So exactly how detailed should an EP report be?

[Dingle]

After an uphill struggle the LEA backed down and the school have agreed to get Amelia assessed for statementing. WE are still in the process of getting a few assessments and for the first time, an EP visited Amelia at school in December. (She is 5, has DS and is in mainstream with no classroom support)

We got the EP report in the post today and TBH it wasn't as anywhere near as detailed as I expected it to be...in fact rather vague!!

Considering this will go towards the decision of statementing or not-
What sort of info should be in this type of report please?

we have had 2 educational psychologist reports completed for our dd who is 6 and tbh both of them were pretty vague with language that could be easily interpreted in either way and the common use of 'paraphrase' bog standard words used for every report....
was there any assessment carried out so that you have a 'baseline' score that can be noted now and then compared against in 18-24 months time?

please remember that if the report was carried out by an lea recccommended(sp?)ep, then the ep is also employed by the county council/lea and in my opinion they sometimes have their hands tied as they know that whatever they write and request the lea will object to it(on the grounds of cost)
that is most probably not what you want to hear(sorry)but that is always what has happened in our(and friends)cases and it still comes down to"whoever shouts the loudest"
keep fighting for your dd...good luck
(we are in the process of the annual review fight atm)

From the ones I have seen (as a teacher), how detailed they are depends entirely on which EP did the assessment - some seem to be able to describe a child much better than others. I would expect to see about 4-8 pages of detailed description of background information, the testing completed, the results, their interpretation and any conclusions to be drawn. The phrase I often hear is a 'pen picture' of the child.

Does the report describe your child? Or does it sound like someone else?

we were fortunate with DS,s EP, she was brought in as they didnt have an EP available and as she didnt work for our LEA her report was very detailed and she said exactly how she thought DS should be helped, her report was 29 pages long.

Sorry i know its not much help to you here Dingle, in DS report he listed his SN and how the school chosen could help and stratigies, she even worded it that at the heart of his problems was a profound social and communication disorder (ASD) and that he would need ongoing support.

Then again theres DD,s report from the CDC which just said that the code of practice should be used effectively with DD,s needs and that was it, nothing more so from one extreme to the other.

Have you thought about getting a private one done?

We have and it was very good but we are having a struggle getting the LEA to accept what is written in that report.

Sigh,...............

Its such horrible stressful time that we have to go through just to get our little ones the help that they deserve, we are back with the LEA on the 31st and this is crunch time as we have to name our school that day its the last day to do so and we are telling them that we want him to go to an independant one and we will probably end back up at SENDIST.

Do you have the full EP report or an interim report?

Ds saw an EP on Friday. So far we just have the interim report.It is a page of fairly detailed results, his working ages and percentile score for all the tests, and 3 detailed paragraphs on his areas of academic weakness, information processing problems and a probablt dx. The EP has also mentioned what he sould sugest we do next, and has given us info on supportive materials that we can use with ds.

Well considering this was the first time she has ever been seen be an EP, and it was to be used as evidence towards statementing assessment- I would have imagined it should have been a full report!!

It's a 7 page report, 1st page-personal info, 2nd -background and evidence used...

It does refer to a PIP ( Parent Involvement Project) Developemental Chart and references are made to this in the reports.

eg; Speech, Lang & Communication.
Expressive Language-during my observation Amelia's spoken lang. was difficult to comprehend at times. She frequently uses one word......
Receptive Lang- her comprehension seemed to be ahead of her expressive skills. She was able to follow simple instructions... At times Amelia replied "no" and the instruction would need to be repeated and Amelia would eventually comply.

According to the PIP Charts Amelia's expressive language is around 2 year equivalent. Her receptive language is about 6 months ahead of that.

The EP is of course part of the Council's Childrens Services!!! Not sure we can afford a prive EP assessment- just paid £250 for her private SALT assessment.

we will get out full report within 8 weeks, but were given the interim report for the meantime. And for this we paid a whopping great big £350!

£350!!!! OMG.

We are hoping to take her back to BIBIC this year, if they hold another mobile clinic in Kent anyway. That will cost us another couple of £100- at least we manage to get part bursary for that. But that will be too late to go towards statementing!

How do you find out about private EPs?

it might be too late for this round of statementing but you could always use the report for the annual review which will be within the next twelve months..

We were given the names of several by the kids school(which is private). The SENCO felt that the advive given by the guy we saw was the most practical in terms of being able to work it into lessons on a day to day basis. So we went with him. I need to have a chat with the senco this week with the interim report

ds's dx was fairly low key dyspraxia and some short therm memory issues, so nothing major.

You saying that, I am not sure about time scales now. The LEA need to decide if a statement is to go ahead by the end of February....how long after that do they have to put the statement details together?

I think BIBIC held a mobile clinic at Easter last year- will have to find out their plans!

£££££'s...the mention of all the money that these reports cost is absolutely shocking considering that the lea will sometimes try and say they are not official.
Please try to remember to use a professional from an accredited uk body as then it is a lot harder for the lea to rebuke the report.

we(and i know we won't be the only ones)can no way afford the private costs so really have to get the professionals completing the reports "on our side" for better terms of the words in order to be able to battle it out with the lea

The guy we saw is fully accredited, and is used by nottingham LEA.

TBH was can afford it only because we can claim back the cash from the RAF which has excellent provision for SEN in their schools allowance. We can potentialy get up to £5000 a year in support. From september. So Dh has to live until sept for us to get ds sorted for the next 4 years

mb, wasn't having a go....felt it was too cheeky to ask if anyone was managing to claim back the fees

the info about accredited was from a friends experience....

never thought for a minute that you were

We could pay, but it will make eveything so much easier for us if the RAF does! Actually I realise opw much better off this makes us amd make me very about the system elsewhere.

don't worry....
i have learned the lesson the hard way and was walked all over by the lea the first year or two but now i SHOUT and do not give in

it does also make me angry and sad and i absolutely hate this time of year as it's time to produce the dreaded report for the annual review, followed by the annual review

i have learnt so much from mn and using a local charity that specialises in cerebral palsy.i also have to say that dd's school are A1.

The LEA's EP wrote a report on our boy following an hour's visit. Useless to us, but it seems the LEA thought it was helpful.

WE realised the only way we would get our boy help was to pay for it ourselves. WE didnt argue among ourselves about the justice of the situation or whether or not we should HAVE to pay, we just knew it was the only way to help our boy.

So we paid the guts of £1000 for a report from someone who knows his stuff, has the "DISCO" behind his name (if your EP doesnt have this, then ask why!

All EP's must be registered with the national body and all of them should have the proper accreditation. dont just assume that the EP they send out to you is fully qualified for ANYTHING. We seem to think that just because the LEA sends someone out that they are qualified. This is not necessarily correct.

In the end we got a very lengthy report from our private EP which detailed explicitly our child's needs and we got him what he needed. Yes, we paid through the nose for it, and YES, we had to fight to have the LEA recognise the report, but in the end they did.

The entire system is unfair and bends mostly to those who know how to work it, who know how to fight and who have the money to supercede the LEA idiots with private consults. Thats the long and short of it. If you expect to be treated fairly, and your child to just automatically receive what they need, think again, it doesnt just happen for most of us.

Socci, do you want to know who it was?

Initials of the LEA one was WP and initials of the private one was AP (cryptic?)

martianbishop- sorry to butt in, but i saw your location and was hoping you could point me in the direction of your ep as i'm beginning to think that my ds's school think that just because he is "no trouble" and "sits nicely on the mat" that he needs no support despite his dx.

Lucklady, CAT me and I'll send you the details.