Still no school for my 6yr old PDD-NOS daughter

[SENDozer]

Hi all, and apologies for not introducing myself earlier. I'm SENDozer (slowly bulldozing my way through the SEN system) and I'm a mother of a 6yr old girl with high functioning "atypical autism," semantic pragmatic language disorder, and some mild sensory processing issues (predominantly aural/sound related).

 

I've been mostly reading and trying to find my way around the site. Of course, I've also been battling the Local Authority, the Child Development Team, CAMHS, Appealing a SENDIST First Tier Tribunal Order at Upper Tribunal (formerly High Court), as well as the day to day stuff of life with an active 6yr old girl. Goodness, just typing that lot out is exhausting!

 

At our request (and because the named school is woefully inadequate), she's been at mainstream with a full time TA/Nursery Nurse. She copes well with the routine, the noise & the large class size, but she has no support beyond a babysitter TA/Nursery Nurse with no SEN experience beyond my daughter for the last two years. In its favour, this mainstream school is at least familiar to her, she's well loved there and she has long established friendships.

 

She outperforms many of her classmates there academically, though often loses out on some of the teaching because there is little to no understanding of how those with autistic thinking actually learn (usually visually).

 

Although my daughter was identified as having speech & language, sensory processing and social communication issues at the ripe old age of 3yrs, we are still actually awaiting a firm, unifying diagnosis. She turns 7 in a few months. Early identification - check! Early intervention - fail.

 

We had a repeat ADOS assessment in the month or so and just prior to that CAMHS also assessed her. While the Clinical Child Psych will confirm the team will be diagnosing an autistic spectrum disorder, she can't actually say which! I'm told that because there are so many professionals involved, getting them to actually agree on the terminology to describe my daughter's challenges is nigh on impossible. And so we wait - This seems to be a running theme with SEN battles...

 

Her statement of special educational needs is frankly poop, but since the only way we could appeal it was to accept it, that's the route we went.

 

Early this year, we had the SENDIST Tribunal. Effectively, the complexities of my daughter's case were too much for the panel to take in and so, rather than rely on our experts (who were present) or attempt to understand, they simply took the easy option of finding for the LA.

 

We've applied for and have been granted an Appeal. The LA are currently responding to their part of the Directions (answering & attempting to counter our submissions).

 

We want a specialist non-maintained school outside the borough which has all the resources my daughter needs and the staff are all very well experienced in exactly my daughter's conditions. Furthermore, like my daughter, all the children there are at least broadly average cognitively and use speech as their primary form of communication. She would have a real peer group for the first time and because she is very sociable and she very much wants friends and interaction, she needs this so much.

 

The LA, of course, just want the cheapest possible option, and this translates to a local primary resource base currently populated by very low functioning ASD, mostly non-verbal children whose IEPs reflect goals such as learning to respond to and eventually write their own names. Plop my blabber mouth daughter with her above age level reading & maths in there and she's going to declare mutiny, assume leadership, and she'll enjoy every moment of the chaos she can create when she's bored out of her skull.

 

In a neat little move, at the end of summer term, the LA announced they were ceasing funding for my daughter's TA at the mainstream, thus effectively attempting to force us to take up the named school place.

 

The Tribunal Order set down certain requirements for the named school to fulfill before my daughter could attend. The LA refuse point blank to comply and keep saying that once my daughter is there, well, THEN they'll put the provision in place. We say, poo-poo to that!

 

Although term has now begun, my daughter has no school place that she can attend since there is no funding at her previous school and no provision in place at her named school. And so we wait...

 

We've applied for and have been granted an Appeal. The LA are currently responding to their part of the Directions (answering & attempting to counter our submissions).

 

In the meantime, we wait. We wait for the various professional reports while they debate how best to describe my daughter's conditions. We'll wait for those reports to be discussed at the next SEN Panel. We wait for a school place. And all this waiting means my daughter is continuing to be denied the provision she so desperately needs.

 

Provision delayed is provision denied.

 

Anyone else out there battling the SEN system, you have my utmost respect & admiration. Perhaps we can lift each others' spirits from time to time and hopefully, we can all soon indulge in some victory dances.

Edited December 21, 2009 by SENDozer
updating title

[SENDozer]

Good luck, everyone.

Edited September 25, 2009 by SENDozer

[Bookworm]

??? What happened there? :-?

[maroondevo52]

Bookie, problem with op's 1st post, I'm having it checked out.

 

I'll merge both, if I get the ok.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[Bookworm]

Ah, ok, it's just I saw it the other day with a long story about her difficulties but OP seemed to be on top of things and didn't ask questions that I recall, but I just wanted to check it now brain is 1/2 working. Not to worry, thanks for replying.

[SENDozer]

I'm still here, just felt pretty exposed.

 

By way of update, the LA have responded to the Directions Order and papers are with the barrister.

 

We have a month to reply (towards end of this month), and then I'm a little unclear about what happens then.

 

My daughter still isn't attending any school at all since they ceased funding at her old mainstream and haven't put in place the provision & resources specified in her statement.

 

Frankly, the LA have delayed, ignored our questions, obfuscated, skewed, and omitted evidence as well as flat out lied in their paperwork.

 

How the world are parents, even working parents, supposed to afford this legal battle? Does anyone actually ever win Upper Tribunal? What's the point if our daughter is actually no better off and we wind up losing our home after being stung with costs if we should lose?

 

It's one of those things where you can't quit fighting because your child's future is at stake, yet you can't afford to continue. And that seems to be pretty much the LA's tactic here - just wear us all down.

 

Part of me wants to go public with this just to highlight the extreme injustice, but then the sight of friends & family members' eyes glazing over as you attempt to begin to explain the complexities of the SEN system is daunting enough.

Edited October 7, 2009 by SENDozer

[Bookworm]

You seem to be well up to date on everything, so I take it you have been in touch with IPSEA? Any chance of help from there?

[SENDozer]

Although I've read the IPSEA site, we are receiving help from another SEN organisation. I'd gladly name them (welcome to message me), and once this is all over I certainly will, but I'm worried it would absolutely identify us to the LA.

[Bookworm]

Not to worry, hon, you're quite right to keep things close to your chest. ;-)

[SENDozer]

Update from me, too. We now have a pretty Order directing an oral hearing before the Judge in Upper Tribunal.

 

Mindful of costs, we definitely did not request an oral hearing. The LEA requested an oral hearing, probably hopeful that the prohibitive costs might scare us off.

 

Without the SEN charity fronting the costs for us (and allowing us to repay it a bit at a time), we would have had to fold, give up, concede a hundred times over by now. Normally we both work, but since my daughter isn't in school, I have reduced my hours to bare minimum so I can homeschool her and look after her during the day. There is just absolutely no way on earth we could have managed the costs all at once.

 

Having spoken with the listing office, it seems they are currently listing for January 2010. Even at the end of November that seems so far off in the distance. Apparently we are to be listed as a priority, but we have no idea what that might mean insofar as when they might actually list us. Then, of course, it's all the dancing around trying to find the one date both we (and our barrister) and the LA (and their barrister) can attend.

 

Since the LA ended funding for her at the mainstream school she was at before this all kicked off and because they have failed completely to provide to the named school the resources Ordered and set out in both her statement of SEN and the Decision of the First Tier, my daughter has not been to school since July.

 

We have already sailed past the October term start hoped for by the special school we want for her. We're so grateful to them for keeping her place open for her. They have just asked us to keep them posted on where we are in the appeal system.

 

So that's where we are in all this.

[SENDozer]

Things are certainly heating up with our case.

 

We were to be listed for some time early Jan to end Feb next year.

 

The LA rather shot itself in the foot by writing to the Upper Tribunal expressing "concern" my daughter had been out of school all term and threatening me with issue of a preliminary notice under s437 of The Education Act 1996. (Like we haven't written to them repeatedly requesting my daughter return to her mainstream as an interim measure or even to the dreaded named school if they would only write to confirm the provision they were offering!)

 

It seems the Judge took an exceedingly dim view of the LA's threats and taken in tandem with their submitted availability dates (not until late February - procrastination & deliberate delay much?), the Judge ordered that the matter be brought forward so that it is resolved before the end of the year!

 

We're now listed for the 23rd, next week! We're thrilled!

 

Whatever happens, change will happen. I'm crossing all my fingers & toes that the legal outcome is both helpful to us as well as helpful to other parents in the same boat with a ridiculous & wholly unenforceable 1st Tier Tribunal Order.

 

On the bright side, even if the Decision isn't terribly helpful to us, it will certainly be beneficial to others preparing for their own cases.

 

Wish us luck for next Wednesday!

[SENDozer]

Starting to worry now. I'm told so few SEN appeal cases make it to Upper Tribunal (formerly High Court). It's just hard to hope for the best, yet impossible not to do exactly that.

 

After all this, just watch us be snowed out now... :3

[maroondevo52]

Good luck with that

[SENDozer]

Well, it's all done. We arrived early and well prepared, the LEA arrived late and ill-prepared.

 

Judge said from the outset that he would be giving his decision in writing rather than at today's hearing. While this was disappointing, at least we weren't holding out false hope for a decision today.

 

Judge also said he's sitting in Leeds in the first week of the new year, but that he would do his utmost to have a written decision with us by the second or third week in January.

 

Really, it's just more finger crossing & nail chomping until then, and, of course, still no school for my kiddo.

 

Exhausted. Wish us luck and happy hols, all!

[maroondevo52]

Have a good christmas and hopefully an even better new year

[tiglet]

Hi

 

I hope this has gone well for you - please do let us know how you got on.

[SENDozer]

Much appreciated, Tiglet and Maroondevo, thanks for thinking of us.

 

We're still awaiting the written decision. To be completely fair, the Judge did say at the time that the very earliest he imagined his decision would be with us would be second week of Jan, but much more likely to be the third week.

 

I've chewed my fingernails up to the elbow about now, and unless I hear something soon, I'll be headed right into arm pit territory.

[SENDozer]

Well, we lost. Appeal dismissed on the grounds of no error in law.

 

To be honest, we knew from the get-go that the odds were decidedly against us. You go in not expecting to win, yet still hopeful you might just catch a break.

 

If nothing else, the decision will help other parents in the same boat to better frame their own appeals.

 

Once the decision is on the Tribunals site, I'll attempt to link it.

 

Huge thanks to the charity SOS!SEN for their backing and support, both financial & emotional.

 

If this were a boxing match, we'd be down, but definitely not out. Still some tricks up our sleeves yet

[tiglet]

I really am very sorry for you - I do understand how hard it is for parents who have a strong case, only to lose it at SEND. Unfortunately, the battle has to go on.

 

If you feel you need any additional help, please PM me and I will give you my details so that I can see if I can assist your further.