Where does law stand on how behind a child has to be to trigger Educational Phycologist

[Childlaw2014]

My dd is one of the eldest in year 2.

Didn't have her alphabet, (tutor over half term sorted that out)

Is on level 5 Oxford Reading and is a comfortable level 5. Gets between 0 and 3 in spelling test. I've not been told by the school but she goes down to year 1 for maths, has extra phonics.

The tutor I saw recommend testing for auditory processing and dyslexia. She said was /saw getting mixed up and some other signs.

The doctor said '' I don't know how to request that ask the school '' today we met with the teacher who said..

We don't test for dyslexia here.

I asked about triggering educational psychologist, and teacher said dd isn't bad enough. She said... If she was reception level but she's breaking through year 1.

So what is behind in law terms to trigger Ep who then triggers... Ap tests and dyslexia tests. Thank you

However, I do think there should be a good reason why not, if not (eg, parental request).

How about delay? If a child needs an EHCP now and it will take more than a few weeks to get a report, that child will simply fall further behind and/or will struggle more with other difficulties. And how about children with known SEN who come into English schools from abroad, or children who come out of hospital after serious accidents or illnesses affecting their cognitive functioning?

Earlier, you were saying the only reason LAs want them is to palm off the costs to schools

No, I expressly said that was part of the reason. Their reasoning also includes delay in issuing EHCPs: if, as an LA, you can delay a term in two in paying for, say, 1:1 support or a special school placement, you save quite substantial sums.

(even though, where local authorities fund the EP service, this is nonsensical as the LA is paying anyway)

Of course it isn't nonsensical. They are separate budgets. LAs don't allocate more to a particular school's budget because one child needs an EP assessment. Whereas if they can effectively shunt off a large chunk of the costs of EP reports for all EHCP requests onto school budgets, they can (and do) employ fewer EPs themselves.

I am respectfully disagreeing and saying that educational psychology is less effective if constrained to a rapid-turn-around assessment in order to meet statutory assessment timescales.

I've never once said it should be constrained in that way. The opposite, if anything. All I have said is that LAs can't demand evidence of school-funded EP involvement as a precondition of agreeing to an EHC needs assessment.

I think there is a danger on this thread of assuming that EPs only work in the way LA-employed EPs work.

Beveren "eg" means 'for example'. Those other examples you give are also reasonable.

An EHCP is not an emergency response. Our biggest delay is in schools taking ages to submit requests. One of my schools right now has yet to submit a request for EHCP that should go through easily. They had my final report in July. It's now November. Not yet submitted.

I don't get your point about school budgets. As a former LA EP, the EPs were employed directly by the LA and schools were allocated time (dg, 10 days annually). This was paid for direct by LA. No implication for school budget. The problem was, of course, waiting for EP to have time and your child to get to top of pile. No cost to school, though.

Anyway I feel like we have been around the houses on this so much. I don't think there's actually much we disagree on.

Incidentally our area has emergency funding for those situations you mention : arrival from abroad with SEN and brain injury/accident specifically as those are emergency situations. The funding is available for a year whilst ehcp processes are begun.

I think the danger of assuming a particular way of working goes both ways in this thread.

Certainly an EHCP should not normally be an emergency response. Nevertheless, there are situations where it is particularly urgent, notably the examples I gave upthread.

If you think schools are taking too long to send EHCP requests, perhaps you could gently remind parents that they have a right to start the process off themselves?

In many areas, schools have to "buy in" EP time, and are given a range of options. So it is certainly distinct from local authority budgets.

I fear your suggestion about assumptions going both ways on the thread arises because you have repeatedly made errors in representing what I have posted.

An EHCP is not an emergency response.

Not ideally, but it happens more than you’d think.

I had three agreed last academic year which I’d consider emergencies. Two mid year arrivals from other schools, one local and one not, and one who suddenly developed a serious medical condition.

If you think schools are taking too long to send EHCP requests, perhaps you could gently remind parents that they have a right to start the process off themselves?

By heck, 20 years in this job and that strategy never occurred to me
If only I had someone to remind me of my role and responsibilities on a daily basis maybe I would be able to do my job better.