EHCP support thread

[Phineyj]

My DD (10) is being assessed for EHCP. The council refused to assess (despite her already being diagnosed with ADHD, ASD, hypermobility and vision problems following eye surgery).

School have been supportive throughout and they are going above and beyond to keep her engaged in education.

She's about to go into year 6 though.

I took the LA to the tribunal and won.

They must produce the plan by 4th August. I think they probably will (they've stuck to deadlines so far...ish...). But I've got all the IPSEA complaint letter templates primed!

The hardest thing about the whole process is that no-one else in my life understands it or what it's like to spend all your free time essentially begging people to document the deficits your child has.

It is also a hard realisation that no-one cares much about your child's education except you.

I am also a teacher so I feel sad on behalf of the SEN DC I teach as I am told little about their needs (I spent a whole day doing DofE with one recently...I don't even know what her EHCP says...)

Join me if you are also grimly trekking through the EHCP jungle!!

We're up to 900 messages! I'll start a new thread soon.

My LA sets the clear expectation parent consent will be sought by the EP prior to assessment. It is the status quo and it is there for a reason - to keep children psychologically safe, allow for self determination and create conditions in which indiviudals can be properly understood.

Rocking up at school without notice and subjecting a demand avoidant child or traumatised child to a surprise assessment is not necessarily the best way to elicit that child's views...

This.

There are also parts of the guidance (which isn’t statutory) that is should rather than must.

I’m at the very start of ECHP journey and I’m attempting at going alone without legal representation so apologies in advance for the silly questions whilst I get to grips with the legal terminology and process.

EHCNA has just been declined according to LA Dd is showing progress as her prep school and her needs are being met. My argument is that, this is only the case due to me pulling her out of state and paying for extensive support.

Do I have to submit further evidence or reports at this stage with the appeal? They already have ASD/ADHD and dyslexia reports. Legal bod says DD will ultimately need an OT and Ed Psych, I’m unsure at what stage these will be needed and if I’m better off paying for these privately.

You don’t have to submit further evidence. In that it isn’t mandatory. You should submit whatever evidence you already have and you can send further evidence at a later date if you need to.

Whether you need independent assessments at this point depends on what evidence you already have. 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.
If you have sufficient evidence to demonstrate that and money isn’t endless you may decide to save your money in case you need to appeal refusal to issue &/or content/placement.

@ThomasWasTortured Thank you that’s very helpful. I’ll just counter their points based on SEND code of legal practice then schedule those reports for later on the process.

Hi everyone, I have name changed since I last posted. I hope everyone is doing well and not too stressed by this whole nightmare process !!

I just wanted to say we have finally had our EP report and to be honest im a little disheartened by it. I mean, it isn't bad but there is no mention of any 1:1 support on the classroom than what ds is already receiving. He gets around 14 hours of 1:1 already, will this impact the decision from the oanel in regards to approving the care plan ?

It's really focused on ds' anxiety a lot, and says this is what's causing the issues around schoolwork. I don't disagree but I think the main issue is ds not being able to cope with the work due to a lack of concentration and focus on the work. Hence me thinking more 1:1 support would be beneficial to ds. But it doesn't seem he's going to get any

Oh sorry I've just noticed they have recommended 10 mins of precision teaching for 12 weeks in maths only.
Got to laugh

If the EP report is inadequate go back to the EP and ask them to amend to include all needs and provision required and make it detailed, specified and quantified. Poor reports may result in a refusal to issue or, if they do issue, a poor EHCP.

Thank you @ThomasWasTortured
Jnhave read a little more closely, they have detailed several times how ds cannot work independently still, that he isn't an independent learner and is requiring alot of support in the classroom.
They have also stated that ds should be taught in small groups of upto 10 children with teacher specialised in teaching children with asd etc.
how is that possible in a mainstream school? It isn't is it.

The report doesn’t sound detailed, specified and quantified enough and may not be as suggestive of SS as you think. It needs to be less woolly.

Sorry but what is SS for ?
It's going to the panel next week apparently, got a bad feeling ! What exactly does an EP report need to say/how should it be worded?

SS = special school.

All reports need to be detailed, specified and quantified. Who (e.g. including training/qualifications/experience), what, when (e.g. including length and frequency), where, how… basically it needs to be completely explicit about what is required.

For example, using your post, “cannot work independently” does not mean 1:1. “alot of support in the classroom” is far too vague. “teacher specialised in teaching children with asd” what exactly does specialised mean? A 30 mins PowerPoint at an inset day 5 years ago? Depending on the exact wording it is difficult to say, but “taught in small groups of upto 10 children” will often be worded in a way small group input within the classroom or withdrawal for specific sessions would meet this rather than the wording clearly stating class size.

Just came across this thread.

DD is 2 and we’re currently at the tribunal stage as the LA refused to assess. DD also has an Early Years Autism Officer who came round for a home visit yesterday. She was quite surprised that she hasn’t been contacted as she can provide enough evidence that DD will definitely need an EHCP. She’s sent me an email confirming that she’s going to chase this up on her end and see what’s happening.

I’ve been informed by the SENCO at DD’s nursery that there’s been some confusion in regards to who exactly is meant to submit a witness statement and further evidence requested by the LA’s representative. Not sure what’s happening with that but there’s not much I can do about it. It sounds like there’s been some sort of miscommunication between the LA and the nursery.

A decision should be made between beginning of Feb - beginning of March so we’ll see what happens. This is certainly a useful thread so thank you for this OP. Good luck to everyone else

@MinnieTruck you should never rely on the LA approaching others for evidence. I think we spoke about subject access requests and following up verbal conversation with emails previously. In the future this is a good way of gathering evidence from the nursery and EY autism officer.

@ThomasWasTortured I’m not relying on it, the paralegal has contacted the nursery to get information on DD as the LA didn’t do that originally. The representative is trying to use that as evidence to support the LA so it doesn’t have anything to do with me really. There’s just been some miscommunication with who the paralegal has contacted for further advice. It seems that the SENCO signposted them to the incorrect person.

They’ll have to ask the tribunal if they can submit the late evidence but seeing as it’s been nearly two months, who knows if they’ll ever receive it and submit it. I hope the lack of evidence from the LA will result in the LA having to assess DD. I don’t think I’ve explained it very well but hopefully it makes some sense

@MinnieTruck what I meant was in future don’t rely on the LA approaching anyone even initially (not just as part of the appeal process). For example, when you request an EHCNA for DS or if you have to appeal for DD again gather evidence from professionals yourself. The nursery and EY autism officer can provide evidence to support your case that DD meets the threshold. Much better than the LA cherry picking evidence that suits their position.

@ThomasWasTortured ah yes ofc, I’m with you now. I definitely haven’t been relying on the LA to do anything on my behalf because they put their own interests first. It’s just on this occasion, this evidence is for the LA so I don’t have anything to do with it.

I’ve certainly been making sure to get things in writing. Luckily the EY Autism Officer emails me a summary of every visit. She did the same yesterday and also mentioned certain schools that may be suitable for DD. I’ve made sure to confirm things via email when speaking to the SENCO too

Hello all

I disappeared for bit whilst I was waiting a response from the LA in regards to the ed psych visit and report. I asked them to make amendments as it was poor and not specified in any way. Today I got the below response so I'm hoping to now see a better report:

I have asked my team to return your amended document to the psychologist with guidance from me about what I expect. I am sorry that you have had to return it to me and I appreciate the comments that you made. As a manager, I want my team to produce high quality advices and this is an ongoing action and focus of both myself and my senior leadership team. I take your comments very seriously and aim to not only act upon them, but ensure that they feed into ongoing discussions about the quality assurance process used in the service.

I have asked for the report to be returned to the EP today.

Yours sincerely

Can you get the EY Autism Officer to give you a statement and/or her own notes on her work with your daughter anyway? If you can file those with the tribunal it may well make the LA think again pretty smartly.

Has the LA entered its response to the appeal, and does it comply with the tribunal directions? I believe they are specifically required to address the legal criteria, i.e. they must say whether they accept that your child has SEN, and if so what support they say she needs and how that can be delivered within normal school resources. If they haven't done that, consider raising it with the tribunal.

@Anisette that’s a good idea. DD’s EY Autism Officer will be more than happy to provide me with a written summary of her visits with DD both at home and nursery. That way I can request to submit the evidence to the tribunal even though it’s late.

The deadline for evidence was on the 03/01. I’ve just had a read through the email and all late evidence will only be considered at the final hearing. Do I just send it over to SENDIST and ask them if it’s possible to accept the late evidence or do I need to go about doing it another way?

As for the LA’s response, they have accepted that DD may have SEN. However they don’t believe that she meets the second limb of the test. So they don’t think it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made. They haven’t mentioned anything about the type of support they think she needs as they don’t think she needs support (that’s what I’m guessing anyway). Does that sound about right?

The LA’s response is typical of many refusal to assess appeals.

You would request late evidence is admitted via a SEND7 form, not forgetting to contact the LA first. Anisette’s post is why in the pub thread yesterday I said follow up the EY Autism Officer’s conversation about ARPs to then use it as evidence.

@ThomasWasTortured so I’d send the evidence to the LA (their legal representative?) first and then send the SEND7 form to SENDIST?

Yep I’ve already got all of that in writing via email, she sent it to me yesterday

@MinnieTruck you should seek the LA’s views then (whatever the LA’s response or if they ignore you - even if the LA object it doesn’t mean SENDIST will agree with them), submit the SEND7 to SENDIST copying the LA in.

So I’ve submitted the SEND35 and evidence via email today to the send address, got the automated response to confirm receipt, etc.

I should have expected the long turnaround times for them to get back to me! I think 20 working days before I should chase and they are working on emails from 25 days ago, apparently. Joys!

I did put New Appeal in the subject, signed and dated all documents, so hopefully no issues. I assume PDFs are OK but never know with this sort of thing!

Is it advisable to also post copies?