Long Fight with Education Authority

[groovycaz]

Ive had an ongoing battle with my local education authority, since my son was in nursery school, the teacher informed me that he was not interacting with the other children. When he started reception class again there was concern that Sam "seemed" to be in a world of his own, after recieving no help from the school, I began 5 years of fighting, he was seen by the education psychology service, the dyspraxia service, and occupational therapyst, yet despite all the reports regarding the difficulties he has, I could get no help for him in school. I then fought for my son to be seen by a clinical psychiatrist, who reported that he was autistic, with mild behavioural problems, He is now nearly 10 years old and despite the school (new school, I took him out of old school as i felt they were not doing enough to get him the help he needed) twice requesting that sam has a statement of special educational needs, the education authority has refused to grant this and banded his needs at band d which means that the school has to use their own resources to help my son with his school work, this is imposible considering budgets etc, when Sam needs 1 to 1 for at least 50% of the week,

The School are about to submit a new application for Statement, for Sam but if they again turn him down, would anyone know what right I have as a parent to ensure my child has an education, as things stand he is unable to access the curriculum without support, we have tried every way to help and support the school, buying Sam his own laptop as his handwriting is very poor, his new school have been very supportive with his needs but do not have the resourses to give him the support he needs, and advise would be most appreciative

[groovycaz]

Hi lindsay,

Thats one of my main concerns, keeping him in mainstream school, the school he now attends have been excellent, where as his old school would allow him to spend most of play times alone to roll around on the grass, his new school when seeing he is alone will encourage the other children to invite him in to play, ive seen a massive difference in him since he joined his new school as with his social skills, but the fight seems to be never ending getting regular support for him, to the point of utter despair, hes such a lovely little boy who never complains, or sees any bad in anyone but I cant allow him to play outdoors, alone or do most other dependant things other children his age do, did you experience the same kind of problems getting support for your son? it seems it all comes down to money and how hard you fight as to whether your child is supported in my area, ive considered that if he does not get his statement this year, there might be a solicitor that deals with educational problems, who may be able to get my son the educaion that he deserves, and should rightly have, he excells way beyond his years in computers and music yet struggles with short term memory

[groovycaz]

Bookworm, thank you for your reply, I see that im not alone on this site with the problems my son faces, I can see you point as in mainstream school, however all reports from the Educational Psychologists , Autistic Society, and the Dyspraxia Society all state that with support there is no reason why he should not be able to stay in mainstream school, of course its very difficult to accept that your child is "different" from other children, yet the school he now attends, hes fitted in very well and is very popular, making friends, which did not happen at his old school, its never been suggested that he should move to a special school, his autism is mild/moderate, with regards to his SEN his old school submitted twice, which although they accepted he had a degree of problems thay gave him a C banding both times, I then initiated a statuary assessment myself which they decided not to undertake but awarded him a D banding, giving some support, so were at the stage now where the SENCO will be submitting new reports to the LEA in the new term, your right in the facts that no one informs you of where to go when your child is denied funding for his education, ive written letters at 3 in the morning when I could'nt sleep, begging for help, thanks for your input, il let you know how we get on..Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi all, I can understand the frustrations by everone who has a child with any kind of learning problems, like I stated my fight has been on going now for 5 years and my reason for posting this thread was for guidance (thanks Bookworm), now there are others in a similar situation with their children, hopefully by sharing our experiences we may be able to help and guide each other to get the help for our children which they so rightly deserve, il keep all informed, Thank You Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi all

Ive read about so many parents fighting LEA for help for their children, most its seems for around 2-3 years, my fight has now been ongoing for nearly 6 years and my son still does not have a statement, his old school identified that he had a problem in Dec 02 and Education Psychology produced a report in summer 03 from which referals were made to I.C.T, O.T and Dyspraxia Society, as no referals were forthcoming from O.T the school submitted the forms to invlusion panel to meet the deadline, Inclusion Panel denied the schools request as no O.T report which when I pushed for my son to be seen by an O.T I was informed that she was on maternaty leave and was off work for a year, my son was 34th on the list to be seen, I then discovered that a locum O.T was filling in so called and begged him to see my son, by the time that took place in the summer of 05 and a report was produced, his Education Psychology report was out of date, so again denied (vicious circle),

I then wrote many letters of complaint to my LEA obout the impossibilities of producing both reports within the time scales allowed considering the long waiting lists and absences, and requested that as a parent I wanted the LEA to undertake a Statuary Assessment of my child, while in the mean time my GP refered him to CAMHs who confirmed that he has mild/moderate Autisim, mild/high functioning with behavioural problems, however not ADHD, but also dyspraxia and dyslexia,

after this, i recieved a letter from durham LEA thanking me for my letter and complaint but that durham co council changed itsriteria for initiating statuary assessments and for issuing statements of SEN and are now only issued to pupils with the highest levels of need at audit bands e anf f, as they decided not to undertake a statuary assessment of my child following my request but awarded him summative band d, its up to the school to support him without going through the lengthy assessment process, and school action or school action plus should therefore meet his needs within resources already available to the school,

I was then nformed that the advice i was given was correct in that I as a parent had no formal right to appeal 9ie to SEN and Disability Tribunal) to non-statuary decision making.

Sam has been on an IEP for 3 years now and since hes changed to his new school, which is a much smaller catholic school, I feel happier in the fact that the school SENCO is doing everything possible in helping him, he now has regular visits from ASD, and Educational Psychiatrist, he is much happier going to school now and he never was before, my hope now is that all his up to date reports are submitted well before the Dec deadline this year for his statement so that if there is anything else we need to submit, we will be well enough within the time scales to get everything together, if he is again refused i realy dont know where else to go from here, when ever I thgink of it going on and on, i feel utter despair..Gc

[groovycaz]

Bookwom, how right you are, you know until you go through something like this, although you complain, call, cry, beg, its all in vein, I was assured that funding was not taken into consideration, (after a letter informing me that resources were limited), ive dug the letter out they wrote to me in reply to my request for statutory assessment, stating that a decision was made not to undertake assessment, but to moderate Sams needs at moderation band D, no explaination given, I did not know any other at that time but to accept what I was told, and believed at that time, I was told the truth (how wrong I was), Im taking your advise and will be writing to LEA again for an assessment be undertaken for my childs needs, I wont be fobbed off, lied to, or refused, I will appeal and in my letter I will inform them of this, im including in my letter a complete dated list of all correspondence, reports from all organisations included in his care, all my telephone calls and letters of complaints, their lack of information as to my rights as a parent and everything else where they failed my child, you know all children have a legal right to an education in this country, and when you have reports from all involved in his care stating that my child is unable to access the curriculum without constant support, then he is being denied his legal right to his education,

Thank you so much for your input, all who are experiencing problems obtaing help with their children, whether it be ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia or any learning disability, we will fight on and succeed, Samsmum Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi Jen

did you ever ride a bike? play any kind of contact sport? able to catch balls, walk on a straight line, pedal a scooter or ride on roller skates? my son can do none of these things although he is a lot better with catching games he is frightened of his bike, his hand eye coordination is quite bad and we do regular exercises with him to help, however he has very poor muscle strength in his arms and his hand writing is quite bad, I often wonder what goes through his mind, he likes routine and will get upset if this changes, but can be talked into most things, he has very bad short term memory, and if I was to ask him to fetch me 2 things from another room he will forget what ive asked, yet he has stored in his head, the 7-8 sequence "cheats" for the games he plays on his playstation and has learned from watching television sign laungage, he is very interested in film companies and has stored all the logo's in his head and also designed his own logo for the film company he had made up himself, I would truly love to know how he sees things through his eyes and im sure as he gets older i will have a better understanding of his autism..Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi all

long letter written today to my LEA, ive photocopied all the correspondence, ive written and recieved from them, ive highlighted all the untruths they told me regarding appeals etc, also where they stated funding is not an issue while telling me resources are limited, ive also pointed out all the failings where they should have informed me of my rights as a parent instead of dismissing my fears for my child by stating to me that "we are informed that Sam is a likable boy who is eager to please, so therefore should be able to adjust and settle in class with the resources provided within the school" also failing to guide me or direct me to any organisations that would have offered advise to help my son, ive also stated that im aware that im out of time to apeal the last decision not to award him a SoN and that they failed to give any reason for that decision, I finished my letter informing them that im following with another letter requesting that Stat Ass be undertaken and making them aware that if they again refuse, that unlike my previous request they must inform me of their reasons not to undertake Stat Ass and if that is the case then I will appeal any such decision, but not as nicely worded as this...Gc

[groovycaz]

Bookworm

how lovely, thats put a smile on Sams and my face, thank you..Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi all and thanks for the advise and support given,

 

Marie, yes I ordered the SENs code of practice book from the number you gave me, has'nt arrived yet but on its way, after speaking to Sams Psychologist the other day he told me that its always been the case that the school can not appeal the LEAs decision not to award SoN however parents can appeal any decision regardless of who initiates statutory Assessment, ive had all his files spread out and the way in which we've been treated is appalling, the letters ive written, when reading back through them again, I cried, they are like begging letters, begging to help my child, ive copied them all and will take your advise and send them to my local MP, whatever happens, this year my son will get his statement, In 1 of the letters of complaint I wrote around 2 years ago I ended the the letter by stating "you will be hearing from me again and I will ensure my son receives the help he needs to successfully complete his education" and they just did!!..Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi Zaffie,

yes I have all copies of his IEPs and im very much involved with all his reviews in school, (although the same cant be said about his old school), since nursery school it was noticed that all was not ok as he was not interacting with other children, he was only diagnosed as autistic last year, which was after the last request for SoNs, the school he now attends is excellent compared to his old school and as for his social skills, I can see a massive improvement, his problems are quite complex, and his dyspraxia is very difficult for him, he cant sit still at all and constantly wriggles around, he can now fasten his laces (massive achievement) but still struggles with buttons, he tends to stammer over his words as if he has no confidence to speak and does not understand a phrases like "in your shoes" or "acting the goat" so we forever trying to explain these things to him, were all learning all the time in our house and have had some laughs along the way..Gc

[groovycaz]

Had two supprises this week, 1 a letter from my local MPs office, stating they were extremely concerned about my issues with my LEA, his office have asked me to call his PA to arrange an appointment to discuss my concerns, and attempt to help me resolve any complaints I have, WOW lets see if they do any good, also, a reply to my letter to Durham Education Authority, of course they are very sorry for any distress I may have suffered, but they are following proceedures, and as the criteria changed for the issue of SENs they can only go from the information they are provided, they failed to answer my question as to why they gave no reason, not to undertake SA after my request, and still maintain that all their members of staff had followed the quidelines as set out by the government, this is just about the answer's I was expecting, its my intention to now keep the presure on, ive informed them that I WANT a Statuary Assessment to be undertaken for my son, ive told them that working with the school, we have every report that they could possibly need, and this will be sent in, in the following 2 weeks, ive informed them that I want them to look at all the reports on reciept and if there are any missing that they think are relevant, I want to be informed the same day, Im going to be ringing them every other day and be the biggest pain in the arse they've had in a long time...Gc

[groovycaz]

Marie. im well out of time to appeal the LEAs decision not to undertake SA, at the time I was unaware of my rights of appeal, and after speaking with parent partnership, it was they who informed me of my rights, by the time I wrote my letter of complaint I was well out of the set time limits for appeal, and anyway they also told me that I had no grounds of appeal , and that I was unable to appeal non-statutory decisions, they failed to inform me that I could have appealed to an internal panel, which formed port of my complaint, I accused them of withholding information from me, and therefore denying any opportunity I may have had to obtain any help available so that my son could successfully complete his education. im more than ready for them this time, im in the process of following your links (thanks Marie) and my imput in his file when it goes to panel is, to say the least massive..Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi Marie, it was nearly 2 years ago since I asked for them to undertake Stat Ass, their reply was that they decided not to undertake SA but to award Sam a Summative D Banding which gave the school some extra funding, but they said that the school would be able to give Sam the support he needed with the resources already available within the school, I then removed him from that school, they gave no explaination as to why they decided not to assess him and ive asked the school child psychologist about this and he said, its a money saving tactic, which most LEAs do regularly, they issued him with a D banding, so giving a little support to the school and hoping it will keep me quite, even the OT said she had never come across the problems ive had with Sam, she knows other children who's needs are'nt as great as Sams, who've had a SoN without any problems, I feel like ive been on a never ending journey with this.

Im waiting for an appointment to meet with my MP, who actually a good friend of my friends father, so who knows!!, the LEA will know whats hit them with the contents of my letter when we apply for Stat Ass, my imput is massive, after pointing out all the problems with Sam has every day, I then have my turn, and boy are they going to be shocked, I feel like getting a solicitor to complain on my behalf about the way they treated me and dismissed my fears for my child, there is one lady at Durham who was dealing with Sams case who now won t speak to me, so I always get put through to the head of the dept and I can hear it in his voice, but it just makes me more determined and I know I have an attitude in my voice but I really cant help it..Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi all, very happy with the way things are moving at the moment with Sam, had my meeting with my local MP, he was lovely and took on board everything and all the problems ive faced and his office have put together a very nice letter to add into his SENs application which went in yesterday, CAMHS wrote an excellent report stating that Sam cannot work independently and needed constant support, also same from child psychologist, autistic society and dyspraxia society, the school reports are also very well written, and I dont feel as if anythings been left out, in my own input, which mostly consisted of their failures and how they are letting our children down, ive also informed them that if Sam is again turned down for his statement, I am well aware of the appeal process. And massive celebrations in our house tonight, Sam just swam 5 meters at the pool today, and his whole class clapped and he was the special boy, im so proud of him, a little star..Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi all,

just a quick update, had a letter from Durham LEA informing me that Sams SENs following a request for statement from his school will go before inclusion panel on 13 Nov and I will be informed of the decision no later than 5 days after.. so were off, im ready if they turn him down again..Gc

[groovycaz]

OMG no it was the school who applied for assessment, I applied last time and they decided not to undertake assessment and told me i had no rights to appeal, what does this mean? if they turn him down again does this mean, because it was the school who applied, will i have no right of appeal? please help, i expect nothing from Durham LEA as we've been let down so many times before..what will i be able to do if they again turn him down..Gc:o

[groovycaz]

just remembered i did write a letter to go in with all his paperwork the school sent in, although it was not a direct request for assessment, i refered that i believed his educational needs should be reviewed as he could not access the school ciriculum without constant support..Gc

[groovycaz]

Thanks for that Jangles, panic over, I will also write as you advised just to be on the safe side, il keep you all updated..Thanks again Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi all,

Well its D day tomorrow, my boy Sam's SENs will be considered at the SEN panel meeting on 13 Nov after referal from the school for a "possible" statutory assessment of his special educational needs, I will recieve a letter within 5 days of the meeting notifying me of the LAs decision.

 

After looking at all the reports from everyone involved in his care from CAMHS, the Educational Psychology Service, Dyspraxia Service and also Autistic spectrum disorder, all the reports state that Sam can not access the national cirriculum unsupported, I wont be holding my breath, and im ready if after 6 years they refuse to issue him with a statement again..Gc

[groovycaz]

HI all,

GOOD NEWS they have decided to proceed with Statutory Assessment under section 323 of the Education Act 1996, I recieved a letter today, This is the 1st time ive gotten past 1st base and were all relieved that the LEA have now acknowledged that Sam does have a learning disability, Ive some forms to sign, and he has an appointment for a medical with the school Doctor next week, and its his 10th birthday today and w've just had the best party ever, the begining of the journey for his future, were on our way:D Gc

[groovycaz]

Sorry Marie and everyone whos been waiting for news, Ive been poorly (vertigo) and it wiped me out big time so this is the first time ive switched on in a few days, Ive picked up again, this is about the 5th time ive had it and its realy horrible knocks you off your feet, so sorry for the wait folks..Gc

[groovycaz]

Congratulations but not wanting to burst your bubble just because they have agreed to do the assesment it does not mean they will issue a statement,

 

Thanks Marie, I know they lead you into a false sense of security, Im on the ball with it this time, I intend to put together all the information from the various bodies you and Bookworm directed me to, just in case they dont issue a statment after assessment,

Thanks for all the support ive recieved and all directions from everyone who followed my fight for Sam, this site is excellent and you are all very caring and passionate in your beliefs, most having been through this journey, again thank you all, I will keep you updated on his progress...Gc:smile:

[groovycaz]

Hi all,

got a review meeting with Sams school tomorrow, the Child Psychologist ASD support and the Dyspraxia service will be there so should be a good time to put some information together ready for when the LEA contact them while they are carrying out his Assessment Gc

[groovycaz]

Hi all,

The meeting at the school went really well yesterday, Tom the child Psychologist is very good, He showed me a copy of the report he was originally submitting to LEA and where he had changes pharagraphs, which all helped it the decision to assess Sam. I realy cant fault the school, they really have put a lot of work into the reports they submitted, they made sure that in every subject, where praise was given and progress made they ended the repot with a negative, as in this was only achieved with support from ****, I have a lot of confidence that the school will do everything in their power to see that Sam is issued with a statement after assessment, and Tom told me what I should do with regards to appeal should they decide not to issue a statement, They are arranging for myself and Claire the SENCO to visit the local catholic comp to discuss the difficulties Sam has and that will be followed up every 4-6 months to keep them up to date with what progress hes made, which I think will be excellent for us all and give me piece of mind, I feel a lot happier now, although we still have a long way to go.. Il keep you all updated..Gc