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statements

avy

Hi my son has been diagnosed with asperger and adhd and a question mark on the possibility of developing Tourettes he got turned down from having a statement, it was said they needed the proof of extra help he was receiving and that they wanted at least 15 hours proof ,the schools senco was not happy with this as she said he at least gets 22hours,so I pipped up and said they only wanted 15 so why didn't they send all the information on she just changed the subject.  we have now got an EP after a long time of asking for one, hopefully she can help me get some answers , my concern more than anything is I've got to find Joshua a school by October for the year after and with his school grades being so low can he cope in mainstream school or a school that specialize in asperger, but my I've been told he wouldn't be able to go to a school that specialize in asperger because he hasn't' got a statement can anybody help me please because I seem to be going round in circles

  • Hi Avy,

      We waited until his diagnosis before we applied for DLA sadly, so we had no other choice.

    You are fully within your rights to appeal whatever the circumstances. I appealed despite the SENCO's lack of recording of my sons lack of progress.

    It was negligence and she could not provide any evidence that sufficient progress had been made, because she hadn't actually bothered to monitored him!

    At Tribunal she provided one small sentence of intervention evidence for three years of supposed intervention. The judges were expecting extensive evidence of progress. She was laughed out of court!

    Fortunately, i had a private assessment from years earlier and commisioned another more recent assessment and it proved he'd made absolutely no progress  (In fact the disparity between his CA & SA. Chronological Age and Statutory Age had actually grown) despite the alledged one sentence of intervention the SEN dept insist they'd given. Surprize, Surprize!

    Additionally, as I understand it, exclusion is illegal in many cases if you believe the NAS thread posts of late.

    www.autism.org.uk/.../School-Exclusions-Service.aspx

    Joshua, and you, have rights and he should not be excluded illegally!

    The choice to appeal is ultimately your choice, but personally I'd get the ball rolling. It's the only thing that made my LEA sit up and listen.

    I was told later we had a huge litigation case, but we weren't interested in sueing, just getting the provision he needed.

    Good luck Hun

    Coogybear.

  • Thank you for your advice, I did think of appealing but how can I appeal when the school are not sending all the information,they are being a bit difficult at the minute, I don't want Joshua to get excluded again as he was at Christmas, even though school know of his diagnosis I do think they think he is just being naughty when he's not! It's like they no nothing on his condition at all. Now that I have received DLA for Joshua I could always try and go private, 

    Thanks again

    Avy

  • Hi avy,

      Have you appealed the LEA decision? You can appeal the decision with a request to SENDIST the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. You have to do this within a set time-frame though. I suggest you do it with immediate affect because you can always withdraw your appeal later if the LEA come to their senses. (They tend to leave that unilt the eleventh hour.)

    My experience of LEA's is that they delay to the hilt. Clearly, your son has some significant needs which may need to be covered by a statement. I too had the same problem with the LEA, they delayed until my son was in the second year of Secondary School. We are not wealthy and had to put ourselves in debt to arrange private assessments of his needs  by an OT, EP and SALT, in order to support him because we were also denied requests for certain assessments by various agencies because the SENCO had not recorded his difficulties or consulted professionals internally, at any stage, on his lack of progress. (Beggers belief doesnt it!)

    The new reforms are said to include those without statements to be able to choose a specialist school, which formally hasn't been the case, however this is dependant on your area and how quickly the reforms come in. 

    You may like to listen to the radio 5 live programme which was broadcast at 6am this morning which covers some of the concerns you share. 

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live

    www.bbc.co.uk/.../b041trdm

    'Do children with special educational needs get a fair deal?'

    I'm not sure what area you live in or your personal circumstances, but i'd be happy to pass on the names of private professionals that maybe of help to you. Getting private reports isn't a cure all, but would give you more weight if you were to end up in Tribunal for your sons needs. It may also stop the relentless cycle of been turned down or going around in circles. Don't be fobbed off. 

    Good luck

    Coogybear