Threshold to meet assessment for ehcp

[lamya190]

Hi all,

If anyone can answer my question of how behind does a child have to be to meet thresholds for ehc assessment and plan?

[Fairylea]

There is no set threshold. Each case is assessed individually. If you want your child to have an ehcp have a look at the ipsea website for help, you can include emotional and sensory needs as well as academic and cognitive levels.

[lamya190]

Thanks for your reply. My sons school has said there needs to be a two year delay and my son will not qualify. He is not two year delayed (asd diagnosis) but has issues with concentration, following instructions in a group and teacher led activities and the school has said if an adult isn't sitting next to him he would not concentrate. Is it worth me applying as the school will not apply as he has made progress since beginning of yr and I am constantly told not to compare with other children!

[Fairylea]

I see it time and time again on forums and Facebook Sen pages that schools have said no or that people won't get one and they do. I would just apply yourself, the worst that can happy is the council say no.

My son has an ehcp which I applied for myself, my son isn't 2 years delayed infact cognitively he isn't far off where he should be. He does however have a lot of sensory needs related to his asd and these form the basis of his ehcp.

[JudyCoolibar]

The legal threshold is in section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014:
Might the child have SEN
Might it be necessary for special educational provision to be made for him in accordance with an EHC Plan.

So it's pretty low. LAs can't have rigid criteria like a requirement for two years' delay or no progress - they have to look at the whole child. It's not good enough to say there has been some progress; it depends on whether he's made enough progress - at the very least, the gap between him and his peers should not be widening. They also need to look at things like whether the only reason he's made progress is because he's received support above and beyond what is normally available in mainstream schools.

[incogKNEEto]

I was told the same by school and when l applied myself the la refused to assess, as they said that without two terms at least of evidence that the school were making adjustments then they wouldn't assess.

I tried to argue that as the school were obstructive and denied there were any SEN (DD now been diagnosed with ADHD and helped by medication), how could l get this evidence, also that assessment would provide the evidence surely... They still said no.

I ended up removing my dc from the obstructive school and they are getting on very well at their new school, so l will wait and see whether the new school think l should apply for an EHCP as they have now identified SEN in my ds, who is on the assessment pathway for ASD now...

[Moonandstarsandback]

Judi, what would be considered support above and beyond what is normal available at mainstream school?

Hope you don't mind me asking! My sons school said they'd be applying 'when' my son had got a diagnosis of ASD. He now has this and they are saying they might not apply now as he probably don't get it!! Because he's 'making progress'. He has had 1:1 full time support since January (even before his diagnosis) and I believe that if this was taken away, he'd not be making progress! It was awful before! He's academically ok, but has only started being in the classroom or doing any work this last summer term! Why do schools not want to apply?! It seems they are always trying not to!!

[JudyCoolibar]

I would say 1:1 full time support is definitely support over and above what is normally available in mainstream schools - bear in mind the statute refers to mainstream schools in general, not the particular school your child attends. Apart from anything else, I'm guessing that that support costs at least £10K and delegated funding for SEN is notionally £6K.

If I were you I would just get on and apply myself. There's some advice on the IPSEA and SOS SEN websites about it.

[lamya190]

Thank you all for your replies. He has ASD is five years old and loves school. He's doing ok academically but not getting extra support at school just some group work. He is easily very distracted and I'm sure things will get tougher for him, he has a one year speech delay (he's in grade one in Sep) I feel he needs extra support but I don't know in what at school ! Surely the ed psych should discuss that with his school.

He was refused an assessment before and I did not appeal this was a year and a half ago but he was 2 yrs behind then! He didn't have an ASD diagnosis back then too so maybe I will have a stronger case now. I'm really confused I don't know what to do, the school he goes to aren't incorporating advice for Ot extra into his school day I know they are not. He is not causing the school issues he has made lovely friends and loves school. So I don't know if it's all in my head that he needs more support?! Confused is all I can say!!!

[lamya190]

Basically his peers are ahead of him in all areas, he does have a speech delays speech therapist went in to school once in the whole year, he is so easily distracted without an adult supporting him (written in his report) he is very fidgety. I just feel the gap is going to widen and the school haven't given him extra support just a quiet area to go to etc and have not been honest with what support as I genuinely don't think they have done much he has just coped and that's how he is, he adapts easily. The head basically told me ofcourse he's not gonna be at par with his peers as he has ASD do I just sit and accept that??

[lamya190]

He isn't that far behind academically and has met the standards in some areas but I just feel he needs more support across the areas. Hope I'm making some sense

[2boysnamedR]

Legally there is no limit or threshold. I won my appeal on merit of need. The LA and their EP stated that my county's graded response says a child has to be two years behind.

The judge said ' I don't care what your grades response says, statements are issued on need not arbitrary levels. You know that's illegal'

One of the best moments of my life

[Moonandstarsandback]

Thanks Judy, that's what I was thinking too.

[lamya190]

Any advice? Should I apply alone with out school backing??

[2boysnamedR]

You can apply without the schools backing. I did. I also ended up totally alienating myself from the senior school staff so be polite and tread carefully. I did that until the last appeal was over then I let them have it with both barrels. Makes for uncomfortable parent evenings

[Melawati]

You can definitely apply yourself. I did - just contact your LA and ask them to send you the forms. Ours came with quite a helpful information pack. The worst that can happen is that say no, it doesn't cost anything except your time.

[lamya190]

Thank u all for ur answers. Is the six weeks that they get back to u in, term time only or over the holidays also? And what if the school hasn't given him 'two terms' of extra extra support from their budget which I'm sure they haven't? Would it still be considered?

[Melawati]

I think if the school hasn't given support, they will refuse to assess, but with a letter giving the reason as no evidence of support from school. If you have a paper trail of requesting support and it being refused you can then appeal with that evidence and ask them to reconsider the assessment. Because we had sent in the parent view form and all the specialist reports with the request for assessment (this is what our LA asks for), we skipped that as they could see the history of school failing to support from that evidence, so they agreed to assess on the first try.

[shazzarooney999]

I was told by Ep my son will not get an Ehcp, he has Asd and sensory proccessing disorder, my son is not behind in school but he wont use the toilet in school, he can hold it in for around 8 hours and thats including breakfast club and after school club.

[2boysnamedR]

Tbh I'm sure Walmart happens over summer. I think the clock stops but I could be wrong

[dimples76]

Hi

I believe the six weeks applies at any time of year. I am lucky and ECHP process has been started by EP. The forms were submitted a couple of weeks ago and the letter I got back from the Council states that I will have a decision within six weeks.

[JudyCoolibar]

No, the Code of Practice says one of the exceptions to the time limits is where "the educational institution is closed for at least 4 weeks, which may delay the submission of information from the school or other institution"

[dimples76]

Oh right, my son is only 3 and nursery is open year round so i guess that's why it doesn't affect ours.

Good luck lamya

[lamya190]

Thank u all for ur advice, good luck to u all too xx

[youarenotkiddingme]

Good luck you've had some great advice here that I can only repeat (so I won't!!!!)

And if you want a hilarious response form an la mine has responded to tribunal for refusal to assess stating there's no evidence my DS has a dx of ASD! What - apart from the diagnosis