EHCP support thread no. 4

They really tried to take her on a trip and I was there too and when we tried we knew it was impossible. It was very stressful for everyone and quite upsetting. She has began to strip off for when she can't cope in school and school have said this is now a safe guarding issue and they do not want to keep her isolated hence they have called an early review. I can honestly say the school have gone above and beyond.

Yes we had private salt and sensory assessment. I think the la are backed into a corner and that's why they're offering a place albeit not till next year.

The ot report says mainstream will not be able to meet need. She requires an si trained ta at all times both for safety and eating non edible she has eaten poisonous things in school and they have had to report it. School say that even if they had funding they would not be able to get a ta trained ta to that level in a mainstream.

Ah, that’s different if DD can’t cope.

I read ‘not allowed on trips’ as the school excluding DD from the trips, which sadly happens all too often.

Has DD had a sensory OT assessment? If not, do you have one lined up before the hearing?

@BrightYellowTrain thank you. They didnt want to exclude her. My daughter can't cope with them at all even with me there and she literally goes fight or flight. We also cannot change her if she needs changing as we cannot transiting her to any toilets or changing areas she has quite complex needs and hits in every of send.

The school should be making adjustments rather than excluding DD from trips.

You can request a personal budget but you will need the provision to be in the EHCP.

Hi can anyone advise on this situation

We have an ehcp but going to tribunal for sections b f and I. My child without a doubt needs a sen school

During the appeals process the la have offered a place at specialist asd school for 2025 start. I would accept this given that we are not at tribunal until June so the likely hood of starting before then is very slim. And I've said to the la I would agree to this providing more provision is put in place in the meantime to support my daughter. They have said no problem but nothings been agreed yet.

My daughter currently attends an arp.who have said from the get go they can't meet need and there is anearly ar coming up as result. The school have alsobsaid they would agree to this providing additional support and funding in place.

I would like to ask for 1:1 funding full time this is in one of daughters reports for safety, dd requires alot sensory input and is not allowed on trips so I would like to suggest they provide a budget so when other children go on trips that I can take her to soft play (they also go to softplay at the sen school) a sensory diet is also needed but mainstream struggles as they have very limited equipment and dd struggles to access different areas of the building due to transitioning. Could I request me have funding to take daughter to do something sensory such as swimming or again softplay?

I am not sure if this us unreasonable but the sen school is at a cost of 80k per year per pupil and by stating in mainstream it is savin the la alot and in the meantime dd will be missing out on alot and she has no peer group in school has Any one any thoughts on this?

Great thanks, OT has agreed to amend, and council has also forwarded my request to the commissioning team.

@10pfreddos both can be true. They might not offer/use AP for KS3. That might be because of money. Some APs can be expensive.

@Phineyj @BrightYellowTrain

Thank you both. I assumed they just didn't want to spend the money but maybe they are being truthful 🤷‍♀️

Either way, will have a glass of wine tonight and prepare myself for the next battle!

Sorry it wasn’t good news, @10pfreddos.

The school may not offer/use AP for KS3. They don’t have to and some do not. Some schools don’t use AP at all for any age.

But the LA must ensure those unable to attend school still receive a suitable full-time education. If the LA refuses to provide s19 provision, delays or ignored you, threaten JR then get a pre-action letter.

LA phoned me at 5pm telling me EHCNA had been declined because 'there's still more that school can do' ... well, he hasn't been in school since September so how exactly does that help?

I knew it would be declined as most are. I'm prepared to appeal. But it still feels like a kick in the stomach.

Everything is so hard.

All school do is offer him to come in for 10 minutes, and say they have no other alternatives to offer. Apparently they don't offer alternative provision to his age range (key stage 3).

Request for AP under section 19 is on my to do list this weekend... bet I know the outcome of that one too 🙄

Is small class size quantified? If not, that needs amending. Your definition of small will not be the same as the LAs.

It's a long-winded situation where LA refused to pay the EP directly or reimburse us as parents, but they agreed to reimburse the nursery for the costs if they paid, but only on receipt of the report from them. If they don't do it in the next couple of days, then I'll be having a stern word with the SENCO and sending it anyway.

Oh good, yes, there's a lot of recommendations including the small class sizes, a sensory breakout space that he can access at anytime, that feel like no mainstream is going to be able to facilitate them.

You don’t need the nursery to send an independent report to the LA, you can do it yourself.

The recommendations in the report should be clear about what a placement needs to be like despite it not saying SS (there’s a right to a mainstream education). For example, a class size of 8 or less or SALT and OT on-site and embedded within the curriculum across the whole school day.

I've had our independent ed psych report back, and I am waiting on nursery senco to confirm it's been sent to LA, including the DS EHCP caseworker. I hadn't yet told caseworker we plan to fight for specialist, but the EP has clearly written that it's our preference and why we think it's the better option (of course she's recommended certain things needed in a setting herself, but she hadn't specifically written either specialist or mainstream in there).
Would this potentially cause issues as it doesn't have the EP's words "a specialist provision is needed"?

Speak to both the LA and the OT directly if you have their contact details.

How is the class teacher going to implement the provision during the day whilst also teaching the class? The SENCO is unlikely to be able to either. That is unrealistic.

Speak to the OT about what DD said and how it isn’t true but scripting.

Also! During the assessments DD has said things that are not true but have been included in the reports (my favourite was 'I organise myself using checklists' which made me and her dad fall about laughing). It's part of her excessive use of scripting.

I understand that the assessors need to include the child's voice and that's really important because parents may also not always be accurate in their description of the child for various reasons. I've done a note in section A to pick up on all of these but any other suggestions?

I'll have a pop at getting it amended then, as it's gone to the LA portal already I think I have to do it through them (?). It's an independent OT company (outsourced) so don't have any skin in the game particularly.

Seems to be saying they would need to design the fine motor skills programme but I will also ask them to define it i.e. what it should cover and which teachers (for now I think class teacher and SENDco, there are no TAs anyway...)

@Muvva1981 I originally replied on your thread but you should send the IPSEA model letter to the DCS now. If the LA is going to issue, you should have had a draft by now.

@Macramepotholder is better than many LA reports. However, it could be improved and, other than time for the reviews, there is no ongoing direct OT input. For example, amending “will require” to “will receive”. Who are “teaching staff” and “teaching team”? What exactly does “support to implement” look like? Will it be 1:1? What fine motor skill programme and what balance skill programme? “Throughout the day” could mean 1 minute a few times a day. Provision should be based on needs, not on the school.

Quick Q about whether this is specific and quantified enough for OT. We have the report uploaded to the LA portal, it's generally pretty good and a very thorough assessment was done, including sensory.

There are various 'adaptive' recommendations which don't need to be quantified any more than they are I think (e.g. leaving lessons a minute early; sitting at the end of the row in assembly; using a scribe in exams). It also recommends a programme of OT as follows:

Occupational therapy should take place in school.
Direct
• X will require 1 x 1 hour therapy session with an occupational therapist, to demonstrate the fine motor skill programme and balance skill programme, with X and her teaching staff = 1 hour.
• Termly reviews by an occupational therapist 3 x 1 hour = 3 hours.

Indirect
• 1 x 60 minutes admin to devise fine motor skill programme, to be provided to school by the occupational therapist = 1 hour.
• 1 x 60 minutes admin to devise balance skill programme, to be provided to school by the occupational therapist = 1 hour.
• Admin time for liaising with parents, staff and other members of the wider team, as well as goal setting and reviewing/updating programmes 3 x 1 = 3 hours.

X will require support to implement the programmes throughout the day by a member of the teaching team.

It's the 'support throughout the day to implement the programmes' that's a bother - but on the other hand the programmes have not been devised yet so it is difficult to say what that should be. Is this best left until the programmes are devised and then if school don't do it include in the next AR? Also she's in primary now but year 6 so saying who and and how is going to be different this year and next.

I've emailed the deputy ed psych and the case officer. Both have replied via email reassuring me the Ed psych report will be uploaded next week. We shall see. If it's not i will be emailing the director of children's services.

@Ponche it is mostly families who are in difficult circumstances who receive casework support. Some who are added to the list don’t make it to the point of being allocated to a caseworker.

@BrightYellowTrain thank you for taking the time to explain everything. I will wait for the phase transfer review and see what happens.

‘IPSEA's Tribunal casework volunteers provide individual support for the families whose cases they take. This free and specialist support can only be accessed by referral after booking an appointment on our Tribunal Helpline, and is only provided for parents who meet our criteria.’ Does anyone know what that criteria is?

Hi everyone.

I have a 4yr old son , the youngest of my 4 children. He's been on the asd pathway awaiting assessment for 13 months so far. He's non verbal and on a part time timetable atm with a 1:1 for part of his time in class.

My 4yr old son whos August born started Reception September . He had had a 1:1 for 7.5hrs of his 15 hrs in nursery funded by the early years inclusion fund.

The application for an ehcp assessment was made 31st July. They agreed to assess mid August. I have access to my local authority ehc hub where I could see all the professionals that were contacted for information, this information/ reports were all due on the 7th November.

All reports bar one has been submitted to the hub. The one that's still pending ( i check daily ) is the Ed psych report. She came to my sons school a few weeks ago. We had a long in depth meeting alongside the SenCo and my sons TA. She then went on to observe my son in his setting.

I haven't been through this process before and I've seen reports of extended delays not only for reports to be submitted etc but to even be seen for some.

The Ed psych report as I mentioned is a week late being submitted. The decision to issue or not is due on Tuesday the 19th Nov and the case is supposedly to be completed on 17th Dec. Now as the Ed psych report is late I'm guessing the decision to issue or not will also be delayed as will be completion thereafter.

Today I've sent emails asking for an update to the case worker for the assessment, to the Ed Psych admin also.
Is there anyone else I should email? I've found an email address for the Deputy Principal Ed psychologist who was one of those mentioned in the hub but she allocated the request to the Ed psych who visited my son and closed her own request thereafter. Shall I email her?

I haven't a clue what I'm doing and feel like a fish out of water so to speak.

Any help, advice etc would be appreciated.

Thank you