i feel like crying

[claw3]

just had a disastrous feeding clinic appointment.

OT assessed ds at home and was very much on side.

She then assessed ds at school and is now very much not on side.

I have been given the old 'children often display different behaviour at home' line, which is code for we dont believe you.

School have reported that ds is doing fine and has no difficulties in school and that i harass the SENCO as i am an over anxious mother who exaggerates ds's difficulties (obviously not said in so many words, im exaggerating obviously!)

She observed him at lunchtime and saw him eat ALL of his lunch. A quarter of chocolate spread sandwich, big bloody deal.

School have reported that give ds all kinds of wonderful help. This is not the case, they give him zero help. When i pointed this out, feeding clinic replied 'they dont get involved with schools disputes and i need to take this up with the school'

I reply 'well dont tell me he has no difficulties in school then'

A bit later she says again 'ds is coping fine in school with the help the school have put in place'

I show her a copy of the teachers report which conflicts with ds doing fine in school. She replies again 'we dont get involved in school disputes'

What is the point of talking to these people, if they dont even believe what you are saying.

I feel like telling them all to take a run and jump.

Whats the point of ds being given a label, if no one believes a word you bloody well say

I give up!

Off to CAMHS appointment now, rant over!

Prediction

Either LA take lead from school and say no Statement / NIL required - CLAW appeals

Statement issued - but woolly without specific dx. Good enough to ask for New school to be in Part 4 - but not base. Claw sees how it goes at new school and may ask for Base at later date if dx is ASD

Statement issued with support appropriate to the dx - Claw insists on Base - if not she appeals.

Star, im hoping that ds will get his place at new school in MS without the LA's 'help'.

When i phoned the school today ds was 2nd on the list. Apparently boy in front of him, they have not heard from since January, so they are going to check to see if he still wants the place, if not ds will be 1st. SENCO is going to phone me. Hopefully a letter from CAMHS direct to school might do the trick.?

SEN COP 7:50

... and may call for special education provision which cannot be provided the resources normally available to maintained sccools and settings in the area.

Wet, if school have been telling everyone else that will listen, that ds doesnt have any difficulties, im sure they have had a 'chat' with LA too and told them the same thing.

I have obviously provided enough evidence 'legally' for them to wriggle out of doing a SA.

They will do the assessment, in the hope that school can convince outside agencies that ds doesnt have any difficulties (as we know they are good at that!)

My prediction is no statement necessary.

Claw

I'm sure you're right that school are keeping LA informed at every step.

That's why you need to ensure that
a) you only ask school to seek advice from those who are on-side and
b) that any assessments are not carried out with school present. That's why you need to inform school that you want to be present should they have any assessments planned.

I would go as far as to ring the Ed Pysch and ask for his assessment to be doe at home rather than at school - ours was.

I think you'll get a Statement.

I think you'll end up appealing it as unless you have a firm dx you won't get the Base but if all you want is a change of school the Statement will do it.

Sorry a) only ask the LEA (not school) ...

Oh - and the letter from CAMHS should be addressed to teh LEA - not to new school. I'd be surprised if CAMHS would actually write to new school as they won't know whether the support at new school is more appropriate or not. That's taking meddling a bit to far. All CAMHS need to say to the LA is that his current seting is causing him distress.

Wet, school have sent a letter home stating EP wants to observe ds in the playground and in the class room after the holiday.

Will EP have to carry out an assessment as well?

I dont like all this observing, without interacting with him. Observing him his behaviour would probably appear quite normal most of the time. Interacting with him his behaviour is not normal most of the time iyswim

Yes EP assessment is part of the SA process.

The EP has to write a report, which becomes one of the Appendices if the Statement.

The letter that was sent home will have been written before the LA changed their mind this afternoon so EP may not even be aware yet that an SA report has to be done.

You are entitled to ask to meet the EP - ours took a full developmental hsitory as well as obs. I would ask for that meeting to take place at your home - not school.

Do you think i should email her informing her that LA have agreed to assess and ask whether she still wants to do the observation. And ask what assessments etc she plans to do and i could ask whether these could done at home too?

I have already meet with her once about 2 weeks ago. She told me she felt that school lacked understanding of difficulties.

Also i live in one borough, ds goes to school in another. Borough i live in are responsible for SA. Which borough will professionals used be from?

claw, just wanted to say that's brilliant news! .

Our LA agreed to assess in the middle of July last year and we managed to get the outcome according to the normal timescales, so there's no excuse for it to drag on just because of the summer break. We had CAMHS and paed assessment done during the break and also some of the EP cognitive assessments. It was just the observations within school that had to be done during term.

Now the LA have agreed to assess you can be in the driving seat here.

You can decide who to get the LA to obtain advice from - BUT, the LA will automatically seek advice from you, the Ed Pysch, Community Paed and any Social Workers that may be involved.

They may not know about other people who are involved such as OT, CAMHS ASD Team etc so it will be for you to decide whether you want the LEA to contact these people - if so tell them to do so.

The LA will inform the Ed Pysch that they need to do a SA report.

If you are already in contact with the Ed Pysch it would be a good idea to ring them and update them that an SA is going be to undertaken and ask them how they intend to collect their evidence. You can also ask to meet them and suggest they do so at your house. That way you can have a frank discussion with them out of the sight and sound of school.

What Ed Pyschs tell you verbally (i.e. school lacked understanding) and what they put in formal reports to their LA masters are very different things. BUT - if you plant the seed in the Ed Pysch's mind that you want a change of school you could probably get them to recommend that.

The one you live in.

I have the same problem of living in a different borough from school as well. The EP who did SA was from our home borough, but DS had previously been observed before SA by EP from school borough. If the EP coming in is from the school borough, they might save their money/time if they know an EP from your home borough will be doing an assessment.

They did send us off to a paed who was based in the school borough, though, although that was a very basic health check for us (eye/hearing).

Thanks very much Sugar, its certainly a step in the right direction at long last isnt it!

I have been so pre-occupied with getting my submission to tribunal done, i havent given much thought to what would actually happen if they agreed

I will take it one step at a time and with the help i get from here im sure i will end up with the best help possible for ds

Again - you're in control.

Ask for the EP who's most sympathetic to your case - even if that emans having 2 EP reports.

Wet, can school also ask LA to seek advice from outside professionals?

EP who i meet is from school borough, will they still use her or get in a different EP from home borough?

Very true Wet, what any professional tells you verbally isnt worth much, the worm can turn very quickly as i have discovered.

Thanks Sugar, it gets complicated living in one and school in another doesnt it!

They are always arguing over who should supply or do what.

Another plus for new school, it is in the same borough as we live.

Wet, do you think i should also ask feeding clinic NOT to share information and reports with school?

I have really hogged the board tonight

Thanks again for your time, patience and understanding, it is much appreciated.

Great news claw! I have been following thread al the way through - what a rollercoaster!

I would second asking for EP obs at home too. Dd1 was observed at school and a load of bollocks written about her. We asked for her to be observed at home as well, as on our case dd1's behaviours at home are very different from at school (we were mostly leaning her abilities - virtually nil at school, whereas at home she was academically not so far away from her peers).

I think that is part of what swung it for us, in the end, as EP had to write the differences he found (also followed it up with a load of shite re: recommendations, but there you go)

We then forced LA's hand by moving dd1 to a different school. They sent EP to observe her again, and he found her to be performing at new school as she was at home (ie substantially better)

I am convinced this is part of what made the LA settle before tribunal, as despite the typical Willy reports recommending LA party line they knew we had six evidence to take before tribunal.

Do insist on EP (and anyone else if relevant) seeing your ds at home too. At the very least, you can engineer more direct contact that way, rather than distant obs, which should help highlight your ds' difficulties.

Wet, the 'probably' test falls within the legislation rather than the COP i.e. s.323 Education Act 1996