Lea ed psych should I go private?

[Waitingforsleep]

Had the ep last week to observe and see Dd. Wasn't impressed and considering I think Dd has mild dyslexia amongst other things he did only a few little assessments before concluding there was nothing wrong and that as I seemed educated and articulate he wouldn't patronise me by sending me on a parenting course?!
He wasn't too interested in the Ocupational therapist report which I feel may hold some clues to learning - doesn't cross the midline, bilateral integration and lack of dominance.
I'm ok digging deeper with a private ep but he told me not to and I was just looking for labels?

Hi Waiting does your daughter have Asd? I am sorry but I cant remember!

No anxiety and sees an ot for hyper mobility and other as above.. Sorry brief at work 😀

Ok the reason I asked is that with my Dd3 her autism and processing difficulties mirrored some of the difficulties seen in dyslexia and it confused the first independent EP who assessed her. If you havent got Asd confusing the issue then yes I would definitely pay for an EP assessment.

LA EP's are in some places "encouraged" not to see to many issues because as soon as a problem is identified formally then provision should be put into place to support the child and ensure they are making progress!!

Good luck

Will your lea accept the findings and recomendatons of education psych report? Our said they wouldn't and it needed to be their ed psych.

Might be a side note but dyspraxia has a high cross over with hypermobility

I see Asperger traits in my Dd but she has been assessed twice and I'm told her anxiety mirrors the autistic traits but it's down to anxiety - not totally sure that's right and am looking into gosh or the maudsley but that's another story!

I'm not sure how the lea ep feel but even if they don't accept it I feel if I get answers then at least I can help and find the best secondary for her too as her current school is the right place for her in terms of how they help with her anxiety.

I also think she shows a lot of signs of dyspraxia but the ot said it was down to the hyper mobility so don't know how to persue that either..

Ps why would the lea not accept a private ep report?

We asked and they told us that if it's not 'their' ed psych they won't include the recommendations in the ehcp. It's just worth asking first.

Physio's can diagnose dyspraxia, or ed pyacht can. But either way developmental disorders have a high comorbid with each other so a diagnosis of dyspraxia should make it more likely to take further assessment requests more seriously. At least that has been my personal experience and my parental one.

Your dd has my sympatheist though, i have hypermobility syndroms amoung several other conditions & it fricken hurts like hell. Pilates is a huge life saver though, if it's through a proper teacher not a crappy gym one.

I have been saying for ages I need to find a proper Pilates place for children but can't see one- gap in the market there! I haven't let her do gymnastics as I worry it will
Make it worse. She gets tired easily but is so active and not scared of physical activity!
I did email the ot to say what happened with the ep and she asked who we saw and said she would come back to me, asked if he had looked at her literacy and she had recommended we saw an ep too so she must think there is a need..
He was quite patronising with me so I think I would prefer my own one..

The LA have no choice about including professional recommendations in an EHCP! They cant pick and choose and if they do you finalise and then appeal!! The tribunal would laugh at them for refusing to use an independent report so long as it was current and relevant!

Thanks, not even thought about an ehc plan yet! Well hoping I get a few thoughts from the ot and will keep fighting. Just so exhausting all the mess ups I keep getting! I had a letter from the pead calling my Dd a completely different name and other details it's like no one is very good!

Was just saying what ours said. & we are York where ehcp were set up originally & we have delta with the head of sen etc the whole way through as we made a parental request due to the school fucking up so badly so head of everything said they wouldn't accept private.

Just if it's something that's needed for funding it's worth checking the lea will accept it first. If it's just for figuring out what's going on for management at home/ with a school that's happy to accept it then it's not something to worry about, just maybe worth checking first before paying out if needing funding in place on the basis of private recommendations

Thanks, mainly for me to know and understand what's going on but worth to keep in mind thanks

@Demon in my experience the head of service can be the worst because they have often had yrs or practice at breaking the law and doing whatever they like!

If you still think they are being straight with you, read the code of practice! They have to accept professional reports commisioned by parents!!

All feels so corrupt doesn't it. I was so niave when I first started trying to find help I assumed Drs etc would help us but I could write a book on what's happened to me and it has made me feel as if I'm going mad at times due to the "nothing is wrong it must be parenting" brigade. It's all a fight isn't it.

Ours have been great actually, gave higher banding straight away, pushed appointments earlier than expected, got us ed psych appoint at our house practically over night after the previews school blocking access for over a year. Can't fault all the various professionals involved now, all go over and above, mainly in suspect because the first school fucked up so badly.

Op, horse riding is also great for hypermobility, great for core strength, balance, coordination, gives sensory feed back and builds muscle tone. It's also a great activity for building confidence as doesn't have to be competative in the way many sports or skills aquisition are and is espenally good for girls to give them the opportunity to feel powerful in a way many girls are socialised out of doing in other activities. We just use dla to pay privately for lessons but you may be able to access riding for the disabled if needed. It helps calm and focus very active or hyperactive kids too.

So sorry you are having such a battle waiting it is so wrong. You are right though it is easier and cheaper to blame the parents!

Take care

I have been having similar problems and I decided to get a private EP assessment. It was very detailed (although expensive). I have also been told I need further OT and SALt reports. The help I have had to date on NHS has been terrible so am looking for private assessments for those too.
The county EP that I was told to call initially asked me if my child had any siblings and asked if they were similar - when I said yes but they are not similar she said (without seeing him) that he was probably just trying to find a niche for himself....at that point I decided I needed a private assessment....

Yes I have had so many odd and sweeping statements! its when something is said that is inaccurate that you know you can't trust them- ie she can't be autistic as she has friends type thing.
Just worried the private one won't get Dd either but hoping so. Wondering if I should be asking for anything specific but I suppose if I describe the difficulties and give examples that should help..
When I told the lea ep that Dd couldn't seem to do s when I asked for one and kept doing a c he said that it was her doing half an s as they are similar - she is 9 and struggles with letter formation if you look deeper into it. Dd can't spell either but can spell words she has learnt off by heart but in his opinion she can spell as he asked her to spell some things however day to day she can't spell the one test he did was ones she had learnt.
At least the ot is looking into it for me as she reported about Dd letter formation and other things and asked if he had even looked..
School did tell me I was lucky he had come in as they are just not seeing children anynore down to money so I honestly feel it was the fobbing off thing.
I told him as much too and quite enjoyed it!

Horse sounds right up Dd street but not now my purse strings!!

The ot report sounds like dyspraxia to me too but ot says not

LAs don't accept private reports because they tend to do inconvenient things like advising on detailed and specific provision, whereas LAs want it as vague as possible so it's not enforceable. Or they advise a child needs an EHCP when the LA doesn't want to issue one.

The excuse they usually give for not accepting them is that the independent expert is paid and will say what the parents want to hear. It's not true, of course, as experts usually have to comply with professional standards. In practice independent experts do a better job because they spend more time on it: local authority experts just can't, particularly at the moment when they are dealing with all the moves from statements to EHCPs for which LAs are supposed to do fresh assessments.

The LA have no choice about including professional recommendations in an EHCP! They cant pick and choose and if they do you finalise and then appeal!!

Unfortunately they can. If they're faced with, say, two EP reports with differing advice, of necessity they have to choose between them. The code of practice says that if they decide not to accept any particular advice they should say so in the EHCP and give reasons, but they never do. There's nothing that says they absolutely have to accept all the advice supplied to them.

The only thing that's in my favour for going private is that the la ep didn't do many assessments just a vague one or two on spellings whereas the private one will spend two hours on assessments so if it comes to that then I suppose I can argue the private one has done the assessments whereas the lea one hasn't?
The la ep said that the private ep would be doing diagnostic assessments which they wouldn't do and not to look for labels!
I told him I would be looking for labels if it helps her and that I wanted detailed assessments so I can uncover the problem and help her. I said Dd only got the help from the ot as I insisted she was seen by them, they uncovered lots of problems and are not intervening this is due to me and as I explained he would do the same if it were his child!