Abstract
This paper looks at the views of everyone involved in one child's statutory assessment. The people speaking are the child, the mother, the named person, the head teacher, the class teacher, the special educational needs co-ordinator, the educational psychologist, the clinical psychologist, the senior clinical medical officer, the occupational therapist, and the acting principal educational psychologist. They are asked their views of the child's situation, about what they think assessment is really about and what their role is in the assessment, about what kind of partnership they experience in the assessment and what kind of partnership is possible, and about where power is located in the assessment. Their voices raise many questions about conceptions of 'need', 'objectivity' and 'partnership'. The basis of multi-disciplinary assessment is challenged. Instead of one multi-disciplinary assessment in one case there are as many assessments as there are participants. Statementing is suggested to involve the painful negotiation of different discourse within a complex power structure. Implications for working with children deemed to have special educational needs, their carers and professionals are discussed.
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