Provides information to deaf and hard-of-hearing students who are already studying or who want to apply to college or university, as well as for parents and teachers of deaf students. Freephone: 0808 808 0123.Northern Ireland Tel: 028 9023 9619
School
Appeals & Help
What can you do if your child’s application for assessment or a statement is turned down?
If you're dealing with special needs tribunal or an assessment of special educational needs...Get advice and help. Look through our links. There is a lot of free professional advice available throughout the whole of the UK. There are also a lot of advocates and solicitors that specialise in SEN. We suggest you talk about costs right at the outset. Time is of the essence. Just like the application process there are tight deadlines to appeal decisions. You also have to wait a certain amount of time before you can reapply. Some things are out of your control – sadly, the chances of success vary wildly depending on your local authority and how much funding they have left in the kitty. Have a look through these guidance notes: Special Educational Needs and Disability appeals (HM Courts & Tribunals Service)
If you take professional or free expert help, we still suggest you get every document emailed, acknowledged, time stamped and sent to your home address as a hard copy.
Here is a template letter for parents who have been refused an assessment
Every Disabled Child Matters, in association with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors.
Douglas Silas Solicitors
Everything you wanted to know about the law on special educational needs but were too afraid to ask.
Action on Hearing Loss
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CSIE gives information and advice on the special educational needs of pre-school children and school pupils up to the age of 19. CSIE also supports parents' campaign groups, families and schools, and produces a range of booklets and information factsheets.
Contact a Family
Gives advice and information to families with disabled or special needs children. The organisation also provides a range of factsheets and has a network of volunteer representatives.
Helpline: 0808 808 3555 (Freephone: Mon-Fri, 9.30am-4pm).
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A national charity providing free legal advice to families who have children with special educational needs. All their advice is given by trained volunteers.
Offers information, advice and support for parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs. You can ask for details of your local service from your child's school or local authority. You can also find details about their services, and contact details for your local service on their website.
Parents for inclusion is a self-help organisation giving information, advice and support on education matters to parents of children with learning difficulties. It has parent support groups and can help a parent prepare their representations or case for an appeal. Publications are available. Tel: 020 7738 3888.
SEN Legal
Leading experts specialising in education law.
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Sense is a national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are Deafblind. They were established from a family support group in 1955 by parents whose children were born with rubella, and the experience, skills and views of families remain central to their work. You can see how they have developed over almost 60 years on their website.
Sense offers high-quality, flexible services across the UK, using skilled staff and a dedicated network of volunteers. They work with a wide range of Deafblind and multi-sensory impaired people, as well as those who have a single-sensory impairment with additional needs.
They work with children, young people, adults and older people with a progressive sight and hearing loss, offering a range of housing, educational and leisure opportunities. They also offer support to all Deafblind people in both the congenital and acquired Deafblind communities, not just those who receive direct support and services from them.
Special Educational Consortium
The Special Educational Consortium (SEC) is a group of organisations who protect and promote the right of disabled children and children with special educational needs to a high - quality education which meets their needs.
SEC also has a Parliamentary Group that is particularly active during the passage of legislation. The role of the Parliamentary Group is to represent the views of SEC to members of parliament.
What do they do?
•They provide the SEN and disability sector with a strong and unified voice with which to talk to Government, Parliament and officials.
•They provide a forum for the its members to develop their thinking on education policy and set political strategy across the sector.
For more information visit the website or ring the number.
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SENAC is a charity in Northern Ireland providing an independent advice, information and advocacy service for parents of children and young people with special educational needs up to the age of 19 across a wide range of learning difficulties. Advice Line: 028 9079 5779
