DS has diagnoses of ASD (high functioning, typical Aspergers type profile) dyspraxia and dyslexia (with Irlens syndrome)
He's currently in y5 so secondary transition is not so far off the horizon and I already feel on a back foot not having had chance to visit open evenings in Sept 2020 so it will be a late decision in 2021. He's had a disrupted y4 and y5 and school did not even respond to my request to have him in school in Jan 2021 adding up to a total of 6.5 months lost learning time through lockdowns.
We have applied for an EHCP and the LA did an assessment and rejected it on the grounds that school can meet his needs without an EHCP but he will require an enhanced transition. He's bright, studious, quiet, puts in a good effort in school (and does nothing at home, despite my PGCE!). His strengths and weaknesses are quite gappy due to his combination of SNs. My biggest concern is getting him into an appropriate mainstream school out of catchment and him adjusting to the leap of sensory input and organisation required. I have no desire to return to the days of 3-4 hour meltdowns when he gets out of school and explodes!
His cosy little primary school and good natured class do a lot of the carrying for him. School simply haven't had resourcing such as TAs to prove that he benefits or requires extra support. In y4 there was no support accessible to his class. There is a TA some of the time with y5 but not particularly focused towards him. There is a TA for y6, but in secondary he will largely be in higher ability sets where support is less likely to be avaliable, and for literacy based subjects, particularly English it would be of benefit to keep him on track and help structure him.
I need to get a wriggle on with the appeal/ mediation in the next couple of weeks, but feel completely lost about it. I do feel that DS has lacked support through lack of an EHCP- that would have secured him access to education in lockdown. While many measures can be done in house, things like school uniform adjustments may not be taken seriously without that formality (he's fine with his school's polo shirt/ shorts but all secondaries have long trousers, stiff collars, ties and blazers as a sensory minefield)
How do I apply to mediation?
How do I add appropriate persuasion that DS needs an EHCP? I put it all into the original application although since then he has struggled with settling back from lockdown, needing shoving through the door, but now going in fine if he has cuddly toys as an aid. At his recent review, his targets stayed the same because of the lost learning time in lockdown.
At the moment I feel that we are very much subject to the whims of school and need the formality of EHCP but I'm not sure that's a clinching reason!
Sorry for the waffle, I'm struggling to direct my own thoughts on the matter!