Can anyone please explain to me what a CAF meeting involves?

puddy

yes, you've done exactly the right thing. start keeping a list of all the inconsistencies of service/reports/assessments. make a list of things you dont have or things you dont understand and put things in writing to make sure that they are answered, chase things up if you dont get answers

for a start, what exactly is the extra support she gets on SA at the moment
what is their plan for areas she does not seem to be progressing

when would they move her to SA+
where is the IEP and why was this not chased when she started the school. dont let them fob you off with 'its the primary schools fault', that might be true but its their responsiblity for a child in THEIR school to chase it

your gp needs to ascertain who she saw those years before, what was the outcome of the assessments, where are the assessments, what the plan of action was etc etc

once you get things moving, you can then move on to requesting a statement if necessary.

then chase camhs, when is the appointment, your daughter is getting worse, you want to be seen quicker, phone the duty line

phone SSD, your daughter is a 'child in need' under s17 of the children act (you think), you want an assessment done, you want their support in accessing services. your other children's needs also need to be met and you want support.

Pazu

Hi Teabag

Can I chip in here? I was SENCO in my last school and if you are in England the process should be the same. With the CAF you will be invited to a meeting to help complete a long form. I always tried to complete as much as possible before hand from the school records. I would then discuss what I had written with the child concerned and add thier comment (primary school.) Unless things have changed, and they change rapidly in education, they don't do family CAFs. So the CAF will be your dd's. There may be things included to support you but they will be to help you parent dd. You may feel that you need your own CAF. Before you go think about your daughter's problems, what you want to achieve and prioritise this. You have the right to disagree with anything that is written. It might be altered or if the school feel it is impotant they will put their point and you can add your opinion. Try to be patient with the school and remember that the child you see will be different to the one they see. Look back over this thread and list the organisations people have suggested for support. Make sure they are included in the CAF. If you feel you need support for something that hasn't been mentioned the SENCO will have a book of agencies.

Pazu

teabag29

Ok so daughter came home today with a note from the senco in response to the note i wrote her. It says:
Chloe is at school action not school action plus as she receives intervention for literacy 5 hours per week. She has no IEP as this is nolonger a statutory requirement. She would have had a review at parents evening if you had attended. Feel free to make an appt to see me next term if you wish to discuss further.

I found the 'if you had attended' bit very rude. I got 3 days notice of parents evening and my dh tried his best to get the day off (he works 12 hour shifts) to look after the other 3 children and our 2 year old was ill at the time. At the time i asked if we could have a more convenient appt when I didnt have to frag 4 children along but they wouldnt give me another appt.

Also she has received awards for the most progression in her humanities and maths so doubt they will consider statementing her as thats only for children who aren't progressing on sa and sap

puddy

why is she inviting you to make an appointment with her next term? isnt she going to be at the caf meeting

i would reply and say that you do not want to correspond with her via notes given to your daughter and say that you are offended by her tone about the parents evening citing the difficulties you had with child care given the short notice (thats what i would do but you may not want to)

dont they give behavioural/pastoral support at the school?

teabag29

Next term because they break up today for easter and the head of year isnt arranging the caf until after easter. I dont know much about the school other than 2 years ago it was facing closure as parents wouldnt send their kids there and it was one of the most criticised schools in the country but apparently the new head teacher has turned the school around and it is now doing well.

Pazu

Hi Teabag

Now for the Statement. You will not get a Statement without evidence. Get in touch with the Head teacher of dd's original school. Don't make any judgement (remember you want the best for dd at the end of the day) and arrange to collect all dd's SEN records and GO AND GET THEM. They are too important to trust the post or the school. If the school has done the right thing and passed the records on to dd's final primary school they will have a record of this. If the head says the records were passed on ask for the date they were posted. If there is any doubt about where the records are, ask if they could assemble from their assessment data some records for dd. This will be a lot of work for them but not impossible if they have lost the records!! Tell the Head you are gathering evidence for a statement and s/he will know what to give you.

Next go to dd's final primary school and repeat the process. Remember your only aim is to get evidence for dd. I would have expected you and dd to be involved in SEN trasition meetings with the Senior School so don't hold out much hope here.

Now make another appointment with the current school's SENCO. Photocopy all the evidence you have collected and give one copy to the school. I would ask the SENCO; why dd is only at SA when she has made so little progress, what interventions she is currently having, will they move dd to SA+ and if not why not, what is their definition of SA+, how many cycles of SA does dd need to complete before movint to SA+, and ask for a copy of the school's Special Needs Policy. You will not get a statement if the school does not provide evidence of providing SA intervention and then SA+ intervention when that has failed. A statement is usually issued when a child is globally at least three years behind.

It would ring alarm bells for me if a school's reason for not moving a child through the SEN system was that "other children are worse" or "its more emotional than academic." Each child should be taught according to need.

Pazu

gizmo111

phone SSD, your daughter is a 'child in need' under s17 of the children act (you think), you want an assessment done, you want their support in accessing services. your other children's needs also need to be met and you want support.

And they'll just support the CAF process which is being done to access services and will NFA the referal.

puddy

but it sounds as if there is no social work input at the moment, who is trying to coordinate all these missing services. i know that is what managers (and duty workers) will try to tell the OP but essentially if you dont ask, you dont get

teabag29

I have already tried social services, ive told them all about dd but they just advised me to wait for camhs. The lady i spoke to told me about possible youth clubs in the area and gave me a number to ring but i explained dd is unsafe on her own crossing the road etc and she told me we all want to protect our children but at some stage I must let go and let her make these mistakes for her self....I was very cross. I explained I have let her as i've had no choice at times and she's walked to school on her own and nearly been run over are you actually advising me to allow her to go out on her own after what i've told you.....she avoided answering the question and told me by best bet is to wait for camhs.

I've actually got a social worker coming to speak to my other dd on wednesday as her dad has been in touch and any contact with him must be supervised. They asked me about all the kids and i explained about dd's behaviour but they didnt advise. I also asked if I could get any help with transport but got a big fat no. They advised me to wait for camhs also and to put a claim in for dla.

teabag29

Does anyone know how much it would cost to go private and see a child psychologist? What kind of price do they charge? If dla decide shes entitled i'm thinking this might be the best root to go down as I hear they are very good but I havent got a clue what it would cost to go private??