EHCP for trauma/attachment/behaviour

[Montues]

Hi there. My nearly 4 year old son has needed lots of support in nursery. He quickly gets dysregulated, overstimulated, and quite hitty when he feels unsafe or is in a busy environment (or without us). He also has speech delay of about a year so this really adds to things feeling difficult for him. He has the highest level of SENIF funding in nursery, and needs quite a high level of one to one support each day. Our understanding of this is developmental trauma with possibly some sensory issues too. We attended an educational psychology drop in service as we are very anxious about him getting the right support in school. They strongly recommended applying for an EHCP as he will need one to one support when he makes this huge transition. We were turned down even to have an assessment so are going to mediation about this. I was surprised (but also not surprised) that when i spoke to mediation on the phone they really couldn’t get their head around what the difficulty could be if there isn’t a medical diagnosis. I’m gathering evidence and getting support from our post adoption team and nursery, but wondered if anybody had advice or suggestions or similar experiences. Wr have a very thoughtful SALT report and are applying through ASF for a sensory/trauma assessment. Any advice or solidarity welcome!

Hi Montues!

I set up an account so that I could reply to you.

In my (by now bitter) experience, mediation is basically a tool for the LA to screw nice cooperative parents trying to get their child's needs met. I went down this route twice and had to get an expensive (but effective) specialist lawyer to even start to get get the LA to do what it should have in the first place. First they refused to assess, then refused to issue Satetement/EHCP. Got a lawyer, took them to Tribunal, the LA conceeded once the Tribunal agreed to hear the case. Very cynical.

Dragging things out and dragging you down saves them money.

If you cannot afford specialist legal advice (with proven track record), then get in touch with SEND charities/orgs to see what you should be doing yourself. Pay close attention to deadlines. Are you still within deadline to appeal to Tribunal for refusal to assess? If yes, do this ASAP (check what effect being in mediation has on this).

If you can afford independent EP then get your boy assessed - preferably by one with lots of Tribunal experience (this is where specialist lawyer is handy, since they have a list of people they work with). Try to work out what other assessments he needs, including medical ones, and get him on the waiting lists.

Put up your question on the SEN forum if you have not already. There are a lot of people there with many years of experience, and may be able to point you in the right direction/ask pertinent questions.

Best of luck getting what your child needs (and has a right to!).

Completely agree, don’t bother with mediation. LAs use it as a delaying tactic. Just get the certificate and submit to SENDIST. You only have to consider mediation, not actively partake. If the LA are going to concede they will do so regardless.

The bar for an EHCNA is relatively low - a) has or may have SEN, and b) may need SEN provision to be made via an EHCP. It appears you can meet that threshold already. However, if you think you need independent assessments and can’t afford them and don’t qualify for legal aid contact Parents in Need as they can sometimes help fund assessments. There might not be a diagnosis (yet or at all) but DS does have SEN.

Totally agree - avoid mediation. Try to get a telephone appointment with IPSEA. Appointments are hard to get so keep checking the website. My son got an EHCP. His diagnosis at the time was developmental trauma. In my experience, it’s often helpful to have a medical professional on board. Are CAMHS involved? Good luck. PM any questions.

Just consider the wait times for tribunal in your area.

We went to mediation and it was overturned. This took about 1 month. Had we gone to tribunal we would have waited at least 6 months for the tribunal date.

IPSEA have a call in session on Fridays now which some find easier to get through on.

Twigglett1 it is unlikely you would have had to wait until a hearing. As the LA conceded they are likely to have conceded whether you actively partook in mediation or just got the certificate and submitted to SENDIST.

Thanks everybody for sharing your experiences, this is even more of a minefield and terrible system than I thought. I hadn’t even considered not going to mediation first. We’ll try the IPSEA Friday helpline, and I’ll also repost this on SEND forum. It’s really hard isn’t it when you feel a sense of urgency to realise this is a long haul complex process. Thanks also for the offers of PM too - I might take this up.

We got an EHCP because of trauma and background and attachment difficulties - our son had a breakdown in Year 3. It was awful. He wasn’t able to attend school full time. We had a huge battle with LA but got a full time 1:1 eventually - the LA settled just before we went to the tribunal (about 2 days before hearing date and after I had spent a fortune on lawyers and a barrister). Do not go
down the mediation route - total waste of time.

DD has an EHCP without any diagnosis. School evidenced her support needs which were then verified by an ed psych.

We were lucky in that school was excellent and the LA is one of the better ones, so the system worked the way it should.

DD has elements of (but not enough to meet diagnostic thresholds) PTSD, FAE, anxiety, ADHD, all against early trauma, multiple caregivers etc. (post-adoption SW's comment - "she had quite a complex start in life, even by our standards" 😂) In reality they all contribute to a complex profile.

A diagnosis isn't necessary for an EHCP.

That's really interesting,I'm starting to think about how my DD will fair at school and thought I had to get the diagnosis in before the EHCP. do you still start at the GPs?ours seems so little,a lot of it is toddler chaos,but know it's a long road to it all and school seems so soon!

@tonyhawks23 an EHCNA request is made to the LA. IPSEA have a model letter on their website you can use.

Thankyou,il take a look