Hi Alex
I remember someone sensible and wise (Dave Laycock, perhaps) making one of
the earliest comments as SENDA came out. The question was "Who will decide
what is reasonable?" The knee-jerk answer has developed over the years: "The
courts will decide", but with few court judgments to guide us, we, the
people who are left guessing what such judgments might be like are left to
develop our own opinions on reasonableness. That's why I agree with some of
what you are saying here, but it may be an oversimplification to say: "It
also seems to be unfair that a reasonable adjustment is not being made.
Unfair to the student and the university." The LEA's position, I suspect,
will be that they are being reasonable and the uni, assessor and student are
not. Who knows, a court might agree with the LEA.
I say this not as criticism of your argument, which I have some time for,
but to help with the clarification you are seeking (and I am seeking in my
own head).
Cheers
Iain
Iain Hood
Senior Student Adviser
Student Support Services
Anglia Ruskin University
East Road
Cambridge
CB1 1PT
0845 196 2316
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----- Original Message -----
From: "alex larg" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 4:54 PM
Subject: DSA funding
Dear Colleagues,
perhaps someone could clarify something for me.
LEAs currently pay assessment centres in excess of 400 pounds for
"professional" opinion in the form of a report on the needs of an individual
student. Assessors work within the guidelines that they have available, they
meet the student and spend some time with them discussing their perceived
needs and bring their own experience to the table to share with the student
to try and establish what will be the best study strategies to employ at
that point of the course and hopefully for some time in the future. However
I understand that LEAs sometimes decide that the recommended strategies are
not appropriate.
I accept that LEA officers are experienced individuals and knowledgable
about the financial side of DSA and support, but what is the point of money
being spent on a needs assessment if the need is then rejected perhaps on
the grounds of cost?
A hypothetical example of this might be an assessor recommending a note
taker for a severely dyslexic and dyspraxic student, but the LEA only
committing to pay for a digital recorder and software such as Dragon so that
the student can somehow transcribe their own notes. This may be achieveable
in theory, but in practise the additional time and energy it would take such
an individual would likely be too much for any but the most remarkable of
individual.
It also seems to be unfair that a reasonable adjustment is not being made.
Unfair to the student and the university. The university are at risk of
legal action because they have the responsibility for making lectures and
studying accessible, however they don't necessarily have the resources as
this (note taker support in this instance) should come through the LEA as
recommened by the needs assessor - we seem to be in a loop somewhere which
leaves the university at risk and more importantly the student high and dry
and possibly failing.
Does anyboby know if there has been any high quality and appropraite
training for LEA awards officers to help them fully understand the
difficultues faced by students with specific learning difficulties or mental
health difficulties for that matter? Has anybody else had any similar
difficulties with supporting students in terms of funding for
recommendations, and how can students and disability officers best deal with
these situation in future as they arise?
Alex larg
Former Disability Officer
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