Hi,my 8 year old has been diagnosed with DCD,we had a tac meeting last week and the school have said they cannot help him unless i claim dla for him and he gets statemented.
His academic work is way below average,he is in year 4 and is writing and reading on a year one level.He has been on action plus for a while but there are 7 children in his class on action plus and only 5 hours a week to go round.
The OT who came to the tac was fantastic and said he needs this,this and this and the school have said they cannot provide it.
Just wondered if it really mattered if you get dla or how to go about getting my son what he needs.there seems to be massive confusion at the school whether he would meet criteria.thanks

Hi
These 2 issues are totally separate, DLA has nothing to do with Statements, that is a really odd thing for them to say. If the school can't meet his needs then they should have requested an assessment not just said they can't do anything. Rather than wait for them, you do have the right to request an assessment yourself. Read this very useful post by Daniel which explains Statements and gives you a sample letter to request assessment yourself:
http://www.parentsofdisabledchildren.co....t-t-8.html
If your son needs extra help with care needs, etc then it may be worth applying for DLA for him but this is nothing to do with school. The only reason to get schools involved is if you choose to get his teacher to complete the section in the form which is for someone else who knows the child to complete and last time I completed the forms this was an optional page.
As the school don't seem to know what they should be doing then if I was you I would try talking to my local Parent Partnership about assessment and statementing, you'll find their details on your local authority website. They are usually helpful but you can always try ACE or IPSEA who also advise on SEN and contact details for both are in the Useful Resources section at the top of the page.
Hope this helps
Jayne x

thanks,i thought it was just me who thought it was strange to say he needed dla for a statement.
He doesn't have care needs as such at school but at home he cant always make sure he is clean after using the toilet,cannot do buttons or laces,struggles with the stairs and cannot use a knife as well as a fork at teatime.
The care they were talking about at school is someone helping him with his button on his trousers after swimming,he came home last week with his trousers undone as the teacher said he couldnt help him because he doesn't have a statement?!
I think i may contact parent partnership for some help,the help he needs is basically a sloped desk and wedge on his chair,extra time to write and to not have to copy off of the blackboard but to copy from a sheet in front of him.he has lots of processing problems so needs more time to work things out but is falling further and further behind.
thanks x

who exactly said he needs DLA the senco?
This is wrong as there is no legal requirement to claim DLA so this statement is shocking and could be a put off tactic.
Worth contacting parent partnership but if you have no luck with them remember IPSEA are very good.
Statements can take a very long time to sort out so i would get onto it today.
Also i am wondering as equipment is needed NOW if the occupational therapist could help you in the meantime?
At very least the school have a duty to provide for his additional needs and cannot delay these needs being met whilst awaiting the statement if there is a clear need to act now

yes daniel it was the senco.the OT basically said what was needed and she said the school couldn't provide him extra help while he was on school action plus.she said he needed to be on dla to be registered as needing a statement,that is where i am getting confused.we are going through the pre school statutory assessment with scott but they have never mentioned dla,but maybe they just assumed i was getting it.
As the next TAC isn't until february i don't hold out much hope that my son will be able to keep up with his classmates without extra help.
We are lucky to have a fab OT and she is getting him some cuddly cutlery and he has physio stuff at home but the school is blocking all of her suggestions.

I hadn't thought it may be a put off tactic,the whole process mentally drains me as the tac was for my daughter aswell who is displaying behaviour problems and they know how poorly scott is,so it could be they think they can scare me off with paperwork! i don't want everything handed to us at all,i just want my Children to do as well as they can.