The Rant Room

Looks like I am going to kick off the rant room!! I have just spent the last 5 hours re-writing my 4 yr old's statement for his Tribunal. Why do Local Authorities get away with writing such ridiculous statements? It makes me so cross that parents have to do this...How many parents have actually been given the information and taught what the wording actually means to their child's education......Why does it have to be so hard to get even the basic provision for our kids?

My son's statement is so vague that part 2 didn't clearly outline his needs and it was based on an educational psycholgists report that cannot be independant or objective as the EP's work for the council!! EIt just seems to be nothing other than a money saving exercise and never mind that there is a disabled child's future in question here. Every child matters? Hmmmmmm........That has not been my expierience with our LA and my children. 

This is the 2nd statement I have re-written, the first one being my 11 yr old daughters. The one I wrote was accepted by the LA in it's entirety because (my opinion) they had no idea what her needs were or how to meet them! But to be able to get them done properly, I have spent a total of about £1300 in fees for private assessments to get proper independant reports to base my versions of their statements on. We certainly don't have a lot of money and this has meant some big sacrifices to get the money for these reports. 

I believe that the only way this can be fair is if all EP's are independant and if they, together with the parents, a medical expert and the LA write the statement. There should also be a template statement for all children's to be based on.

The objectives to meet my son's needs were written by the LA as 'he may benefit from' or 'this could be helpful' or 'children with ASD usually find x helpful'.....no time specifications, no recommendations who carries out the work, not 'he must have' or 'he needs' .....which is the ONLY wording that makes it legally binding. If I can offer this advice to any parents struggling to get the right school, or the right provision within a school....don't give up until your child's statement is specific as to what support they must have, who will be providing it and it quantifies the amount of help per week/in hours per day/week they will/must get..............................I am so annoyed that after years of battling the LA and desperately trying to work with them (and I mean that sincerely) I am still doing their work for them.......I wonder if they are hoping I'll crack up soon and just give up!! What they don't realise is they are making me stronger, more knowlegeable and even more determined with each battle.........Thanks for letting me rant, I'm feeling better already...Hey this ranting business works you know!!

Claire - Community Champion

Hi Claire,

The statementing process drove me to distraction as well.I naively assumed that it would specifiy exactly what provision Alistair would get for how, long and by whom.Nope.. how wrong could I be.

I kept on getting letters saying how important the statement was and to get advice on what was in it but when I saw the proposed statement it was ridicuously  vague.

We were left in the horrible situation of having to accept the second written version because it had taken from Feb09 to 1 week before the end of the summer term to draw it up.We needed to get Alisatir into a new school and needed the statement to do it.It was rubbish as Alistair had a total of 2 rushed visits to his new school all in the last week of term.

It may sound like giving up but I accepted a long time ago that there was no specialist help out there for Alistair and everything would have to be done by us.

As for the DLA well that was just rubbish .. definately not the word I want to use!!I stupidly decided to apply for this at the same time as I did the statement, so not the right time.

The form is with out a doubt designed to put people off applying.They called me because they recieved the form 1 day late and gave me a lecture wanting to know why I had taken so long to return it.When I mentioned I had 4 kids - 2 special needs, and was in the process of completing a statement she said it wasnt a good enough reason and if I received the DLA that the start date would be delayed.

I swear I almost told her to shove it.. but didnt!!

Rant over Leanne

Ok Guys....need to rant again!!  My 13 yr old daughter has Asperger Syndrome, and as some of you know, she has been taken out of mainstream school because she couldn't cope socially......Before issuing her final statement, I asked for her need for social skills/communication work to be specified.........This is part of the reply I got today which relates to my request..... 

''Please could you advise which proffessional report states the need for social communication and social skills work. This can only be included in her statement if we have been advised it within a proffessional report......''

Does this sound as ridiculous to anyone else as it does to me?? Surely ALL children with a social communication disorder need help with their social and communication skills??? If they had no problem with them...they wouldn't have Aspergers.....I am totally confused as to why they need a specific recommendation as well as a detailed diagnosis and detailed reports as to how much her difficulties affect her...Brick....wall....head....banging!! AHHHHHHH!!

Claire - Community Champion

Hi,

I am very new to the whole statementing process,and naively had high expectations as to what it would provide.

I am sure it will turn around and bite me on the bum at some point but I seriously can not see the point of having one.

It has got Alistair into the school we needed him to go in to .. so thats good but the fact that we had to have reports done that just repeated what was written in previous reports I found pointless.

I tried speaking to the person writing up the report to get the number of hours speech therapy Alistair needed to be specified.. not too much to ask bearing in mind I was told that the report had to be specific.What a waste of time , nothing is specific.After speaking directly to her I quickly realised she knew nothing and was  an office clerk who had no comprehension of Alistairs condition.

His statement is a joke..they wont commit to anything because that will mean they are accountable.

 Its so wrong that your already stressful situation is made a million times worse,I swear they do this on purpose in the hope that because we are already shattered we will just back down.

Leanne

Yes, but It's a good one to rant about!! Just as we get to the stage when our kids can have a legal document that will (sort of) protect their future education.....also meaning we can .....finally back off a bit and just be parents for a small percentage of the time!....they mess it up, or make it so vague that either teachers don't understand what their specific needs are, or what their allocated support is making it useless! I have re-written my other daughter's and my son's so far. The copy I wrote for my daughter was accepted just before the tribunal date and I am in the process of getting my son's one sorted/accepted.....but it looks like we are going for a trilogy and I'm going to have to re-write my oldest daughter's too!!

I am not complaining about re-writing them, because although it's doing their job for them, it does at least contain exactly what they need now (BTW neither contain anything from the original drafts written by the LA as nothing included was relevant! and the only thing I agreed with was her name and date of birth....they even got her school wrong!).........Actually I think I have already ranted about this too!!

p.s - Thanks for your reply Josie....you really made me chuckle....!  

Claire - Community Champion