School denying diagnosed SEN. Where to turn?

You are more likely to get one when they are about to change schools. The current school won't be as obstructive as it won't mean them having to deal with the paperwork for years afterwards. I got one for my youngest when he was in Nursery and one for my middle child when he was in year 6 (the middle one took three tribunals, refusal to assess, refusal to grant and refusal to assess) before they decided to give him one just after he started year 6.

The fact that the school isn't giving the support that was recommended in your previous report is grounds for having an EHC.

The benchmark for a parental request for an EHC assessment is low, the child MAY have a disability and MAY require additional help from the school. Plus by getting the assessment the gathering evidence itself is very useful even if it doesn't result in an EHC.
I have a child who masks in school but didn't cope when he got home, after years of fighting we got an EHC and now he has the support in school he is fine when he gets home.

I don't think you should let it drop - I think you should ask the school immediately why he is on the SEN register without an individualised education plan and demand a meeting immediately. At the VERY least he is entitled to additional transition support to secondary. Every SEN child should be discussed senco to senco and offered different provision based on SEMH needs.

I'm not angry. You have come up with some really weird interpretations of my posts.

I put forward home schooling as a possibility for OP a few weeks only at a point when her son won't be missing that much in school and in response to her saying that he is showing anxiety and the school is paying no attention. If he wants to go in, fine, but why force him when it is just causing him anxiety and he is in a school that just doesn't seem to recognise or do anything to help with what sound like major sensory problems? Only you know how you manage to interpret that as me suggesting home schooling is the answer for all children with sensory difficulties.

As for what happens for children with sensory overload, in a well-run system they would have competent assessments by appropriately qualified occupational therapists and schools and local authorities would follow their advice. For some children, that may mean being in a smaller school environment, for some it requires variations on developing strategies, wearing headphones etc, having a quiet space to go to, having a sensory diet, having clinic treatment, etc etc; advice needs to be tailored to each child.

It's clear I was replying to your comment

All children 'mask' in school. That's pretty normal conformity right there.

Ergo you shouldn't confuse autistic children masking to "all children".

@CabernetSauvignon

You seem very angry and have suggested home schooling despite not knowing the OP and ever seeing her son in school or out.

I'm sorry for all that you have been through to have turned out like this.

I was going to ask what you suggest happens to all these young people who suffer with sensory overload but you've done that yourself. Home school. 👏🏻 Let's hope these parents can manage that on top of the current cost of living crisis etc.

Given that your son has presumably finished SATs and isn't doing a whole lot in school at the moment, I wonder if it's worth just taking him off the school roll for the rest of the term? Is it feasible to home educate for a few weeks? You can keep it to a pretty relaxed curriculum.

I think you're right to leave applying again for assessment till your son has started at secondary school. Obviously the current school isn't going to provide adequate evidence. You need to talk to the secondary SENCO in advance to try to get as much support as possible in place and give a little time for any initial honeymoon period to be over, and maybe apply after half term.

SOS SEN and IPSEA have some good information on their websites, and I found SOS SEN's booklets on assessment and EHCPs really useful.

This, but you need to ensure that it is a therapist with qualifications and experience in sensory integration - not all OTs have that experience.

If he copes at school - I can't understand why you would be seeking one for him. School are managing his needs well. That's great news.

That's way too simplistic. All too often the child who copes in school does so at enormous cost to their mental health. Just think about something that stresses you out - for instance, being in an incredibly noisy environment and not understanding what is going on - and think about that being your experience for several hours every day. Could you cope?

Children with autism tend to have communication difficulties which means they don't understand people's expressions and they don't understand inference, nuance, jokes, irony etc and need time to process what is said to them, so as they progress through school are going through the day in a fog of incomprehension. They also tend to have sensory difficulties which means that many sensations are really uncomfortable for them, they are very sensitive to noise so that it is painful and they are easily distracted by the slightest noise, just sitting still for long periods of time makes them almost unbearably uncomfortable. A child with those problems might manage to suppress them enough to cope during the school day, but do you imagine their learning is optimum? Often by the end of the day they are extremely stressed and like a coiled spring, hence the massive meltdowns parents often report as soon as they are out of the school gates and with a safe person. To suggest that all of that is "great news" and means the child needs no help in school is just ridiculous. Those are the children who end up being too anxious to attend school at all. Is that great news?

No.

Masking in autistic children is entirely different. To compare it is very offensive.

Compared to who? Other children with SENd? 'Normal' children? What does this even look like anymore?

Serious and genuine question.

Don’t focus on funding, focus on the provision being detailed, specified and quantified in F as then it must be provided and can be enforced if it isn’t.

From your posts it is clear DS needs provision beyond what can typically be provided by a MS at SEN Support level. For example, he needs ongoing direct OT including sensory integration OT and SALT.

However even if that wasn’t the case, case law demonstrates LAs should consider whether without an EHCP “can the child’s special educational needs be met through provision from the resources normally available to a mainstream school and will they actually be met?” And it is possible to secure an EHCNA with a view to securing an enforceable EHCP when the school could do more but won’t.

Focus initially on getting another EHCNA. The only lawful threshold is a) has or may have SEN, and b) may need SEN provision to be made via an EHCP. Anything else such as 2+ assess/plan/do/review cycles, spent £6k, 2+ years behind… is unlawful.

This isn’t true.

You are paying to jump the queue and be seen quicker not paying for a diagnosis .
As long as the assessment is done according to NICE guidelines then it’s as valid as an nhs diagnosis

They sound shit. Makes me grateful for my school's support. My children get sensory sessions, movement breaks, allowed to wear ear defenders, support with mental health, small group work etc and at school they are mostly "fine". How dare they deny your child's diagnosis!

Definitely get a meeting in now with the new secondary school SENCO. Take your reports and ask them what they might be able to implement from the recommendations. Also ask them about their knowledge of masking.

This is brilliant!

No.

Masking in autistic children is entirely different. To compare it is very offensive, its the equivelent of saying "all children's hearts race" when you're talking about someone with a heart condition.

Again, a daft policy. Are NHS psychologists doing it for the pure love of psychology? Does anyone discount a lawyer's or accountant's or architect's advice because they're being paid?

Any school that follows that policy is very, very stupid. There's nothing magic about being an NHS or school psychologist that makes you automatically better than other qualified psychologists.

With DD2, I wrote that although the SEN COP suggests that schools should have done the assess-plan-do-review cycle and have evidence of the process, the fact that they hadn't was evidence in itself that they weren't meeting DD2's needs and couldn't meet them without a Plan, and that DD2 shouldn't be penalised by their failure to follow process.

There’s half a term left in primary school, so I agree that the best plan would be to get the secondary school on board as soon as possible, bearing in mind that OP’s son will come across many more teachers and children than he has up to now.

Speak to the SENCo if you can, or email if you can’t. Make them aware before induction day and document what he needs to manage as well as he can in school. If you can get their support to appeal the needs assessment, it will add to your evidence of need.

For us, the turning point was getting the attention of someone from the Specialist Teaching Advisory Team at the LA. I had tried referring through proper channels, but got hit with 'they only deal with children with EHCPs'. My point was that without her expertise, I wouldn't have the evidence that DD2 needed an EHCP (massive masker at school). I directly emailed her, explaining the situation. She couldn't help because there was no capacity in her team, but when a private SALT commissioned by the LA did a terrible job of assessment, I copied her in on my complaint and she read the report and intervened. She's been seeing DD2 ever since and frequently advocates for her when issues arise with the LA or school.

OP you could try the occupational therapist route. A full assessment in school and in the home by an OT will provide the in situ evidence you need.

In my long and miserable experience navigating through our shit SEND system it all boils down to pieces of paper from professionals.
I have boxes and boxes of evidence and reports for my son which I dump on various desks if they ever question what I'm saying.