EHCP support thread no. 3

[Phineyj]

A new thread for when no. 2 is full up.
Link to thread no. 1: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/4834986-ehcp-support-thread
Link to thread no. 2:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/4989146-ehcp-support-thread-no-2

I am the mum of an 11 year old girl with SEN and have spent the last 20 months battling for my local authority to issue an EHCP to support her transition from primary to secondary school. We are currently after draft stage after two tribunals. I've had so much useful advice and moral support from posters on here.

This new thread is here to help everyone, whether you're just starting out or are a battle-hardened veteran of years of this.

There is no such thing as a stupid question and there are many acronyms and technical terms so please ask for an explanation of anything that you don't understand.

SEN: special educational needs (sometimes SEND: special educational needs and disability)
SENCO: teacher at school charged with overall responsibility for students on roll with SEN
ECHNA: education care and health needs assessment - the process of a local authority commissioning reports to find out a child's needs
EHCP: the education care and health plan that details a child's needs and the agreed provision to meet them; a legally binding document
SENDIST: the special educational needs and disability tribunal - an independent appeal panel which considers parental appeals against Education Authority decisions about special educational needs.

@Mummytodo Yes, special or specialist school.

@BrumToTheRescue Yes they said she needs a Sen school and 1:1 for safety and pica... This is also noted in an OT report which the la chose which parts to use. Incidentally it was only two weeks ago my daughter ate poisonous berries at mainstream and an incident report was submitted as she doesn't have enough provision currently:(

@Phineyj LA just called, SEN panel changed their minds, with help from senco and EP and have made offer of the ASD independent school we wanted.

18 months of fighting, so many hurdles (still a few to go) but we have the right school now for sept start.

im so emotional 🥲 but happy too 🥳

That's terrific news, if awfully last minute! Hope they can fit a familiarisation visit in.

Brilliant news @Ilovethewild!

Fantastic news, @Ilovethewild.

@Ilovethewild Well done! What a relief. Hope you can have a more relaxed summer knowing the setting will be the right one. Am really happy for you.

Great news, @Ilovethewild. Congratulations!

Appeal against refusal to assess now registered - provisional hearing date of 13 November.

Now to figure out next steps.....

Thanks @BrumToTheRescue - I will be requesting such AP now. However, I complained to the Director of CS and the normal complaints process on Tuesday about failure to meet AR timescale (using IPSEA letter). I usually hear back pretty quick once I do this. But this time nothing. What are my next steps?

@SaltBlossom if you don’t hear about the AR in the next few days, email the DCS again threatening JR. If that doesn’t work, you need a pre-action letter. SOSSEN are overrun with requests for pre-action letters at the moment, so if you can afford it or are eligible for legal aid, you would be best looking elsewhere.

The AP request is separate.

Thank you!

Below are some examples of things included in Section B of the draft:

Cognition and Learning

DD is often self-directed in her play in setting
DD is unable to extend her play independently and relies on adult support for this
DD is not yet engaging in sequencing events

Communication and Interaction

DD is not yet pointing to indicate what she needs or wants
DD can seem unaware of the presence of her peers in her physical space

Social, Emotional and Mental Health

DD becomes engrossed in her play and is not easily distracted
DD experiences more heightened emotions around lunchtime and mid-afternoon when she is often tired

Sensory and/or physical

DD has no awareness of danger in her environment
DD can struggle to manipulate small objects

The above is accurate and examples of difficulties and challenges that DD has, but do they count as special educational needs that belong in B? As I'm not sure and thought B would look a little different.

@Ponche section B is only as good as the reports. A good section B will have more detail on needs. Start by looking at the reports.

A decision has been made on DD’s EHCNA and the LA have decided to issue an EHCP. A draft should be with me by the end of this month. I feel really relieved that we’ve managed to climb over this hurdle but I also feel stressed for what’s to come.

I will be doing my research but I also wanted to ask here. What sections should I focus on the most in regards to the wording and the support that’s written within the EHCP? I know that Section F is pretty important, any more? I’m going to spend some time this week on Contact and IPSEA (anyone recommend anymore sites?) to really have an understanding on what a good EHCP looks like.

I feel quite anxious that it’s on me and me only to make sure the plan is half decent so I’m very grateful for this thread!

Great news @MinnieTruck, that's a relief. With the sections, I'd say pay close attention to B and F. B has the needs outline, so for F to be good then B has to be good. You need all the needs outlined in B if you're going to get provision for them.

@UnendingSaga ahh thank you so much, that makes a lot of sense! One question though, when you mention section B and provision, do you mean that the needs have to be outlind so that a school/nursery can decide whether they can meet those needs?

So section B sets out the needs and Section F sets out the provision required to meet those needs. For example,.if your child has a speech and language need that doesn't appear in B, nobody is going to write in F that your child needs 2 hours of 1:1 speech and language therapy every week. And nobody is going to have responsibility to make sure that therapy happens.

It is also important for schools to be able to see if they can meet need, but primarily it's important so you actually get the provision wherever that is.

Ipsea has good info explaining the different sections. Some of it here: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/what-should-be-in-the-sections-relating-to-education-sections-b-and-f

@UnendingSaga I’m with you now. Thank you for the example because I am known to be slightly slow at times! I’ll definitely be having a look at IPSEA and Contact sometime this week so I’m on the top of my game. Thanks again:)

@MinnieTruck Brilliant news.

As well as IPSEA and Contact, SOSSEN is helpful.

As posted @UnendingSaga, section B is important because the provision in F is based on the needs in B. If section B is poor, section F will be too. When schools are consulted, they will consider both sections before replying.

Go through all the reports with highlighters. Highlight all DD’s special educational needs in one colour and all the provision to meet needs in another colour. It can help to break needs and provision down into communication & interaction, cognition & learning, social and emotional, sensory and physical. It can also help to put them into a table to ensure all needs have corresponding provision.

Then go through the draft and make sure all the highlighted needs are in B and the highlighted provision is in F. Make a note of anything the LA have omitted from the draft, any needs without corresponding provision, any woolly and vague wording, and anything the reports have failed to include.

When checking F look out for vague and woolly wording such as “access to”, “or equivalent”, “opportunities for”, “as appropriate”, “would benefit from”, “regular”, “up to”, “would be useful/helpful”, “such as”, “e.g.”, “etc.”, “as required”, “as advised”, “key adult(s)”, “small group”. If provision isn’t detailed, specified and quantified, the EHCP isn’t worth the paper it is written on and cannot be enforced.

When you come across vague and woolly wording, check the reports to see if they are woolly and vague or if the LA has watered down provision. If the reports are vague and woolly, ask the LA to go back to the report writer(s) to make the reports detailed, specified and quantified. Provision in EHCPs is taken from the reports, so if the reports are vague and woolly, the EHCP will be too. If the LA has watered down provision, make sure to request the LA sticks to the wording in the reports.

Then make sure any health or social care provision that educates or trains is in F. LAs often don’t do this. For example, LAs like to put therapies like SALT and OT in G (the section for health care provision) when it belongs in F.

Once you have looked at B&F, also look at C&G (health needs and provision) and D&H (social care needs and provision).

We got the document bundle from the LA for the refusal to assess appeal and it had another child's EP report in. Pretty gobsmacked.

I've sent them a shirty email telling them to remove it from the bundle and threatening to report them to the ICO. No response. Dd hasn't even had an EP assessment.

With this level of competence what hope for the process?!

@Macramepotholder when you sent the LA an email did you copy in SENDIST?

@BrumToTheRescue I did indeed.

Thank you @BrumToTheRescue that’s incredibly helpful. I’ve taken a screenshot of both of you guys’ comments as they’re really useful. Although, I am starting to regret not having any qualifications higher than GCSEs because I don’t know if my brain can handle this!!

@Macramepotholder wow that really is shocking. I really do wonder how some of these people have a job