EHCP support thread no. 2

[Phineyj]

This is a support thread for anyone at any stage of the EHCP process. I've got an 11 year old girl in year 6 of a mainstream private primary school. I've been seeking an EHCP since she was in year 5, to support her transition to secondary school. She is diagnosed with ASD and ADHD and is working about two years behind age related expectations. Our local authority refused to assess and refused to issue. We are currently in the 11 month wait for a second tribunal which I am hoping (but not sure) will take place before she actually goes to secondary, although I doubt the actual EHCP will be finalised by then. In the meantime I've been enjoying (not) learning all these acronyms and trying to support other people in this journey. In my spare time, I'm a secondary school teacher.

If you, too, are drowning in acronyms and paperwork while finding your local authority (LA) as useful as a chocolate teapot, join your fellow travellers here!

It’s a refusal to grant an EHCP after assessment appeal. Thanks!

Hi Coatsy

The tribunal will give you a deadline by which to file all of your evidence.

For a refusal to issue you need to prove that the provision is not secure without an EHCP, and the cost of the provision is unreasonable for the nursery to fund it.

Has the nursery provided a costed provision map yet? If not that's a good start, especially if the total cost is more than £6000 a year, but it's not entirely necessary.

@Coatsy the LA’s response is a typical response. Don’t forget to send the evidence to the LA at the same time as SENDIST. As long as you are sending the evidence before the final evidence deadline you don’t need to use the RfC form. When you submit your final evidence it can be helpful to submit a position statement.

He’s due to start school in September so it’s a transitional year for him. I will however ask the nursery about a costings map. One of the local schools has already said they cannot meet needs, but I will get some additional evidence from them.

Thanks for the info, I wrote quite a lot alongside my initial evidence, so wondered if I’d need to do the same again. The new evidence is mainly from his nursery, paediatrician, portage visitor plus a few others, really.

No you don't, you just need to email it to SENDIST and the tribunal officer in the LA with your tribunal reference number, stating it is additional evidence for your appeal.

I found the Ipsea guidance on their website quite useful (although my appeal was for a year 6 going into year 7, so it's probably easier to gather evidence when they're older).

I wrote a commentary on the evidence and organised it using the Ipsea guidance, explaining why each need identified in the reports was unlikely to be met without the EHCP.

How old is your child? On the face of it, it's very shortsighted considering only whether the nursery can meet needs. They should be thinking also about whether a school will be able to, bearing in mind the larger class, busier environment etc.

Considering my LA totally ignored the phase transfer, I wouldn't hold out too much hope of planning ahead...planning ahead might be a theme of the SEN Code but it's not something anyone official seems to do.

@Phineyj you can use the upcoming transition in your appeal though. SENDIST will consider what will happen at secondary.

It’s taken me a while but I’ve FINALLY sent a request to the LA asking for them to seek advice from SALT, OT and DD’s EY’s Autism Officer. I’m yet to send the Section A, All About Me form but that’s quite basic so will do that asap. I’ll keep everyone updated on what the LA say to my request🤞🏾

Congratulations to those of you who got good news, agreements to issue, etc recently. Seeing some positive progress gives us all some hope!
I met with some of the SEN team at the secondary where DS has a place for September. Overall, it was pretty positive though they implied they don't make reasonable adjustments for uniform. I reminded them that it is the law. Really, I'm so fed up with these schools that think the uniform is more important than kids being able to attend school.

I'm putting together a secondary transfer appeal for the school we prefer and I think I've created a strong argument. There's a chance our EHCP decision might come in before the deadline though, so that appeal might not get very far.

We met the LA's EP last week and they seemed good and said they could mention our school preference in the report and why we think it would be the best option. Is there any reason we wouldn't want the specific school mentioned in the report?

That was the last of many meetings over the past month. The EP report should be ready this week and then it's just waiting for it all to go to panel.

@SpaceInvader321 follow up your visit with an email so you have a paper trail. The EP mentioning your preferred school and why you think it would be the best option won’t harm your case and wouldn’t stop you changing your preferred placement at a later date if you wish, but it also won’t hold the same weight as their opinion will.

A small win for us - met with the county autism support team and sendco this week, more as a box ticking exercise before submitting the EHCP request. They were very honest that DD was complex and they had no suggestions to make, but did say they would write in their report that they felt an EHCP was necessary. They were very apologetic that they had no idea what to do, but at least they were good enough to admit it and not make us try lots of inappropriate stuff first! And she did acknowledge that my level of understanding was more than most of the 'experts' she comes across 😁

It's always rather refreshing to encounter honesty!

I guess I am so used to the patronising head tilt and "have you thought about..." Followed by some entirely not appropriate intervention that I was quite surprised to hear them agree with me!

Hey all, did post before about using solicitors and directed here! Hello. So we need to submit appeal in May. Ehcp issued in March. Ms school said cannot meet needs. Solicitors want us to provide experts for independent reports. Of all we've contacted they can only assess in September. Am I right in thinking this would be too late? I believe evidence has to be submitted approx 12 weeks after appeal submitted and so no use? This correct?

@246810k you can request late evidence is accepted after the final evidence deadline. September assessments will be fine unless you have an expedited (and even then it may well be fine). Although cancellations come up too so you could keep persevering for a sooner assessment. TBH your solicitor should be telling you this. (Edited to add, my last sentence didn’t mean you shouldn’t post here. I meant it is poor the solicitor hasn’t reassured you.)

Hi all!

A week after consent order was agreed and draft was sent off, I've heard nothing. Please tell me the consent order is going to take 8 weeks too?!?

Hi all, and happy Easter holidays finally for those whose DC struggle to attend.

We had a decision not to issue overturned at mediation last week

DS is in Y6, academically fine when he can attend but currently can’t - he’s been averaging 1-2afternoons per week since Xmas. He has an ASD diagnosis. I’m struggling to understand what sort of things would go in a plan to enable him firstly to attend and then have his needs met at secondary. I felt like I understood the process / fight to this point but am now really confused how this plan will be written with still no proper assessment of underlying needs. The school and EP are going to meet after the hols to discuss - I think they only have a few weeks to issue something so no time to commission SALT / OT etc. He’s on waiting lists for SALT and sensory processing but have been told it’ll be Sept before he’s seen

Has anyone else been in this situation or has a child who has perhaps experienced similar difficulties? What sort of provision went into their plan?

He is a completely different child when he’s not in school and I feel I have my gorgeous little boy back so really want to get this right so he doesn’t spiral again and can access an education

@Sleeplessi the assessments undertaken in the NA inform the provision in an EHCP. EP assessment should have already been done. If SALT and OT are required so should they - no need to sit on the normal waiting lists for EHCNAs. It sounds like you will have to appeal the content when you have that right of appeal. Poor reports will lead to a poor EHCP. Think about class size, size of school, training/experience/qualifications staff working with DS are going to need, therapies - SALT, OT, MH therapies, is AP or a specialist school required or even EOTAS?

@RMNofTikTok the consent order won’t take 8 weeks. The LA should not be waiting for the consent order to start to act. Looking at 10-20 working days currently - SENDIST is inundated.

Thank you so much for replying. The EP report was done but was v woolly and downplayed things and things have spiralled since it was done in Nov to pretty much full EBSNA. Apart from the primary senco report and my referral, this was the only info assessed

At the mediation, they said they’d need to move quickly to be only slightly behind the 20 week deadline and that the EP would re-write the report with senco input. No mention of other services.

They still seem to think the grammar he’s been allocated will meet needs but I think he probably needs everything you suggest in terms of small class size, therapies, well trained staff etc, but don’t know exactly what for a well written, precise EHCP without professional assessment. I have no idea whether MS will work with support / a hub or if he needs specialist or eotas . So sounds like another appeal looming

@Sleeplessi given how poor the evidence is, your best bet is pushing the LA to finalise ASAP then appealing and seeking independent assessments. You won’t get a good EHCP with the provision DS requires with poor or missing reports. When the EP re-writes the EP report request it is detailed, specified and quantified. If it isn’t go back to the LA to ask them to make it so.

I have a minor bit of good news. The academy chain where DD sat the fair banding test did reply to my email and said she tested at band 8 out of 9! So another small piece of evidence that when the stars align she can show her intelligence in a formal kind of way.

She still wouldn't have got in on distance most likely though (maybe in August via the waiting list) so also slightly reassuring that I didn't put them first.

I apologise to whichever poster I said I'd send the legal aid lawyer details to. In the end of term madness, I forgot. I'll look them out later.

Also, this is a bit random but the kids with EHCP in my GCSE class (and the ones who ought to have one but don't) are all doing quite well. In fact more than the rest. I may have accidentally trained myself as a SEN specialist, kind of. Silver linings, eh?!

@Phineyj I hope you had a nice Easter!

I'm assuming the higher the band the higher up the waiting list?

Hi all, I'm going to contact LA this week to ask if they've started the draft despite the consent order not being back yet.

What do I need to do re schools? I don't want D to go to the local mainstream. Should I start ringing around secondary schools and ask to visit them now whilst I wait for the draft? How many do I have to put forward for consultation? If I'm asking for a mainstream state school, is the council likely to name the local mainstream regardless?