If you are planning an appeal to SEND and seek professional advice you will most likely receive advice that you should instruct independent experts The most common experts suggested will be an Educational Psychologist, an occupational therapist and a speech and language therapist depending on the child or young persons needs In some cases, other experts are needed, eg, an independent social worker or a child and adolescent psychiatrist
These experts are often instructed at significant expense to parents and it can be difficult to find experts who have availability and also expertise in going to Tribunal hearings and experience in giving expert evidence It is always wise before instructing an expert just to check what SEND experience
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Posted: 2nd August 2017
Author: Kieran Baker
Recent figures released by the Department for Education for 2015/2016 show that pupils with special education needs (SEN) accounted for more than half of all exclusions, fixed term and permanent!
The report tells us that:
- Pupils with identified special educational needs (SEN) accounted for almost half of all permanent exclusions and fixed period exclusions
- Pupils with SEN support had the highest permanent exclusion rate and were almost 7 times more likely to receive a permanent exclusion than pupils with no SEN
- Pupils with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan or with a statement of SEN had the highest fixed period exclusion rate and were almost 6 times more likely to receive a fixed period exclusion than pupils with no
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Posted: 5th July 2017
Author: Emily Bower
Four years ago, the then government implemented the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) Many people eligible for legal aid on 31st March 2013 became ineligible the very next day
The Law Society has prepared a report indicating that legal aid cuts over the last 4 years have denied the most vulnerable people their fundamental rights to Justice
Robert Bourns, President of The Law Society stated that: “while successive governments have repeatedly cut back the legal aid budget, the reforms set out in LAPSO made the most significant changes to legal aid since its introduction, denying legal aid to many who need it”
He goes on say that “removing lawyers
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Posted: 30th May 2017
Author: CLP
The Department for Education (DfE) has provided some statistics and information about the number of Statements of Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)
https://wwwgovuk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/615689/SFR22-2017_Main_Textpdf
As at January 2017 there were a total of £287,290 EHCPs and SENs representing an increase of 121% from January 2016 The statistics still show that there are a significant number of children and young people with Statements which as at January 2017 had not been transferred to EHCPs and of more concern a number of children and young people with Statements have been assessed and a decision had been made not to issue an EHCP
If you require advice on Statement of SEN, EHCP’s or if you are considering requesting an
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Posted: 21st April 2017
Author: CLP
Eye Can Talk is a blog which is written by an 11 year old who is non-verbal due to his severe cerebral palsy but who has learned to communicate using an eye gaze system
https://eyecantalknet/communication/
This section of the blog explains how Jonathon went from being ‘locked in’ to using eye gaze communication to write poetry and his own blog Jonathan had one of his poems read out on Radio 2 on Easter Sunday https://eyecantalknet/ This is inspiring for all of the families out there trying to battle the special education system to get access to new assistive communication technology for their children
We are helping a number of families at the moment to seek specification and quantification of AACT
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