SEN statement

[sherrardk]

It has finally been agreed that thng 1 should be assessed to see if he should have a statement (he doesn't talk). He has only just turned 4 (on Monday) and will be starting school in September. Apparently he is being referred to a paediatrician. Does anyone know what happens, etc? Thnaks.

[cazzz1975]

hi sher, he will be assessed by a group of medical professionals in certain areas to gather an all round perspective of his medical and educational needs. these assessments will be carried out over months, probably at a family or health centre, he will be seen by speech therapists, a consultant paediatrician, his hearing will be tested, you will be visited by an educational psychologist who will ask you a lot of questions about your son.

this is all done to gauge possible reasons for his lack of speech and to assess whether he has educational learning difficulties. he may receive a diagnosis at the end of the assessment should the findings lead to a specific difficulty.

occasionally assessments can conclude that there are no grounds to issue a statement of special needs, this can be appealed. in which case he would go to a mainstream school as normal.

should he receive a diagnosis at the end of the assessment its likely that he will receive a statement, depending on his needs will depend if he will receive extra help in school, a school with a special needs resource base or a special needs school.

[sherrardk]

Thanks for that Cazzz, he has had his hearing tested and is currently receiving speech therapy so we've already done some of the list! I had hoped he would have made a lot more progress by now but even his father can't communicate with him.

[cazzz1975]

the important thing is the right things are happening for him, the assessment will get him the help he needs and the earlier the help starts the better the prognosis for the future, well done on getting them to do an assessment! x

[sherrardk]

It was really odd actually. The speech therapist has said that he won't get a statement because I can understand him. Today a Health Visitor rang me up out of the blue and asked how his speech therapy was going and I thought no more of it. Later, a different HV rang me and we had a chat and she said that he should go for a assessment for a statement (I get the feeling they were supposed to check on his progress ages ok and he got overlooked). We will just have to see how it all goes (to be honest he can only really say 'Flower' clearly so he has obviously got problems).

[cazzz1975]

health visitors can be quite notoriously laxed, hopefully once he starts seeing the paediatrician and the educational psychologist it will be pretty much out of their hands, they will only phone you to ask how its going and deal with any HV specific business (vaccinations, advice ect)

[cathfromsaron]

my daughter had one which indicated extra support was needed! it is basically a melting pot of different professional advice in one document! they used to be legally binding too!

[sherrardk]

Hi cath, if his speech doesn't improve dramatically he will have a miserable time at school. We communicate through signing and I know what he is trying to say when he does talk - on some words he leaves the beginning or end (or both) off, on others he just makes mumbling noises or he has made up sounds/words which he uses (he calls one of his sisters 'Lol lol o lol' and her name is Molly). His speech therapist says that he thinks he is saying things correctly (but obviously he isn't).