EHCP first meeting 3 hours?

[Mountainsfar]

Hi everyone,

If anyone has been through the EHCP process, I’d love some advice.

I’ve been invited to meet with the SENCO and was told the meeting will be around 3 hours. She’s asked me to bring evidence, as we’ll be applying for a needs assessment.

I thought it was just a letter — does it normally take 3 hours? I’ll also have my 3-year-old with me, so I’m just trying to plan ahead.

Should I come prepared with written statements?

thanks

That is not the format we followed so I don't know, but I would explain you have no childcare and see if you could do some of it on teams so little one can have all the toys, TV etc of home.

SENCo might even be happy to come to your home if that works for you.

Gather any medical letters you already have, reports from nursery showing developmental ages and documenting any incidents where they struggled. There will be time to gather and document more evidence if needed so I wouldn't do a lot ahead of that initial meeting.

It seems a lot but a lot of parents get zero help from the SENCo at this stage and are just told to do it themselves, so I would take every minute the SENCo is prepared to give e you as a positive