Statement help please

[claw3]

I am just filling out the parental contribution.

I have come to last section "How do you think your childs needs can best be provided for"

What help can i ask for needs are

Sensory - difficulties in all areas
Auditory
Visually
Difficulties with speech, language and communication skills
Interaction and social skills
Delayed play skills
Anxieties and phobias
Repetive behaviours which result in self injury
soiling

Claw, you know what we put for this section.

The LA ignored it, said we had no proof of sensory issues, or OT issues, etc, etc (we didn't at that point have recent specialist reports, as we knew we were heading for tribunal just because we wanted ABA, so wanted to wait for private reports so they were up to date for tribunal)

Basically they ignored everything, and just wrote what they wanted to on the statement. I found the parental advice came bottom of the list of reports for consideration - everyone else was regarded as more informed, less biased, better technical k.knowledge, etc.

Morning Silver, yes i have used yours this school have an ASD unit being built next year and i wanted to list as much as i could,so that ds will hopefully qualify for the unit.

Morning Tribunal, thank you, what i was worried about, is that if i dont list exactly what help i want, then they will say you should have said at a later date! I will use your examples brilliant

Ask for the maximum you think your child needs. Be specific. Quantify it. The LEA won't do this in the proposed statement, but if you have asked for it and they have ignored it, you can reiterate at appeal/tribunal (if it comes to that) that you have been asking for a high level of support for a log time.

• If your child has sensory difficulties, he needs OT input. Weekly sessions with an OT? A daily programme designed by an OT and delivered by a TA with experience of working wit children who fit your child's profiel?

• Difficulties with speech, language and communication skills...you want a SALT and you want HOURS. Weekly 1 hour session with SALT. SALT to have input into your child's IEP. SALT to advise teaching staff etc.

Do you want 1:1 support for your child? Full time? If you want this, pepper the request with phrases like 'has longstanding, complex needs which can ONLY be met by full time 1:1 support by a suitably trained teaching assistant'.

Thanks Reasonable, ds has had SALT input since he was 2 years old and he has NEVER met any of the targets, he is now 6 years old and continues not to met any targets set by SALT.

He has had OT input since he about 3 years old too, he had 1:1 therapy in clinic, OT was supposed to follow up with treatment, write a report and provide a sensory diet. She didnt and ds has now been discharged from the service because we have moved. I do however have a record of a telephone conversation with SENCO and OT, where OT tells SENCO that ds has 'severe sensory difficulties' and 'movement makes him feel sick'etc, etc. I obtained a private sensory diet from Bibic (its not tailored, very general) which i have been doing at home since December 2009. No progress has been made.

Yes he needs full time 1:1 support, school report says he needs frequent support to stay on task and motivated and to complete his work.

Thanks all our ideas of help are exactly what i need.

Thanks Tribunal, im fully expecting to have to fight, its been a up hill struggle to get this far!

The help ds has received so far has all been very vague, visual timetables used by the class, 3 communication cards, wet wipes and spare trousers on his peg for soiling, 10 minutes SALT from TA once/twice a week, and i really wasnt sure what kind of help was available or out there.

Oh Tribunal, yes i understand the name change!

I see what you are saying, i know what ds's needs are, but i didnt know what to ask for. For example ds obviously needs specialist SALT, as TA's have been implementing SALT since he was 2 years old and he has regressed. Can i ask for specialist SALT to implement the therapy or do ask for TA's to be trained?

One of the things I found useful was to go through prospectuses/Ofsteds of the schools I was aiming for and picking out language from that. There was also some information from NAS that I paraphrased regarding how to support a child with ASD in school.

It was, of course, ignored in terms of writing the statement, but it was a useful exercise to make me think more carefully about what I wanted in terms of provision. It was also useful to show the LA that I know what is possible and wouldn't just settle for mainstream and visual timetables.

claw, although people are understandably cynical about how much the parental advice is taken into account, in our case it definitely did help - not on it's own, but as part of a concerted campaign on my behalf to get the LEA to sit up and take notice.

I used the phrase '...can only be achieved by intensive 1:1 support by a suitably trained person' throughout my parental advice. The proposed statement is a load of shit - but they have offered full time 1:1 support (although havent specified by whom...a whole other kettle of fish).

Demand the highest level of provision from the start!

In my experience LAs frequenly totally ignore parental advice unless it confirms their own predudices. So do it but dont spend a lot of time on it.

Yes, do remember that they have to read it. So you can 'steer' their thoughts slightly. I was told there was no way I'd get Special school for DD1.

I used lots of 'will require 1:1 support from a skilled adult, experienced in dealing with children such as DD1' and 'will require....for her safety' or '....disruptive'.

I concluded by saying that we were open to advice about the educational setting, but what we did know is that if DD1 was to go to a mainstream school, I would only send her if she had 1:1 from the moment she arrived to the moment she left.

DD1 was given a special school place despite everyone else (ALL the professionals) saying that she wouldn't get one.

Lots of the above posts are brilliant so not much to add - but I would aim high!

We spent a lot of time on this and have mixed feeling about that. It was clear the parental contributions don't count for much, especially if they are not backed up with evidence from professionals but it helped to clarify things in terms of what we wanted for dd..

In the end during communications with the LEA and a meeting recently we felt clear on what we would accept from the statement..

They resisted the idea of a 1-1 for ages but we have got them to agree now. We don't know who that will be but we've got a split placement with someone from SN school going to be with dd at MS school for couple of days a week - so there will be continuity and someone with SN experience.

It's been a horrible and exhausting process and I don't know how the LEA staff sleep at night but we'll have to hope we have done all we can..

Good luck.

Thanks everyone, brilliant advice and very helpful as always.