EHCP support thread no. 4

[Phineyj]

We've nearly filled the thread again, so here's a new one. Welcome everyone: newcomers, people stuck in the process; battle-hardened veterans of many years...

Here are links to previous threads:

EHCP support thread - www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/4834986-ehcp-support-thread

EHCP support thread no. 2 - www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/4989146-ehcp-support-thread-no-2

EHCP support thread no. 3 - www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/5077140-ehcp-support-thread-no-3

@Namechangeagain80 you can point it out to the SENCO if you want, but it is the student social worker writing the report and she should have the conviction to write the report based on her own opinion.

Me again! Tribunal final Hearing now couple weeks away. La have agreed all but some provision they are still sourcing funding?! They've had 8 months and during this time still arranging funding. They want us to agree consent order but am I being right by saying no until and outstanding funding sorted and attend final hearing?!

Focus on the provision rather than the funding. Don’t sign the proposed consent form until the provision is detailed, specified and quantified. If that doesn’t happen, SENDIST will decide.

@BrightYellowTrain thank you. We're worried if they haven't funded it then even if it's in ehcp it won't be implemented? They told us 8 months ago they were working on costs and have said now it's not sorted that's why we're concerned

@246810k provision in the EHCP can be enforced once finalised. Non-implementation of provision/breach of section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014 is a JR matter. A content appeal isn’t about whether agreed provision in an EHCP has been implemented or not.

Good to see that some organisations are highlighting the quality issues with EHCPs that we are all very aware of. The question is whether the proposed overhaul of the send system will be a positive thing or just a financial exercise to avoid funding issues?

schoolsweek.co.uk/wrong-names-and-rule-breaking-poor-quality-ehcps-shortchange-schools/

I think the motivation is entirely financial, because nobody was moving to change anything for kids with SEND until the costs mounted up, so it’s clearly not child focused change they are looking to bring in.

I think it's both, personally. The current costs are totally unsustainable but the impact on children is also (you would hope) unsustainable. I think many of us could think of ways better services could be delivered at some lower cost, although many of them will require upfront expenditure (increasing local specialist provision and therefore saving on school transport and individual adaptations to other settings for example). Others might be lower cost in terms of infrastructure but involve radical change in teaching approaches, which costs in training and staff morale.

I don't know what the appetite is for these sort of changes. I'm keeping a close eye on the Education Select Committee's SEN inquiry: Solving the SEND Crisis - Committees - UK Parliament

The Committee has received a huge amount of evidence and will be hearing from key people in public evidence sessions you can watch online, and will then make recommendations to government that will have to get a response. Even allowing for the inevitable fudging answers, I think this process will give SOME insight into the direction of travel for SEND support.

One of my DSs had an initial draft with 3 different names, 2 different ages, in places he became a she and a preschooler could have numbered it better. This was many years ago.

Thank you again for your guidance on this and for giving me the confidence to advocate.

Actually had a meeting with Early Help at the school today, and the student social worker was present (along with the FLO).

In amongst other things, I raised her report and specifically mentioned the maths recommendation. She basically said that the recommendation was now that DD would have a card to display on her desk if she needed extra help and the teacher would then see it and give her the support. She said that the SENCO had said that they wouldn't be able to take her out for 1:1 maths support. I questioned why that was (knowing full well) and she said lack of staff. The FLO then said they would love to be able to give 1:1 interventions to lots of children, but they didn't have the resources.

I then said that surely her recommendations should be based on her overview and knowledge that she has gathered of DD's needs and not dependent on what the school could offer. She initially tried to argue, but eventually said she fully understood what I was saying and that if I wanted that to be in, she would keep it in.

The Early Help person came with a specific minute-taker (so much for the LA being in financial trouble!) so it should be documented.

The student is quite young and obviously reasonably inexperienced so I was fully expecting her to just do what the SENCO said, so I am pleasantly surprised that she has the integrity to stand by her convictions.

Quite disappointed with the SENCO and the school in general - the more dealings I have with them, the more they just seem to be intent on covering themselves. It makes you realise that however much they do care, their priority is never going to be your individual child. Makes you realise how much you do have to personally advocate because noone else is going to. It feels like a battle when it really shouldn't be that way - everyone should be on the same side.

(And I know I am preaching to the converted here!)

As an aside, as part of my original evidence, I submitted the school's appendix 2 (which they didn't have chance to submit before the LA declined the assessment) - in this the SENCO had put that she didn't consider higher funding nor an EHCP to be necessary.

However, the SENCO originally quoted me the LA's policy on their criteria for an EHCNA - is that evidence that she doesn't actually have the knowledge to decide whether an EHCP is needed? Is it worth sending in that email?

The FLO also confirmed that pre-teaching would help DD, but the only time that the teacher could do that was when the doors first open, but because of her EBSA (which has improved, but unlikely we will ever get her to school for 8.40) - this is unlikely to happen.

Can this also be used as evidence?

@Namechangeagain80 glad to hear the meeting was productive. Follow it up with an email of your own. Particularly mentioning what was said about not having the resources to provide the provision DD needs. You can use emails as evidence. Don’t rely on EH’s minutes.

As an aside, the minute taker may actually have been a note taker via Access to Work.

Unfortunately, some schools either intentionally or through ignorance perpetuate the LA’s unlawful policies. Whether SENCOs understand the law or not, it isn’t them deciding if it is necessary to undertake an EHCNA/issue an EHCP.

@BrightYellowTrain Thank you again. Will follow up with an email - do you think to the student and/or SENCO? (Un) surprisingly, the SENCO hasn't replied to my email requesting details of what amendments she had asked for.

Possibly, though we had previously had a meeting at home with the EH practitioner and that time she came alone and took her own notes. She did specifically say that X was there to take minutes so she didn't have to. I just thought it was slightly ironic that there was the school bleating about lack of resources and there was someone from the LA there literally just to take minutes of the (informal) meeting!

@Namechangeagain80 send the email to everyone in attendance at the meeting.

I am not saying it was, clearly there is no way I could know, but from a disability perspective, taking notes when visiting the family at their home is decidedly different to taking notes at a meeting with multiple attendees.

So caseworker has been on leave, but has sent me a number of quite - almost personal - emails this week explaining some of her pressures. We almost have a rapport going now, which seems to be working in my favour - but I don’t know if that’s particularly professional. She sent another draft version late one evening - still got lots of mistakes - phrases struck through added again, section K which had previously been updated in one of her versions is back to the old version, and provision left off section F that was agreed to.

I offered to just write it as the final should look to save her time, and then she could just check it. All amendments have been agreed to by the SENCO.
But I’ve also had emails from DS’s speech therapist and we both seem baffled as to why the SENCO thought DS has been discharged from SALT services. When his caseworker was removing speech targets from his EHCP and stating ‘we have had confirmation that DS has been discharged
’ - who did that confirmation come from? The SENCO? The SENCO did email me to say DS has been discharged hasn’t he?

He hasn’t!!! And in all my annotations since Jan, I’ve linked the SENCO and included his speech targets and provision. But now - at the beginning of March - SENCO is saying - I thought he’d been discharged.

I was given a school provision map in July24 written by the school outlining how they were going to spend his 29 hours a week funding.
There is no way on Earth he gets that level of provision. The SENCO told me that original map for the 29hours was only ever a plan and never achievable.

This is why I’m so keen
to get Section F right, and I’ve tried to ‘water it down’ to be mindful of funding.

But why, why, why didn’t the school know about his speech targets/that he had not been discharged when the speech therapist was in last term, assessed and had sent the (official sensitive) speech targets??

The SENCO is deputy, non teaching. Another same size school in area has a teaching deputy, a teaching SENCO. I just would have thought no class would give the opportunity to be - more -on top of things.

SENCO tried to state ‘cannot meet needs’ before he started the school - the speech therapist tells me one reason for this is because he used a PECS book.

I did a lot of fundraising for the school last year. The school have turned a shed into an ‘event space’ in the school car park (which is busy, has no gates, and has various drivers entering to do three point turns). Yet they tell me they have no funding for reading books (DS frequently gets repeated reads of the same book), rarely use their lovely looking library, they can afford a non teaching SENCO, but are too financially stretched to give basic EHCP provision.
Any fundraising/compensation money now is going to services that support special needs.

And in reception interactions with the SENCO were minimal and awkward - partly because I felt in fear of ‘cannot meet needs’ if DS wasn’t fitting in. One child in DS’s class has been excluded and another is now on half days.

I’m going to try and write amended EHCP again as final.

Does anyone know if -

1. if inserting a table for provision in Section F is likely to get rejected? I can see examples online that include tables.

2. all my annotations of ‘qualified’ have been replaced by ‘trained’. Is it worth pursuing this?

3. would complaining to the school about confusing the caseworker over SALT provision be pointless? How do I ensure the speech therapist targets are feeding DS’s weekly provision?

And then - DS now goes to Beavers and I’m going to train to become a Beaver leader so I attend every week. Oh my goodness, the beauty of a child teaching environment where money is not a factor. DS is fully included and he loves it. No adult is in the corner on a computer or ‘in a meeting’, everyone is supporting the children and fully focussed on them.

Hi @RibbyJumper I'm sorry it's all so disappointing and stressful.

My view as a teacher is:

1. We're not getting top quality staff these days. The kind of people who would have become teachers in the past just aren't attracted to it. The older experienced ones are gone or on the way out.
2. Teachers get no management training so they're often quite crap at tasks involving budgets, strategy, planning ahead.
3. It's probably best not to get too personally involved with anyone. Keep it professional.
4. Regarding the speech therapy, it just doesn't matter as much to them as to you. It's just words on a page to them.

Do you have some support for yourself - a counsellor or a friend you can vent to?

Oh and one more question. DS has never had an allocated adult. SENCo told me they’d moved away from that model so
all adults will be working with DS.
Problem being - I think - that no one takes responsibility. So if DS misses provision, I’m having to repeat to different adults what that provision is.

Also it means that provision is sometimes given by a parent helper.

Is there anything I can do here?

I don't think you can force them to do it that way no. Besides they appear to have you as allocated adult!

I am not sure how old your son is? DD is 12 and does have an allocated adult at school. It is written into her EHCP but it's also the school's normal way of doing things and teaching staff are told which colleague is responsible for which student.

The colleagues do, of course, vary somewhat in quality.

@RibbyJumper one of the things our EHCP contains is a clear direction that all provision will be overseen by the Sendco. This would help you as you then have a single point of contact if there are any issues, and they are then responsible for liaising with other members of staff.

@Phineyj

Thank you. I do have an amazing friend who I meet with once a week. DS and her DD are best friends and in the same class. We counsel each other!

DS’s class teacher is great at the normal teaching side I’d say, not the SEN side. She’s also often not in the classroom.

I’m not a fan of the SENCO. Experienced, but seems to make everything about money. One of her first comments to me was ‘you know we can’t afford TA’s for SEND children here’.

I would say - keep it professional, but caseworker has now been far more responsive and sympathetic. I think she’ll just let me write the EHCP.

@handmademitlove

Thank you. That would work, but DS’s SENCO has been telling caseworker that he’s been discharged from SALT when he hasn’t - and therefore not aware? not addressing? his speech targets that are supposed to be part of his daily provision.

@Phineyj

DS is nearly 6. Years ago I taught in Year 1, I had a child with a statement. I’d never had a TA before, but was allocated a TA for the child with the statement.

I always made sure that TA was doing group work with the child and working on his targets.

I remember the school telling me that I should use the TA elsewhere as the child was achieving - but I didn’t agree. I should follow what his statement said.

I think I will definitely ask @Phineyj about allocated adults when looking for KS2 place. I work in a school now, and they have allocated adults and advertise vacancies as allocated adults with SEN experience.

Oh that's good if you get a fresh start at Juniors.