Special Educational Needs –
Getting Started on Statementing
Advice on how to start writing your application for statutory assessment and beyond
by
Tania Tirraoro
the creator of
www.specialneedsjungle.co.uk
Published by Tania Tirraoro at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Tania Tirraoro
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com/.co.uk and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Contents
You've got the statement, now what?
Foreword by Maria Hutchings
It was in February 2005 that I challenged Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister on live television, over the poor provision of services for special needs children and their families.
There was nothing particularly special about me; it was my son who was special.
John Paul was diagnosed with autism, severe learning disabilities and severe, specific language disorder when he was three and a half. He was, and still is, hugely vulnerable and deserves all the help he can get. As a society I strongly feel that we must be judged on how we look after people just like him.
But knowing how to get help, who to speak to and where to go (as well as dealing with the challenge of your child's condition) is all too often confusing, stressful and downright torture.
I only wish that I when I was going through the statementing process striving to get John Paul the right education, speech therapy and respite for the family that I had read this book.
Being the mother of two children on the autistic spectrum, Tania has a deep sense of empathy for what it feels like when you have to fight for everything to ensure your child's future. Tania captures that deep sense we all have as mothers and carers; to do the very best for our precious children.
But further still at the turn of every page Tania guides you through the processes that one has to go through to get results. This book is comprehensive, user-friendly and straight to the point. Navigating your way through the statementing process your case will not be won on emotion alone, but trying to understand the law and using it to win.
Parents know that they understand their children best and therefore it is essential that they equip themselves in the best possible way to fight their children's corner and here in the following pages Tania helps you do just that.
Maria Hutchings
October 2011
Introduction
First of all, let me state that this book is aimed at parents in the UK, but it also contains useful tips for any parent anywhere who is seeking access to special educational needs for their child.
This book complements my website, www.specialneedsjungle.co.uk. It contains some information already available there but the main aim of the book is to give you solid, successful examples of applications, showing you a logical and thorough way to set out your child's case.
Realising your child has special educational needs is stressful for any parent. Getting them the help they require can be a long, drawn-out, frustrating and expensive process. All too often, the school does not tell the parent that their child has needs that could best be met by statement-level help. They do not tell the parent that they, themselves can apply for a statutory assessment if the school doesn't want to, or offer information and advice on how to go about it.
If your child has severe physical needs, they will almost certainly have been statemented before or immediately after they began school. This book is primarily for parents setting out on the statementing journey whose children have a so-called "hidden" disability such as high-functioning ASD or dyslexia that is much more difficult to see, just by looking at the child. It's no walk in the park to go through this process and if you honestly think you may not have the skills yourself to work through it, I strongly urge you to seek assistance from one of the charities set up to help people through the process such as IPSEA or SOS!SEN. There are links at the end of the book or on the www.specialneedsjungle.co.uk website.
You should be convinced that your child has special educational needs that the school is not able to support. Your child may already be on School Action Plus with little sign of improvement, but even if he is only on School Action, it does not mean you cannot apply for a statutory assessment. It may be that the school hasn't recognised the full extent of your child's needs because a serious assessment is needed.
If your child is at an independent school or home-schooled, you are just as entitled to apply for a statutory assessment as a parent with a child at a state school. The SEN Code of Practice says that the question to be answered when making a decision to assess is whether there is convincing evidence that, in spite of efforts made by the school, along with the help of external specialists, taking relevant and purposeful action to meet the child's learning difficulties, those difficulties remain or have not been remedied sufficiently.
When schools are dealing with the complex needs of a child with a "hidden disability" such as Asperger Syndrome, or another social or communication-related disorder it is often extremely difficult for them to provide the right support because they do not have the day-to-day expertise needed.
One child I know had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and was a gifted reader but had extreme difficulty with the process of writing. He had a unique thinking style but had also been judged to be extremely bright. The school's solution was to put him in the remedial English class with the children who could neither read nor write. He became distressed when he had to go to the class and had to be "dragged" by his classmates. This is despite the school having recommendations given to them by the LEA Educational Psychologist and an ASD Outreach worker on how best to help him. The school simply did not have the expertise to carry out the recommendations
Often, children like these can achieve well in some areas and parents are told, erroneously, that their children will never get a statement because they are not far enough behind. I have often heard of parents being told that their child needs to be "three years behind" to be assessed. This is not the case when the causes of the SEN are for example, Autistic Spectrum Disorders or Behavioural, Emotional or Social or other complex needs. This book will be particularly useful for children such as these.
The fact is, for many high-functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children or those with dyslexia, dyspraxia or dyscalculia, a mainstream school often does not have the expertise or the resources needed to provide an "adequate" education because these children need a different style of teaching.
LEAs are also focused on so-called "inclusion" but miss the point that the ultimate goal is to enable children to be included in society as an adult. Making them all dance to the same tune in a test-driven, national curriculum based, mainstream education system will turn mainstream children into successful mainstream adults, but those "square peg" children who do not fit into the "round hole" of the state system may end up never reaching their potential.
If you have already put your child in a private specialist school and are paying the fees yourself, you may think they have improved so much that they will not get a statement. It may be more difficult, but it is not an impossible task. If your child has only improved because they were in a specialist environment, then that fact should be weighed against how they would be doing and coping if they were in mainstream. However, it will make your argument more complex so the sooner you apply the better.
What is Statementing?
A statement is a legally enforceable document listing your child's special educational needs and how they will be provided for by your Local Education Authority (LEA).
A statutory assessment is carried out to determine what those needs are and you are a vital part of that process. It is up to you to make sure that all the evidence – that is, reports, letters, IEPs, school reports, assessments, that have been done into your child's issues are presented to the special educational needs panel. Don't rely on anyone else to do it for you.
The SEN Code of Practice says:
"In deciding whether to make a Statutory Assessment, the critical question is whether there is convincing evidence that, despite the school, with the help of external specialists taking relevant and purposeful action to meet the child's learning difficulties, those difficulties remain or have not been sufficiently remedied and may require the Local Education Authority to determine the child's special educational provision."
The statement follows the successful completion of a statutory assessment, which aims to uncover all your child's special educational needs.
So, before you embark upon the process, you must have exhausted all the help the school can offer through its own resources. This usually means resources funded at School Action or School Action Plus level. There may have been input from an LEA Educational Psychologist or an Outreach worker or perhaps a Speech and Language Therapist. If these outside agencies have been consulted and have made recommendations and the school simply hasn't carried them out you need to ask them why. If they don't have the resources to carry our recommendations, try to get them to say this in writing.
Once you have decided to go ahead and apply for an assessment for your child, I would recommend that you do not rush into contacting your LEA until you have gathered together your evidence or you will be putting undue pressure on yourself.
This is because once you write to the LEA they have six weeks to respond as to whether you will get your requested assessment. They need some evidence to go on and will be asking your child's school for IEPs, end of year reports and opinions. You will be asked for your parental input, usually on a form with headings and spaces. You can, of course, just fill in the form they send to you, attach any doctor's letters or private assessments and hope for the best.
I would urge you to be more thorough. This book will show you how.
~~~
You may be wondering what my qualifications are to write this guide. I am a parent who has been through the process twice and been successful on both occasions
Both my children have high-functioning Asperger Syndrome and associated co-morbidities such as dyspraxia, attention or hyperactivity issues. They are both in the gifted range for intelligence but their individual difficulties are very different from each other's.
They had/have complex needs that were very difficult for their state school to recognise, understand or remedy. As a regular parent-helper, I witnessed these difficulties for myself on many occasions but when I raised the possibility of seeking a statutory assessment, I was told that the chance of securing a statement would be very unlikely.
Undeterred, I studied the LEA's policies and the SEN Code of Practice. I gathered all the reports, IEPs and medical letters that proved my case and I carefully wrote long documents in support of my application. Initially both my children were turned down for assessment, but the LEA changed their minds before or just after I registered an appeal.
The LEA now funds them both to attend an independent specialist school and they are both progressing well. So, whatever you are told, if you are convinced that your child must be assessed to uncover the extent of their difficulties, stick to your guns.
I have since advised other parents on their applications, from a simple conversation to helping them draft their application. I am lucky; I have a journalistic background and had the skills to carry out an immense amount of research to ensure that I made the best application I could. I realised that there must be many parents in my position who do not have the skills I have and their children were just as in need of help as mine. So, I developed my SEN website and now am extending that to give you a step-by-step guide to making your application for assessment hard to ignore.
If, despite this, you are turned down at first, having followed these steps, you will be well prepared for an appeal with all your documents gathered and your parental submissions ready to be heard. In some cases, no matter how good your application, the LEA will turn you down first time in the hope that you will just go away. Lodging an appeal against them and showing just how serious you are is sometimes all that is needed for them to look at your case again.
I'm not a lawyer or a child development expert. This book is parent-to-parent, illustrating what has worked in real cases through extracts from example applications.
A green paper was launched in 2011 aimed at shaking up SEN delivery with a single assessment. Whatever changes are made and whenever that happens, you will still need to be able to show that your child has sufficient special needs to attract the highest levels of support and this book can help. Do not wait for the new act, before you start the process. You child needs help as soon as you can get it.
Some LEAs are trialling the new proposals but you will still need to prepare your case carefully, however they change their systems. Although eventually there may be no more 'statements', you will still need to be able to make your case for that level of support and this book will show you how.
The SEN Code of Practice & SEN Law
The SEN Code of Practice is your friend. Download it or order a hard copy. Whatever you do, read it.
The SEN Code of Practice (2001) has four separate areas: Special Educational Need. They are: Cognition and Learning, Behavioural, Emotional and Social Development (BESD), Communication and Interaction and Sensory and/or Physical Needs. Your child does not need a deficit in all four areas to be considered in need of a statutory assessment.
For example, BESD becomes a learning disability when children have difficulties such as being withdrawn, being disruptive, hyperactivity, lack of concentration, immature social skills or other challenging behaviours. These difficulties can lead to an inability to manage school routines, relationships or learning techniques that can affect learning and progress. These can include Asperger's Syndrome, Dyspraxia or DCD, ADD, ADHD, Conduct Disorders, Semantic Pragmatic Disorders and so on.
Above all, it is UK education law and the SEN Code of Practice that count, not the LEA's own policies if they are in contradiction with them. Although the SEN Code of Practice is non-statutory, it is there as guidance. It is the Education Act 1996, the SEN Regulations and the Equalities Act 2010 that truly govern an appeal to the SEND Tribunal and a child's educational and disability rights.
The SEN Code of Practice is available free and you can download it from the Department for Education website. The Education Act (1996), The Education (Special Educational Needs) (England) (Consolidation) Regulations 2001and the Equalities Act (2010) are all also available online for you to read.
Getting Prepared
Applying for a statutory assessment and a statement is very stressful and time consuming. Consider the following:
1. Am I convinced that this is the only way my child will get the support they need?
Research your council's SEN policies to support your case. Read the SEN Code of Practice and use it. Make sure the school has tried everything within its resources to help your child and yet they haven't improved.
2. Do I have the support of friends and family to help me through it?
Having someone to talk to, will help you get through the process. If you're alone, try some of the parenting boards on the internet for support if you need it.
3. Do I have the funds to hire specialist help such as independent Educational Psychologist or an SEN lawyer if I need to?
You may not need to, but the question is worth asking in any case. You need to go into this process with your eyes open.
4. Do we have the backing of my child's paediatrician?
You will need reports from doctors to strengthen your case. Having said that, my son's doctor didn't think we'd get a statement which just made me more determined.