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Post by mum2rachel on Oct 3, 2010 21:48:48 GMT
We are right at the beginning process for getting Rachel's statement ready for school next sept . The Ed psych is going into see her in her special needs playgroup on Tues & then coming to see me the folowwing week . SO what can we expect , what sort of things will he ask , what sort of questions should I ask . I know some of you have horror stories to tell , but I feel like I'm learning a new language even though I worked as a TA for 10 yrs it was never my remit to be in on the ground work of a statment only to deliver stuff that was stated on them so HELP, i want to get this right for Rachel. xSusan ps I've downloaded the guide from DSA which seems pretty helpful.
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Post by sarah on Oct 4, 2010 9:14:41 GMT
It is all pretty crazy stuff! Have you started the process off yourselves or is it through a pres-school/nursery? Although I started the ball rolling, Daniel's preschool took charge and got most of the reports together and contacted the relevant people which made it go fairly smoothly for us. I attended a couple of meetings with the ed psych but that was it really (apart from sending out forms etc) The worst bit for us was the parental contribution which comes a bit later on in the process - I think quite a long hangs on that so get as much help as poss. Ours was around 5000 words long and took ages to write, and was a little depressing as you have to focus on what they cant do and why the need help. which brings it all home - especially as we were so used to being proud of Daniel and celebrating his achievements. Happy to help when you get to that bit - I got advice from a school SENCO and from Daniels pre-school, and we were pleased with the outcome. You get a big book with all the info and deadlines in (although it may be different for different county councils?) once they've agreed that an assessment should be carried out. Unfortunately you have to be as negative as poss. It takes a while but you are definately starting within good time Good luck! xx
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Post by tina79 on Oct 4, 2010 17:09:19 GMT
Good luck with the statement, it's a pretty daunting experience! We did have a few problems with Brodie's statement in the beginning, mainly because it was written by the SENCO at his nursery which was mainstream and he was getting on fine and not needing very much additional support (probably because the child/adult ratio is higher), however because Brodie was my first child at school and the school's first child with DS, we were all a bit naieve and although the statement sounded fine we didn't realise that what that meant in terms of funding for support wouldn't go as far once he was at school so we had to quickly do an annual review a couple of months in. Unfortunatley you do have to be as negative as possible and like everything in life it does seem to all come down to councils and money rather than what is best for the child. Our local council does have a parent partnership scheme though which is run by parents of children with SEN so they were able to answer any questions, maybe your local council has something similar?
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Post by sarah on Oct 8, 2010 17:51:30 GMT
Susan - forgot to mention that Becky from DownsEd wrote a great bit for Daniel's statement so do ask them (if you haven't already!) x
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Post by mrsdavies on Oct 8, 2010 19:46:20 GMT
we made the same error as Tina in that it was written based on his nursery experience. Its so hard to imagine what they will need in school and what they are expected to be able to do by themselves. Luckily the school Jack attends is very good with children with additional needs and their knowledge and support has been invaluable. Needless to say Jack went in with a statement equating to him getting 14 hours a week of funded help and the school provide the extra that he needs but they have called for an early review to see if they can squeeze more cash out of the council! which is absolutely fair enough! I did try to appeal by myself when the proposed statement came through but to no avail. Hopefully the school will have more luck! The meeting is later on this month so fingers crossed! .....
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Post by mum2rachel on Oct 15, 2010 10:59:46 GMT
Thanks for all your replies,it seems I was a bit ahead of myself & we arenot yet at the stage of them having agreed Rachel will have a statementt , but it goes to panel Nov 1st & the ed psych is recommending a statement . So i will def.be calling on your help when it comes to preparing our contribution . Yes Sarah I am going to ask Downsed for a report as well . Just out of interest how many 1:1 hours do your children get in school & do they get Speech therapy as part of their statement ? xSusan
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Post by sarah on Oct 16, 2010 9:30:07 GMT
Daniel got 25 hours through his statement and the school make up the rest themselves. We were REALLY pleased with that and I had in my mind that 20 hours would be acceptable for Daniel without us having to appeal I personally feel its best to go for as much as possible ie, full time and keep stressing why, as its easier to reduce than to get more hours. He does have speech therapy in his statement (ie an outside person coming in and seeing him then leaving activities to do at school) but its yet to happen as he's only been in school 5 weeks.
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