SALT provision in Statement question

[SmellyBill]

DS1's final statement has been issued. (DS1 is 4.8 dx with asd, statement is for starting primary school in Sept).

I had asked for termly visits from SALT to be included - the LEA told me they couldn't commit to that without something in writing from the SALT dept. DS1's SALT has rung me back today - long story short SALT dept won't provide written confirmation of termly visits. Apparently his SALT provision will be on a needs basis so he may need more than termly visits or may need fewer so won't commit in writing to any.

What do I do? I am trying to get through to helplines but has anyone had a similiar situation.

If you think your DS has significant difficulties with speech and language, tbh I'd fight this because it's too non-specific. I think LEA is right that this should be from the SALT dept (it was in our case).
Persist with the helplines, but in the meanwhile my advice would be to look at section 2 and the reports: if they say anything vaguely specific about his SALT needs, then I think you have good grounds to want specificity in section 3 too (provisions).
Tailoring the 'more or less' is what Statement Reviews should be for; I'm afraid this does sound like they're trying to fob you off. Termly visits is definitely not a lot to ask for. Good luck! It's such a stressful process

Thanks for your reply. The LEA will happily write the SALT visits in to the statement but only with confirmation in writing from the SALT dept that they will commit to that and the SALT dept won't. So I think I have to make a complaint to the SALT dept. DS1's expressive language is age-appropriate his main difficulties are with understanding and there isn't a great deal SALT can do apart from advise the school, so tbh I thought asking for termly visits was quite reasonable. Statement makes reference to SALT input on language dept but has the "as deemed appropriate" caveat attached each time. I have no idea who gets to deem it appropriate or not.

Meanwhile the LEA won't change the wording for 25hrs LSA to individual rather than whole class and group as apparently they cannot tell the school how to deploy the hours. I thought that was the general point of statements to specify what was needed and how and when it would be done . So I will need to take them to tribunal to get it changed.

I spoke to a local charity who were asking if we would be entitled to legal aid (we aren't). Advisor will call me back on Tues but looks like we will have to get a solictor and expert witnesses. I am so glad we applied for (and eventually were awarded) DLA now (did waiver a lot at the time).

Though how I can get the SALT dept to commit to provide any visits is still a mystery.