Should I apply for an EHCP or not?

[IfIHaveToTellYouAgain]

DS 5 received his report from clinical psychology today, with his cognitive profile scoring low/low average across the board. In the report they have highlighted that he is capable of much more but needs constant prompts to stay on task. They have recommended 1:1 support in school.

School, on the other hand, think he is doing well, and in some areas I’m inclined to agree, for example he is reading at Y2 level and receiving greater depth instruction in maths. His end of year report for reception was very positive and said despite being behind in some areas he is exceeding in others and is likely to continue developing well in Y1.

Personally I think he will struggle with the change of pace in Y1 and is unlikely to be able to fully engage with the whole class teaching and working element (his class have no TA, whereas in reception they had a class teacher and 2 TAs and did a lot of small group teaching). However, I currently have no evidence that this will be the case.

What should I do? Should I apply for EHCP now in anticipation that he will likely need the 1:1 support? Should I wait and see how he gets on in the first term, thereby potentially wiping out his first (or possibly even second) term of Y1? Or should I not apply at all on the basis that school will probably not support it since he’s ‘doing OK’? It’s just, to me, ‘doing OK’ is not good enough when he has the potential to do much better (that’s not to say that doing OK is not fine in general, just that for him, with 1:1 support he would achieve so much more).

@extremelybumpy

OP if the school need more funding to continue to provide support for DD whilst undergoing the EHCP process they can apply for high needs top up funding.

Queenie you should read up on the law rather than listen to your LA's unlawful policy. Parents should be encouraged to challenge the LA's unlawful practices.

You don't need to tell me this

I challenge and challenge time and time again

Makes me unpopular at times and so be it

I'm not cutting corners with vulnerable children

Please don't apply just yet.

Talk to the school, tell them you're going to apply. Give them the heads up so they have time to contribute their evidence. Then apply mid September ish. You'll be shooting yourself in the foot if you apply without talking to the school first.

Another DC who is academically able with an EHCP and 1 to 1 in mainstream secondary now. Highest reading level in her year at a high achieving secondary.

But @Queenie6655 the advice you posted here paid no regard to the law and if you are following your own advice then you are likely to be delaying children getting the support they need. If you aren't following your advice and know the law then why post false advice?

Exactly what Hired posted.

If an EHCNA is refused OP should appeal rather than reapply - even if that's what the LA try to push her in to doing. DS meets the threshold for a needs assessment and reapplying just delays matters.

Take a look on the ipsea website as there's lots of advice on there. We used there refusal to assess info when we went to mediation.

Agree that it's good manners to advise a school that you are making an EHC needs assessment request although no need to wait as school will have plenty of time to submit evidence. If school advise against it or tell you he's not bad enough they need two terms of evidence or to spend £6k smile and carry on regardless.

Yes, get an EHCP. My ds is 18, off to study maths at uni, and had an EHCP at school, despite being extremely bright in some areas. If the EP has recommended 1:1, then he needs it, despite doing well. Without it, he may just start to struggle and not achieve what he is capable
E of.
Best of luck

I did have to go to tribunal, and have private assessments done, but it was definitely worth it and necessary. Your ds is little now, but the gaps between him and his peers will become more obvious and pronounced as he goes through school. It won't be long before he's in secondary, and secondary schools are not as nurturing as primary schools

@Queenie6655

Sorry to say I doubt he would get one !!!

Most seem to go with children with complex needs and those with a diagnosis

Thing is - school have 6k to spend within their budget on children with some needs
Are they spending this?

Could you ask for a costed provision map to see how much is being spent?
A panel of professionals will look for this if a request is sent in xxx

@Queenie6655 You say on another thread you are a child psychologist. As there is no such HCPC title, do you mean you are a paediatric clinical psychologist, or an educational psychologist?

If the latter, then it is concerning that you seem not to know the SEND Code of Practice very well…

Agree with much that has been said already and will add that it is important to get the ball rolling as as soon as you can for the EHCP process as it can take a ridiculously long time. Get as much paperwork as you can from Health professionals and school. By the time things are in place, it will be nearing the next academic year, so if you wait, it may well be drawn out even longer. Wishing you all the best.

Yes definitely apply.

The code of practice also makes it clear that schools are expected to support the majority of youngsters with SEN, as part of a process of meeting needs over time. It says that a school should use their "best endeavours" to meet a child's needs, should coordinate input from other professionals, and that a child once noted to have SEN should have provision provided by a school which is "additional to, or different from" that provided to other children. The "additional to or different from" provision should be provided within a framework that is "assess, plan, do, review". This is all part of SEN law too and is why many LAs have "criteria" around ehcp applications. The idea is that unless you have covered all of THIS part of the Code of Practice you don't actually know whether the child has SEN that "may need to be supported by an EHCP" or whether their needs are transitory or can be supported by school for example.

Clinical psychologists aren't education specialists and they don't always understand the education system. It's really unusual for a clinical psychology referral to be around cognitive assessment. It's not their specialist area at all, though they are test qualified. It doesn't make sense that he is low to below on cognitive testing, but you are describing him as very academically capable and above in some areas academically. This sounds like he is overachieving, in which case where is the evidence that he needs support? Playing devil's advocate here.

My advice would be that you have a conversation with school and agree a plan together. This will not be an easy ehcp and you will almost certainly have to appeal if you apply now. If you make a support plan in school with school you may well still end up with an EHCP but without all the stress associated with fighting with the LA because you don't have evidence in place that you could have got with 6 months of plan-do-review cycling in school.

Nail on the head @Fullywhelmed.

Also, while it is by no means a legal requirement to have had cycles of plan-do-review before applying for an EHCP, it can be that the provision specified by the EHCP is higher quality/more accurate for that having happened, as it has generated data about what does or doesn't work for that child and their response to intervention.

@IfIHaveToTellYouAgain I read a bit of really practical advice I wish I had been given years ago this morning and thought I'd pass it on...

Set up an email account just for all things regarding your childs sen and don't use your personal email. It sounds really basic but the time it'll save will be massive over the years not to mention how easily record keeping will be.

I've been milling over your situation, please do apply. Also you mentioned you already have ot and pt involved. If nhs make sure their reports are detailed, specified and quantified. If your son requires a sensory assessment and your la can't provide one they have to get an inde in. Same for any assessment.

I think I'd be cheeky too and them to implement 1:1 before the full assessment has taken place on the advice of the cp, if they refuse ask them why they're ignoring the advice of the professional, especially if the cp is nhs/la based. If it was provision other than 1:1 say medication/ therapy/ physical adaptations would they delay? You could also (if you have a reasonable raport with the cp) ask them for more info eg do they mean 1:1 every lesson or just for certain situations if it isn't already included in the report.

Best of luck, please do look at the law rather than local policy and I second the educational equality facebook page x

What about those schools that refuse to support an EHCNA? Ds's old school told us that they would not support an application and said if we made one, they would tell the LA is wasn't necessary. We went ahead and did it anyway. School were not happy and tried their best to make sure an assessment didn't happen.

So many parents whose children have additional needs, have difficult relationships with schools. It's not always easy to 'work together'.

Definitely definitely apply.

I've worked in secondary and colleges, and so so many children seem to fall between the cracks at those stages because they didn't have the mandated support they needed.
Seems a common theme that children coped in primary, but then fall behind in secondary.
By that time, schools seem to push back hard with supporting EHCP application.

Knock on effect is that they are not eligible for extra support/ extra years funding when they are at college.

@Punxsutawney

What about those schools that refuse to support an EHCNA? Ds's old school told us that they would not support an application and said if we made one, they would tell the LA is wasn't necessary. We went ahead and did it anyway. School were not happy and tried their best to make sure an assessment didn't happen.

So many parents whose children have additional needs, have difficult relationships with schools. It's not always easy to 'work together'.

No doubt. But OP doesn't appear to have tried this yet.

@extremelybumpy

Hankuamatata that is incorrect, you do not need to be academically struggling. It is possible to be academically able and have an EHCP. I have 2 DC who are academically able with EHCPs.

Mary as others have said the relaxation of the rules ended last year. There is no relaxation of statutory timescales currently.

Spooney OP's DS meets he legal threshold therefore if the LA refuse she should appeal. The vast, vast majority of refusal to assess appeals are upheld. Even if she has to appeal the sooner she applies the sooner DS's needs will be understood and supported.

Wiggly the threshold posted is for a needs assessment rather than an actual EHCP. The vast, vast majority of refusal to assess appeals are upheld. The bar for EHCNA is relatively low. Once you have an assessment then the decision is based on the assessments e.g EP, SALT, OT etc. Many schools refuse to apply and tell parents their child won't get one but when parents apply they focus get one.

In my experience as a Senco for 15 years, the opposite was true in terms of the parent applying. We only had 1 EHCP assessment come back with no provision allocated, however, I recall around 10 parents applying independently and none went forward to Panel as the children did not have a level of SEN that could not be met within the school’s SEN budget. As a Senco, when requesting a needs assessment, I make sure I can tick all the boxes with associated evidence. I make sure there is at least 1 professionals report to support the request. This may take 2 terms, but AT THE SAME TIME I ensure the appropriate support is already in place in school which gives even more evidence of need. Because of this prep work, the application more often than not goes through in a timely manner and we can then formalise the provision already in place. Not all LAs are rubbish, not all schools avoid applying for EHCPs, not all Head teachers avoid spending money on supporting SEN pupils.

Nothing to lose by applying. It just takes time.

@Soontobe60 my experience as a parent in the system for some 23 years now and as a moderator on a support board for parents wanting to secure an EHCP for their children is that parents, and it is only a parent who has the right of appeal, are hugely successful in securing provision particularly when supported by IPSEA, SOSSEN or other support boards.
Only recently supported a parent securing EHCP and placement in school of choice after parent had been told no need for EHCP when child had never been to school full time and was approaching end of year two. Another parent told repeatedly child not severe enough to get EHCP now has a specified and quantified EHCP that will ensure their needs are met.
These aren't unusual on our LA specific board they happen regularly. Parents are fobbed off for years by schools spouting LA policy.
FWIW the best evidence of need to secure an EHCP are independent assessments by SALT OT and Ed Psych rather than school's input and parents can secure these free of charge if they are entitled to Legal Aid if not it will be the best money they spend tbh.

Not all LAs are rubbish, not all schools avoid applying for EHCPs, not all Head teachers avoid spending money on supporting SEN pupils.

Agree completely with this @Soontobe60. As a SENCO I didn't once deal with a parebt who wanted an EHCP, it was always me that instigated the process (and never once a doctor, social worker etc either, all of whom can also get the ball rolling). Every EHCP I applied for was essentially done in my own time on weekends and was a huge amount of work, as like most primary sencos I had just 2 hours a week to deal with every SEND issue that came my way. Unfortunately I think the process favours those parents educated enough to appeal and really fight for what their child deserves. I know the number of decisions overturned shows, in some counties at least, that the process is not fit for purpose. Many of the parents I worked with couldn't even read a school newsletter, let alone navigate the EHCP process.

@wigglywoo couldn't agree more that the parents educated and able to fight will secure provision and that's hugely unfair on parents without the resources to do so. IPSEA and SOSSEN can help with advocates to support parents at no cost. If entitled to Legal Aid parents can secure the support of an educational law firm and independent assessments. Educational Equality have well respected advocates and charge according to means to pay. The support is there it would be hugely helpful if schools signposted these areas of support rather than only advising SENDIAS knowledge and support can be poor and based on LA policy in some areas. Ours is awful but know of others that are much better.

hired our Sendiass is awful too. They actually tell parents that £6k needs to be spent before an EHCNA can be applied for. We have been unable to secure any support with our local one.

Ours is the same, the parent who I mentioned had been "supported" by SENDIASS for three years, child was doing one hour a day in school and still they were advising no need for EHCP and school could meet need. Her child is now in school full time at a special school both Mum and child thriving now.
Schools aren't always the best places to get advice and support either. I would love it if every school had to send out, periodically, letters detailing independent sources of support and had to display posters alerting parents to IPSEA and SOSSEN. It would empower parents to look outside schools and SENDIASS if nothing else.