EHCP stigma

[Unintentionallycausingoffence]

A friend of mine her DS is three and a half, nursery staff want to apply for an EHCP when DS starts school as he has delayed development and possible autism. My friends DH said no as it will stigmatise DH is this true or likely?

Does your friend’s DH have experience or a career in the education system, child development or SEN? Not having an EHCP could be detrimental to a child.

My DS has a speech delay and is on the ASD pathway, he is due to start school this September. When visiting (both mainstream and specialist) schools and telling them about his needs they all asked the same question “do you have an EHCP?” Which we are currently waiting for the LA to make a decision on. All of the teachers stressed the importance of an EHCP to help our son thrive, I never got a sense of any stigma from them.

The entire EHCP process can take months, our current waiting time is 20 weeks, that’s without the time it took collect evidence and complete the paperwork. The nursery sound proactive which is great!

So many children have an ECHP and it is reviewed every year, up until they are 25, it’s there to ensure they have the correct support in place in order to have an education.

Her DH arranges extra support in exams for students at a college many have EHCP’s

EHCPs don’t stigmatise a child. An EHCP is the route to having a child’s needs met. The nursery wouldn’t be suggesting it if it wasn’t necessary.

@Curlygirli if your LA is in breach of the statutory timescales email the Director of Children’s Services reminding them of their duty. On their website, ISPEA has a model letter you can use. If that doesn’t work, email again threatening judicial review. Then, if that fails, contact SOSSEN for help with a pre-action letter.

The child will be the same with or without one - he will just be taken more seriously and be funded for more and more specific support in school with the right supporting paperwork.

@SearchingForSolitude thank you for this, it’s really helpful. I’ve never heard of ISPEA or SOSSEN before. We submitted his application at the end of November and I received a phone call on the 29th December from the LA to say they received the application and it’s a 6 week wait on an “expected decision date”, so it’s two more weeks to find out if DS will have an EHCP.

@Curlygirli ISPEA and SOSSEN are excellent charities who support parents with SEN matters. They both have lots of helpful information on their websites, including model letters you can use for different things, and both have helplines, training courses/webinars etc.

You can see the EHCP timescales here. If you requested an EHCNA at the end of November it will be longer than 2 weeks until you know. The LA must inform you if they are going to assess within 6 weeks. If they do assess and they are going to issue they must finalise by week 20 and in order to do that they should issue a draft by week 14. If they aren’t going to issue they must inform you by week 16.

At the end of Dec did the LA confirm they were going to assess? Or is it, as I suspect, that they have breached the statutory timescale and they meant 6 weeks from then on a decision whether to assess or not?

@SearchingForSolitude Yes, they called at the end of December to say it would take 6 weeks to decide if they would assess or not. So I should get that decision by 9th feb.

When I spoke to our local Information and Advise Support Service, they informed me there would be delays and what the process will look like if our application is refused but nothing about supporting in the event of delays.

@Curlygirli the LA is in breach of the statutory timescales. They should have informed you if they were going to assess or not within 6 weeks of your request at the end of November. Email the Director of Children’s Services reminding them of the statutory timescales. On their website, ISPEA has a model letter you can use. If that doesn’t work, email again threatening judicial review. Then, if that doesn’t work, you need a pre-action letter which SOSSEN can help with. You won’t find out if the LA will issue an EHCP in 2 weeks.

Be careful with SENDIASS. Some are good, too many are not. They receive LA funding so are not truly independent and will ultimately toe the party line. They should have informed you are the statutory timescale and what to do when the LA breached it.

Hi

School Ta and mum of an autistic child here.

If a school says a child needs an EHCP then then quite simply the child's needs are such that in order to thrive they will need extra attention.

Without an EHCP there will be no funding provided to the school to provide for their extra needs and the gap between the child and their peers will grow bigger and bigger. I'm not aware of any stigma related to EHCPS. They are are a legal document stating exactly what must be provided for the individual child in order for the to learn effectively and thrive.

I agree an EHCP is needed, but even without one nurseries can apply for early years inclusion funding and schools can apply for high needs top up funding.

I will explain this to my friend, in the hope her DH will accept it. Can my friend just a agree to her DC having an EHCP with DH agreement?

The friend can request an EHCNA herself. Further down the line if parents disagree in some situations there may need input from the family courts.