Help with Assess/Plan/Do/Review

[Sunshineandpool]

My DD is 12 and just started Y8. She had autism and related (severe) anxiety and Long Covid.

I am in the process of trying to get her an EHCP. But in the meantime I am trying to get school to implement a suitable plan. Currently she is unable to attend school at all. Things were getting worse and worse at the end of last year and then school just ignored me saying she would need a transition after the holidays and just distressed her so much on her first day back, the LA told me to keep her at home.

I was told that assess/plan/do/review cycles have been carried out but after many requests I finally got the paperwork today. I can see no assessment that has been carried out prior to there now being an Ed Psych report. The outcome is the same on every new plan (supposedly created after a review) 'to settle into school, make progress and make friends.' The 'steps to outcome' are also identical on each plan and include things she cannot do 'go to LS centre at lunchtime' - she is too scared, 'ask for help when needed' - she is unable to do this. Then it has 'views of student' which is identical on each one giving information from my daughter in January. Then it has 'views of parents' which just details every time I had a meeting to express my concerns. The newest plan under this section details a new plan from the school involving me having to look after my DD for much of the day as they can't cope (in a nutshell.) There are no minutes of any meeting where anything has been reviewed let alone with me or my DD. I think this plan is terrible.

I would like to see a plan put in place on the basis of the Ed Psych's report and the current situation with DD. I would like to see small goals that she can hopefully achieve. She will need a slow transition back to school and to feel safe and comfortable before she can even try to cope with the demands of lessons. So a goal like - spend an hour in school with her Learning mentor - steps - look round school with mum and learning mentor to get familiar with the building, spend half an hour with learning mentor doing a therapeutic activity (like colouring), spend an hour with learning mentor - half an hour therapeutic activity, half an hour looking at Inside Out zones of regulation (suggested by Ed Psych.) I'd like it to be then be reviewed as to how that went.

Is that kind of plan reasonable?

The school should not be expecting you to deliver support and it is reasonable to have an achievable plan/outcomes. However, depending on the EP’s recommendations, it may not be possible for them to implement some or all of their recommendations without an EHCP. Without an EHCP they may not have the staffing other provide significant time with a learning mentor.

The assess part may not be formal assessment like an EP assessment. It could be observation, input from teachers, progress, looking at work/tests, discussions with you/DD.

Personally, from this post and other your posts, I would focus on the appeal to SENDIST and securing section 19 provision.

Thank you for your thoughts.

I need to find out from school what they can provide in terms of time with her LM. But according to their plan it's at least 45 minutes per day as they suggest the LM will spend 15 minutes trying to get her into her lesson (3 lessons per day) before calling me to come and look after her until she feels able to go into class when the LM will be called again - so more time.

Oh, right. Yes the assess part which I assume is the 'needs of the child' part is just what I have told them. But I can't actually see what exactly goes on in school to assess what specifically needs dealing with. I have a good idea from what my DD tells me but then the school will often claim it never happened.

And yes, I am going to do those 2 things too. But an EHCP won't come quickly so in the meantime I will see what I can do with the school. I very much doubt DD will get a special school so we'll have to try and make it work at her mainstream school.

45 minutes wouldn’t be enough time to provide everything the EP recommends. And it is unlikely the school will be able to provide a learning mentor attending lessons full time with DD long term without an EHCP.

The EHCP appeal will take time, but if DD can’t attend, as your threads say, then section 19 provision can be put in place. That doesn’t need an EHCP and doesn’t take anywhere near as long.

You can appeal for a special school. If MS isn’t suitable, then you don’t have to accept that being named in an EHCP. Especially a MS where the relationship has clearly broken down.

Looking at what the EP has recommended I think it would definitely be possible. There's actions for at home which I will fully support and things for myself and her learning mentor to put in place. DD would have to have a slow transition so definitely needs sec 19 provision in the meantime. The Learning mentor doesn't come into lessons with DD - there are LSAs in the classroom. Of course it may not work out but I feel the school should at least try to meet her needs (the SENCo is still saying the school can meet her needs!) and if they still can't that is evidence for the EHCP.

It is a poor EP report is all the recommendations can be undertaken in 45mins. However, 45 mins really isn’t enough time to undertake the plan you list in the paragraph of your OP that you say is a plan based on the EP’s report. If DD needs LSA support that should also be in the EP report because LSA support for those without an EHCP is very limited (unless the school is unlawfully tagging on other DC to the support a child with an EHCP receives, which isn’t uncommon sadly). The EP and school shouldn’t be requiring you to support DD’s SEN.

I thought it was a really spot on report, actually. But it was mainly based on her transition into school as that was all the EP observed. She would like to talk to my DD and observe a lesson but would need the go ahead of the school.

And that's why LSA support isn't in the report as it is about her morning transition. The school is actually really good with LSAs. In DD's class there is an LSA in most lessons on top of any LSA for a DC with an EHCP.

In terms of the suggestions for me it was things like watching the Inside Out film with DD in order to support the work at school on zones of regulation or talking positively to her Learning mentor about DD when I bring her into school.

Yes, it's true my plan was for an hour as a way to transition DD back into school. But that wouldn't be an hour everyday - it would be spread across a week or 2. However, in terms of the suggestions from the EP, I think 45 minutes a day would give DD enough time for the recommendations to have an impact. This would include work on zones of regulation, being able to express her feelings and social stories. Other recommendations were around school being consistent and to show positive relationships with me in front of DD.

I definitely want sec 19 support for DD. But I don't want her to lose her connection to the school as that would make it harder for her in the long run. That's why I'm keen for some kind of plan with the school. That's assuming the school could meet her needs with an EHCP.

An EP report should look at all needs and should include all provision required. If it has only looked at transition into school, then it is a poor report. Honestly, if you think the recommendations can be delivered in 45mins a day, it is poor.

Sadly, many parents don’t realise reports are poor until they find out an EHCP is too vague and woolly to be enforceable and they go back to look at the reports.

It is very unusual to have a floating LSA in all classes at secondary. What happens more often is schools use support that should only be used for one child to support others, too. And even if DD's school has LSAs in all classes, if DD requires the provision, it must be in the EP report.

Well, the EP was limited by what she was asked to do then. It's certainly not a report to suggest what help DD would need under an EHCP. It was meant to give strategies to help DD in the mornings at school.

I have no experience in EP reports. But she backed up everything I know about my DC's issues with transition to school and gave some really helpful recommendations.

And yes, I know it is unusual that is why I picked this school for her. They have extra funding due to being a Catholic school so one class in each year has high support from LSAs.

The EP should have looked at DD as a whole. To not do so is poor. This still applies even if it wasn’t a report for an EHCNA. You can’t isolate the transition into school in a morning from everything. They are interconnected. An EP should know that.

Well, she did say she would like to see DD in a lesson and speak to her. But the school just wanted her to see the morning.

I completely agree with you they are interconnected and I've been trying to tell the school this. When the SENCo told the EP in the meeting we had that DD's only problem was the transition in the morning she clearly said that would not be her only problem. So I think she knows they are interconnected but had to do what the school requested.