shit, EHCNA refusal, aibu to feel mad at school & SENCO?

[sillygames]

EHCNA just refused after the first 6 weeks? It was a parental request.

Can't believe it. I feel sick. DS has a long list of complex SENDs (ADHD/ASD/SPLD/SEMH) and chronic anxiety. He's at one of those super strict Academies. We only discovered SEND issues after joining. It's totally inappropriate for him as many professionals within it agree. I thought the SENCO agreed.

ECHP co-ordinator said the "Panel felt from the evidence provided that DS is making progress with the support provided by the school Panel felt that the school can use more strategies from EP’s recommendations to support DS social needs."

I feel sick. He's so anxious because of all the rules and his failure to do well that he's suicidal. The school & SENCO is know this. WTF did they say to the EHCP team?

How long do tribunals take?
If we take him out of school for the sake of his sanity will it make a tribunal and (hopefully) resulting EHCNA take longer or take less time?

@jenandberrys

The reason I mentioned these 2 is because it's other people involved in the email. I would wait for weeks for a response but whenever I added these people and MP into the email they would move. It's all about getting people to react and help, I did state that not all can do anything but it doesn't it can't help

@jenandberrys

Also I presume you've been through this process and won like I did

Don't belittle my help when it's helped me in the past

This is not true, in broad terms more than 75% of requests to assess are granted. LAs are far more likely to assess than not.

@sevencontinents

Thankyou . Exactly that . As I explained in the post at the time 👍👍

MPs yes, Head of Ofsted and Education Minister no, not at the point when the OP hasn't even appealed.

Your point being?

@jenandberrys again... have you done this before?

Get your appeal into the tribunal asap. You stand a chance of an appeal being made now, getting heard in the autumn.

if you can afford private reports, get them

Just appeal . And get used to appealing (sadly)

I think appeals are taking about a year at the moment. So probably March 2024.

Which poor practice is it you are referring to? Unless I am mistaken the OP has applied, been refused and now has the opportunity to appeal. It's not really the time for MPs and the Education minister. There are enormous amounts of illegal and appalling practice by SEND teams in LAs across the country but this is not necessarily one of those cases at this point. It will look very odd to be copying all those people in when all she needs to do is lodge an appeal, I would suggest keeping some of her powder dry at this point.

Appeals which are taking a year are contents/placement appeals. Refusal to assess will likely be quicker as it's paper based.

He's at one of those super strict Academies.

What year is he in?

It may not have been the school or SENCO.

I'm a teacher. Last year my child was in the classroom next to me so I heard it all. I did a parental request for an EHCP, which like yours was rejected on the basis that school was meeting his needs.

When they phoned me to let me know this, I challenged it and stated I knew this wasn't the case due to being a teacher in the classroom next door...they couldn't get me off the phone quick enough.

We decided not to appeal but to write the EHCP again with further evidence, this time from the school (I actually did most of it). It has been accepted. Keep going. It is a long, hard battle unfortunately.

In my experience I’d expect a refusal to issue plan appeal to get heard in that time frame, at the moment, but I suppose the OP should prepare for the worst.

Hi op, me and DH will need an ehcp for our daughter, we know this. She is non verbal and in nappies. We also know that the LA will refuse. We have set aside 10k to spend on legal help to appeal on our behalf, attend the ehcp tribunal appeal and then enforce the help that is in the final ehcp as I know many parents struggle to get the legal document adhered to post ehcp. We are considering it as school fees. In law our daughter needs this and is entitled to it but in practice I know from so many parents that la’s fight very hard and I also know lots of parents and kids who have been so broken by the send system. We have sourced a send solicitor already for this work and our dd is only 3. For her primary education it seems a small price to pay for our sanity and mental health. I am sure secondary will be another fight and legal fees.

@jenandberrys

maybe you're an MP yourself. Again. Have you been through this yourself? Have you got children that need this help??

This process is horrible for parents and even harder for the kids. You'd do anything to make things better for your child. If it means annoying people off then so be it . Experience tells me this. I have 3 child with SEN. People don't like being held accountable in the hope that they can refuse and that most won't appeal. Most don't, but the ones that do get much further

@Spambod please don't Spend this money fighting it you shouldn't have too and don't have too . Spend that on something beneficial for your child instead .

If I can offer any help I'm more than happy to but you shouldnT have to spend your own money to get the education your child needs

Parental or school based requests?

Believe me I understand the system better than you can imagine. I totally agree with being the squeaky wheel, annoying people etc. You talk about people being held accountable and I agree and that is why I didn't respond to your first post as I know full well that flagging your case up with senior people is key. However none of the decision makers in this circumstance are accountable to the Head of OFSTED or the Education Minister and IMO copying those parties into your emails at a point when you haven't even lodged an appeal will make you look absolutely unhinged and the exact opposite of a parent who should be taken seriously.

@sillygames I really feel for you; it took me three years to secure an EHCP for my DD1, mainly because her grammar school wouldn’t support the application. My DD(15) is blind, adopted and is diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome (related to drugs in the womb) as well as autism and ADHD. If any child ‘deserved’ an EHCP, it is my DD. I rejected mediation and would have taken my LA to Tribunal but then my beloved dad died unexpectedly and suddenly during the pandemic and I hadn’t the resilience or heart to fight.

A year on, when I’d gained my equilibrium, I put in another EHCNA, but this time I researched to the hilt and I knew the language to use. The Needs Assessment request was granted and my LA employed an independent EP (probably because they don’t have their own any more). The subsequent report was overwhelmingly undeniable. My DD was issued with a draft EHCP (which was utterly crap) but I consulted with an SEN expert at a residential college for the blind who helped me tighten it up. It’s not perfect and I’ve had some help on here for my next review.

There is a brilliant poster on here (I will think of her name and post it) who is an expert on EHCPs. She/they are remarkable for the help they give parents.

Please don’t give up!

Appeal - and be prepared to appeal many times over the coming years.

Knocking back applications at different stages seems, unfortunately, to now be part of the process. So you need to see it as ‘a necessary stage’ not ‘the end of the road’.

Get the school to try the things not yet tried and document the results, then appeal with that extra evidence.

@JustKeepBuilding can you help here?

It's an overall figure. If you have the discrete category data that would be interesting.

DS is 12, in year 9, we had him diagnosed privately with ADHD/ASD because otherwise wait times would have been too long.
School diagnosed SPLD.

the support offered so far includes

• permission to stand out side class when distressed, but in view of the class (which anxious ASD child do you know would find this helpful?)
• permission to carry and fiddle with bluetack, under desk, out of sight of others so not causing any distraction (okay!)
• he's not allowed to carry a compass because of his suicide ideation (i don't know whose policy this is, but i think its quite clear that only the schools lawyers would see any benefit)
• guidance on where he can go and what he can do in unstructured times
• ND mentor and TA mentor

The EP could not complete formal assessments because his level anxiety was so high, but they did make the following recommendations

• continued access to specialist support form camhs (the last of his 6 CBT sessiosn is next week)
• multi-agency liason to discuss how to support him at home and school
• stop teachers relying on visual communication with him - they need to speak
• help packing his school bag and being organise (i started doing it for him because he was getting too many detentions)
• learn mindfulness
• have reduced homework and end of sanctions for incomplete homework (this is not happening and its not negotiable according to SENCO - the most they can offer ie extra time to complete homework, other than the normal detention. )

Honestly moving him to some other, less structured mainstream school would be distressing for him, more chaotic and more boisterous NT children would not help. He does not want to do that. The current environment is based on fear and sanctions, the EP's recommendations won't change that.