I am an LA educational psychologist, AMA.

[summerEP]

Really enjoy reading the AMA threads so thought I would offer my own. I work for an LA as an EP and completed my training within the last 3 years. AMA.

Thanks @Sockpile that's good to know.

Oh bless with the wonky feet! Mine have inherited my bad teeth... Great. I would be asking for an enhanced transition to secondary and to get a good understanding ding of the interventions secondary will be putting in place. Make sure they continue with the plan do review process and then you have evidence for an ehc application if it gets to that point. Good luck.

Pausing for a while will check back later today

In your opinion should there be better quality SEN training amongst SLT/SENCO's and teachers/TA's in mainstream schools ?
I've been appalled at lack of knowledge and understanding amongst staff largely. Do you feel attitudes from leadership teams towards SEN is pretty poor-how do you push back in this through your work?

What are your thoughts on the Sen green paper? Do you think it will go anyway to addressing the issues in Sen or make things worse

Do you feel sorry for the parents who are told repeatedly they wont get an EHCP or dont need one when its clearly not true and a lie?
What do you think about the parents who end up deregistering their children because they cant cope with the battle against the LEA after already defeated by school

Just to show the range of practice: I do often do cognitive assessments. I find the process as informative - often more informative - than the scores on the doors. The way a young person comes to work with me, the way they handle working with a stranger, the way they answer the questions in terms of their thinking processes etc I find all very illuminating.

I also will diagnose dyslexia if someone dyslexic comes my way (but they usually go the way of specialist teachers). I find that parents need the "labels" (hate that term) to help them understand what's happening for their child, access support such as DLA, or exam reasonable adjustments, and to access charities or online info etc.

I am also ADOS trained and work part time on an autism team. I don't unilaterally diagnose autism but I contribute to complex cases where they need more info about learning or processing to tease out what is happening.

As OP says we all work within the same ethical framework but locally practices do differ.

I have never ever in over 20 years changed a report on the request of the LA, and never been asked to.

It sounds like you have had a really hard fight and I can understand that you and many others must be very disillusioned with the ehc process. It must feel like a fight and that can be very emotive. I wouldn't do this job if I felt I wasn't able to positively affect things for children and families. Even if money or funding was no barrier I would hesitate to suggest lots of adult support or time out of the classroom unless absolutely necessary (a bit like over medicating) because I am always thinking about sense of belonging, social functioning and moving towards adulthood and independnece. It's definitely a fine balance and one which involves lots of different perspectives and narratives about a situation. I think where home school and the advice givers can work collaboratively it works so much better as a joint understanding can be developed.

Another one from me.
In SENDIST tribunals 95% of decisions in favour of parents. Where has the system gone so wrong- is it the quality of assessments, the decisions made by LA policy makers or something else?

@DrRuthGalloway I think you're exactly right. It's been such a battle to get DD2 assessed for ASD - first raised concerns at the age of 3 and finally diagnosed at 11.

School found she has a working memory on the 1st percentile and they've just added 'Lougle's girl has a lower working memory' to her SEN plan. That's it.

She's now completely fallen apart, again (3rd time in her school life that she's got to the point that she just can't do it) and we are struggling to get any answers.

She struggles so much with her learning and I know her ASD will be responsible for much of that but if they won't do anything to help her learn then she's going to end up with no GCSEs at all. She's an intelligent child.

My Y9 DD is registered blind and has diagnoses of neonatal abstinence syndrome, ADHD and autism with a PDA profile. Her QVTI is keen for her to attend a specialist residential college for visually impaired children that is out of area. My DD’s current school will not support an EHCNA as they believe they’re meeting her needs (in short, they’re not). I applied for a needs assessment myself but the application was rejected because DD is ‘meeting age-related expectations’. She attends a selective grammar school so this is not surprising.

DD also has social and emotional behavioural issues due to early life trauma (she is adopted). I will apply again for a needs assessment, using a report written by the QVTI, but the fees for the specialist setting are in the region of £80k a year. Honestly, would there be any pressure on a LA EP not to recommend such a setting in the interests of cost savings?

I think you're absolutely right, if the quality first provision is such that the child is getting what they need in class. I am a governor of an infant school where very little is done outside the classroom because so many interventions are weaved into the fabric of the school day that it is unnecessary. There are children who need bespoke measures and they get them.

Unfortunately, DD2's school (large secondary) think that every class is set up for additional needs but it just isn't true. When DD2 has struggled with a style/method of teaching, the response is that she's a lovely girl and if she just does a,b,c (the things the teacher has been trying to teach) she'll be fine. If she could do those things, she would do. She can't, and she needs a different approach, but that isn't seen.

The SENCO wouldn't support DD2's EHCNA request. Only once I did a Subject Access Request and the LA agreed to assess, did she complete the K3 and said that the criteria for an EHCP was met. Nothing had changed except that I'd proved that DD2 met the criteria for assessment.

I'm curious to know what the best practice for LA Ed psych actually is. And does it vary from LA to LA or from England to Scotland?

My husband and I contacted our local LA Ed psych directly, which our LA allows. Teen DSD was missing school at that point due to severe panic attacks, but this was one concern among many that had built up over several years (plural) of concerns about her progress in school. Concerns dating back to her P1 year. Years of her primary school fobbing us off (as in, no investigations and no support plan, regardless of the distress homework and in-class work caused her). Years of excellent reports for behavior and effort in class, good to excellent reports for homework ... and yet: "Your DSD doesn't seem to have the confidence" at every parent-teacher chat since she was 4, as well as consistently poor test grades. I explained all of this very clearly in my initial contact. Besides dyslexia, I asked about dyscalculia, inattentive ADHD, and GAD.

Our LA's Ed psych acknowledged our email, met once with DSDs teachers ( not with DSD herself, and definitely not with us ), and then tried to close her case on the grounds of the school being "supportive enough".

They only offered to meet my DSD when I indicated my disappointment with their approach.

In my defence, the language on our LA Ed psych website is incredibly woolly and unclear about what they can actually do, and what services they can actually offer. The public needs a step-by-step list of how the Ed psych process works and what to realistically expect. Or maybe an organigram.... What we get instead is a lot of meaningless text about GIRFEC and "consultation" and some words about CBT (great, DSD needs that!) only to be told that our concerns are "inappropriate" for Ed psych.

We also had a less than ideal experience with our LA EPS, if you can't tell.

That thread was actually removed by the EP because a large proportion of posters were asking her what she thought about the trans / gender identity issue.

OP then regretted putting her head above the parapet, so to speak.

I am surprised no one has asked this EP the same questions.

Learning in autism is complex and poorly understood and supported. A lot of it is about dominant cognitive styles in autistic individuals, who often excel in interest driven, categorisation and memorisation learning (different from working memory). These are heavy in the infant curriculum (learning to read, learning to write, learning to spell) and so the child develops a self perception as able, and adults around have high expectations of them. However as they move through school the curricular emphasis switches to application, perspective taking, argument, consideration of positions etc and there is much more ambiguity in the way of answering questions. This fits less neatly with the thinking style of many autistic people. Often they continue to try to use memorisation at huge personal cost, are bewildered by why they can't "do it", teachers see how they understand the material and can't understand why that comprehension isn't reflected in their answers and this often gets ascribed to motivation ("she refuses to write" is something I hear on a weekly basis) and advice to staff is often vague and about "increasing structure".
There's definitely a way to go. I think it's important to acknowledge that EPs are a bit like GPs....generalists who develop specialism but still see children outside their specialist area. To me the key thing is to be humble and realise we don't have all the answers. Parents are the main experts on their children.

we are reminded regularly to be more specific

I would love to know what LA tells their EPs to be more specific. Why do you think you can conduct a comprehensive assessment of any child’s needs without undertaking cognitive assessments, how can you be sure you haven’t missed any hidden needs (which are often found by cognitive testing, especially in DC with spiky profiles e.g. everyone, us included, thought DS3 had a brilliant memory, he does have an exceptional long term memory, which masked a very poor working memory and short term memory that explained some of his difficulties)? And why you feel you shouldn’t diagnose dyslexia if it is apparent in the assessment? Or is the latter because of the former.

Just to show the range of practice: I do often do cognitive assessments. I find the process as informative - often more informative - than the scores on the doors. The way a young person comes to work with me, the way they handle working with a stranger, the way they answer the questions in terms of their thinking processes etc I find all very illuminating

I agree with this.

EmmatheStageRat if the EHCNA request is refused again, appeal. The vast majority of refusal to assess appeals are upheld. The threshold for assessment is relatively low - a) has or may have SEN, and b) may need SEN provision to be made via an EHCP. Any other test is unlawful, including needing to be academically behind. EHCPs are about far more than academic ability. I have 2 DC with EHCPs who are academically able.

We in my area are specifically instructed to issue specified and quantified. This allows the LA to write a tighter EHCP.
We might put "would benefit from" in the body of the report but we must state, for example, "daily individual or small group intervention from a dyslexia- trained teacher" or "individual or small group work on social understanding for 30 minutes at least twice weekly" etc

But these are still woolly enough to be unenforceable. What is a “small group” - people have very different views on what a small group is, it needs quantifying? What “intervention”? What makes someone “dyslexia trained” - qualifications, training, experience need to be specified? How long for? Again what is a “small group”, what “work on social understanding”? Who will facilitate the work…

Some LA EPs will diagnose dyslexia. Unfortunately it is a postcode lottery.

Why do you think you can conduct a comprehensive assessment of any child’s needs without undertaking cognitive assessments

What if the primary area of need isn’t cognition and learning? It is unethical to test a child unnecessarily.

JustAQuickOne0 there is more to cognitive assessments than only focusing on cogntion and learning needs. Also, how do you know without assessment e.g. if SEMH needs stem from other unmet needs?

And why you feel you shouldn’t diagnose dyslexia if it is apparent in the assessment?

Dyslexia is not apparent from one assessment. It requires a period of looking at response to intervention over time plus a range of cognitive and other assessments.

The ECHNA process therefore cannot be used as a proxy for dyslexia assessment. However, an EP may suggest in the report that dyslexia could be explored further, but this will require additional time.

And if it was unnecessary and unethical why do the experienced EPs who are well regarded by SENDIST undertake cognitive assessments with pupils who don’t have C&L as their primary need?

I agree with this. Ideally the dyslexia diagnosis is made subsequent to a period of appropriate intervention over time which is closely monitored. (APDR cycling).

Dyslexia is not apparent from one assessment. It requires a period of looking at response to intervention over time plus a range of cognitive and other assessments.

The ECHNA process therefore cannot be used as a proxy for dyslexia assessment. However, an EP may suggest in the report that dyslexia could be explored further, but this will require additional time.

Of course, it is not diagnosed by one specific assessment. When I used assessment I meant the EP’s assessment of the pupil, not a specific assessment. The EHCNA should, if done correctly, ‘explore’ further.

DrRuthGalloway as above, the use of the word assessment wasn’t in relation to one specific assessment, but the EP’s assessment i.e. their whole involvement of the pupil.

EPs were prioritised for early vaccinations; the HCPC announced it on 13th January 2021.

The reason many EPs worked remotely, @Shinyandnew1 is because of the risk of them being superspreaders. There were incidences of EPs visiting two or three settings a day, catching Covid, you can imagine the consequences.

However, some LA EPs continued to go into schools, with a risk assessment. Again, it was a postcode lottery.