side like I thought. Spoke to Parent in partnerships and as I will be applying for the sn unit at the ms school the panel will meet in November, therefore the statement needs to be in place by July this year otherwise they won't have her at the unit.

I received our SALT report today (at long last), it wasn't included in the proposed statement so I don't think the SALT ever sent it in. Can I now add this as extra evidence or am I too late?

Thanks again

No you're not too late. Send the LA a copy and ask for it to be included as an Appendix to the proposed Statement.

Thanks wetaugust I will.
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