Advice on getting funding for private SEN schooling

Corelli

Hi, I was inspired by another thread on here about private schools to have a look myself.

My son is 13, intelligent but very behind academically. He has Asperger's Syndrome, severe depression and anxiety and is hard (imposssible most of the time) to get to even leave the house. He spent some months in a childrens' psychiactric hospital and came out to start at our local school.

This school situation is not working and I'm wondering about private schooling. The Cambian Group schools look like just what would benefit him so much. I spoke to one of their representatives and she said many of their children are funded by their LA. No way could we afford anything like the fees demanded - a child with disabilities can set the parents' careers back a bit

So, I'm wondering if anyone else here has gone this route, how you coped with the tribunal process that the Cambian Group person told me about. She also said all their children need a SEN statement before being accepted. I live in an area with an inclusive policy so they very rarely do a SEN, all schools have extra funding and staff to cover where necessary. She did say she would send me lots of information, but I'm wondering how to get an SEN.

Thanks for reading.

averagemummy

Hi, our situation is a bit different to yours, our daughter is dyslexic. She has has a SEN statement done for her. The best route I think would be to find out who the SENco is for your school (I think all schools would have one?) The SENco is the person who can get someone in to assess and then do a statement.

Sorry if this seems a bit vague but our SENco was brilliant so I don't have much advice on the system as she did so much for us.

Hope this helps.

Madmel

If your DS is not going into school, then perhaps your GP can get the ball rolling regarding a statement. I would imagine from what you have posted that your DS is already on a Special Needs register and it sounds as if a statement is the way to go. When very young children are diagnosed with a condition such as Downs Syndrome, they have a statement very early which enables them to access specialist help long before they go near a school, so a GP would be a good starting point.

Corelli

Thanks. I should have said that we are working closely with the local CAMHS, see a psychiatrist and start sessions with a psychologist tomorrow so I have contacts in this world. However, our borough are very unwilling to give statements because of the extra financial demands on them from statemented children so I was wondering about challenging a refusal from the borough.

My other main interest is actually getting funding for an independant providor. I suspect that what is available for SEN children within the public sector would not really suit my boy's needs. He's done 10 months in a hospital that was most suited, the local one, is AFAIK, more geared towards psychotic youngsters.

However, all may go well with the help the psychologist can offer, the prozac may work a miracle and he will flourish in the local school. Which is very good, and we had to appeal to get him in there. Ha .... I would so love to believe this ... so I am researching other options.

I

mucklebones

Have you tried contacting parent partnerships? They would be a good source of information too.

JC9297

Provision like the Cambrian schools aren't really private schools like in mainstream, they just provide facilities that Local Authorities do not have themselves, so the LAs pay them to meet the needs of children with SEN which can't be met in one of their schools. Most residential special schools are not run by LAs.

My son had a Statement in place before he even started school, he spent until 16 in autism units. He has a severe learning disabilty and autism. He had to leave at 16, we wanted him to go to a specialist residential school to help prepare him for adult life living away from us (he'll never be independent, will live in supported living). The LA argued that a local special school could meet his needs, we said he needed a 24 hour curriculum to help him to learn daily living skills and to maximise his independence. Remember it is his educational needs they have to meet, if he can access a mainstream curriculum it will be hard to argue that their schools can't meet them.


We went to Tribunal and were successful but it is a really stressful, time-consuming and potentially expensive thing to go through. The LA will fight tooth and nail not to pay the admittedly high fees, they hope that parents will give up before it gets as far as Tribunal. You need to have a really strong case to argue that the LA can't meet his educational needs in county, backed up by reports from professionals.


If his SEN are not severe enough that he has been statemented I think it would be really difficult. I know you said your LA is pro inclusion so doesn't like to give statements, but there will be children who have them ie children attending special schools, children with profound disabilities. I must admit I was quite surprised by the poster who said their child had a statement because they were dyslexic, I think that would be quite unusual unless there were other SEN.


An organisation called IPSEA is excellent for advice and support regarding statements and tribunals.

mucklebones

@JC9297

My daughter is due to start school this year (age 5) and we passed statutory assessment for statementing and have just received my appendix for the provisional statement. At the point where they issue the statement I believe I can name a mainstream school that I wish for her to attend but the specialist units and special schools are allocated by the panel is this right or is it something I should request?

mucklebones

Sorry to hijack your thread OP I hope you can find a solution for your son. x

Corelli

mucklebones wrote: »

Sorry to hijack your thread OP I hope you can find a solution for your son. x

No problem, I hope you get what your daughter needs.

Tigsteroonie

JC9297 wrote: »

An organisation called IPSEA is excellent for advice and support regarding statements and tribunals.

IPSEA was going to be my recommendation too.

Our son turns 3 this summer, and we've just sent the form requesting a Statutory Assessment so that his SEN will be in place by the time we have to start applying for Reception places. IPSEA was a great source of reference about the process and also about how to approach various rejections & tribunals (though hopefully we won't need that help!)

mandragora_2

13 is quite old for a statement to be initiated - what happened while he was in primary school, and why were his needs not picked up then? It will be a tough thing to do, but you will need to start with the SENCo at your child's current school, and the other key person I'd expect to be involved would be an educational psychologist. Any additional evidence/statements from the professionals who work with him would be vital - and in the end, you may not come out with exactly the answer that you are looking for now, but the school needs to address your child's needs specifically, and demonstrate that they are doing so. One other thing you might like to look into is the possibility of doing a CAF (common assessment form) if your authority does them, if there is more than one agency working with your child, and especially as your are struggling as a family, too. It leads into useful way of bringing all the relevant professionals together to plan and act together, identifying one lead professional to oversee the next steps. In many local authorities, they won't do a statement without a CAF being in place first. Sorry - this will sound like a lot of jargon, but the main advice I can give you is to get as well read up and informed as possible about your child's condition, and then work closely with the school SENCo to move things along. Recommendations from essentially private organisations muddy the waters a bit - and local authorities don't usually pay out for highly specialised and expensive alternative provision until a case has been fully presented that every possible other avenue has been tried and exhausted. You need to start with the school first. Hope this helps - and good luck. At the end of the day, you want the best, most appropriate provision for your child - and it needs to be put in place starting now! Don't waste a lot of time and energy fighting other battles, with a fixed end point that you MUST get to in sight, as it will lead to even more frustration and despair. Work with the school, and where necessary, other specialists in the authority. All the best.