Ehcp assessment refusal and child not in school

[mummy1970abc]

Hello all,
Battle weary mother here.

My ASD child (14 - year9) “attends” a grammar school. He is academically very bright. However, his mental health (low mood and anxiety) have now hit an all time low. We have had three running away from home sessions, two calling the police because he can’t keep himself safe and two nights in hospital with a mental health crisis. he has been excluded twice (FT) in the last year and has numerous detentions for failing to be organised / homework issues etc.

He was signed off as medically unfit in Dec 2019 and hasn’t returned since.

The school has not followed the graduated approach and struggle to even understand his difficulties.

County have just confirmed that they will not asses him (2 weeks after the 6 week deadline).

He is not in school and school have no way of writing a support plan. He is not to go back until that Support plan is in place.

He has a concerned GP, social worker and we are currently battling, also, with CAMHS.

Any help or advice or experience would be greatly appreciated.. I have contacted the mediation service today and will go through to tribunal if I have to.

But I feel we are very much between a rock and a hard place.

Thanks for reading

So sorry you and your poor son are going through all of this.

First of all, a lot of LAs turn down requests for EHC Needs assessments as a matter of course, only to back down when parents appeal.

I wouldn't bother with mediation. All too often LAs use this as another delaying tactic. Just get the mediation certificate and register the appeal as soon as you can.

Advice here:
www.ipsea.org.uk/how-to-submit-an-appeal-general-advice

www.ipsea.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=f4fc6ab6-bb85-4a0e-9161-206876a2ab3b

IPSEA also have a Tribunal helpline:

www.ipsea.org.uk/tribunal-helpline

And I would not send your boy back to that diabolical uncaring school. They clearly haven't got a clue about autism, and have no understanding of their legal duties to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act.

Under Section 19 of the 1996 Education Act, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure suitable, full-time alternative education for those children of compulsory school age, who for one reason or other are unable to attend school.

Write to the Director of Children's Services, remind them of their statutory duty and request alternative education is put in place.
Info here:
www.ipsea.org.uk/getting-temporary-education-put-in-place

Good luck OP.

Thank you Ellie56 - for your comments and support. Luckily I have completed the battle of alternative education - that went in to place last week (hampered by our hospital visit) but hopefully starting properly next week after half term. But way over the legal maximum, it was a fight with both County and the school - but we got there in the end.

Everything has been a diabolical struggle that has added enormously to my son’s mental decline.

I have accepted the mediation - but will make sure that they have everything they need.. and work on the tribunal process at the same time.

I think we are going to have to go down the route if school not being able to fulfill his needs - but in reality that haven’t even worked out what they are.

I think we are going to have to go down the route if school not being able to fulfill his needs - but in reality that haven’t even worked out what they are.

So you need a proper assessment of his needs. Oh wait...

I'd seriously start looking at other schools OP. Look at everything in your area, both mainstream and special, and if you find nothing suitable, look in neighbouring counties.

I have a really nasty feeling that we are in a catch22 situation. I have a friend who is an Ed Psych. So I can employ her, privately, to help me out. If that’s a good idea?
My son has said that he absolutely does not want to go back to that school.. but I think we will be faced with the same problem in every mainstream school.
I have started to look around, provision in county is great for non academic kids, out of county looks like a better option for academic ones. I have viewed a couple online that could work. I’m going to contact them next week to go and visit.

I have read on the ipsea website that you “can” make a tribunal case for the school not managing to work out the needs and require a county level involvement - but apparently this is very unlikely to hold... which also puts back at square one..

you“can” make a tribunal case for the school not managing to work out the needs and require a county level involvement -Not sure what you mean there OP.

It sounds to me though that there needs to be a robust EHC Needs assessment where all of your son's needs are identified along with the support required to meet all of those needs.

The ensuing reports would then feed into the EHC Plan. All the needs would be detailed in section B of the Plan and provision to meet each one of those needs would be detailed in Section F.

Provision has to be specific and quantified. Eg section B may say "Has difficulties with social communication." Section F should then have something like, "requires a social skills programme devised by a qualified speech and language therapist, experienced in working with children with autism, and delivered for 2 hours each week." That way if it doesn't happen, you can enforce it.

If Section F says woolly things like "would benefit from", or "access to," it's not worth the paper it's written on as you have no way of enforcing it.

Once you have your EHCP which accurately describes needs and provision, you look for the school that can meet those needs.You have a right to request any section 38 (3) school and the LA have to name it in the EHC Plan unless:

• The setting is unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs (“SEN”) of the child or young person; or
• The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others; or
• The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the efficient use of resources.

www.ipsea.org.uk/choosing-a-schoolcollege-with-an-ehc-plan

Our LA said they weren't going to issue an EHCP. We appealed and the LA conceded as they didn't have a leg to stand on. We had to appeal again as the LA said they didn't fund out of area placements, and they named an unsuitable college in DS's plan.

DS eventually got the specialist residential college he wanted, which was 160 miles away from home as there was nothing suitable closer. He went for 3 years and it was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Getting him there entailed a huge battle with the LA which was very long and drawn out, very tedious and extremely stressful, but it was so worth it.

What i would do is to write a letter to the head of children's services at your LEA copied into every agency involved with your son from schools, social services, CAMHS etc and anyone else you can think of such as your MP pointing out that your son is not currently receiving an education or support for his mental health difficulties and making it clear that if anything happens they would be unable to claim ignorance of the situation. Worked for us anyway when ds2 had a mental health crisis to get the various agencies to start actually doing something rather than playing pass the parcel.

@oneineight - thank you. That is also good advice. I’m sorry you have had to go through this too.. it seems to be horribly “normal”.

You might find SOS SEN's workshops helpful - sossen.org.uk/parent_workshops.php