Is an EHCP realistic for my autistic daughter moving to secondary?

[AnonMama87]

DD10 is autistic, highly academic and is well supported in her small primary school. She has a good group of friends, love school and learning. She's curious and hilarious and amazing.

She struggles a lot with sensory processing e.g. uses a chewy and wobble cushion for input in class, spins around constantly and stims flapping her hands in quite an overtly autistic way. She isn't able to speak to anyone she doesn't know, doesn't make new friends or talk to people to get her needs met. She is extremely sensitive to smells and noise. She needs a lot of explicit teaching to learn new skills and social expectations. She has had ELSA and Social Skills groups at school but hates the latter due to feeling it just teaches her to mask.. (fair enough imho!). She needs a lot of information about transitions, she has a carefully managed transition each year with photographs and extra visits to the new class and teacher etc.

She struggles with emotional regulation and gets easily overwhelmed. She has a lot of rigid routines she follows regardless of context.. she's not always aware of personal safety and would not ask for help if she was in trouble.

She has an IEP but she isn't having any real intervention currently outside of ordinary provision. We had a needs assessment done a few years ago with recommendations and her autism report but both are 3+ years old.

I don't know if it's relevant to education but I put down everything we do to care for her and she was awarded middle rate DLA and low rate mobility.

Her Y6 teacher and the 6-7 Senco at the secondary she will most likely attend have both recommended she gets an EHCP for the transition to secondary.. but am I missing something.. or is it pretty much impossible on the evidence we have?! Everyone seems to get turned down and she's doing great at school so why would they consider it?

Do you have that in writing from the 2 SENCOs?

If the SENCO is suggesting an EHCP, they should be providing more support in school. Request a meeting with the school.

Academically able DC can get EHCPs. You can get EHCPs for DC with the needs you describe. Although you may have to appeal, potentially more than once.

The first test you need to focus on is that of an EHCNA. The bar is relatively low a) has or may have SEN, and b) may need special educational provision to be made via an EHCP.

My daughter has one and her needs are less extensive than that.

You've left it quite late if you have to appeal and you'll have to apply for her secondary school place via the normal process, but it's well worth doing as it sounds like she really needs it.

Don't delay! Get the template letter from the IPSEA website and send it this weekend.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/5484488-ehcp-support-thread-no-6?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

No I don't, the SENCO at the secondary has had a meeting with me and met her once at the tour so I very much doubt she'd contribute to the ECHNA request. She said she can put one in if she joined the school but realistically she wouldn't have the evidence until later in the year as she wouldn't be able to use the evidence from primary, so she strongly recommended we get it at primary.

Her SENCO at primary is unsure she'd get anything, but said she'll support if we decide to.

Her Y6 teacher strongly recommended we go for one, she has personal as well as professional experience of an autistic child in mainstream school and suggested it when she taught her briefly in y4 as well, however at that stage the SENCO shut it down.

For those of you who have an EHCP for an academically able child, what is on it?

There's a difference between what's on the (poorly written) EHCP and what she gets/accesses, but what she gets is:

Named designated person to meet once a week
Some ELSA
Safer travel training
Enhanced transition
SEN homework club
Help understanding her diagnoses
Some TA support in Maths and occasionally other classes
Occupational therapy
A laptop if she needs one

BUT! The main reason is in case it all goes wrong later, so that we'd have a chance of finding a suitable alternative school option. Her behaviour has settled down since primary but she's a very volatile child emotionally.

You don't need anyone's permission to do a parental EHCP request. You can do one now if you want (and you should).

Of course the primary evidence is relevant!

Going forward, follow up all verbal conversation with emails to create a paper trail should you require it as evidence.

A secondary school absolutely could use evidence from primary. However, I wouldn’t wait until then. I would do it now. And any decision the LA makes now must take the upcoming transition into consideration.

The content of EHCPs is based on the evidence. The provision in F of EHCPs is what is required to meet the needs in B. EHCPs are based on needs rather than diagnosis, so what one academically able DC with ASD has won’t be what all academically able autistic DC have.

DS2 (ASD, ADHD, a long term medical condition) is in mainstream sixth form now. Alongside some lower level stuff such as use of tech/assistive tech, position in the classroom, teaching methods, use of resources, etc. he has:
1hr of 1:1 study skills tuition per week
15 mins per school day 1:1 with an LSA focusing on organisation
2 lessons per A level per week with a subject specialist LSA
2hrs per week 1:1 mentoring focusing on preparation for adulthood
45 mins OT every other week during term time
45 mins x2 per half term of SALT
5 x 1hr sports sessions per week with 1hr physio input every term.
1:1 during lunch/break/when off-site - they don’t stick right by his side but they are there in the background for when he decides to do something stupid such as rescue a football from a roof and needs someone to step in.
Also, professional time for things such as training for staff, planning, summary communication post sessions, careers advisor, specialist teacher and EP input time, SENCO admin time, report writing, termly MDTs, updated advice and information, ARs.

I have 2 other DSs with EHCPs. Although one is autistic and academically able, they have EOTAS/EOTIS so not in mainstream. Happy to say what they have, but it might not be that helpful.