DE
Reference: D_19_2012
Gender: Male
Aged: 8
Type of Reference: Arrangements of CSP
Reference
The Appellants lodged a reference dated 22nd October 2012 under sections 18(1)(1) and 18(3)(d)(ia) of the Education (Additional Support for Learning)(Scotland) Act 2004 (“the Act”) on the basis that there has been a failure by the Respondents to provide, or make arrangements for the provision of, the additional support indentified by virtue of section 9(2)(a)(iii) of the Act. In particular, the co-ordinated support plan (“the CSP) for their son, The Child, stated that a Speech and Language Therapist (“SLT”) will work with The Child on a weekly basis, and the Appellants contend that this has not taken place.
Summary of the Decision
The decision of the Tribunal is to find that there has been a failure by the Respondents in terms of section 18(3)(d)(ia) of the Act. However, the Tribunal does not consider it necessary or appropriate to order the Respondents to now make such provision. The Tribunal require the Education Authority to carry out an early review of the Co-ordinated Support Plan, said review to be finalised no later than 1st June 2013.
Evidence
The Respondents led evidence from Witness A, Head Teacher at School A, where The Child presently attends, and Witness B, Speech and Language Therapy Team Leader. Both were very experienced in their field and details of their qualifications were provided. The Tribunal found their evidence to be credible and reliable in all material aspects. The Appellants did not lead any witnesses or give evidence.
Preliminary Matters
Both parties were allowed to lodge further documents at the commencement of the hearing and these formed R19-R21 and A5-A8 of the Bundle.
Reasons for the Decision
This is a reference by the Appellants brought in terms of section 18(1) of the Act, which states-
“Any of the persons specified in subsection (2) may refer to a Tribunal any decision, failure or information specified in subsection (3) relating to any child or young person for whose school education an education authority are responsible”.
In subsection (2), the persons referred to include, at 18(2)(a) the parents of the child.
Section 18(3) of the Act states “The decisions, failures and information referred to in subsection (1) are-
........
(d)(ia) “failure by the education authority to provide or make arrangements for the provision of the additional support (whether relating to education or not) identified by virtue of section 9(2)(a)(iii).
Section 9 relates to the duty of the education authority to prepare a co-ordinated support plan. Section 9(2) states
“A co-ordinated support plan prepared under subsection (1) must contain-
(a) a statement of the education authority’s conclusions as to
(i) the factor or factors from which the additional support needs of the child or young person arise
(ii) the educational objectives sought to be achieved taking account of the factor or factors
(iii) the additional support required by the child or young person to achieve those objectives, and
(iv) the persons by whom the support should be provided.
The child, The Child, commenced at School A in January 2012 on a phased introduction and began full time attendance in February 2012. He had previously been attending at School B but had been withdrawn from there by his parents.
Initially The Child underwent a period of assessment to confirm if the placement at School A was going to be successful. As The Child was becoming more settled, in March the Respondents began preparing a CSP and this was subsequently completed and dated 9th May 2012.
In the CSP the Factors Giving Rise to Additional Support Needs identify that The Child has a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder with associated sensory issues and difficulties with social interaction. His speech and language development is also delayed. This impacts upon his ability to communicate and express his needs, concepts and feelings; pay attention and concentrate; interpret the world around him; this, combined with a poor sense of danger, can result in The Child expressing himself physically in ways that can pose a threat to his safety.
Under the heading “Educational Objectives”, it states that “The Child will learn to respond to his environment and communicate in ways that will not involve him harming himself”.
Under the heading “Additional Support Required” it identifies “Assessments to inform planning to meet The Child’s needs and to establish support strategies: Implementation of recommended strategies: Speech and Language therapist will work with The Child on a weekly basis.”
Under the heading “Persons providing the additional support” it is stated “Educational psychologist: Speech and Language therapist.”
There is no dispute that the Respondents did not make arrangements for a Speech and Language Therapist, as was provided for in the CSP, and on that basis the Respondents conceded at the start of the hearing that there had, indeed, been a failure in terms of Section 18(3)(d)(ia).
Section 19 of the Act sets out the powers of the Tribunal in relation to a reference under section 18. In particular, where the reference relates to a failure referred to in section 18(3)(d)(ia), section 19(3) states
“...the Tribunal may require the Education Authority to take such action to rectify the failure as the Tribunal considers appropriate and by such time as the Tribunal may require.”
On behalf of the Appellants it was submitted that the Tribunal should order the Respondents to rectify their failure and referred the Tribunal to the dictionary definition of “rectify”. However, the use of that word also implies that the child has suffered some inequity or disadvantage. There was little evidence before the Tribunal, such as an independent report by a Speech and Language Therapist, to allow the Tribunal to reach the conclusion that the child had suffered a setback or been impaired in his abilities as a result of the failure of the Respondents or that an order that speech and language therapy now be provided would alleviate that.
Initially The Child attended at School B and was referred to SLT in 2008. A report from Speech & Language Therapist, dated 14th July 2011 was referred to. There was some evidence, both from the report and at the hearing that at that time SLT did not work directly with The Child on a one to one basis, rather that they were involved in devising strategies for those working with The Child.
When The Child started at School A a draft CSP was drawn up. There was some contact between the Principle Teacher, and the Speech and Language Therapist. On the basis of that, it appears that the reference to SLT was put into the CSP. However, Principle Teacher was not called as a witness and Witness A was not able to give any information as to the basis on which SLT was put into the CSP. At that time no updated SLT assessment had been carried out and there was only limited information available about the nature of the discussions with SLT.
Initially The Child found it difficult to settle into school, presenting with high levels of anxiety, aggression and self harming behaviour, such as screaming, hitting himself and running out of the room. The evidence from Witness B was that it would not have been possible to have carried out an assessment at the start. The Child’s place at the school was under review and under the auspices of Psychological Services. In April, a review meeting was held. The Child was still finding it difficult to settle. Speech and Language Therapist had been invited to attend but had not been able to do so. Witness A agreed to pursue SLT as The Child’s case files had not yet been transferred to the school’s link SLT. It was not appropriate for Witness A to make a fresh referral to SLT as The Child had not been discharged from his previous SLT.
A further review meeting was held in June 2012. An update to the April Review report was referred to during the hearing. This showed that The Child had become more settled, and the episodes of distress and self harming had reduced in frequency and duration.
Witness B decided in June 2012 to carry out an assessment as there had still been no contact from Speech and Language Therapist. There was no explanation or cross-examination as to why the assessment was not carried out until September 2012. Her assessment took the form of observing The Child on one occasion, initially from a distance. During the observation she was able to approach The Child and, when the teacher was called away, to have direct contact with him. She also spoke with his teachers and his parents. Following this she took the decision to discharge him and we were referred to her Letter of Discharge dated 1 October 2012. This Reference was submitted by appellant dated 22nd October 2012.
Whilst Witness B conceded that it was possible that The Child may derive some benefit from input from SLT, this could not be considered as evidence of fact. Her evidence was also clearly to the effect that two children with similar additional support needs could respond differently to the same support. So, just because an input was successful with one child, didn’t mean that it was guaranteed to benefit the other. In contrast, her evidence was that the reason for the Discharge was because she felt that there was nothing she could add to the support already in place from the school.
For The Child and his particular additional support needs, she considered that if he were to receive direct SLT, one outcome could be to improve his vocabulary (and point to pictures when asked) but, because of The Child’s difficulty in generalising his knowledge, this would be of limited benefit to him. She also advised that it was better for The Child to learn vocabulary in the context of the classroom and that the school were best placed to provide the support for this.
Witness B did accept that in her report she made recommendations for additional strategies that were not yet being employed by the school. She was, however, satisfied that her decision to discharge The Child from SLT was correct. She disputed that the decision to discharge The Child was driven by any non clinical factor, such as finances.
Against this, no evidence was led on behalf of the Appellants. As they were seeking to challenge the lack of need for SLT, they might have been expected to produce a competing report from an independent SLT but none was produced. It was accepted by the Appellants that The Child was making good progress both at School A and at home. It was repeated, both in the reference and at the hearing that the appellants were very happy with the staff at School A. When questioned about what benefits they thought The Child would get from the provision of SLT, mum was unclear, other than asserting that it would be good for The Child to increase his vocabulary. Mum contended that The Child did generalise his knowledge and gave an example – referring to The Child losing his baby teeth and telling her “tooth loose”, using words she didn’t know he knew. However, this could equally be taken as an indication that The Child already has a more extensive vocabulary than she realises, so the speech and language work being done with him at the school is already successful.
A concern expressed on the part of the Appellants was that, if there was no provision of SLT then there was no mechanism for a SLT practitioner to oversee the implementation of SLT strategies. However, Witness A was clear that the school have their own linked SLT and regularly seek input, advice and training from SLT for the benefit of all children in the school, including The Child.
School A is a school with a significant number of pupils who have a diagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorder. Additionally, a substantial number demonstrate a communication disorder which impacts heavily on their learning experience. The school uses a range of individualised strategies for such pupils, seeks to provide an appropriate learning environment cognisant of autism specific needs and has regular input and training from services such as SLT. The Child has benefited from this approach. A Summary Report dated December 2012 prepared by Senior Educational Psychologist, recorded that The Child was taught mostly out of class until June 2012, when he joined a class of 4 pupils, a teacher and 2 PSA’s. A review meeting in November 2012 recorded that he had settled particularly well and improved in all areas. His improvement had also been noted at home by the Appellants. The report from that meeting confirms The Child’s progress and goes on to state that The Child has achieved a great deal more than could have been predicted when he first started at school in February. The report did also state that it was the opinion of Witness A that all of the outcomes outlined in the CSP had been met. At the hearing it was accepted that there are still some issues with The Child exhibiting self harming behaviour. However, there was no evidence to allow the Tribunal to conclude that the continuing self harming arose solely out of communication difficulties that the input of SLT could affect. By contrast, in the review report dated April 2012, it described The Child as having a very limited tolerance level and being prone to impulsivity. He was able to cope with some large group settings for a limited time, but high pitched noises caused him distress. It went on “It is difficult to identify triggers for his sudden and frequent outbursts of screaming and self harming, which can last up to 30 minutes. In such situations he needs to be in a secure area where he can come to no harm until he calms down.” The update to that report noted that this remained unchanged, although The Child’s episodes of distress had reduced in frequency and duration.
The Order sought by the Appellants was for the Tribunal to order the Respondents to make provision for SLT, not only on an ongoing basis, but also to order that they provide additional provision to make up for the period of time between the CSP and the hearing when SLT was not provided (a period of 34 weeks). Even if the Tribunal had been satisfied that SLT was necessary, there was no clear evidence about what form such input should take – whether a SLT would be required to work directly, one on one with The Child or indirectly, devising and monitoring strategies for others to implement.
Section 19 of the Act states that the Tribunal may require the Education Authority (the use of bold type is mine) So, the Act does give the Tribunal discretion, where there is a finding of a failure on the part of the Education Authority, whether to make an order or not.
The Tribunal require to bear in mind the spirit of the Act. Section 1 of the Act defines that a child has additional support needs
“...where, for whatever reason, the child or young person is, or is likely to be, unable, without the provision of additional support, to benefit from school education provided or to be provided for the child or young person.”
No evidence was placed before the Tribunal that The Child requires the additional support of SLT, over and above what is already being provided by the school¸ to enable him to benefit from education or that without the provision of SLT that he is unable or likely to be unable to benefit from school education. To the contrary, all reports show that The Child has made considerable progress, in excess of what could have been foreseen when he first attended at School A.
The Appellants’ contention was that the CSP identifies SLT as an additional support required to fulfil an objective and that the objective has not been completely fulfilled as there is still some evidence of (much reduced) self harming behaviour. In the Discharge letter it did state that the objective had been fulfilled. There was admission from Witness A and Witness B that there were still some episodes of self harming behaviour.
The CSP is a document which is based upon needs identified at a particular point in time. It ought to identify needs that are likely to last for at least a year. It is also a document that should be kept under review, either annually or earlier, as set out in section 10(3) of the Act, if the parents request it or the Education Authority consider it necessary or expedient to do so. However, the CSP is not the only document which informs the Education Authority and the school in relation to the child’s needs and progress. The Tribunal were also addressed on the Additional Support Plan (“the ASP”) and the Individual Short Term Planning Sheet (“the ISTPS”) for The Child which break down the long term planned outcomes into greater detail.
By its nature, the CSP is a less flexible document than the others, which are kept under constant review and updated no less than 5 – 6 weeks apart. The ASP and ISTPS give a more up to date picture of identified objectives and whether these have been obtained and what support is still required.
Having regard to all matters the Tribunal finds that it is not appropriate or necessary to order the Respondents to provide SLT to The Child at this time. It is appropriate that the CSP should be reviewed. The CSP was dated May 2012 and states that a review should be commenced by May 2013 and completed by 1 August 2013. We were advised that the Respondents had already invited the Appellants to a meeting on 15th March 2013 with a view to commencing a review. The Tribunal accordingly order that a review should take place, with the process being completed no later than 1st June 2013.
The Tribunal is pleased to note the positive progress that The Child has made at School A and the good relations between the Appellants and the school and hope that this will continue as clearly The Child benefits from the willingness of the school and the parents to work together.
