How much help can ds get with level 2 funding?

[elliejjtiny]

DS (aged nearly 4) gets level 2 funding, used to be early years action plus at his SN preschool. The preschool is a charity and gets money from fundraising, children in need etc as well as the standard fees from parents and money from the government.

He has global development delay and is developmentally 2 years behind his actual age. He also has some medical issues and has had 13 operations, with many more to come.

Area senco and ed psych are insistent that he won't need any extra funding and will "cope marvellously" in mainstream with his current funding.

I have no idea how a child who cannot dress himself and is in nappies full time is going to cope at school without a full time 1 to 1 TA. He struggles to understand instructions unless they are explained several times and 1 small task at a time.

My niece is 10 months younger than him and miles ahead in every way. Children his own age are even further ahead of him.

I worry he is going to be a burden and be resented by the teacher and the other children. He's such a lovely boy and wants to learn but he's going to struggle massively I think.

Without an EHCP, effectively nothing. School will expected to meet his needs from the notional SEN budget (6k a year), which realistically isn't going to fund a dedicated TA.

He sounds as if he needs an EHCP, which would explicitly lay out his needs and come with the funding to support them. Preschool can start that process now (or you can, but it would be easier with their support)

ask your community paed to schedule a multidisciplinary assessment. you need to get an ehcp sorted by the January before the september in which they should start reception.

The mda is the perfect time to bring up deferred entry. look round all the schools near you, including the special ones, to get an idea what you like

"School will expected to meet his needs from the notional SEN budget (6k a year), which realistically isn't going to fund a dedicated TA"
It's important to recognise that some schools receive less than £6k notional SEN budget for the whole school and that this budget isn't ringfenced.

He needs an EHCP. If you post on the Special Needs Children board here you'll be able to get plenty of advice about how to apply yourself /push preschool to apply, timescales etc. You'll need to be really insistent and on the ball about this as otherwise the school/LA will keep on telling you he'll be fine until the wheels well and truly fall off, which will be a really negative and damaging experience for him. It shouldn't be this way but it is.

Thankyou everyone.

He doesn't have a community paediatrician, he has 5 consultants and 2 speech therapists who look after his medical problems and then he has the area senco, ed psych, and preschool who do the educational stuff. And an OT from social services who sorts out his equipment and his wheelchair.

I'm not sure what a multi disciplinary assessment is but we've had a lot of family service plan meetings which sound similar, it's when all the professionals are invited to a meeting to talk about ds's needs. The area senco is in charge of this and the next one is in June. I've tried pushing for an ehcp at these meetings since he was 2 but the area senco and ed psych always say he doesn't need one.

The senco and reception teacher from the mainstream primary came to the last meeting in march and they said that they wouldn't be able to do the things that preschool are doing, like giving him individual attention and explaining things to him in lots of short simple steps without an ehcp. Area senco and ed psych insisted that he needed the help but didn't need an ehcp.

Area senco also questioned the need for his operations and said we should try and reduce them as it will affect his attendance at school. I thought that was really rude as it's not like he has them for fun.

Ok so clearly your SENCO is an incompetent arse. You could challenge them but probably better to swerve and

Oops, sorry.
...and start applying for an EHCP yourself.

Thanks. There used to be a really good senco who was based at the preschool. But she was sacked because of cuts and now we have this area senco who is supposed to look after all the preschool aged children who have SN in our half of the county. I don't know how much of it is a funding problem as she is doing a job that used to be done by 2 or 3 people and how much is just that she is useless.

Honestly, don't waste headspace on it. For whatever reason no help there so you need to get on and apply yourself. There are organisations that will assist you - post on Special Needs to find out which.