Have I put a spanner in the works regards to ds's statement?

[macwoozy]

I don't know if I'm worrying needlessly about this and would really appreciate if you could tell me what you think.

As some of you already know, ds is 6 years old with ASD and attends mainstream. Even though he has an LSA funded by school, the headteacher, way back last July, said she felt that he needed statmenting and said that she would start the process once the new school year started in September. The months have rolled by and it's taken this long for all the paperwork to finally be completed, and we will eventually have an answer in a few weeks time. I'm not even going to go into how disappointed I am that it's taken this long, and I just wish I listened to some of you that encouraged me to do it myself at the beginning, I just felt that with their knowledge of ds's difficulties at school it would carry more weight than if I applied.

Several days ago his LSA asked me if I would make some comments with regards to his school action plus, something I've never been asked to do before, actually this school year I've not even had a meeting with reagrds to his IEP (although many meetings in reception), so was abit surprised that they wanted my contribution all of a sudden. It then occured to me that OFSTEAD were making a visit on Wednesday, and this most probably was why they wanted me to quickly do this, looks like my suspicions were right when they asked me to sign it for Dec 05!! TBH I feel they've put an enormous amount of energy into helping ds, and felt that I owed it to them to quickly scribble an encouraging note. So I wrote something like 'Really pleased with ds's progress and feel fortunate that ds is able to attend a school that is so aware of his needs'

Now I'm kicking myself. At around the end of last year I wrote a report to the LEA stating how concerned I was about ds's progress, and now I'm worrying that if the lEA come to assess they'll read the note on his IEP that says how pleased I am with his progress, which going by the date will seem I wrote at the same time as their report, sounds like I'm just contradicting myself. I know how the LEA will pick up on the tiniest thing to deny a statement and I feel that this remark will balls up his statement. Am I being ridiculous, will it make such a difference, I'm so angry that I'm always so quick to please that I didn't even consider the implications. What do you think, am I making a big deal abouit nothing? Should I write to the school and ask them to make sure that my comments are not seen by the lEA? Is it such a big deal??

Sorry can never seem to write a short thread

[Cappucino]

what you've written is very supportive of the school but it doesn't take his difficulties away

even if he's making good progress he'll still need a statement, and seeing as it was the head who suggested the statement then the school is aware of his needs as you say

I wouldn't worry about it at all

[heavenis]

Do you feel you've been rushed into writing something. Why not go back into school and talk to them saying that now you've had time to think about it you wouldn't have written what you did.
Surely they can print another copy after all they wanted you to date it from last year.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Your recent remarks on the IEP would not I think be detrimental to your DS getting a statement as there is a mass of paperwork already in the pipeline.

Think its a bit cynical of school to ask you to contribute to his IEP just before OFSTED came in. It should also be noted that you as the parent should be asked by school to attend all IEP write ups. My guess is this was done primarily for OFSTED's benefit.

In this LEA in Essex the decision making panel re assessment is held every three weeks.

Your writings will hopefully serve also as a warning to others not to rely on school to ask for a statement but for parents to write directly to the LEA themselves requesting statutory assessment. The onus these days is very much in parents rather than school to get the additional educational help their child needs.

If the LEA say no get IPSEA involved.

www.ipsea.org.uk

[macwoozy]

Thank you for your replies. I just feel I'm going to have to go in and raise my concerns after all. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't blowing this all out of proportion, I don't want my comment to be used by the LEA as an indication that ds is progressing well without the need for a statement, sounds unlikely I know but who can tell when the LEA are concerned. I feel a fool for writing how pleased I am with his progress in the first place, I did it with the visit of OFSTEAD in mind, and not actually about ds.with myself.


Atilla, just out of interest you mentioned a while back that you felt that if parents applied for a statement it carried more weight than if the school applied. Do you know why this is? I've recently been told that my LEA are notorious for denying statemnts, so I'm already feeling pessimistic and fear that I'm going to have to go through all of this myself. I would have thought that the schools are in the better position to say how an child is progressing at school, as I can only really comment on what he's like at home.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Hi macwoozy,

As I understand it parents can appeal if the statement assessment request is denied. I know that in this LEA I come under the parents opinion carries with it far more weight than that of the school. Here at least they tend not to take so much notice of what school says.

I would certainly get IPSEA on board particularly if the statement request is denied.

[macwoozy]

All sorted. Explained my concerns to his LSA who said she'll remove my comment, she was really understanding and knew exactly why I was so worried about it

Unless I'm missing something here, I just can't see the logic that some schools aren't allowed to apply for a statement. I know from reading on here that unfortunately not all schools are so willing to even apply in the first place regardless on how much the child suffers, and the onus lies on the parents, but for the schools that do actively try and get the right support for a child, why should their views be ignored when they have a wealth of experience in judging why a particular child would benefit from a statement. I don't know, I just can't work this out, unless it's all down to funding of course, but in my ds's case his school has already been told by the EP that they won't recieve any funding even if ds gets a statement.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Macwoozy,

If you have documentary evidence of this being said by the EP then IPSEA would be very interested to hear about it. The statement, apart from being legally binding, will fund several hours of support per week over and on top of the school's budget.

Schools can apply for statements but the onus is very much on the parents these days to get the additional needs support. Parents have far more power in this regard than schools do.

[macwoozy]

Nothing written but there were a number of us in the room when she told us this, including the headteacher. I'm going to ring up IPSEA, get the facts and will certainly bring this up at the next meeting, thanks Atilla.

[macwoozy]

Ooops done it again, I meant Attila.