EHCP advice confusion

[Phineyj]

My daughter's being assessed for EHCP and I made a formal parental request for the LA to seek advice from occupational therapy (as this was recommended when she was diagnosed with ADHD and ASD) and SENDIST also said they should do this.

I made a second formal request that they seek advice from a behavioural optometrist as my daughter has been seeing one for about 6 months now due to tracking problems following squint surgery.

The LA has just come back to say they've been told by their Tribunal team (not SENDIST, their in house people) to get assessments from physiotherapy and speech and language!

What should I do? I am sure my requests were reasonable based on the evidence and these are not the assessments I asked for, nor are they the ones listed in the Code...

Email the LA’s Director of Children’s Services reminding them under Reg 6(1)(h) SEN Regs 2014 the LA must seek advice and information from any person the child’s parent or young person reasonably requests that the local authority seek advice from. And that your request for OT and behavioural optometrist assessments fall under that. IPSEA have a model letter you can adapt.

When you say SENDIST said the LA should undertake an OT assessment, do you mean SENDIST formally ordered/directed the LA to undertake an assessment? If so, the LA must comply and you can force them to via judicial review if necessary. Or do you mean it was more informally mentioned? In which case it isn’t enforceable.

Personally, I would allow the SALT assessment to take place. DD has ASD so she will benefit from (in the true sense, rather than the LA’s vague wording) a SALT assessment. If you think physio would also be of use I wouldn’t stop that either.

Thanks, good advice.

I did already make the requests using Ipsea's form letter. Following up two slightly less formal emails.

To be realistic, given that we're 2 weeks in and have no case officer (advice due in 4 weeks), it's quite likely no-one's opened said letter!!

As well as the model letter to request the LA seek certain advice IPSEA have a model letter to use when the LA is not undertaking the EHCNA correctly.

I'll find it, thanks.