I was shocked that my son's ehcp was not approved!

[Lilyuq]

My son has Down syndrome. He is nearly five and attended a local mainstream primary school foundation year since last sept. We just moved back from China last August after ten year working in China. The school helped apply for EHCP one month ago, but just now we received a call from local council and informed that they won't assess our application until this Oct as they thought he has no need to have ehcp at this stage. Both school principle and we are so shocked. How can EHCP not approved now for a Down syndrome kid? Especially he has great speech therapy needs as his native is mandarin and English is his second language. If we go for appeal, how is the process and how much chance we can get ehcp approved? Thanks for your advise!

My youngest daughter has cerebral palsy and SpLD and when we first requested assessment we were refused. I think it is pretty standard with some LAs to refuse to a) buy themselves more time and b) see how serious you are. After a bit of argy bargy and a couple of supportive letters from school and the GP, they agreed without having to officially appeal and daughter now at a special school. Ironically we had more trouble finding a place because of her complex needs. Have a look at the IPSEA website for some good info and useful letters etc.

Do you live in the South? SOS SEN do some useful workshops on things like appeals to the tribunal. They seem to have one coming up on 17th May. They'll also help with advice sessions etc.