Again thank you so much Etienne you have been incredibly helpful. Fingers crossed we are nearly there with it all.

Hi Etienne - sorry another question. We are considering having an Ed psych report done (tomorrow) but I have read on here in a post that an EP will not be available at an appeal and it is not sure how much consideration will be given to the report at an all. Would you say then perhaps it is not worth obtaining?

Thanks

That is true, but appeal panels have been trained. A good LA will arrange training for its IAP members in topics such as education law, the Equality Act, the role of the ombudsman, understanding WISC/BAS reports, etc., etc.

In any case, one would hope that the EP explains his or her findings clearly in the report.
If it's complicated, you might be able to get your EP to attend the appeal hearing as a witness, although this would of course be an additional cost.


It's impossible to say how much weight individual panel members might give to this particular piece of evidence - and in this respect there's no difference between a review panel and an appeal panel.

The fact that an appeal panel does not have the services of an educational psychologist should not be a factor in your decision.
There are other considerations to an EP report which we discuss in the Q&As, such as the cost, whether it will deliver the results you hope for, whether you think it's worth having for its own sake.

_________________
Etienne

Thank you Etienne that's really helpful.

Hi Etienne, apologies I'm back with a few more questions.

We now have the EP report back and there are a range of scores some putting her in the average banding and others in the very high or high average. I am unsure which figures are key apart from the obvious (numeracy 96th percentile, spelling 98th percentile, fluid reasoning 94th percentile and reading 84th percentile). I am concerned where she falls within the average bands it will go against her.

Are you able to advise at all on what your thoughts on the above are and whether I should be looking for anything else?

Many thanks.

Is there an overall score (GCA or FSIQ)?

Could you list all the main scores?

_________________
Etienne

Full-scale is 113

Verbal comp - 58th
Visual spatial - 34th
Working memory 87th
Processing speed - 58th
Psuedoword - 82nd

Thanks

Although there are some excellent individual scores (such as fluid reasoning), my feeling is that the report as a whole might not strengthen your case.

It is entirely up to panel members to determine what is 'acceptable', but I suspect they would probably like to see an FSIQ in the 120s at least.

_________________
Etienne

Thanks Etienne I think that was our gut feeling too.

The thing is our main purpose of having the report done was to almost show that despite her low Maths and NVR scores in the exam she has the ability to do it and the report shows that and seems unfortunate to not be able to include it. Where her VR was strong in the exam that hasn't come through in the report. Almost seems strange.

So are we saying it's probably best not to include as there is no way of including it and drawing their attention to the 'highlights' so to speak without them questioning the not so strong parts even though she didn't fall below average in any of them?

We also have the letters re bullying and how it's affected performance wondering if this will help in any way.

Thanks again.