The first step is to talk to the schools Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) to establish the type of support your child is receiving, what progress he/she has made and what steps the school plan to take to meet your child's needs. If you feel that the support your child is receiving through their school is not meeting their needs you can contact your Local Education Authority (LEA) and request a statutory assessment of Special Educational Needs (SEN). The LEA will consider all available evidence, from the school, education & health professionals and from you. If after considering the evidence the LEA decide your childs needs cannot be met solely through school based provision they may decide to issue a statement of SEN.
The statement will:
If the LEA decide NOT to issue a statement, or you disagree with the proposed statement, you can appeal to the SEN & Disability Tribunal, see below.
What if my child has a statement, but is not getting the support set out in the statement or the support does not meet his needs?
If your child is not getting the educational support set out in their statement you should first check with the school to see why, for example, is it a short term problem due to a staff absence/equipment broken down?
If you do not think the provision set out is meeting your child's needs you can request a reassessment of your child's SEN. If this is declined or you disagree with a proposed amended statement you can appeal to the SEN & Disability Tribunal.
What other help is available?
Each LEA must provide independent support & disagreement resolution services to help parents through what can be a very emotional and stressful time. See below for details of these services.
What is a parent partnership service?
Parent partnership services provide support and advice to parents whose children have SEN. They provide accurate and neutral information on the full range of options available to parents. They do not 'take sides'. They help parents to make informed decisions about their children's education. Where parents want an independent parental supporter, the service should provide one. You can find a list of contact phone numbers at www.parentpartnership.org.uk
What is a disagreement resolution service?
Disagreement resolution services provide an informal way of preventing or sorting out disagreements between parents (whose children have SEN) and the LEA or school (this will only include independent schools where they are named in the statement). This is an additional service parents can use if they want to. The service is designed to be a way of resolving problems quickly and informally. Using the service does not affect your right to appeal to the SEN Tribunal.
What is the Special Educational Needs Tribunal?
The Special Educational Needs Tribunal is an independent body that hears parents' appeals against LEA decisions on statutory assessments and statements.
You can appeal to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal if:
The Tribunal is based in London but, outside the South East, appeals are heard locally. The Tribunal is made up of three people. One of these will be the Chairman, who will be a lawyer. The other two will have experience of SEN.
You can go to the Tribunal on your own, or voluntary organisations or parents' groups can help you prepare your case and go with you. You can also ask up to two people who know your child to speak for you at the Tribunal.
The Tribunal will look at the evidence and will make a final decision. In reaching this decision, the Tribunal may consider how the LEA's actions compare to the guidance set out in the SEN Code of Practice. Just because an LEA has not followed the Code will not always mean that their decision was wrong. But the Tribunal will expect the LEA to explain why they have not followed the Code's guidance when that is relevant to the decision they have made.
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