EHCP - school seem willing...but not sure

[OdoItal]

DS5 (8yrs) has autism w/adhd, brain injury, dyspraxia and hypermobility. Very ambulant. Very verbal. very young, socially clueless.

school (ms) get mid-funding for him. he has TA several sessions a day (was awarded 19hrs LOL) had portage when young, salt for around 6yrs. Hes a bit of a handful - but loveable (i can tell his teachers have a real soft spot for him). He currently comes home at lunch - he was getting into trouble through social inadequacy, and it helps enormously with his energy levels and coping better after lunch with a time-out.

12wks ago it was suggested by teacher (without heads knowledge) to ehcp (maybe she was having a bad day). I took a couple of weeks and agreed (theres no way hes going to manage ms senior). 9wks ago i asked for it to go ahead. 2wks ago was told that first stage for them (C&I team before EdPsych) was refused. she will try to appeal, then try again june 'springboard' if refused.

Should i just get the procedure going? write the first letter? the school have given everything ive asked for so far, and on the face of it been truthful to me.... it just niggles that actually they arent actually doing the thing to organise an EHCP. will it do more harm to relations with school than actually doing any good towards EHCP??? i dont know...

[OdoItal]

if you are wondering why the niggles:

1. she told me point blank that she was entitled to use the money in any way she sees fit to enhance the childrens learning - shes just had all grounds landscaped and new windows, and new biomass boiler (theres 6 children alone in DS's year with mid/high funding)
   
2. DS was supposed to get 1:1 over lunchtimes - he never ate any lunch, and got into LOTS of trouble over lunch - so no supervision whatsoever.
   
3. his TA is one of 3 in a 200 pupil school. he shares. a lot.
   
4. Hes also doing a second round of swimming (never been heard of before) which takes all afternoon.
   
5. they have agreed to stop trying to beat work out of him and let him take lead, in the hope that his behaviour will improve. (who's benefit?) but equally, It was me that asked for that.

[OneInEight]

I think if you phrase it "As I know you are so busy I thought it would help if I sent the letter...." they would be unlikely to take offence. We did apply ourselves (well for a statement as was then) and I am glad we did because it meant we knew exactly what was happening and what had been sent. At the end of the day your son's education is going to be of far more priority to you than the school where he is just one of hundred's of pupils. Not saying they won't help but just that you have the more incentive to get it right.

[senvet]

Apply as soon as possible. Simples!

[littleredsheep]

Sen rule no. 1 : Never wait for someone else to do something if you can do it yourself!

Keep them on side for sure but no one will do things with the speed that you will. Every second counts.

Voice of bitter experience...

Child 1 we waited term and a half for school to make salt referal. All good intentions and they did it eventually, but they are just over run and it was a low priority job for them.

Child 2 (now had knowledge you can self refer.) phoned, self refered, assessment occurred and report on nhs within 6 weeks.

Ipsea has all the templates and advice on how to initiate statutory assessment.

Cc in school and make clear you are helping them and saving them a job.

[ASDMum1973]

Absolutely agree with the post by Littleredsheep. Don't wait for the school to do what you can AND question EVERYTHING anyone tells you. The best course of action is requesting an EHCP yourself.

Ref your comment " He currently comes home at lunch - he was getting into trouble through social inadequacy, and it helps enormously with his energy levels and coping better after lunch with a time-out." Sending your son home for lunch this is illegal exclusion, interesting and useful article here:
www.cafamily.org.uk/media/639982/falling_through_the_net_-_illegal_exclusions_report_2013_web.pdf

That's great evidence though for the requirement for 1:1 support in unstructured periods and great evidence for the need of social communication sessions.

If you want support for your son I would ask the school to provide a letter for each time they have asked you to collect your son at lunchtime - as any period your child is out of school at their request they must provide a letter, in the same way you do if you want to take your child out of school. If you request the letters this will prompt them to push back to the LA to ask for the support your child is entitled too. It won't be as simple as that but it will get the ball rolling.

Do all correspondence by email, not face-to-face, so you have the evidence should you require it for a SEN Tribunal. If you are called to meetings, take someone with you to make notes, I used to record them covertly and send them the minutes afterward. From my experience the vast majority of draft SEN Statements and EHCPs so far are utterly rubbish so you may require paper evidence to back up anything you are fighting for.

An alternative to IPSEA is also SOSSEN.org.uk who run workshops to inform parents on the EHCPs and appealing etc. Both brilliant charities though x

[StarlightMcKenzee]

Your child should be receiving the provision that means he does not run out of energy at lunchtime, nor get into trouble due to his disabilities causing social problems.

The school do not have the power to appeal against an EHCP refusal. You could ask for a copy of the paperwork that they sent which might help you, but put in your own request all the same.

[OdoItal]

I did ask for a copy...i was fobbed off, saying that it didnt have any real information - that they had said there wasnt enough specific information in the first request and thats why it had been refused. (the teacher had to get the paperwork in for the first day back at school after the holidays and i think she rushed it and naffed it up by not putting in any effort, possibly because she thought it was a sure thing because of DS's needs? not sure). Here the school has to ask communication and interaction team to come and assess to offer suggestions of help. when they run out of options, or they arent working, then Ed Psyche is asked to get involved to request EHCP. that was 14wks ago.

I did start procedings for statementing before DS started school... it was one block after another. It was horrid. and i ran out of energy for the fight as it turned out, actually i feel he did benefit from being in MS at that point.

Do the holidays delay the "20wks" process? and how reliable is the "20wks"?