SEN 1-1 support in school

[lettshaveaniicecupoftea]

Posting for traffic.

My daughter is autistic and in reception. She has a diagnosis and an EHCP.

She currently has a keyworker and a lot of 1-1 interventions and targets but doesn't have an allocated 1-1 person. She has a keyworker who seems to support a small group of children with varying additonal needs.

She is due an ehcp review early 2022 to start preparing her for year 1 and make any necessary changes to her plan in time for then.

I'm just curious to know what happens if a child needs their own 1-1 TA. Is this something the school has to agree to? Can I stipulate this needs to happen? Is it upto the local authority? Does it need to be specifically written into the plan to make it happen?

She needs a lot of personal care. She's still in pull ups (not incontinent at all - but has a fear of using the toilet). Needs support at lunch time as she's uneasy about eating and needs gentle encouragement. She would find it hard on a typical classroom set up of being seated most of the day with one teacher and a TA, she would definitely need more close attention to carry out tasks and understand the work.

She is showing lots of progress with actual learning after the nursery year of not much progress at all. I am confident she will be fine in mainstream with additional support.

I am no expert, but I think that if “requires 1-to-1” is in the EHCP then they have to provide 1-to-1 but not necessarily allocated a single person to do that all the time (I.e. one worker for each pupil). If they need a single allocated worker for 1-to-1 all the time/most of the time, then I imagine that this would need to be specifically stated in the ehcp. That would make most sense, as that kind of one to one probably requires significant funding.

I am not sure if you can decide that gets put in to the statement or whether there had to be either an assessment stating it is needed or possibly a consensus from you/the school and/or LA that it is needed.

Could you speak to SENCO about it.

They have to provide 1-1 and if they can't/won't then they can't meet needs and you need to find a school that can.

Thank you.

The school and SEN support worker office is closed till middle of next week so I just wondered if anyone knew how it works.

I think she will need 1-1 support as in one person for her the majority of the time, but I'm preparing myself that it might not be that simple.

It feels like everything is a bit of a battle and your child's education is in the hands of people in an office somewhere that don't actually know them.

The SENCO is lovely but she seems very black and white about SEN. Either mainstream or special school, and if you are leaning too far towards needing special provisions then mainstream isn't right for you.

I feel my daughter is inbetween. She doesn't need a special school, she is coping and making friends and learning, but she also struggles with aspects of mainstream education, but with the right support she will be absolutely fine.

I'm just feeling stressed about her leaving early years, 7 months will go so fast, its going to be a lot of change.

1:1 will need to be in the EHCP. Otherwise LA very unlikely to pay for one and without the money school unlikely to be able to afford one.

It sounds like you think some of the reception support will not be there in Year 1. It is time to have that conversation with school. You can ask for it to be put in an EHCP but are very unlikely to get it without professional (e.g. school or ed psych) back up. If she is coping now, school may well want to wait to see how things pan out and wait for things to go wrong before they instigate any changes - especially with the pressure some LAs put on school to keep things low cost.

If school want to wait, be prepared (and on the lookout) to push again if your daughter's needs are not being met.

Speaking as a parent of an autistic child who had to fight to get 1:1 in an EHCP (1 tribunal at which he was given some 1:1 and papers filed for a second to get full time when it was clear things deteriorated at the times when he didn't have 1:1).

You need to come over to the special needs section as this is one of the things that your local authority will try and worm their way out of by using woolly wording and not specifying number of hours

It has to be nailed down in the relevant section in precise quantified terms or they will fail to provide/ use for others with needs but no EHCP at a detriment to your child because they don’t have enough support staff in school

You will need a well written EHCP which is probably the most difficult part of the process tbh.

You need to make sure that you have reports from professionals e.g. Speech therapy, occupational therapy or continence service that state all of your DD's needs and the specific provision she needs. That should include 1:1 support if needed, for how many hours each day and what the TA should be doing in that time. The law says plans should be specific and quantified but LAs will try to get away with wooly language so they do not have to fund all the support needed especially 1:1 support.

The professional reports are key. Do the reports you have make specific recommendations about the support your DD needs?

@sleezeandwineparty

They have to provide 1-1 and if they can't/won't then they can't meet needs and you need to find a school that can.

Only if it’s specified in the EHCP

OP look at IPSEA for advice

Does it need to be specifically written into the plan to make it happen?

Basically, yes. Are there recent EP reports saying a 1:1 is essential?

Most LAs are desperately moving away from this now so won’t write it in the plan.

You will discuss your child’s needs with the school, local authority and professionals who know her in her annual review. If at the end of the review it becomes clear that she needs more support, the authority will be asked to amend the ehcp and increase the level of support specified.

Just so you are aware though, in many places (well, where I live anyway) it’s not really best practice to put full time 1:1 support in a mainstream school. If a child truly needs constant 1:1 support and supervision all day it may be considered a sign that a specialist provision is be more appropriate to their needs. If you want her to be in mainstream, you might be better thinking about the specific activities / times of day when she needs 1:1 (you mentioned a few in your op) and being specific that she needs support during these times, not a blanket request for full time 1:1.

Do you mean she has 1-1 but this person changes over the day/week?

Yes look at the ipsea website.

The ehcp must say dedicated 1:1 for x hours a week or it's not enforceable. If it does say this you start judicial review.

"Access too" etc just means they need a TA in the room.

I would look at the SEN section on here ( but I'm very out of date with it. I'm on a local ehcp FB group) and prepair yourself for a appeal. Appealing is the only way I have nailed down my kids ehcps

@OnceuponaRainbow18

Do you mean she has 1-1 but this person changes over the day/week?

She has one person that is there for her most of the time but as part of a small group of other children with SEN. I'm not sure how it will work in year one as she definitely won't cope with all the change going from play based learning to classroom setting without additional support.

It has to be specified and quantified in section f (educational provision) of the ehcp. The la are responsible for making sure all provision in the plan is provided but only if it is detailed so that there is no question as to what should be provided. You would do this through a pre action protocol letter for JR, followed by JR if needed (unlikely). The school ultimately isn't responsible.

You will likely need evidence from professionals (EP, SALT, OT etc) as to why (stating need) and what (provision: provided by who, what qualifications they have, how long for, if other children are included, ratio of staff to children, where, who will be responsible or over see....). If the LA do not amend the plan or put in all the amendments you feel are required you will need to go to SEND tribunal.

If the plan has clear faults you could as for a reassessment of need (check timeframes) which of they refuse will give you access to appeal possibly quicker than going through annual review. Make sure you state what input you feel is required and request eg salt/ ep/ ot for the reports.

If you decide to go though AR make sure you have the reports 2 weeks prior to the review date. Query anything unspecified, highlight all needs and ask for provision to meet them to be specified in F. Get it all minuted.

Toileting is a special educational need, should be included in b and f.

You may have a helpful sendiass in your area (some aren't as helpful as others due to funding with LA), ipsea and sossen are amazing and full of info. Both ipsea and sossen have helplines, sossen have drop in centres monthly in various places.

Just to say my son has 1:1 at all times inc breaks and lunch, max of three diff people to support him over the year and max of three diff people in a week with their qualifications detailed, so same people all the time.

You can state as a parent that you want mainstream if you want.

It is rare that you will get an EHcP that states 1-1 required for the full day anymore (though understandably some LAs may still use this terminology). The important part of the plan is the provision section as that is what the school have to provide. The money then allocated should reflect the provision. If the school is not providing the provision then you need to be finding out why. If they are but the provision is not enough to meet your child’s needs then you need the relevant professionals to support you and the school in making sure it does match by applying for more support through the annual review.
If the school are doing everything in the provision, and your child’s needs are being met then it sounds like the EHCP is fine.
We have a number of children with EHCPs with a range of needs. Only a very small number have 1-1 support all day.

It really isn't good to have just one person all the time, children can become too reliant on that one person and it can cause issues later on.

When I timetable support I like to have one person in the morning and a different person in the afternoon, this allows for continuity but not too much reliance.

I also like to make sure (especially in reception) that the child has some time with 'access to' support rather than a TA glued to the child. Reception is a time when they need to learn how to socialise and play and sometimes an adult can play too big a role. So the TA is there but away from the child but has a watchful eye!

@lettshaveaniicecupoftea

Well if her EHCP says 1-1 and she’s currently working in a small group where the adult is helping other kids at the same time they aren’t following her EHCP, which is a legal document. If this is the case I would kick up a fuss. My school used to
Do that and it’s only when parents complain they get the 1-1.

Just so you are aware though, in many places (well, where I live anyway) it’s not really best practice to put full time 1:1 support in a mainstream school.

Same here. I'm in secondary but full time 1:1 support is so much less than it was.

The only 1:1 FT students are for physical/ medical needs.

Thank you so much, lots of helpful advice and experience here. I will have a good look tonight when the children are in bed and make some notes for when we talk to the Senco.

There's nothing to suggest they won't provide adequate support, and the ehcp is working fine for her in reception, but the jump from eyfs to ks1 is going to be huge for her.

I worry that without similar levels of support she won't be able to cope. Once she gets used to the setting and the staff, and the routine, everything may well be fine, but I know she will need a familiar face and a lot of 1-1 support in the beginning at least.

With regards to group work it can sometimes work in the favour of the child. So a short 10 minute phonic session with 2 other children is not necessarily a bad thing and the child who has 1:1 is actually benefiting from the others being there. It all depends on the circumstance

[quote OnceuponaRainbow18]@lettshaveaniicecupoftea

Well if her EHCP says 1-1 and she’s currently working in a small group where the adult is helping other kids at the same time they aren’t following her EHCP, which is a legal document. If this is the case I would kick up a fuss. My school used to
Do that and it’s only when parents complain they get the 1-1.[/quote]
It doesn't state 1:1 currently.

Her targets include a lot of 1-1 interventions and activities, but says to be provided by a keyworker.

What I was asking is, if it's deemed necessary that she needs someone 1-1 to her, how that happens.

@friedeggandsauce

With regards to group work it can sometimes work in the favour of the child. So a short 10 minute phonic session with 2 other children is not necessarily a bad thing and the child who has 1:1 is actually benefiting from the others being there. It all depends on the circumstance

Absolutely.

I'm not necessarily looking for a TA to be 'glued' to her all day. But to know that if she's struggling to eat, needs her pull up changing, or is just feeling overwhelmed and needs a bit of time out, that someone will be there without it being detrimental to the rest of the class.

If that means 1-1 for lunch times and toileting, and small group work throughout the day, I'm fine with that, I just know she won't cope going straight into a classroom setting with a teacher and a ta that might not be able to provide that personal support when needed.

We have just moved into the UK with a child with ASD with 1:1 provision in mainstream from our previous country. Our EHCP equivalent sets out the need for 30 hours 1:1 funding for a specialised TA.

We got to this position like this - he was OK in Reception in a low demand play-based environment but concerns were raised towards the end of the year. In Yr1 we went from the class TA being made more available to him to him having 1:1 unfunded time every afternoon to keep him in class. By Yr2 he had an unfunded 1:1 (because otherwise he wasn’t in class at all) which became funded during the year when his ECHP equivalent was agreed - there was never a debate about whether one was needed because it was demonstrable that they were. The funded hours were 20 at that point, but we all agreed on review that it needed to be full time.

Now we are here, there is emergency funding for a 1:1 in his new school, as we count as overseas arrivals. The LA will begin assessment for his EHCP now, and in the meantime the school is starting recruitment for a permanent 1:1. We haven’t encountered any suggestion so far that a 1:1 in mainstream is inappropriate but we have the giant luck of an existing arrangement that is working to call on in evidence. (An arrangement that was reached with all the usual professional reports.) His new school has several children working with 1:1s.

I feel depressed at the presumption that the need for 1:1 means the child really needs a specialist setting. For our child, he is happy in mainstream with the appropriate support. A specialist school would not be right for him at this point, although I’m sure he would be OK as they tend to offer such individual support. But he’d be taking a place from a child that really needed it when he thrives in mainstream with the right 1:1 support.

I’m under no illusions that the EHCP process will go without a hitch. It’s not our first experience of it. But we do seem to have had a more positive reaction than some other posters.

I would only add that we’ve ended up here after some very stressful and difficult months when we did NOT have the right support - the fact that the school ended up providing an unfunded 1:1 probably illustrates that. But your child’s needs will emerge, and the system we have does require proof of need.
Watching your child struggle and fail to prove they need help is awful.

@friedeggandsauce

It really isn't good to have just one person all the time, children can become too reliant on that one person and it can cause issues later on.

When I timetable support I like to have one person in the morning and a different person in the afternoon, this allows for continuity but not too much reliance.

I also like to make sure (especially in reception) that the child has some time with 'access to' support rather than a TA glued to the child. Reception is a time when they need to learn how to socialise and play and sometimes an adult can play too big a role. So the TA is there but away from the child but has a watchful eye!

But the ehcp comes from the LA, never the school. Its legally binding and enforceable by law.

The school never gets to decide to issue or its contents. That comes the LA who must be guided by EP. OT, SaLT etc.

If the school want to use different TA within the ehcp hours or without a ehcp that's a different matter.

I think its important that people know this.

@lettshaveaniicecupoftea you sound so sensible!!

Be really specific with your senco and where you feel support is needed. The money that the children get isn't enough to cover a 1:1 TA even if it's stated in their EHCP (don't get me started) and what some parents don't realise is that if I have to provide 1:1 for every minute I am taking it away from another child.

If you feel lunch etc is needed then her support can have her break before and after lunch so they are available which is much more doable.

The whole SEN system can be a nightmare as there just isn't enough money to provide what we should 😔. We have to end up being creative to make sure everyone gets the best deal possible.