Sorry, this is a long post......My DD (age 13) has recently been diagnosed with autism, ADHD, anxiety and OCD. She is high functioning and clever, but completely lacks focus and engagement. She hates school (large mainstream comprehensive) and is on a part-time timetable. Her attendance is awful and she has completely given up on school and sees no future for herself. She is seeing a private counsellor weekly and regular sessions with a private child psychiatrist. We went down this route because of the CAMHS waiting list (5 years in our area). She has been prescribed anxiety medication and melatonin as she was severely sleep deprived. She recently told us that she had considered throwing herself out of a window so she did not have to go to school, has cut her legs with scissors and discussed with her counsellor running away from home to live in a forest. We have been looking at moving her to a smaller school, but our preferred school (a secondary level Montessori school) is full for her school year so we are on a waiting list. There is also a specialist autism school very close to where we live; we are not sure if this is the right environment for her but are going to look at it in September. Both the counsellor and the psychiatrist have encouraged us to apply for an EHCP. I spoke to the SENCO at DD's current school about making an application through the school. She was very open with us and said that medical practioners don't understand ECHPs, how difficult it was to get one. She described how, in our county, the provision and budget is so bad that virtually every application is turned down and that they are likely to see my DD's case as emotional-based school avoidance which, in her experience, will mean that they would turn the application down instantly. The SENCO also described what an EHCP would fund, such as one to one TA support and part-time online learning, but suggested neither of those would be suitable; DD would be reluctant to engage with TA support and the part-time online learning would mean she would be even less likely to want to go to school for the rest of the time. My DD's current school has a specialist school onsite and a larger than average number of specialist teachers so the SENCO said that an EHCP would make no difference to what she was already receiving. The trouble is that my daughter is still struggling and is suffering from going to the school. The noise and her perception that the teachers don't have control, what she has described to me as violent behaviour amongst the children and towards the teachers and is learning and achieving nothing. It is soul-destroying for everyone. The counsellor has said that we should still apply for an EHCP as schools are often reluctant because of the work involved in making an application and they are usually rejected at the first stage. So, now I don't know what my approach should be and am questioning whether it is worthwhile to make the application? Would it be worthwhile to make the application while she is at this school? Should we make one anyway in case we decide to send her to the specialist autism school (which requires an EHCP)? Should we make one independently or through the school? Could an EHCP be problematic if we were to apply for an independent school, such as the Montessori school she is on the waiting list for? Would an EHCP potentially fund towards an independent school's fees if it were the best environment for her? We applied for another independent school, which has a local reputation of being supportive of SEN children, obviously without an EHCP. We were encouraged to be honest about my daughter's anxieties at school, but, they were absolutely vile towards us during the application process and eventually turned down our application. I am worried this would happen again and would be exacerbated by an EHCP. Can anyone advise from their experience?