Evidence for EHCP

[Mikan1]

Hi all,

Hope I could pick your brains for some advice. Our DD is nearly 3 and has severe social, language and communication delays. She’s currently in a nursery who have been pretty terrible at recognizing her needs. She may be able to attend a specialist nursery in Sept but no guarantee. In meantime I’m looking for another setting (unfortunately all the good nurseries all full around here until end of the year) and thinking ahead that she will likely need an EHCP for school next year. I keep being told we will need evidence for the EHCP but I’m a bit confused by what this means

So far-

-She is on the local NHS autism pathway
-We are also having a private neurodevelopmental assessment carried out & ados

• She has a brief NHS SALT assessment outlining severe social language & communication difficulties- but we’ve only had two appointments in 1 year with them
• We have an in depth report from a private SALT she’s been seeing weekly for 3-4 months (I assume I’ll need something more up to date when we come to apply for the EHCP?)
• I’ve asked her GP to refer her to OT for an assessment

I don’t really have much evidence from the nursery about her. We only have two reports 1 year apart which mostly gloss over her difficulties. They don’t seem to have any recognition she is so behind and I am concerned they are not supporting her needs now or going to make it easy for her to access support in the future.

So I’d be very grateful if someone could tell me what the nursery should be doing now. Is there a framework they should be following so I can push for this? What other evidence will I need to gather to convince the council for EHCNA/ EHCP?

Many thanks 😊

You can apply now, you don’t need to wait. The threshold for an EHCNA is relatively low - a) has or may have SEN, and b) may need SEN provision to be made via an EHCP. Any other test or hoop the LA wish you to jump through is unlawful. You should be able to get over the initial threshold with the evidence you already have. A diagnosis isn’t needed as support is based on needs rather than diagnosis. You also don’t need further assessments as SALT, OT assessments are part of an EHCNA.

Has the nursery asked for input from the Area SENCO? If they need more funding to meet DD’s needs they can apply for early years inclusion funding. If you are in receipt of DLA for DD are the nursery claiming the Disability Access Fund? What type of nursery is DD at?

It sounds like you're doing all the right things and are on the ball already. Some good info on applying for an EHCP here though:

www.ipsea.org.uk/ehc-needs-assessments

Excellent advice (as always) from Imitatingdory. Be aware that the local authority may turn you down initially, however unlawful that is and however strong your case. Some authorities do it as a matter of course sadly. Don't let that put you off though as I believe it's over 90% of those decisions are then overturned at appeal.

The nursery can apply for a needs assessment on your behalf but as Imitatingdory says, you can do it yourself.
I applied for my Ds's EHCP myself after his school Senco said he would never get one - we did.

As part of the needs assessment, your DD will/should see several experts. Make sure the reports issued are very specific and accurate when detailing your DD's needs. These are what will go into the EHCP. (This is what people probably mean about 'evidence'.) Anything like 'should have access to' is useless. But that's a way down the line.