StatementingThe educational needs satementing process for visual impairmentAt whatever age your child is diagnosed with retinoblastoma it is useful to look to their educational future and to be aware of your statutory right to help from your Local Education Authority (LEA) The help they can offer will be related to the degree to which your child is visually impaired and the resulting learning difficulties. Children who have monocular vision, ie have lost one eye, are not deemed to be partially sighted. Parents need to ensure that the vision in their remaining eye is as good as it can be by having regular orthoptic checkups. The process of assessing the educational needs of children with visual impairment generally starts between the ages of 2 and 3 years old (pre nursery). It can be initiated by parents or the prospective nursery, contacting your Local Education Authority. If your child is already in school you can ask the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator at the school to start the process. The process should take at least 26 weeks but this varies from LEA to LEA. To assess your child’s needs the LEA will need to gather reports on the medical background from your Consultant, Orthoptist, Educational Psychologist and Special Needs Support Service. This will give them a comprehensive analysis of your child’s special learning difficulties and disabilities. Following this they will send you a Proposed Statement outlining the school/nursery they feel appropriate and the type and level of support offered. The policy of the LEA is to integrate children with special needs into main stream schools wherever possible and will look initially to those in your locality to provide that support. At this stage you need to go to the nursery/school and discuss your child’s needs and the proposed statement. After your comments and that of the nursery/school have been received a Final Statement will be sent to you which hopefully is what you as a parent feels meets your child’s needs. You do have a right to appeal. This will lead you on to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal which is an independent body that looks at parents’ appeals against LEA decisions At this point your may feel in need of some advocacy and the National Blind Childrens Society (NBCS), amongst others, offers this service. You can request a booklet by ringing 01278 764764. If your child is already in school, an alternative route to providing assistance, is the School Action Programme. This is a plan individual to your child and drawn up by the Special Educational Needs Coordinator. The school already has a budget for this type of plan but if the plan is not satisfactory the next stage is “School Action Plus”. Once these have been explored, if you still feel they have not been able to fulfil your child's needs you should pursue the statementing process with the LEA and the school. This process may be very straight forward for you, or fraught with delay and difficulty but you have a right to take part in decisions about your child’s education and your views are important. The cooperation and goodwill of the school is very important and it always wise to establish a good working relationship. It is possible that the future policy with some LEAs will be to devolve the whole process to the individual school which will be responsible for the budget. |
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