EP dilemma

[BlueGreenMagpie]

I need advice please.

I have a 9yo autistic, non-verbal son. He was attending a specialist ABA school for last 3 years, but had severe school refusal earlier this year. As he started showing signs last September (unhappy, distressed) I did discuss with his teacher but they had no concerns. Since he cannot tell, I don't know if it was ABA, or the environment (my son was bitten twice) or something else.

My son had his last EP assessment 4 years ago, so I booked an independent EP for an assessment in two weeks.. The EP is qualified and experienced but has limited knowledge of ABA and can't advise on whether ABA is suitable. At first I was okay with this, but I have recently visited potential schools and now I'm wondering if ABA is still right for him after all. Section F of my son's current EHCP states ABA.

Should I proceed with an EP who knows nothing about ABA? Or look for another EP? can a general EP assessment still give me useful data on his learning style, demand tolerance and regulation needs to help me decide?

I would question the experience and expertise of an EP who doesn’t understand ABA. Many independent EPs won’t recommend ABA because of the controversy, but they will still understand it.

An EP assessment and report can be incredibly helpful without covering ABA.

If you want to continue ABA, do you have other evidence to support the continuation of it?

I have reports from his last school showing progress.

At the moment, I really need to decide if I should proceed with this specific EP. If an EP doesn't understand ABA but is able to provide EHCP compliant report, what else should I look for/consider that could help me decide?

I think your starting point needs to be to decide if you want to continue along the ABA road.

If you don’t want to continue along the ABA road, as long as it is a good EP and they can write a medico-legal standard report, it should be helpful. So you should check their experience. You can ask questions such as: do they have experience of writing tribunal standard reports? If it is something you might need/want, will they be a witness if you have to appeal? What will their assessment consist of? Do they provide a draft report for you before finalising their report? Some will share an anonymised example of a report they have written.

If you do want to continue along the ABA road, the next question is to see if you have other evidence to support its continued requirement. While evidence of progress is helpful, it helps to have evidence showing what is needed going forward. If you have other evidence, as long as it is a good EP and can write a medico-legal standard report (comments in my previous paragraph apply), it should be helpful. You could ask if they are willing to go away and read around ABA - this might help you understand whether they really don’t have experience or if that is a polite way of avoiding ABA cases because they disagree with it and will not write a report which includes it. If you don’t have other evidence, then while a good EP who can write a medico-legal standard report will be helpful, it probably won’t provide evidence ABA is required, especially if they aren’t willing to go away and do substantial research on ABA, so you will still need further evidence and might be better looking elsewhere. Although before cancelling you should look at any terms and conditions you have already agreed to. You may be charged.