EHCP CONTENT AND SECTION I APPEAL

[FATHEROFASDCHILD]

HI EVERYONE,
DESPERATE FOR HELP PLEASE
I JUST GOT MY FINAL EHCP MY SON WAS DIAGNOSED WITH ASD 2 YEARS AGO WITH HIGH NEEDS ,NON RECEIPTIVE OR EXPRESSIVE WITH ALL THAT CPMES WITH AUTISM HE HE STARTED NURSERY IN SEPTEMBER HE DIDIN'T HAVE EVEN A SINGLE SESSION OF THERAPY,OH THE EHCP THEY GAVE HIM 6 HOURS OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT THERAPY A YEAR, ALSO I WANTED HIM TO GO TO A SPECIAL SCHOOL BECAUSE HE MADE NO PROGRESS SO FAR AND HE HAD SO MANY INCIDENTS IN NURSERY WHERE HE CUT HIS LIP , BIG BUMP ON HIS HEAD AND THE LIST GOES ON, BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF SUPERVISION HE HAS WHERE I MADE IT SO CLEAR THAT HE NEED A SUPERVISION AT ALL TIMES, FINALY LA DESIDED TO SEND HIM TO MAINSTREAM SCHOOL THE WORST IN THE BOUROUGH (BY OFSTED) AM GETTING SO DEPRESSED AS I FEEL HE HAS BEEN DAMPED AND NEGLECTED BY EVERYONE, THE LA GOT NEW SALT AND OT AND EP TO DO THE EHCP PUT IN MIND THOSE PEOPLE NEVER MET HIM NOR I THEY DONE THE EHCP THROUGH THE PHONE AND THATS THE RESULT OF A VAGUE EHCP.
NOW IAM APPEALING THE DECISION AND HOPE IF SOMENE HERE CAN HELP ME WITH A CHEAP SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPIST AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTTO DO A NEW REPORT TO TAKE TO TRIBUNAL.
MUCH APPRECIATED
BY THE WAY I LIVE IN ISLINGTON.

@FATHEROFASDCHILD

Writing in capital letters is really hard to read, which may be one reason you've had no responses so far.

I don't think there is any such thing as a "cheap" EP or SLT but you could search through these links for professionals in your area:

Educational Psychologists:

The British Psychological Society’s directory of chartered psychologists - www.bps.org.uk/lists/DIR

The Association of Child Psychologists in Private Practice –
www.achippp.org.uk/

Independent Occupational Therapists
Royal College of Occupational Therapists’ directory –
rcotss-ip.org.uk/find

Speech and Language Therapists:
Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice’s directory:
helpwithtalking.com/Find-a--SLT

It may be worth checking out if you qualify for Legal Aid as sometimes you can get reports done for free as part of the package.

www.ipsea.org.uk/where-can-i-get-help-with-making-an-appeal

Also advice about appeals here:

www.ipsea.org.uk/appealing-to-the-send-tribunal

You can complain if you feel the LA has not carried out the EHCNA process properly. If the EHCP is vague it is not legally compliant. The plan is written from the professional reports . If they are vague and woolly, it follows that the plan will be too.

www.ipsea.org.uk/complaining-when-the-local-authority-does-not-seek-the-correct-advice-during-an-ehc-needs-assessment-model-letter-7

The SEND Code of Practice makes it very clear that reports and plans must be specific:

a) Specificity in professional reports:
9.51
“The evidence and advice submitted by those providing it should be clear, accessible and specific. They should provide advice about outcomes relevant for the child or young person’s age and phase of education and strategies for their achievement.
The local authority may provide guidance about the structure and format of advice and information to be provided. Professionals should limit their advice to areas in which they have expertise. They may comment on the amount of provision they consider a child or young person requires and local authorities should not have blanket policies which prevent them from doing so.”

b) Specificity in the EHCP

9.61
“EHC plans should be clear, concise, understandable and accessible to parents, children, young people, providers and practitioners. They should be written so they can be understood by professionals in any local authority.”

9.69
Section B ( Page 164)

“All of the child or young person’s identified special educational needs must be specified.”

Section F (Page 166)
“Provision must be detailed and specific and should normally be quantified, for example, in terms of the type, hours and frequency of support and level of expertise, including where this support is secured through a Personal Budget

• Provision must be specified for each and every need specified in section B. It should be clear how the provision will support achievement of the outcomes
• Where health or social care provision educates or trains a child or young person, it must appear in this section (see paragraph 9.73)”

www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25

Thank you Ellie56,

Should of the local authority got InTouch with the people who done the diagnosis who saw him ,instead of taking reports from Salt and OT that I never nor seen ,they've done assessment on the phone?
Also Ellie you sound like you have some experience with the EHCP would you mind if I ask you to look at the final ehcp and the SALT report please? if you can't it's really fine.
Thank you very much.
Thanks alot

I agree with Ellie, capital letters puts people off replying and cheap and tribunal reports don't go together.

Diagnosis reports from 2 years ago aren't sufficient as they are not up to date. The LA were correct in getting new reports, although you should have asked the LA to go back to the report writers to make them specific and quantified.

Thanks for the reply 10brokengreenbottles,
Apologies for the capital letters,
The EHCP is already finalized and I be honest with you the reports were specified nor quantified , can I go back to LA and request that the reports to be specified and quantified or is it too late?

Hungerford Primary School has an autism
Unit which is supposed to serve children with ASD and be specialised. Have you looked into
that? It would depend on how your child is functioning and what their needs are. Have you named a school? You have two months to appeal and included in that is the ability to name a school for your child. Did you name a school initially and this request was refused? You can still name a school as part of the appeal. Please speak with sendiass in Islington. Their number Telephone: 020 3031 6651. Call them and explain your concerns and they can walk you through your next steps.

Thank you very much Pacifica44,
I have named treehouse but the local authority
Named hungerford mainstream which is not suitable for my son and also the EHCP is so vague, my son has high needs and he doesn't have receiptive and expressive language, with 15 hours a week of TA is like sending him to dead end. I will contact sendias and see what they advice me to do and ipsea as well.

I wish you lots of luck. I am also in the process and sendiass has been helpful

Thanks Pacifica44,
Good luck to you as well, unfortunately if there is a law protecting kids we really should not need luck but as you know it's all decoration Human rights and.......

You can ask the LA to go back to the report writers to make them specific and quantified, you can use the letter Ellie posted. However, at this point you are going to need your own reports anyway. You need evidence DS needs SS, that MS can't meet his needs, and also that an LA SS can't.

Don't bother with mediation, just get the certificate and submit to SENDIST. I agree with Pacifica, don't miss the deadline - 2 months from finalised EHCP or 1 month from mediation certificate, whichever is later. LAs use mediation as a delaying tactic, if they are going to concede they will do regardless of whether you actively partake in mediation.

Be careful with SENDIAS, some are brilliant but not always, and they receive LA funding so will ultimately toe the party line. IPSEA and SOSSEN are better in my opinion.

Thank you 10brokengreenbottles,
I was about to appeal with sendias but know you made think twice,
Does ipsea or Sossen help with appeals?

IPSEA and SOSSEN's websites are both very helpful. They also both have advice lines - IPSEA have a specific tribunal helpline.

SOSSEN can help with appeals depending on how busy they are. If they can't IPSEA have volunteers that can sometimes help more with your appeal than 'just' help via their advice line.

Also look to see whether you qualify for legal aid as mentioned by Ellie.

Thank you10brokengreenbottles.

You might be able to get some financial help with paying for at least an Educational Psychology report through a charity called Parents in Need. You really do need someone to advise on the precise help your child needs in specific terms.

Thanks you Nith,
I will google it and see what they say.

Hi everyone,

Please if you can answer this question is really appreciated,
If you as a parent neglect your child does the social services get involved?
And if the answer is yes Why don't they get involved if the local authority neglect special needs children??
This question bothered me for awhile.
Thanks again.

I guess it's because the LA doesn't have any parental function in this context, and social services has no legal right either to appeal on behalf of a child or to enforce the provision in an EHCP (other than in the case of children in care). . Also because there are other means of enforcing LA duties.

@FATHEROFASDCHILD

I am not an expert, just a parent who has been through the appeals process three times.

If you want someone to check your EHCP, SOS!SEN offers a checking service for a small fee :

www.sossen.org.uk/progress_and_advice_sessions.php

Also IPSEA have an EHCP checklist here:
www.ipsea.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=afd8d11f-5f75-44e0-8f90-e2e7385e55f0