Hi
I've had some serious problems with email over recent months so haven't been
able to keep up with dis-forum discussions. I notice Andy Verlade brought up
the issue of the delay in processing DSA applications this summer back in
August but there doesn't seem to have been much discussion about this.
There seems to have been some serious problems with referrals for DSA
assessments to Assessment Centres this summer. There was a point in the
summer when assessment referrals almost dried up. Now I'm seeing some
students with complex needs very late in the summer who I should have seen
weeks ago. They are unlikely to get their DSA sorted out until way into the
first semester. Are other assessors finding this or are my students just the
unlucky ones?
This suggests disability officers will have some pretty desperate students
to support this year. Imagine if every student with a serious physical or
sensory disability applied through clearance.
What arrangements are people making to ensure at least personal assistance
needs can be funded at the start of term if the DSA assessment has yet to be
received, never mind approved, by the LEA? Are people planning to use the
Access to Learning Fund to cover interim 'emergency' payments for personal
assistance, travel costs etc? Are people using Premium Funding to build up
stocks of loan equipment? Am I just over-reacting?
It puts an incredible amount of pressure on assessors, assessment centre
administration, LEA awards officers and disability officers to sort this
sort of mess out. Can we seek some assurances from the "powers that be" that
this problem won't occur again next summer?
Ian Francis
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