EHCP advice please!

[2boysandadog9]

Sorry in advance for the lengthy post!
Cross posted in SN talk as well

DS is 2.8 dx ASD.
My older DS (NT) is in year 1 at the outstanding primary school at the top of our road and was in the nursery there too. I have a good relationship with the staff in the nursery and would like DS2 to attend. He doesn't qualify for his nursery hours until January as he is a September baby, but DS1 started there in November when he was just 3 as they had a place available, so I know this it is possible for him to start in September.
I made an appointment with the SENCO to ask how I should go about it and just for a bit of advice and support.... which tbh wasn't a complete waste of time. She was patronising, flippant and generally difficult .
I'm not that surprised, but now need some advice from the fabulous mumsnet SN people!
I assume I need to start the application process for an EHCP with my LA.

There a few things I'm not sure about:

I have been told that DS needs to be in a professional setting to be assessed - is that true?
Does that mean DS will have to start nursery and struggle before he can get additional support.
Is there a way to have 1-1 in place beforehand or at least applied for?
How likely is it that he will get 1-1 in nursery?
I know when you apply for reception a child's SN are taken into account, can DS get a preferred place at this nursery due to his dx? Or at least the early admission, I think the social aspect of nursery could be hugely beneficial.
Lastly! What kind of reports do I need for the EHCP, he currently gets SALT, OT, music therapy (not started yet but had assessment) plus he has a DP and he is also seen by audiology (grommets) and opthamology (wears glasses) - not sure if that is relevant to an EHCP!!!

He is quite clearly autistic - not a boarder line case iykwim. Nonverbal (well a few words recently ) uses PECS, little receptive language, no major behavioural problems as yet. Basically a happy sweet little man in his own bubble! Language is by far his biggest struggle, but he is making progress slowly.
I feel strongly that without 1-1 nursery will be basically babysitting him as he will happily sit alone and do puzzles, stim and wander around aimlessly!

He is doing a VB/ABA program at home part time, which has been fantastic. I know that trying to have that included in the EHCP is a whole different battle..... any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Our LA is Hammersmith & Fulham, any experiences of going through this with them?

I don't know a huge amount about this but am slowly learning, I've got a 2 year old with development issues. You can apply for an EHCP assessment yourself, no need for any professional to do it. Also, any nursery should be able to put some measures in place without a full ehcp anyway, in the meantime (my son has what is called in our area an Individual Support Plan which is sort of the next step down from an EHCP, which we'll start when he's a bit bigger). In you are on Facebook the page 'EHCP experiences England' is amazing.

You can apply yourself by making a request for assessment to your local authority. You will need to provide a LOT of evidence. Then there's the assessment process, more evidence gathering and if the LA feels appropriate an EHCP issued. It's a 20 week process. (there's a bit more to it than that but that's a summary) have a look at the IPSEA website for more details on the process. My son is in a special school, he had 1:1 at nursery and infant school without an EHCP but was awarded one and given a specialist placement when he was 8 so pretty unusual to get ehcp when they're very young but each case is individual.

Doesn't need to be in a setting. My DS had his done at 20 months and his VB/ABA programme is funded through his EHCP. Apply yourself.

You don't have to be in a professional setting to be assessed but you do need to give consent for professionals to be involved to assess him educationally. LA early support services - or what ever they are called in your area can be involved if you can get a referral from a paediatrician.

Thank you all for your posts!!
I am going to request assessment from the LA and take it from there.

very interested to find out how you went through the process Ensuite especially as you managed to get a VB/ABA programme funded. Maybe I could PM you or you me??

Also my kind and very wealthy employer has said she would pay for legal council if needed, any suggestions on solicitors experienced in ASD EHCP's (with ABA if possible) would be very welcome!!

If you can get a multidisciplinary assessment done, that will help as evidence too. Ours was arranged via community paediatrics. Start with your GP if you don't have a community paediatrician.

And yes you need 3 half terms of evidence of additional support being provided in setting. Is your son in preschool? I signed mine up for two afternoons a week and only took him one on average. But him being on roll really helped to get that evidence in place.

Have you got an EYSENIT?

Sorry if I wasn't clear, DS had a multidisciplinary assessment in December with a DP and SALT. He has a formal dx of ASD.
He has regular SALT, referred to OT and Music therapy (waiting lists are long!!)

I want to start the EHCP process and try and have 1-1 in place for when he starts nursery, hopefully by January. I know he EHCP will probably take longer but from what I understand, 1-1 can be in place before an EHCP is finalised.
I guess if he has to do a few terms without support in order to be assessed for 1-1 or an EHCP then I am sure it will show he requires additional support, I just worry he will struggle or simply not progress at all!! and it may lead to him disliking nursery/school.

What's an EYSENIT?

It depends on your LA - ours doesn't expect them to be in pre-school to start the process but we did have an EY specialist TA come to our house from the age of 18 months to provide assessment and support. In our case she was doing things with him that I was doing anyway but her input when it came to the process was invaluable. She was from the LA and we got a referral from the community paediatrician. He didn't start pre-school for 18 months after that.

You can either, apply for the EHCP yourself, today, using the MDA and salt/music/or reports as evidence. And after 20 weeks you should have an EHCP setting out the Supoort he needs. You can take this to any school or preschool and the support will be paid for by the LA and provided by the setting

Or you can start him in preschool in Septemebr, and apply for a RAF (request for additional funding) which should take no more than a month to get agreed, and this will pay for 1-1. And once he has been there 3 terms, use that as additional evidence. You could potentially apply for the RAF now but you need an EYSENIT to help you.

First step. Get an EYSENIT. phone your LA and ask for their phone number. I'm surprised you haven't been told about this team already. You don't need to be at preschool already to qualify for EYSENIT input

I'll assume you've googled it by now so will save the explanation!

Thanks so much for the advice!!!
Xx