|
Does your child have trouble talking or understanding other
people? Are you concerned about the effect this is having or may have
on your child's education?
Is your child getting help to overcome communication
difficulties?
The speech and language therapist is one of the team of
people who have a duty to ensure that your child has help.
Contents
1 Referral to NHS Speech and Language Therapy
2 Assessment
3 Therapy
4 Second Opinion
5 The Specialist
6 Special Educational Needs
7 Statement of Special
Educational Needs
8 Not Enough Help? What You Can Do
9 Speech and Language Therapy and the Law
10 Organisations That Can Give You Advice
Ask your GP,
health visitor, playgroup leader, or school to refer your child or ring
the local speech and language therapy service yourself.
You should
receive an appointment within eight weeks of the referral.
Back to top
2 Assessment
The
therapist will ask for information from you, and carry out a screening
assessment of all aspects of your child's communication skills. The
therapist should look in more detail into areas of concern and should
discuss the findings with you. If your child needs therapy, you should
be told what the problem is, what therapy is needed, when it will be
offered and the timescale.
Back to top
3 Therapy
Therapy may
involve individual sessions with you and your child, a group for
parents and children, or parents only. It may be taken by a speech and
language therapist, or by an assistant supervised by the therapist.
It may
include advice and/or training for the playgroup or school, and will
involve you in learning to help and to practise new skills with your
child. You should be sure you are clear and agree about the aims and
the results of each phase of therapy.
If your
child is placed 'on review' you should be told the reason and what you
should be doing during the review period.
Back to top
4 Second
Opinion
There are
many specialist areas within speech and language therapy. Ask your
therapist if they are a specialist in the specific difficulties which
your child has. If you have concerns, ask to see the specialist
therapist in your area.
If there is
no specialist, or you are not satisfied, you have the right to a second
opinion. Ask the therapist or your GP to arrange this, or ring one of
these organisations or helplines.
If you want
more information about what is happening for your child, ask the
therapist or the local speech and language therapy manager. Put any
concerns in writing.
Back to top
5 The
Specialist
When you see
the specialist, ask whether your child's speech and language
difficulties will have a significant effect on their education. If the
answer is 'Yes', ask:-
- who else needs to be involved?
- what is the procedure?
- what is the timescale?
- what do I need to do?
Some
children may need extra help because they have a learning difficulty,
or a severe speech and language difficulty which hinders them from
accessing the curriculum, or making use of educational facilities
generally provided in schools for children of their age.
Back to top
6 Special
Educational Needs
'Special
educational needs - a guide for parents' is produced by the
Department for Education and Skills.
Under the
1996 Education Act and the Code
of Practice issued by the Department for Education and Skills,
parents are entitled to request an assessment to determine if their
child has special
educational needs (SEN). This assessment is co-ordinated by your
local education authority (LEA) and involves parents, and professionals
who will advise your LEA what your child's needs are and what provision
is required to meet those needs.
This
assessment may lead to a 'Statement of Special Educational Needs' which
is a legally binding contract between the LEA and the child's parents.
This process is usually referred to as 'statementing'.
Back to top
7 Statement
of Special Educational Needs
You should
be sent a proposed Statement, with all but Part 4 completed. At this
stage you will have the right to see all the reports, comment on the
content of the Statement, and if you disagree with anything, ask to
discuss changes to be made. The final statement is set out in 6 parts:-
Part 1 Gives
basic information on the child and carers including names and addresses
Part 2
Describes your child's difficulties (needs)
Part 3 Sets
out all the special educational provision required to meet those needs
(including speech and language therapy)
Part 4 Names
the school or other provision
Part 5 Sets
out your child's non-educational needs
Part 6 Sets
out your child's non-educational provision
Your LEA
must arrange the provision set out in Part 3 of the statement, but it
has no duty to arrange provision in Part 6 - nor does anyone else.
Usually, if
a child needs speech and language therapy this will be an educational
need. Only rarely will it be non-educational.
As an
educational need, speech and language difficulties should appear in
Part 2 of the statement. The educational provision to meet them should
appear in Part 3.
The
regulations state that Part 3 should be set out in three subsections:-
- objectives - the long term aims of
the provision to meet your child's need
- educational provision - setting out
the educational provision that your LEA consider appropriate for all
the learning difficulties identified in Part 2. This applies both to
provision made by direct intervention on the part of the authority and
that made by your child's school within its own resources
- monitoring - the arrangements for
reviewing progress, targets and objectives
THE CODE OF
PRACTICE is the handbook which explains in detail how under the Act the
whole legal process of identifying and managing the needs of children
with special educational needs is to work. It says the special
educational provision in a Statement should be 'SPECIFIC, DETAILED AND
QUANTIFIED', for example, in terms of hours of ancillary or specialist
teaching support.
If you need
more information about statementing, please contact one of these organisations.
Back to top
8 Not
Enough Help? What You Can Do:
If your
child is not getting the speech and language therapy described in Part
3 of the statement:-
- write to the speech and language
therapy manager
- write to your LEA
- see what the law says
Back to top
9 Speech
and Language Therapy and the Law
"We do not
see how to teach a child to communicate by speech can be any different
from teaching him to communicate by writing; both are clearly
educational." The Lancashire Judgement (R v Lancashire County Council
ex parte CM, 1989).
The NHS has
a primary responsibility to provide a speech and language therapy
service to the LEA. However where a child's speech and language therapy
provision is specified in Part 3 of their Statement the LEA has an
ultimate responsibility to arrange this provision. Case law confirmed
this in the judgement: R vs Harrow London Borough Council ex parte M
(1996).
"The LEA
will be responsible for arranging all the special educational provision
specified in (Part 3 of) the Statement". Code of Practice para 4:28.
Back to top
10 These
Organisations Will Be Able to Give You Advice
In addition to
the specialist organisations listed here, the following organisations
offer help:-
ACE (Advisory Centre for
Education)
1 Aberdeen Studios, 22-24 Highbury Grove, London N5 2EA
Tel: 020 7354 8321 (2-5pm)
Children's Legal Centre
University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex CO4 3SG
Advice line: 01206 873820 (10-12, 2-5pm)
Department for
Education and Skills Publications Unit
Tel: 0845 602 2260 (for England)
Scottish
Executive - information on Additional Support for Learning [ASL]
Information for Parents on the ASL Bill can be found here
Wales:
please check the Welsh
Code of Practice for Special Educational Needs
IPSEA (Independent Panel for
Special Educational Advice)
22 Warren Hill Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4DU
Freephone 0800 0184016
Network 81 (a national network
of parents of children with special educational needs)
1-7 Woodfield Terrace, Stansted, Essex CM24 8AJ
Tel: 0870 770 3306 (Mon-Fri 10am to 2pm)
Back to the top
|
