It’s all been a bit busy here (well still is). When the Health Visitor told me that as Parents we could apply for a Statement of Special Needs ourselves, we didn’t really know what it meant. Really it was just something we had heard about and knew it had something to do with children in education whose needs weren’t met through the normal channels I guess.
The first stage was to have a Panel decide whether or not our son needed an assessment. With that agreed lots of professionals have seen him and written reports – such as the Speech and Language Therapist, Paediatrician, and the Educational Psychologist. He will also see the Occupational Therapist and the Communication and Interaction Team, but this will happen after the deadline.
The Educational Psychologist explained lots of things to me, such as that Statements are given for one of three reasons: Cognition and Learning; Behaviour; and Communication and Interaction. That another panel, who has nothing to do with, and has never met, our son, then decides whether our son fits into one of these 3 reasons. Then yet another impartial panel will meet to decide how many hours he will need to meet his needs.
The report from the Educational Psychologist will be attached to the proposed statement. If it is decided that he is not eligible for a statement then he may get a Note in Lieu; this is basically stating his needs but saying that they can already be provided for.
We then have a week to see if we agree with the Proposed Statement. The things to note are that they may not award the number of hours we require but that can be appealed afterwards. She made sure we knew about Parent Partnership, and what to do if we didn’t get what we wanted at each stage. Also that a statement would mean that we could apply to Communication and Interaction Centre – which are attached to mainstream schools.
She was not able to comment on what kind of diagnosis he may receive.
Now it’s back to waiting.