Looking for advice to offer a friend regarding Statements, help for her child?

[Marne]

Hi, i'm looking for advice for a friend, she has a DS who will be starting school with my dd2 in September, we are not close friends but have chatted about our dc's several times (as they both have SN's). Last time i spoke to her i mentioned that dd2 has a statement, she had no idea what a statement was or how to get one. I spoke to her again today after a meeting at school, she is very concerened as her ds is very disruptive and she feels he will disrupt the class next year. Her son has a brain injury (caused at birth) and has epilepsy (he has very bad fits but not often).

Anyway, i wanted to offer her some advice but i don't want to give wrong advice, i don't know much about epilepsy or his brain injury (i only know about dd2's problems).

• would she be able to get him statemented? I know that this could take some time and it wont be in place for September but is it worth her starting the ball rolling rather then waiting for the school to do something? (which is what the school are saying). The school have told her to weight to see if he settles down once he has been at school for a while before getting him any support. Should she listen to the school or start trying to get him help now?

Well given that she'll have to wait even if she starts the ball rolling she may as well get a move on!

The school won't be keen on the idea because with the move towards delegated funding, if a child has a statement then they have to use their money for the child, but if not, they can use their money to paint the fence!

If she feels that the resources available in school will not be sufficient to allow him to access his education then she may be well advised to request a statutory assessment now.

If he attends a pre-school or nursery now she should have a good indicator of whether he'll need extra support. The staff in that setting should be able to advise her.

She can request the statutory assessment as a parent but it might help her case to have a professional to back her up if there is one working with him.

I'm sure there'll be somebody on here who has a link to a website which can give her some advice.