Should I bother applying for an EHCNA?

[ReadTheBroom]

DS11 is heading to secondary in September. He has a diagnosis of ASD and sees an NHS SALT; he has sporadic NHS OT. He is also reviewed by a community pead every 6 months due to sleep problems.

He manages well in his small primary school and has a small group of friends. He has no intervention above what is offered on a class level. His school say he is well behaved and they have no concerns.

Outside of school, we do have some issues with integrating with other children, talking to unfamiliar adults and the occasional meltdown when things have gone wrong for him.

Is it worth applying for an EHCNA in this situation for moving on to secondary?

How much contact have you had with his new secondary Senco? I would say that would be your first port of call. Is your DS being offered additional visits before he starts?
Does the secondary have some sort of lunchtime club or space he can go if he's feeling overwhelmed? Are they willing to give him a 'time out' card for lessons?
In my experience, it's often the unstructured parts of the day that can be the hardest.
His new school has a duty to make 'reasonable adjustments' for him anyway, regardless of if he has an EHCP or not.

Not all DC with autism need an EHCP but you are the best judge of how your DS is coping at school, both academically and socially. It is certainly true that secondary is VERY different to primary but actually some DC with ASD actually prefer secondary. My DS does. It's much more structured and at a bigger school there can be more opportunities to find likeminded people - or become 'invisible'. Again, in my experience, I think you will know pretty quickly if he's going to cope in a mainstream secondary or not (without support).

The legal bar for a local authority to carry out a needs assessment is pretty low by the way, regardless of what some schools or LEAs try to say:

whether the child or young person has or may have special educational needs (“SEN”); and
whether they may need special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

There is some good info here:
www.ipsea.org.uk/ehc-needs-assessments

Toomanyminifigs’ post is good, especially about speaking to the secondary school. At this point I doubt the LA would agree to undertake an EHCNA.

I’ve been in contact with the SENco but the ethos of the school appears rather strict and I did get the idea they think I’m an over anxious mum. DS has been on extra visits to the school.

Academically DS is doing very well and he does well socially in a small familiar group, but I do worry about new friendships in secondary.

I feel like an EHCNA will help identify any needs he has but I know his current primary are not on board and will make sure the LA are aware. It all seems fruitless . Should I wait until he starts in September to re think?

You have nothing to lose by applying, but realistically I think you will have difficulty proving an EHCNA is necessary at the moment.

Even if you do apply now an EHCP won’t be in place for the start of secondary, and the exceptions to the statutory timescales for replying to your EHCNA request is likely to apply.

A good EHCP assessment application will be evidence-based. Do you have evidence of how he's struggling at school (academically and/or emotionally?). Struggling academically doesn't have to be 'behind' - it can also include barriers to learning such as slow processing speed/difficulties understanding the task etc. Anything that's stopping him from achieving his potential.

Your own evidence can also be included so I would start keeping a diary from now as to any difficulties you see that arise from school (eg anxiety about going in, meltdowns at home etc).

It's a horrible thing to say but it's often once the wheels have fallen off that it becomes easier to evidence a DC's struggles. Of course it shouldn't have to be that way.

I would also say it's important to 'get your ducks in a row' before applying for a needs assessment. By that I mean ensure that if/when you do go, you have up to date reports from anyone that sees your DC (ie less than six months old).