About to apply for an EHCP again. Any tips??

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To cut a very long story short my ds is year 7 at secondary and has asd, dyslexia and anxiety (on meds through Camhs). I applied for an ehcp in year 5 and was refused as he wasn’t in school at the time (I found out later they COULD assess when out of School!) he was out most of year 5, year 6 very tricky but he was mostly there. Started year 7 (mainstream) and it’s been hell. I knew he wouldn’t cope. Can’t xope with the usual hussle bussle of a secondary, the moving every hour, different teacher every hour and the gaps in learning becoming obvious. He hasn’t been in school at all for 3 months. Finally this week we have had access to e-learning through the LA albeit not a lot but better than nothing

Senco useless, was going to apply for ehcp and reasons always came up why he couldn’t. He says ds should be in mainstream with the highest care with a 1:1 to help him.

I disagree and want him in a specialist School. 2 in particular I want to go and have a look at that are in my area.

Can anyone give me any tips to the applying for his EHCP? Things to do/not to do? I’m prepared to go to tribunal however I don’t qualify for legal aid and can’t afford legal help. I know they are likely to refuse to assess and I will of course appeal.

Would really appreciate any tips or help!

Also is it worthwhile doing a SAR on the School or is that pointless he’s barely been there?

Hi
We applied for an EHCP Oct 2016, got knocked back but went to mediation and got an assessment.

We found it was all about proving our DD's needs on paper. We paid for a 2 day assessment at an Indy SS (£1k but would have cost £2k + vat for a secondary child I think). This included OT, SLT & specialist teacher. We could have had an Ed Pysch for more £.

They were much more thorough than any NHS assessment and the EHCP was basically lifted from their report which helped us to secure a lot more support for DD.

We are now on the cusp of getting a pace at this Indy SS but it's been a hard slog inc a Tribunal & appeal.
The LA offered us a place at the local generic SS which was totally inappropriate for our DD's needs and a Tribunal agreed with them on the basis of cost. We were then turfed out of Mainstream school when we wouldn't take the LA SS place.

My advice would be

• to understand what school you're actually aiming for before you begin & - get your own reports done at the outset by any means that you are able (as all the LA have to do is meet the minimum requirement for your DS which may well not be the education that you're aiming for).

Good luck x

What's an SAR btw?

Things have changed a little.... senco is now applying. He says he’s pretty sure he will get ehcp if we go for it at his mainstream with a place in asd unit and a 1:1. He says if things don’t work we can apply for a change of placement which he said would be easier than going straight for the private school I was after. He thinks even going to tribunal that we wouldn’t get the specialist School as he sits on the panels on ehcp’s and that he thinks the school can meet ds’s needs with an ehcp.

A SAR (although Iv probably used the wrong word!) is when you ask for all the files a school has on your dc.