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!

@Ponche you wouldn’t be able to actually pursue legal action at this point, but in response to their email it won’t hurt to show them you know the law and will enforce it if necessary. The saying give them an inch and they will take a mile is never more apt.

Ds has finalised ehcp. He has been offered assessment at a local section 41 school. The school is in a neighbouring LA, just over border annoyingly. Would this matter? School said we'd need to submit request through our la does it matter its in another la? Thanks

@246810k If DS has a finalised EHCP, EOTAS aside, a placement/type of placement should be named in I.

Being in another LA doesn’t chance things. It is your LA (and ultimately SENDIST) who decide whether to name the school or not.

I still haven’t finsihed catching up but hurray for those that have had a decision in their favour🥳

@QuickFetchTheCoffee I don’t know the answer to your question but hopefully someone has answered you already. I wanted to ask, in regards to the solicitors organising a SALT assessment, how does that work? Do you mean that the solicitors are able to get an independent SALT assessment and you don’t have to pay for it? I hope you don’t mind me asking.

Also, a question for everyone else. When you say that you’ve had an independent OT/SALT assessment for your DC, does that mean that all LA’s have to accept a report from an outside source? I assumed that everything had to be done through the LA but that isn’t the case? I’ve requested for the LA to seek advice from OT & SALT for the EHCNA but still haven’t had a response so I’m starting to think about other possible options.

DD was seen by the EP yesterday at nursery and that seemed to go okay. It seems that she really got a good picture of DD so I hope the report will reflect that. I’ve looked on the EHC hub and of course it hasn’t been updated. It just says, ‘we’ve decided DD doesn’t need to be assessed’ or something like that. How helpful!

Oops sorry I was also meant to ask, when the LA got in touch after they’d been told to assess DD, part of the letter says, ‘We will now also ask for educational, medical, social and psychological advice. A clinical medical officer and an educational psychologist may need to see you as part of the assessment.’

I’m sure this is going to sound like a silly question but in regards to the first sentence, how do they obtain that information? Is that given to them from a clinical medical officer/EP or are they provided with the info from elsewhere? I also have no clue what a clinical medical officer is anyway! I’m starting to feel way out of my depth once again😅

Educational, medical, social and psychological advice is gathered via the EHCNA. So it will be from a range of people including you, nursery, EP, any other professionals involved, anyone else parents reasonably request. Article explaining the role of the clinical medical officer. DMO/DCO is the same role by another name.

Legal aid can fund independent assessments if needed.

LAs should consider all evidence. Some LAs will tell you they don’t accept independent assessments. Such blanket policies are unlawful. Doesn’t stop LAs finalising without considering all the evidence, but SENDIST considers all evidence. Chase the LA. If they can’t assess in-house/via NHS within the timescales, they should commission independent assessments.

@MinnieTruck yes we were accepted for Legal Aid so the solicitors organised and paid for the independent SALT assessment. It was two long forms and an hour and a half zoom meeting so I was a bit dubious as I'd expected face-to-face but the report was bang on.

@SearchingForSolitude I’ve said it time and time again but you’re the best, thank you🫂The article you linked makes a lot of sense but just to confirm, does that mean not every child gets seen by the DMO? As I’ve spoken with the EP already, I’m not sure what else to expect. I’ve asked the LA to update the EHC Hub so I’m guessing once that’s done, I’d be able to keep an eye on things there?

I’ve chased the LA twice and got an automatic email to say that the person is on annual leave. It seems that he was back at work yesterday so I’ll be sending another email on Friday if I haven’t heard back by then.

@QuickFetchTheCoffee ah that’s great news. Searching told me to look into Legal Aid months and months ago when I was appealing the LA’s decision. I had contacted them too last minute so wasn’t able to use them. I didn’t know that they were able to get independent assessments done so thanks for making that clear. Did you decide to get Legal Aid as the LA weren’t willing to seek advice from SALT?

@MinnieTruck I decided to apply for legal aid at the stage of "refusal to assess". The idea was that they would help me appeal and assist with providing the evidence to show DD needed a Needs Assessment (it was declined on the basis of "not enough evidence"). I've looked at the list of people they're asking for evidence though and neither SALT nor OT are on it, despite that I mentioned them specifically in my requests.

To be fair, though, you don't really need expert evidence for a refusal to assess appeal, given that all you need to show at that stage is that your child may have SEN and may need help through an EHCP. Legal aid solicitors aren't allowed to incur more expenses than are strictly necessary.

The timing is tricky as you could be 18-24 months away from an appeal hearing on contents, by which time your reports may be considered out of date?

@MinnieTruck not all DC will see the DMO during the EHCNA. If you think it is necessary, you can tell the LA that &/or contact them yourself. If you are ignored when you email again, email the Director of Children’s Services.

@Cafetabac if updated assessments are needed for future appeals and the person is eligible for legal aid for the subsequent appeal, updated reports can be funded. Sometimes it is necessary, sometimes it isn’t. Depends on the case.

I applied for Legal Aid because
A) all the reports and evidence I had was old as DD is 17 and was diagnosed years ago, and hasn't been at her current education setting very long and
B) I wasn't coping with the forms as I get frequent migraines, am in perimenopause and am autistic myself so got really overwhelmed with it

It turned out an imminent deadline does wonderful things for my mental clarity.

@QuickFetchTheCoffee really appreciate you answering my questions, thank you. If I need to appeal anything again going forward, I’ll also be applying for Legal Aid. I’ve never had to do it before so just wanted a brief overview of someone else’s experience.

@SearchingForSolitude okay got you, that makes sense. I could see DS needing to be seen by the DMO when the time goes but not DD. I’ll definitely take it further if the next email that I send is also ignored

I just received a response from the LA. They’ve already requested input from SALT. As DD is already under SALT they’ve gone to her therapist for a report/advice. They’ve also included DD’s Early Years Autism Officer at my request which is good. In regards to OT, this is what’s been said,

‘I have also added the OT team to the assessment. Please note however, that if DD isnt known to them already, they wont respond with advice towards the EHC assessment. We can only contact services that the child is already known to for an EHC assessment. You are welcome to request an OT referral from your GP or to get the school to make this referral and we can add this in at the annual review stage.’

So what’s the point of making a reasonable request if they don’t take it into consideration because your child isn’t under a specific service? Requesting an OT referral from the GP will probably take 10-12 months. The assessment would have already been completed then:/

@MinnieTruck I had a similar
response yesterday re OT. The LA said they will only seek advice from services DD is already known to, with the exception of EP.

I replied saying I understood it to be unlawful for the LA to refuse to seek advice simply because a child isn’t known to a service. Not heard back from them yet.

Oh that is enraging! Even my LA aren't that bad*. It's an ASSESSMENT. They need to ASSESS!

*Although I did two of those Ipsea template letters quoting the law and specifically requested OT and optometrist. So maybe that did make a difference. I wasn't sure, as they didn't acknowledge either of them!

I also used the IPSEA template and quoted the law yet they still came back to me with that nonsense. It’s ridiculous!

@Ponche I read your comment and thought, ‘I wonder if we have the same LA,’ but then I thought, ‘well no actually, so many of them seem to do this you could live anywhere!’ I’m going to have to respond with the same thing. I’m also going to highlight the law once again. Could you let me know if/when your LA respond and what they say pls?

@Phineyj it’s so frustrating, I quoted the law too although didn’t use the template letter. That may be my next step if I need to ramp things up.

@MinnieTruck yes no worries, will update if/when I hear back. Have a feeling they may be planning to just ignore my email.

I'm not confident they even read emails regularly/at all.

I know they received the two letters because I phoned up and the woman who answered went through the email inbox while we were on the phone...

Hi everyone, sorry for the radio silence, I have been busy with my newborn and toddler and also my ds who is still not in school!
So the LA have consulted with the named specialist school, not that I've been told this, current mainstream has informed me that the specialist school want to meet with ds.
Is this what usually happens ?? Will the outcome of this meeting depend on whether ds is offered a place ?
Thanks hoping someone can let me know how the process usually goes

Email them back and copy in the DCS stating SEN reg(6)(1)(h) states the LA must seek advice and information from anyone you reasonably request. This includes services the child is not already known to, and a response of “not known to the service” is neither adequate nor lawful. The normal referral process and timescales do not apply. So please can they seek information and advice from OT.

Hello all. What's the process for submitting a parental request to another school following a finalised ehcp? We had a Ms named on final last Month through they cannot meet needs, la special school can meet needs but beyond full so was finalised naming current ms. We've found another school it's a section 41 independant and they have spaces, I've sent an email to send officer asking for them to consult with it? Is the the right thing to do? Thanks again

@34weekmess I x-posted with you last time. You say “named specialist school” but if the SS was named in the EHCP he could attend and wouldn’t be on the roll of a MS (unless dual registered). If you mean the SS is parental preference, then yes, them meeting/observing the child sometimes happens and may influence whether they are named or not, especially if they are wholly independent.

@246810k You need to appeal. Whatever you do, do not let the right of appeal lapse. Otherwise you could be left with the MS being named and the LA refusing to amend and refusing to hold an early review.

As an aside, on its own being ‘full’ is not enough of a reason to refuse to name your preference. The LA has to prove the school is so full admitting DS is incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others or efficient use of resources. Which is a higher bar than many LAs and schools like to admit.