How long should it take from SENCO referral to assessment?

[AssignedNorthern]

In your experience how long has it taken to go from a teacher identifying what they believe are SEN to getting that child assessed by an educational psychologist?

DS started nursery last September at age 3 and teacher identified within days that he could do things he shouldn't be able to for his age. She did, what I assume, is a standard scale rating of where he was at in certain areas. Some far exceeding his age range, some far behind. We had a meeting in November to discuss and I agreed to SEN referral which then took until February to discuss with SENCO lead who advised she would do a referral to educational psychologist. It's now almost July and I've heard nothing further. Teacher advised me when I asked that it wouldn't now happen until some point during reception year which DS starts this September.

Does this length of time seem usual? I'm aware that covid must have had an impact but just wondering if this is the only reason for delay.

When schools and nurseries refer for an EP assessment it can take a long time as they only get a limited number of EP hours.

You can make a request for an EHCNA, which if the LA agree to assess includes an EP assessment. Via this route once the EP has been asked to assess the assessment must take place within 6 weeks.

Thanks for your reply. So the referral going via school may be the cause of the delay, I'd assume that also if there's a backlog due to covid that the limited hours could be making the situation even slower. I'll have a google of ehcna as I'm not sure what that means.

Not necessarily the cause of the delay, that is the school's limited EP time due to funding. The school will prioritise who they spend their limited EP time on - and that is likely to be those with EHCPs already, those struggling academically, those that are disrupting the class and older years.

An EHCNA is the needs assessment prior to the LA deciding whether to issue an EHCP. An EHCP is a legal document detailing a pupil's needs and what provision they need. EHCP timescales are statutory which is why the process can be quicker.

Have a look at IPSEA and SOSSEN.

That makes sense as he's so young it's not really causing him that many issues in terms of his education, it may potentially do so in the longer term. I will do some more research. Thank you for your help.

I think this might depend on area. I’m in Birmingham, had a SENCO referral for my nursery age child in March and have had a letter through for an assessment at the end of this month with a community paediatrician. It states on the letter that there is a target for all referrals to be seen within 18 weeks.

Baby A referral to a community paed is not the same as a referral to an Ed Psych. The latter is not an NHS service, and therefore does not have NHS waiting time targets.