School applying for SA!

[debs40]

OMG! Yes school have agreed to apply for a SA before the end of term, paying one of DS' teachers to do extra hours to get it in!

That's great news.

I live in a county where statements for ASD are pretty much automatic, so the school applied for DS1 and the LEA Ed Psych actually made the application for DS2, long before he even started nursery (the fact that the application was in helped secure him an early place at nursery on the 2 year pilot).

Once the process is under way, you as a parent are involved in exactly the same way as if you had applied.

Good luck!

Debs

I sincerely hope the Head keeps to his word re the app and that your DS eventually receives a decent qualified and quantified statement from the LEA. That is the real aim here.

What will you do if the LEA say no to the school's request for the Statement (which I think could well happen here although I'd love to be wrong though!). Can you personally appeal at that stage?.

Debs woo hoo, i just asked how the meeting went on your other thread. Well done you obviously put your case very well

I remember from somewhere reading though that if the school apply and its refused they/you cant appeal it?

Sorry, just read through and seen that has already been said.

That is wrong Claw, I have been told that by IPSEA but it is wrong. If external agencies apply (for some strange reason) e.g. social services there is no right of appeal but if you or school apply, a parent has a right of appeal.

I do trust the head to make the application because she has agreed in a meeting of 8 people that it will be done and she does not agree to things she has no intention of doing - that is what she is like. She is very precious about herself and her school and their reputation and would not agree lightly as she knows how trhe LA respond to ANY request for a statement.

There has been a sea shift though. Her view was very clear - we don't have the resources to cope in a class of 34 with 7 children on the SEN register and part-time TA support. We would struggle to do the OT exercises.

She also agreed that the recommendation in the diagnosis was explicit and could not be ignored and she had a duty to follow it up.

There was no argument or reluctance on their part NOW they have the reports. They were clearly not prepared to do anything without them and have been playing a waiting game.

But there was absolutely no 'he's fine' type argument either. It was unanimously agreed that he will struggle and he is very vulnerable.

Its a shame that it has taken this school so blooming long to arrive at this apparant new attitude!.

Attila - I couldn't agree more and scepticism is rightly and duly noted. It really is.

My view is that teachers this year are crap and have covered most of the issues up or ignored it cos they can get away with this with DS. Basically because they don't like to look like they need help and, fundamentally, they are a minimum effort job share (NOT that I'm saying all job shares are like this but this one is).It seems things only get done if the one teacher who can work extra hours is paid extra hours to come in on her days off.

Anyway, we also have a very approachable but rather too laid back SENCO so when I have raised things with him, usually in anger, he's been taken aback as he's been told it;s all ok. He, however, is not at all confrontational and probably then goes back to teachers to say 'heh guys would you mind very much doing x,y or z'.

The head is a different kettle of fish. Very little in the way of people skills, very direct, not bothered about upsetting people.If she doesn't agree, she will say it very bluntly. When she does agree and say something needs to be done, people go running.

I am not a naiive new convert though and will watch with 'critical' eyes while this gets done.

I am sending them by SA application too so they can see the arguments they need to put forward.

Debs, thats good to know for future reference.

I think its often the case that parents recognise difficulties long before school do and the whole point of the SA, with or without the schools agreement is that school often have trouble understanding a child and meeting their needs.

Its great news that the school have recognised that they need help to support your ds. Which much be a relief. I was thinking about your situation this morning and thinking how difficult it would be for you if you had to change schools, as your little un will be starting at this school soon too.

Well done, all your hard work has paid off

Tribunal, thanks for clarifying, wasnt sure how true it was or even where i had read it previously. Handy for me to know for future reference.

Thanks so much for thinking of me Claw! and the rest of you guys for your help and support. Well, I went in this morning to be greeted by DS's teacher saying 'I'm so pleased we are doing this, will you help me so we can make it really good, we all think it really needs to be done'!!

Thanks Justa.

Teacher is coming in on her usual days off Mon/Tues to get it done next week and I am sending her my draft.

I've think I've got to show a bit of faith!

debs, haven't read whole thread but this is what I did, once I knew the school were supportive:

I made the request myself anyway, but got them to ensure me that they would write a really meaty piece of advice to the panel, plus hassled them to make sure they got copies of all IEPs, an incident log, any other relevant school info etc to the panel.

Less work for the school then doing the whole request themselves, and meant that I had control and they supported my application (rather than the other way around).

SENCO at DS's school started off his advice with the words 'If Mrs X hadn't decided to request SA herself, the school would have done it anyway'

Might be worth considering. I only says this because, despite DS's school being really pretty good on the whole (certainly open and honest compared to most others I have heard of), they still don't have the sense that you do, as his mum, of how absolutely crucial and urgent it all is

Yes, that is a good point. I think after the initial request made by the parent, the school is contacted anyway to provide support. It is at this point that people can have difficulty because schools do not always say what you want them too or, as you say, does not always have a full grasp of the issues.

I intend to submit my SA request application with a parental statement to be sent with their application. I understand they can include evidence from me.

I also intend to, hopefully, guide the teacher preparing this with the nature of my SA as she is open to being guided!school with evidence

The SEN CoP 7:29 says:
"The LEA should react consistently to requests from parents, schools, and settings for assessments and should subsequently make open and objective judgements as to whether a statement should be issued."

It also says in the same section:
If the LEA refuses to agree to a parent's, school's or setting's request for assessment, parents have the right of appeal to the SEN tribunal.

They do act consistently - they refuse everyone's!

Well you're partly right (they do not refuse all statement requests on first asking) but in my case Mr M and I managed/coerced our both leaden and tight fisted LEA to agree to a Statement before it got to Tribunal stage. Getting the case through panel was the difficult bit.

I think it depends on the LA - here, there is clearly a blanket policy of refusal in all but the clearest cut cases.

Ah Debs. glad tehy are listening to you. Ipds till apply myself liek Attilla but we are cynical through experience LOL

Our meeting with eating disorder teram went well in that theya ccepted ds1 has problems as well, thankfully

Duly noted. I'm not discounting anything at this stage. Let's see if it goes in next week.

Debs, i really think they wont refuse your/schools request to SA.

My money is on they agree to assess.

Debs 40 IPSEA is very clear in its training that a parent can appeal in this situation. All our advice given is carefully monitored. If you are willing to give your details confidentially to me I would like the opportunity to look into it as our reputation is based on the quality of advice. The right of appeal is a parents only. It can be exercised when either they, the Head teacher or proprietor of a school make the request for a statutory assessment. It is not triggered by law if anyone else makes the request although an LEA can decide to do so at anytime. As always it is best to get individual advice on a case. jane.ipsea @hotmail.co.uk

How do they do that? Our head was told that e had to fund support for a term untill christmas before they could apply for SA+