How to argue the point on ASD with Appeal panel

[Kalimero]

We filled the Appeal for our school of interest, but in the meantime we sent Social medical form to the Council.
Today we got the answer which is quite shocking.
They say that autism is NOT considered as exceptional need.

Exact quote from the refusal letter:
'The Panel were also in agreement that the prevalence of autism is also on the rise nationally as well as in (Council name) and unfortunately it is not considered as exceptional need, as it is fairly common condition affecting 1% of children and adolescents.'

I am shocked by this blanket statement. Is it even appropriate statement to make?
How do we argue back this kind of statement if we face it from the Appeal panel?

Yes agree with @SheilaFentiman @Robotindisguise no one is saying “no insulin for you” or the ASC equivalent (I guess, “no support or consideration for your ASC”).

What they are saying (literally) is that ASC is relatively common and as it has a spectrum, it may be that you DC’s needs can be addressed by any school.

If indeed mainstream school is inaccessible and they need a special school bc they are non-verbal or have other complex issues then that is one thing; if someone thinks they can simply say “but they have ASC therefore need the school I preferred” then that’s something else. You will need to show why that school is the one.

Plenty of DC with ASC are catered for and supported in mainstream, perhaps with adjustments such as earlier lunchtime or a quiet space for breaktimes, or a separate room for exams. You @Kalimero need in your appeal to specify the level of need and why the appealed-for school is the only one that can cater to it. PPs use the example of a wheelchair user needing a school with lifts and accessible doorways. Some schools have specialist units where support is offered (for example my DCs’ school had a unit that catered for YP who had hearing issues). If that’s the case then that may be a strong element.

I don't consider myself a professional on ASD or any other medical condition so of course I am aware that my view doesn't carry expert weight.
MDT report, DLA, Senco, allergy panel, gastroenterology report, SLT report to name few.
And yes, the school has been clearly named by professional as the recommended school

The bar for being under the exceptional medical and social needs oversubscription category is higher than the bar for an ordinary school admission appeal that is decided on the balance of prejudice.

So just because you don’t meet the bar for the former, doesn’t mean an appeal won’t be successful. You need to think about why DS would be disadvantaged by not going to the school. Just saying DS has autism won’t be enough. You can also look at other reasons beyond ASD e.g. extra-curricular clubs, language provision, the music offer, etc.

The vast majority with ASD won’t meet the bar for the exceptional medical and social needs category. Neither will most with diabetes. There isn’t a definitive list of what does and doesn’t qualify though. It depends on the individual circumstances. And, yes, you do need strong evidence. Not just circumstantial evidence or a feeling.

You need to look at the exact wording. For example, “Mum says school X…” or “school X would be a good fit for DC…” isn’t strong evidence. Whereas, “School X is the only school that can meet DC’s needs because…” is stronger.

@claryThank you, that's very helpful

Yes agree with PPs, how is it framed in the letter from the HCP?

If it’s “in my opinion as a medical professional with in-depth experience of supporting YP with ASC, this is the only school that can properly support [your DC] because it offers xyz” then that’s a really strong line for your appeal.

I have sat in appeals panels as a clerk.
The evidence really has to be around why only this school can meet difficulties with evidence (not just evidence of the difficulty)

the assumption is all mainstream schools can support a wide variety of pretty significant needs including autism so having autism isnt seen as exceptional automatically. It has to be something specific to your chikds presentation of autism that makes it exceptional that this school is only one that can do that.

@claryunfortunatelly the sentence used isn't exactly like the one you recommended, it's more wordage 'in my opinion ', 'this school is able to meet xyz', I wish I came to this forum before sending the Appeal.
@Owninterpreterthats very helpful, thank you. Does it carry weight if I as a parent point out all those school specialist interventions and offers- I listed them all in my statement. All HCP statements are focused on medical diagnosis and needs, only Senco pointed out that specific school is the right one to meet my child needs.

I can see their point. The figure is currently put at 1 in 30 children though it’s over represented in areas where parents can afford private testing. I’m guessing from your post this isn’t a special needs school, just your preferred school, so no your child can’t leapfrog a child who lives in catchment.

An exceptional medical need could be something like the school is all on one level for a young person who used a wheelchair or crutches, that there are hearing loops in every classroom for a young person with hearing loss, there is a school nurse based on site if they need regular medical care, or in my dc’s case, they had an established nurture programme for dc who were capable of mainstream education but needed provision at break and lunchtime.

My shock and issue with their statement that 'ASD is not exceptional medical need ' is because it's generalising ASD. As others have also pointed out, ASD is a broad spectrum from highly functional children who need minimal support to children completely dependent on their carers.
Hence, to state ASD is not exceptional medical need is quite shocking and unfair in my view.

Having a diagnosis of autism is completely insufficient for showing need for a specific school.

Child A with autism might be perfectly well able to cope in a mainstream school within the universal reasonable adjustments that any school is able to make for supporting neurodiverse pupils, and will thrive and get excellent grades. Child B might be totally unable to cope, unable to focus or function in the loud and rambunctious environment of a mainstream school and start avoiding school or self-harming or shutting down into total unresponsive mutism if forced into it. Having autism is not in itself a need or evidence of a need and there are no schools that have zero pupils with autism so you need evidence of specific needs that cannot be met within the universal provision that all schools are expected to offer but that your preferred school for some reason can. The usual mechanism for this is via an EHCP.

Children with ASD who are completely dependent on others for care because of their ASD need an EHCP. If they don’t have an EHCP, their parents should request an EHCNA. Children with EHCPs are dealt with outside of the normal admission arrangements.

But still.

If the ASD is impactful enough the child will have an EHCP.

ASD in and of itself as a diagnosis is not an exceptional medical need. If they agreed it was then all children with an ASD diagnosis would be in the exceptional medical or social need category. (And it is hardly the LAs fault that ASD is such a broad diagnosis.)

Now of course you may be able to argue that your child's needs are exceptional even though presumably they don't have an EHCP.

But regardless you need to show what specifically about this school is beneficial to your specific child such that they would be disadvantaged by not attending.

I think you are misunderstanding their point. They are not saying that anybody with ASD won't have exceptional needs. They are saying that an ASD diagnosis in itself doesn't prove a child had exceptional needs in this specific context.

Is theee anything on the government website another the rules and regulations regarding this?

I had a long battle with my local authority regarding paying for my children to travel to school. They kept on telling me they had no responsibility with this. I eventually had the idea of looking up the statutory guidance on the government website and found the
council had been lying to me. As soon as I emailed them with a link to the regulations and a quote of the relevant section, they caved in and even backdated their payments. I’m sure they knew the rules all along. More than 10 years later, their web page on this still does not reflect the actual regulations.

Agree. They need more detail than an ASD diagnosis to consider it as “exceptional”.

But saying (quite rightly) that it's 'a broad spectrum' is the same as them 'generalising ASD.' It's okay to generalise that it's not exceptional because exception literally means it cannot be a common thing, and it is a common thing. What is not common, it the more extreme/complex presentations, which is a specific thing which you can evidence and appeal for a special placement for etc. ASD as a general category is not an exceptional medical need. My DS is ASD and does not have exceptional medical needs, as is the case with many others. I don't know why you're fixating on that statement when you seem to understand that there are lots of ASD children who don't qualify as exceptions. Focus on the specifics instead then the generalising will not apply to the case.

Has there been an EHCNA applied for? If not, why not? Local authorities don't usually put ASD into exceptional medical needs categories, as another poster has said, if the ASD is impacting the child to that extent then the local authority would expect an EHCNA to be in process or the child to have an EHCP.
Your appeal should always be for the school you are requesting, not against the school you've been allocated.
So, the appeal should include anything the requested school offers which would meet need without an EHCP which the offered school doesn't. This may be things like its a much smaller school and your child's profile means they become dysregulated in large environments. They may have nurture groups etc. With no ehcp the onus is on you to seek out the differences in each schools local ordinary available offer, because things like specialist units within schools can normally only be accessed with an EHCP

It feels to me as if you are reading their statement to mean "no child with ASD can meet exceptional medical criteria", but they haven't said that.

For example: They might say "having a visual impairment is not an exceptional medical need". That does not mean that the subset of "being nearly completely blind" is not an exceptional medical need.

Are you in England?

I can give you a real world example. My son has specific requirements of a school (albeit in our case its in an EHCP, but based on recommendations from professionals)

One is that he needs free access to outside space. School A can provide this, as each of their class has direct access from the classroom to their own individual, enclosed garden space. School B cannot meet this need, as their classrooms do not have direct outdoor access. Therefore, in this case, he has an exceptional medical need that school A can provide, but B cannot.

This is advised by an occupational therapist and an educational psychologist as being essential for him to be in a mainstream school, not because mum thinks it'd be nice for him to be able to play outside more.

Admissions to state schools in England are covered by the Admissions Code and appeals by the Appeals Code, but there is nothing in there stating ASD has to be included in the exceptional medical and social needs category even if the school has one (and not all schools do because they don’t have to).

If you child has an EHCP, admissions are dealt with outside of the normal admission arrangement, so your DC does not come under the exceptional medical and social need category. That category is part of the normal admission process (and even then only for certain schools because not all schools have such a category in their oversubscription criteria.)

I know this, I was just helping the OP with a real life example. As far as I can see, they haven't said which country they are in, or whether their child has an ehcp (assuming not) and nor have they said why they feel this school is the one that can meet needs over the others. I may have missed it though.

Your situation is completely different, though.

OP’s DC can’t have an EHCP. If her DC did, she wouldn’t have needed to request DC is considered under the exceptional medical and social needs category of the normal admissions process.

OP is in England, she has another thread going at the moment with her location.