Advice for Parents

This article has been written by Beth Wicks, Educational Consultant specialising in the field of acquired brain injury, www.bethwicksconsultancy.com.

If the LEA decides to undertake a statutory assessment of your child's special educational needs, and you agree to this, you will be asked to submit written information towards this assessment. LEAs must offer you advice regarding your contribution. They usually offer written suggestions regarding what should be included and sometimes offer assistance from a Parent Partnership Officer or the person at the LEA who has responsibility for overseeing the assessment process. (This person is called the Named Officer, and you will always be told who this person is and how to contact him or her).

The LEA must also ascertain the views of the child by whatever means is appropriate and include these as part of the assessment.

The problem with the written guidelines that you will probably be offered by the LEA is that these have been formulated to gain information regarding children who have always had difficulties that have caused special educational needs. The difference is that your child has acquired difficulties and much of the suggested detailed information about his or her early development and progress, which was probably very normal, is not as relevant.

The following provides more specific guidance about information that you may find helpful to include.

Before the illness

You may find this difficult, as you will be thinking about the child you knew, who may now be very different. However, his information will be helpful to those considering his or her current needs. Take your time to think about this, jot down some ideas and then come back to it, for instance the following day, if this helps.

As previously mentioned, you may just wish to state that until ..... (include the date that your child became ill) your son or daughter was a normal, healthy child with no difficulties.

However, if he or she was particularly good at anything it is worth mentioning, for instance:

• Sports
• Any aspect of school work
• Other out of school interests/hobbies

If he or she had any difficulties, mention these. For instance:

• Any need for additional help in school, e.g. with readiing
• Any behavioural difficulti
  
• Any physical or sensory (sight, hearing etc) difficulties

Use a sentence to describe your child at that time. To do this, think about his or her personality:

• Quiet or outgoing
• Physically active or preferring sedentary activities
• Shy or confident
• Friendly, popular, studious, fun-loving, mischievous etc., etc.

The Illness

Explain:

• When your child became ill
• How long he or she was in hospital
• What difficulties he or she had on coming home
• Any rehabilitation that he or she had and any therapists that were involved

What is your child like now?

Explain any changes:

• In his or her physical or sensory (including vision and hearing) skills (Can he or she walk, run, climb, eat, dress etc. independently or with help?)
• In his or her speech and use of language (Can he or she keep up with a conversation; always remember the word to use; convey messages etc.?)
• In his or her energy levels and stamina (Does he or she get more tired now and is this at particular times of the day/week? Does he sleep well and at usual times?)
• In his or her behaviour (Does he or she have more tantrums, get angry or aggressive, or sometimes blurt things out inappropriately? Is he or she quieter now?)
• In his or her friendships (Does he or she have the same friends? If not does he or she have any friends now and what ages are they? Does he or she mix well or tend to play alone?)
• In what he or she now likes to do at home (Hobbies, interests etc.)

Explain how your child is doing at school now:

• What is he or she particularly good at?
• What does he or she find particularly difficult now?
• What things particularly help your child in school (e.g. extra support or strategies being used)?
• How does he or she cope with changing classes or teachers?
• If your child has homework, can he or she do this and how much help does he or she need from you?
• Does he or she like school and want to go?

Explain any changes in the way that your child thinks and learns now:

• Does he or she concentrate well?
• Is he or she distracted (more than other children) by other things happening in the room?
• Does he or she pick up new things that are taught as quickly as before?
• Does he or she remember things that have been taught, things that have happened during the day and things that he or she has been told to do or to remember?
• Can he or she work things out and tackle problems, say in Maths?
• Is he or she reasonably organized (for a child of that age) with, say, school books and equipment, clothes, tasks etc.

Explain what things you do to help your child at home:

• Do you help with homework? In what way?
• Do you have to remind him or her about things? Have you found ways to help him or her remember, such as prompts, messages or diaries?
• Do you have to help him or her physically - e.g. with dressing, eating etc?
• Do you help your child to arrange meetings with friends or take him or her to places where he will mix with others?
• Are there any specific strategies that you use to help him or her, for instance, to concentrate, to remember, or to behave appropriately

Effects on the Whole Family

You do not need to go into too much detail, but explain how your child's needs and the effects of his or her illness have affected the whole family. This should include his or her brothers or sisters.

Do you feel that you have a good relationship with staff at his or her school and that, as parents, can you always talk to someone there when you want to?

Your Views on Your Child's Special Educational Needs

Explain:

• What you think his or her special educational needs are.
• How you think these can best be met.
• Your main worries and concerns regarding his or her education now and in the future.
• Do you think that he or she should attend a mainstream or a special school? Why?

Your Child's Views on His or Her Special Educational Needs

• Does your child realise that he or she has difficulties now?
• If possible, explain how he or she feels about this.
• How would he or she like to be helped or, equally important, not like to be helped in school?
• If a move of school is necessary, has your child said where he or she would like to go and why?

Additional Information

Include:

• Copies of any reports that you have received from other professionals that you think are helpful (for instance, from doctors, therapists or a neuropsychologist). State in your report that you are including these, name the people who wrote them and then clip or staple photocopies of their reports to yours.
• Names of any other professionals who know your child (from whom you don't have reports to include) and who you would like the LEA to write to for information. You must understand that this people will only send information that they already have. For instance, you cannot ask the LEA to arrange an assessment by and report from a neuropsychologist. If a clinical psychologist has been involved and/or assessed your child, do make this very clear in your report, whether or not you have anything in writing from them. The regulations state that the school's educational psychologist (who will be asked by the LEA to complete a report) must liaise with any other psychologist who they know to have been involved.

What Happens Next

In addition to asking for your views, the LEA will have written to ask for reports (known as "advice") from your child's school; the school's educational psychologist; the Health Authority (via the school doctor); and Social Services (they just have to give information if the child is known to them already). They will then write to anyone else that you name in your report, if they consider this to be "reasonable". When any of these people see your child for the purpose of producing a report (such as the school doctor or the educational psychologist) you have a right to be present if you want to.

When these reports are returned to them, a decision will be made as to whether to produce a Statement of Special Educational Needs for your child. This must be within10 weeks of the initial decision to conduct the assessment. The LEA may decide that this is not necessary and they must inform you of this, with reasons. They may produce what is termed a "note in lieu of a statement". In this the LEA should refer to all the advice that they received during the assessment process, set out the child's special needs and how these should be met. It should then be explained how the LEA believes that these can be met from within the school's own resources. This document may contain similar information to that within a Statement, but it does not have the same legal status and the LEA does not, therefore, have the same statutory obligation to maintain the provision outlined. You have a right to appeal to a Tribunal if you disagree with a decision not to issue a Statement.

If the LEA decides to issue a Statement, a draft (or "proposed") one should be sent to you within a further two weeks of the decision to proceed with this. (All parts should be filled in except for Part 4, which names the school that your child will attend. This will be left blank at this stage.) You will also be sent copies of all the other reports that have been written. Do read all of this carefully. If you have any concerns about the information contained, the description of your child's special educational needs, or the proposed additional provision to meet these, tell the Named Officer at the LEA. You can either write a letter to explain your objections and concerns or arrange to go to the LEA offices for a meeting to discuss these. There are time limits for this, so do make sure that you read the letter with the proposed Statement carefully. This is when you then have the opportunity to say which school you would prefer your child to attend. The LEA may not agree with you! If you attend a meeting to discuss the Statement do consider asking the Parent Partnership Officer to go with you or taking a friend who knows your child if you would feel more comfortable with that. You have a right to appeal to a Tribunal if, after discussion, you do not agree with the Statement or if the LEA does not agree with your choice of school.