AIBU to think I should have known about this in advance? Nursery. SEN. EHCP. Missed meeting.

[EHCP]

My DS is 3 and has additional needs, an EHCP assessment has been conducted (initiated by the his SEN nursery with my support) and it was due to go to panel this morning, after which we would receive a decision on whether one will be granted.

I didn't hear anything by noon so sent an email to the nursery manager asking her whether she'd been updated as I hadn't.

She replied that she hadn't either, but also said DS was supposed to be seen on Monday by an outreach service who work with SEN provisions, as part of an EHCP assessment. They went into the nursery to see DS and a couple of other children. This visit was supposed to be completed ahead of the panel today. News to me.

Now my AIBU..

I wasn't made aware that this team were going to be seeing DS in nursery on Monday. Nobody told me a thing.

As it happened DS wasn't in on Monday as my OH who does the nursery run injured himself on Sunday afternoon. He called ahead and let them know DS wouldn't be in and why. The nursery manager said no problem at all and mentioned nothing about the visit.

Which brings me to today, she's telling me that him not being in on Monday could mean that any decision on the EHCP could be delayed until at least June when the outreach service can next go in to nursery see him.

If I'd been made aware of the visit I would have ensured DS got there by hook or by crook. As it stands I knew nothing.

AIBU to think I should have been made aware of something as important as this?

Thats great news!

The key to how useful an ehcp is for a child is how well it is written. Make sure every need is in there, then the outcomes are sensible and that the provisions are specified and quantified. In reality this means it should look more like 'child will recieve 2 hpurs of 1:1 intervention each week of the school term from the SaLT looking at x, y,z with a 3 hour training session for class teacher and an additional 1 hour prior to the annnual review not 'child will benefit from regular access to salt'

For us personally, it gave access to a special school but it isnt very well written apart from the OT section so there is very little we can enforce.

@MildredPuppy

Thats great news!

The key to how useful an ehcp is for a child is how well it is written. Make sure every need is in there, then the outcomes are sensible and that the provisions are specified and quantified. In reality this means it should look more like 'child will recieve 2 hpurs of 1:1 intervention each week of the school term from the SaLT looking at x, y,z with a 3 hour training session for class teacher and an additional 1 hour prior to the annnual review not 'child will benefit from regular access to salt'

For us personally, it gave access to a special school but it isnt very well written apart from the OT section so there is very little we can enforce.

Thank you Mildred, that's very helpful and I'm sorry yours isn't very well written.

I'll bare what you said in mind when I receive the draft. SALT is imperative for DS so I'll make sure I push for it to be amended if it's too vague.

Yes they should have informed you. Sadly this gives them a get out of jail free card - one of the few ways they can avoid the timescale is if a child doesn’t attend scheduled appointments.

You should know who your caseworker is by now so should chase that up with the LA

Vague plans are the default especially for early years. I applied last summer for my twins who were almost 3 - plans were vague and useless. It took most of a year to go through the tribunal process and we had to fund private EP reports but they’re now in a specialist school and doing so well. Most stressful experience of my life but worth it in the end.

It's lovely to know your twins are doing well, Sink. Do they have autism too?

Reading about others experiences of the EHCP process and how stressful it is comes as a shock to me because the nursery applied and lead the whole thing on our behalf so we haven't had to do anything other than have him attend SALT and ed psych assessments and then give our input / views.

Should I be bracing myself for a fight later on down the line?

Sadly yes you should. I would love to tell you it varies but we had an easy ride of it too up until the reports and draft arrived. I would inform yourself as much as you can - there’s tons of info on the IPSEA website.

The SEN code of practice is very specific about what the plans should contain and that provisions must be specific and quantified but I don’t know of a single person where this is what they’ve ended up with off the bat. No problem I thought, I’ll just challenge it - the law is on my side. But the LA would not budge, they wouldn’t seek OT advice either, even though the EPs identified sensory needs. I will eat my hat if your reports come in sufficiently specified and quantified - to be honest I don’t think most LA EPs even know what 3 year olds need (ours admitted they had no idea).

Maybe you’ll be the exception but I would prepare well for it!

The LA agreed to a specialist placement but wanted to name a really unsuitable school. I knew it was unsuitable but didn’t have the professional evidence to prove it, hence the need for private reports and tribunal. The LA got ripped to shreds in the hearings and eventually conceded on basically every point but it was the most stressful experience ever.

Yes my boys are both autistic and now attended a non-maintained ASD specialist school in their early years building. 7 kids total, all have 1:1, they do such an amazing range of activities every day, weekly outings, swimming, forest school etc. They are both coming on amazingly well after a couple of years of basically no progress. So it was totally worth it all but it shouldn’t have been that difficult.

That is amazing, what a relief :)

I just wanted to add that we've had lots of involvement with Drumbeat outreach (2 of mine have ASD) & they are outstanding - so kind & helpful. They do anything they can to help the families they work with & genuinely care. Friends with children in the school have such positive experiences too. You're in safe hands with them if your DC goes there, even if the process so far has been so stressful!