How long do EHCP's take ?

[Cjamm]

I was hoping to have DS(6) into a special school by September but it's taken longer then expected to start the EHCP process, I've just received the 'Notification of a Request for Statutory EHC assessment' and I'll be handing it in tomorrow.

Special school have a spot for DS & are just waiting for the paperwork so they can get their own assessment started and mainstream is just glad to see the back of him, so everyone's trying to get it done as quickly as possible.

School breaks up in 3 weeks, any chance it'll all be sorted by then? Or am I looking at months?

You're probably looking at months rather than weeks I'm afraid, as the whole process is supposed to take a maximum of 20 weeks. We are on about week 30 of the process though, and have just received the final draft!

After the request to assess is put in, the LA have 6 weeks to decide whether or not to assess, and if they decide to, they then have to gather information from all the necessary professionals to decide whether to actually issue the EHCP, before writing it.

What have the special school said about his EHCP - does he definitely need one to go there?

Don't tip toe around what you want (sept start) tell them as zz says point blank and get them on board to make it happen. Email everyone and escalate when necessary. This is not badgering, once I got my head around that and excepted that they see my child as a case file, I didn't stop emailing and phoning. You want your name and your childs name to be at the top of the pile and be such a pain they start putting into action what you want. The process is lengthy but they will stretch it if they can.

If the mainstream school is keen to get rid of him, why has it taken them so long to start the process? General uselessness?

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. I've been in contact with everyone, trying to really get the ball rolling & whilst the school think they can push it & get it done before the summer holidays. The case officer has said that it was pretty much impossible but as I was being stubborn she then said that they'd all try but to expect it to be done by October half term at the earliest, but not to be surprised at having it all sorted by Christmas

Friolero, yep he definetly needs an EHCP to start, I started looking for schools in December & when I finally settled on one they said that they don't take kids without an EHCP

JudyCoolibar, the process was actually suppose to start in January & whilst the school were & still are very eager, it was the LA that held it all up & refused the first request for an EHCP, they said the school needed to do more for DS etc & based their decision on a 20 min EP report and its taken so long for everything to come together that the school have only recently felt confident that we won't get turned down again.

They think the LA is trying to be difficult as he's not the only one they've turned down for an assessment, but DS' issues are pretty obvious & far too serious to be handled in an ms setting.

He has ASD, won't speak in public/outside the house even though he can at home, can't handle physical contact, so small bumps or nudges are intolerable etc he's almost completely isolated at school.

He has a desk outside the classroom, he eats with a small group of kids in a classroom instead of in the lunch hall & he rarely goes out to play at lunchtime, as the chance of someone knocking into him is too high & it takes far too long to calm him down.

The LA said that all those measures weren't helping DS but were enabling/encouraging him so the school had to prove it wasn't just a stubborn child but actual issues caused by his ASD.

I suspect if you'd appealed against the refusal they would have got started earlier. If he can't even cope inside the classroom the case seems pretty cut and dried.

it took us a year, and we still haven't received the final version (albeit we have finally agreed the major points).