Has anyone had this issue? Cross borough stand off.

[Titsywoo]

DS has ASD and is currently waiting for OT referral for dyspraxia which he had diagnosed privately. CAMHS saw him recently after his ASD diagnosis (also private) but dumped us pretty quickly due to long waiting lists and lack of funds (he was told he needs a cognitive assessment as part of the paperwork for an EHCP but they said the Ed Pysch for the school can do that so we are on her waiting list now). He is supposed to have a SALT too but he was dumped by them last year as 3 years ago we had to move and our new house is about half a mile into the next county as it our GP (we weren't allowed to stay at our one in the old borough). Anyway his speech is poor as is his general communication so SALT is very important but since the school is in our old borough they tried to get SALT back through them and they said no it's the new boroughs problem. New borough said no he is at school in your borough he is your problem. So they are at a stand off. The SENCO at school has been battling with them for nearly a year to no avail. It is getting very frustrating. DS is 9 and will go into year 5 in Sept. He was diagnosed at 8 so quite late and trying to get everything in place for a statement is such a slow process as we keep getting dumped or turned away. They have said if we had a statement then they would have to say yes to SALT but with waiting lists this is a good year off I think.

Anyone had the same issue or have any ideas how to get past this? Thanks :)

[Hedgyhoggy]

Yes, we live in the same county as school but gp (healthcare) is in an other county. Ended up trying to get what we can from both, not that itd a lot. When ds started school we moved over to a paediatrician in the same county as school. We were told at this point that salt provision comes from same county as education. Which we received though it was rubbish. Not really very helpful to you though! Do you receive DLA? could you spend on private SALT?

[AugustaFinkNottle]

I would have thought it's the new borough's responsibility as they have overall responsibility for meeting the needs of children who live in their area, irrespective of where they go to school.

Are you in England? If so, they're no longer called statements, they're called Education Health and Care Plans. I strongly suspect that you would be best off just going ahead and applying for one. There's information about how to do it on the Ipsea and SOS SEN websites.

[ouryve]

You need to make sure that SALT is down as an educational need in the EHCP. It is the responsibility of the LA you live in and which is, therefore supporting the EHCP to make sure that is funded, regardless of who provides it.

[Titsywoo]

The ehcp is being applied for by the school. We are pushing forward but they want the cognitive assessment done first which will happen early in the autumn term. If they apply for the ehcp will it go through the old Borough rather than where we live now? I'm so confused!

[AugustaFinkNottle]

If the school hasn't already put the application in, don't wait, send one in yourself. Schools have a way of delaying and delaying, but the reality is that you only need a letter to start the process - the borough then has 6 weeks to get the information from the school and decide whether to assess. If they do decide to assess, they can do the cognitive assessment as part of that.

It's the new borough you apply to for an EHCP. Have a look on their local offer website for more information.

[ouryve]

It's the borough you live in that you apply to for the EHCP.

We have no plans to leave ours for a long time, now! Just glad our LA is now a unitary authority because we'd have been somewhat scuppered if we'd had to stay in the old arrangement!

[ouryve]

And I agree with taking charge and applying yourself - they'll have to do the assessment in your time frame, not theirs, then!