Asking nursery to delay preschool room move due to SEN?

[1990shopefulftm]

DS is 2.5 and started nursery 2 mornings a week a couple of months ago, he has developmental delays in social skills, language and play (basically his gross motor skills are age appropriate roughly but nothing else, been waiting on NHS SLT since October and paeds since December as HV team scored his asq se so high its likely he's on the ASD spectru).

He's doing well with the 1:4 ratio as far as I know so far but he ll be 3 in November and as he's preverbal with delayed understanding and nowhere near potty training, it feels like moving up to preschool with a 1:8 ratio may not be the best thing for him.

So I m wondering if I can ask nursery to hold off moving him whilst I m happy offering to sort the shortfall financially as I know the funding amount is different for 3 year olds, or whether they have to fulfil certain criteria to delay moving DS so it's not so simple?

You could request it, but the nursery may not agree.

Alternatively, or as well, you could request the nursery applies for early years inclusion funding in order to provide more support - in some areas this is only available for 3 and 4 year olds and in others it is available for 2 year olds too, so you may have to wait until DS is 3 to actually apply.

You could also request an EHCNA with a view to getting an EHCP with more support.

We need DLA to be approved in our area for them to apply for the inclusion funding according to our portage worker, so I m waiting on DWPs decision which isnt for a couple of months still.

If we were to go for an EHCNA with no NHS specialists having seen him yet, would we get anywhere with it? We ve got a 7 month old private SLT assessment but haven't been able to afford to do anything else.

What your Portage worker told you isn’t correct. The LA can not have such a blanket policy for Early Years inclusion funding. Disability Access Funding (DAF) for 3&4 year olds, which is a different form of funding and wouldn’t cover 1:1 because it is only £615 pa, is based on DLA. See the difference here.

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. You may have or appeal, many do, but I think you could meet that threshold. If you did have to appeal and needed more independent assessments but aren’t eligible for legal aid, Parents in Need can sometimes help.

I ve found inclusion fund documents hidden in the council website, I can see how the portage worker has given me the wrong info now.
It seems the inclusion fund application form they expect you to have used DAF first, before considering giving the inclusion fund entitlement to a setting which seems ridiculous.

Thank you, I honestly had no clue if an appeal was necessary that could be a legal issue that legal aid could help anyone with.

The LA may like DAF to be in place first, but they can’t have a blanket policy of making it compulsory.

Legal aid, or rather legal help, can help with appeals if you meet the eligibility criteria.