[senco-forum] [SENco-forum] Weds Rant

Stuff their criteria -they are not legal.

(I am sure Brendan will put it more elegantly)

Go straight to Tribunal. Don't mess about and take no prisoners.

The LA response will be to trigger a Statutory Assessment as they will not
have enough evidence in their files to back their case, whereas by now you
will have plenty in yours.

They couldn't fall over themselves quick enough to shunt her to a doctor,
EP, Cognition & Learning etc., in order to prove that she did not need help!

I wasted 2 years before then debating the issue with school and another 2
years fighting to get the Statutory Assessment completed while the LA
dragged every time limit to the limit.

We wasted 9 months debating wording under the guise of 'negotiation'. All of
this 'give' on my part as the bottom line is the LA don't give a damn.  When
I finally broke down in tears the Deputy Education chief said 'it was no
longer appropriate to discuss the case with me.'

A case - not a child.

I did not get assigned case officer and they sent the LA Tribunal Case
manager to fight their corner, the person I had been negotiating with all
along. Their reasons in their words were that they could not afford for me
to win and get a statement for a high IQ child with dyslexia and no other
SEN.

Do not be blackmailed - going to Tribunal does not take money out of the LA
SEN coffers.  You are not stealing resources from other children. No other
child is more worthy than yours.

If you feel badly about winning resources because you are more articulate
than other parents join an advocacy agency or IPSEA later and put something
back.

The Statement has opened doors and made education and school a really
enjoyable experience, but at best education wise she might get 5 C because
we wasted so much time trying not to offend anyone.

 Best part is that winning and being involved in beating the system helped
her Tigger personality to re-emerge and this from a parlous state in Year 3
when she said she would rather kill herself than go to another literacy
hour, saying that 'life should not be this tough when you are 9'.

Sharon

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