Ds2 was diagnosed with ASC late last year. Nursery have been very supportive of his needs and have put a lot of support in place for him, as well as keeping detailed documentation.
With nursery backing, I made a parental application for EHCP, LA acknowledged receipt of this early January, along with the standard letter explaining procedure and a huge form to fill in explaining my views.
Application was sent with my detailed letter explaining reasons, and a report from EP, with a view to sending all supporting documentation from school shortly afterwards (along with further reports which were due to be completed last week).
Last week I LA rep called to tell me the request had been refused, the reasons being that school had not sent supporting documentation, and that the panel wanted to see how DS had been supported over time... That we could resubmit within 8 weeks and the panel would reconsider.
There were 11 days between the date of the letter saying they'd received my parental request, and the request going to panel.
I called SENCO immediately to explain and find out what was going on as this seemed a bit fishy to me. She told me that she'd already sent all of the current documentation (a big file, detailing everything from the past year he's been at nursery) which would have arrived with the LA that day... That the "deadline" nursery had been given to provide this was next week, which would have given enough time for latest reports to be submitted too. I'd also not had the time to finish, let alone send in, my "parental views" form.
When I collected DS from nursery later, she'd left a message for me that she'd spoken to the LA, and that apparently there'd been a "mistake", it shouldn't have gone to panel so soon. It might be possible to resubmit to panel next week, or maybe not.
Just before all of this happened, nursery called an urgent meeting with me. Despite all of the additional support (including FT 1-to-1 for the entirety of his sessions) they are unable to support him without additional help. I know he's a handful, how difficult it can be to manage him, and do believe they have exhausted their resources. Ultimately, we agreed that he needed to be on a PT timetable (yet again!!) until it's possible to put the additional support into place, perhaps with a view to transferring to SN nursery. Further meeting planned with ALL professionals involved in his care next week.
I've now received the letter from LA about refusal to assess, but don't know where to go from here. Obviously this will be discussed in the meeting next week, so really wondering if anyone has guidance about what to steer towards?
Options seem to be:
- Hope the LA will go back to panel to reconsider next week (ideal option, but seemingly unlikely)
- Resubmit the application ASAP (and possibly wait another 6 weeks for them to consider it)
- Mediate with the LA (could be up to 4 weeks before mediation meeting is arranged)
- Consider mediation, get the certificate, and go straight for appeal
DS is due to start school in September. He'll likely need to go to a SS (I'm already well aware that this will be tricky to secure, budget cuts and all...). In the meantime, I have no other childcare options and have had to drastically cut my working hours, so keen to get things moving as soon as we possibly can.
Sorry this is so long! Any ideas for what to do next?