Is this letter ok?SA request....

[curvychick]

Dear Sir or Madam,

Re:

Request for formal assessment

I am writing as the parent of the above child to request an assessment of his special educational needs under the 1996 Education Act.

attends *** Primary School.

I believe that *'s special educational needs are as follows:-
? Visual discrimination issues
? Visual memory issues
? Visual figure ground issues
? Visual motor integration problems
? Gross motor problems
? Fine motor problms
? Expressive language disorder
? Dyspraxia
? Joint hypermobility
? Sensory processing diffculties
? Triad of impairments associated with ASD
? Social communication issues
? Behavioural and emotional issues
? Anxiety

My reasons for believing that the school cannot on their own make the provision required to meet my child?s needs are that ?s needs are very complex and the support that he requires is unable to met under the provision of school action plus. Primary School have supported him on school action and school action plus since he joined them in year 3 in September 2009. However, as the school year has progressed,* has become increasingly less able to cope with the demands of the school day and his behaviour and emotional wellbeing have significantly deteriorated as a result of the lack of support. This has resulted in regular episodes of self abusive behaviour, frequent violent physical attacks on others, destruction of property and significant emotional stress and anxiety for him. School have been unable to implement recommendations of support at school action plus level and the subsequent emotional distress and anxiety that** has experienced as a result, have meant he has been unable to attend school since 10/06/2010.

* has been seen by the following professionals to date
? Family GP
? Occupational Therapists
? Physiotherapist
? Psychologist
? Psychiatrist
? Paeditrician
? Enuretic nurse
? CAMHS-Tier2
? CAMHS-Tier 3
? Speech and Language therapist
? Developmental therapist

I understand that you are required by law to reply to this request within six weeks and that if you refuse I will be able to appeal to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal.

Yours sincerely,

**

Is that ok or have i missed anything do you think?

HI tribunal, thank you for the feedback.

I have been keeping a diary since christmas, although it has been sporadic.....will keep on at it as a daily event now though. I have a video of him in a mild meltdown trashing the garden one night after school, throwing a chair around, sneering at me, and kicking his brother, also a sound recording of him saying he wants to kill himself head banging hysterical tears etc after we went to a birthday party one day, a witness statement of when he attacked my mum, photos of bruising he sustained after he repeatedly punched himself in the forehead, ummm, i guess i have a fair bit of documentation actually.... The worst episodes are tricky to hget on camera though as it just isnt appropriate/i'm not able to get it when he is full swing.....

However since he has been off of school, he has not beaten himself up or phyically attacked any adults, only his siblings. (Which although not fab, is a definate improvement, and tbh, all siblings fight every now and then!) That can only confirm that he needs more support at school though cant it, as if it were a 'home' problem, him being here 24/7 would make the behaviour worse...

This is a good letter. Do send it asap to the Chief Education officer at your LEA (mark that six weeks date on your calendar).

Does the 6 week deadline still aply over the hols does anyone know?

Thanks attilla

And its going 1st ting tommorrow recorded delivery...with a complimentary copy to school

In our borough all SA / tribunal stuff is completely suspended in the month of August. Ring up your LEA (or email, so it's recorded) and find out what the score is.

It's a good letter, by the way. Have you got diagnoses for the various issues your child has? It might be worth referencing them, e.g. 'dyspraxia, diagnosed by Dr X on X date, sensory processing issues as identified by X OT on X date' etc. Adds a bit of weight.

Good luck!

Yep i have it all on paper, and it is a very good idea about referencing it all, thank you reasonable.

Will also now keep all communication, with everyone via letter or email for proof. Excellent suggestion, thank you

Good letter.

God, my SA application draft is 6 pages long......way too long!!

Not necessarily@debs

Mine was a bout 10 pages long, and I photocopied all my reports and attached. It was basically a piece of parental advice rather than a request for SA, but I was told by various people that our LEA are notorious for knocking back SA requests, so I went totally OTT straight up.

My parental advice ran to 16 pages .

I know the LEA think I am an overbearing nutcase, but I couldnt give a fig if it means my son gets the support he needs.

Got his statement through last week, fwiw - 4 weeks before the 'final deadline'

Our LA is like that too. The independent SALT I saw last week described them as having 'a dreadful reputation'. Maybe I'll keep it all in!

Hmmm, am thinking now that i should beef it up a bit maybe? I am intending to attach copies of all of his reports but had decided to hold off on any further info for now? Is that the right thing to do or not?

Curvy, I have basically just taken the bits out of the reports that I needed and made a case for DS needing a SA because

(i) the evidence is that his needs are complex and not well-understood - school are not in a position to set targets or monitor progress without continued specialist input
(ii) he is likely to need support beyond the school budget e.g. SALT, OT

I added a bit of caselaw too - but that's just me!!

Your son sounds in a similar situation to mine Debs, ds will also need outside resources from SALT and OT and you are right, i hadnt thought that school will not be able to set or monitor targets either, gah, i have so much to learn....

Back to the drawing board me thinks!

Not at all.....your letter is really good and I think I might have overdone mine in my lawerly type way!

I think if LAs are likely to knock back anything we send across then you are focusing your efforts on Tribunal really and producing the evidence for that. Have you got independent reports of any kind?

Do you want me to CAT you mine? You can have a gander and see if there is anything that might be relevant to you? It is long-winded but a friendly ex-SENCO did a first draft for me, then I added stuff so it's turned into a long one!

Debs, thank you. i would love to have a look for a couple of pointers, i dont have cat though but will try to set it up after i have finished this reply.

Independant reports? I have the NHS salt, ot, paed, psychologist ones, but a private psychiatrist and BIBIC report. Was also thinking of paying for ds to see a private ed psych as he hasnt been assessed by one of those yet. I have a big back dated amount of dla money after it went to tribunal in the bank account, so will happily pay for anything extra that will help him if that is whats needed. I just need to find out what i need first !

Think cat is set up...if not i can give you my email address! Thanks debs

Have CAT you - just email me back and we'll do this business holding hands!!