SENCO advice needed re EHCP

[drspouse]

Ok so bear with me...
DS has ADHD and is very behind in a lot of aspects of his learning. He's in Y3 and we looked at 8 schools for him and there's no special school that is suitable so he moved in Sept to a village school (we are edge of a small city, which doesn't help the issue of school choice as it's a small place anyway). PAN 15 so he's in a mixed year 3/4 class.
We are appealing his EHCP and we need to work out what should go in it as school don't really seem to be able to work out how to deal with him, he's hardly ever in the class and the original provision was things like "role model for good behaviours" and the outcomes for year 6 are all things he can already do.

So questions:
What would you recommend for a child who gets easily wound up, though school doesn't help him (his desk is in a corridor, they hold him still when a group goes past because it winds him up but he hates being held so it winds him up more.
What would you suggest for specialist help for phonics (he's passed his Y1 screening in Y1 but his old school then didn't teach him much more so he's about at that point now).
What's your favourite way to teach a child of this age to type?
His writing is still quite poor but we have a good scheme that he loves and school is on board with using it and he's making good progress in Maths (he's at Y2 level which is right for a child that did no maths to speak of in his actual Y2!)
He's seen the OT who's recommended lots of sensory stuff.
He hardly ever goes in the classroom but we think they give up on trying.
He's very anxious especially around noises/busyness.
We just need to work out what we/school should ask for.
He has 1:1 but it's been a revolving door (one lasted a morning) and they are now advertising for a full time one.
They keep excluding him (and they don't record properly what happens to cause his outbursts so we don't really know but we think it's busyness, noise, cumulative effect of these but mainly being held by staff) and we have a solicitor who is writing to say this is discriminatory. We have tried to point them to alternative behaviour schemes. He's not learning from the exclusions and they will never prevent this behaviour.
So if you were SENCO what would you be asking for? As the solicitor has said "we will ask for what school needs" but school aren't too sure!

We looked at 4 others and rang two more that said don't bother. The other 3 we looked at recoiled in horror or said "these are our behaviour policies. He will follow them. There are no exceptions" (that was the SENCO).
We also took local advice on about 7 or 8 others and the word was mixed at best, and two further ones we'd looked at already before he started Reception and ruled out.
He has coped with some things e.g. assembly better at this school than his old school due to the small size of the whole school. We chose it for its size as well as them saying they thought they could meet his needs, and we don't think he'd cope in a large mainstream so that ruled out a lot.

@Penguinshame it has nothing quantified and most of it is just things that every child should get eg "good role models".
Where is this specialist school we are supposed to choose?
The specialist teacher, who knows him quite well now, suggested we look at specialist provision. We asked her where. She had no answer.

I'm just wondering if we could actually get a specialist teacher written in to the EHCP as his 1:1.

Ok, so go back to first principles.

The EHCP should accurately describe his needs, in section B - what are his barriers to learning. And F should be the provision required to remove those barriers. You have a right to mainstream education so if you are able to source reports (ideally EP/OT) which day that he needs full time 1:1 AND that person must be trained to level XYZ and this is written into section F then the LA must provide it.

Your ehcp can only ever be as specific and as quantified as the assessments which inform it, so in the absence of all other placements, that’s where to focus your efforts.

It isn’t for the school to make suggestions without the EP reports as the EP carries more weight.

I’d also ask for support from the post adoption team and I’d insist on a Social Care (section 17 child in need) assessment too.

Your solicitor should be telling you this, and commissioning the reports if the LA ones aren’t doing the job properly.

When is your tribunal date?

Could your partner be the one to do HE if you are the higher earner?

We have the reports (OT X2, psychologist X2 though the one from the old school is useless, specialist teacher).
We just need to get the wording right and the school does need to input what they need that's specific to them. The solicitor says he will work with them to do this.
Of course it doesn't help that DS has achieved everything in Section E on the academic side. So that's all completely wrong but we aren't allowed to appeal that.
But for example where one OT report has a load of sensory stuff in and the other says 6 weeks motor intervention, we need to word the OT provision correctly.
The psychologist says 1:1 full time and school have advertised (but failed to recruit) at Level 3, and though the OT suggested Team Teach, if there is anything else that would be helpful in the way of training, we should put it in.
If we CAN ask for a qualified teacher, and school would say this would be helpful, then it would be good to know this.
Tribunal is Jan.

@MollyButton no, it would break them both. And DS needs peers he sees all day every day to have a chance at making friends.

Ask the psychologist to firm up the level
Of training that the 1:1 needs. As far as school not being able to recruit, then you need to go back to the LA and push for them to pull in bank staff. Remember that the duty to provide what is in section F, is always on the LA, not the school, and this duty cannot be delegated. Why hasn’t the solicitor tackled that?

You can ask for whatever you like, BUT it must be supported by reports which corroborate this.
And thrash the wording out yourself via the working document going back and to between the LA and you. The solicitor should be working with the LA much more closely, rather than the school is school is simply an intermediary.

it would break them both. And DS needs peers he sees all day every day to have a chance at making friends.

To be honest school is not providing that - it is providing strange creatures that he barely has to interact with. I really think you need to get to know more parents with ASD and ADHD children, and really listen to the older ones.

Oh and I got my DDs ASD diagnosis, by going through those checklists and working out what aspects of her behaviour fitted the criteria, which at times were quite enlightening for me to realise that her advanced language skills for example were not as advanced as they seemed on the surface.

The solicitor is working with (well, being ignored equally by) the LEA (they have just tried to call an illegal review meeting, and denied that the EHCP is illegal, and done no more).

Currently, as there is no time for the TA (just "will need 1:1) in section F, school can't force LEA to provide. That's why we need the EHCP written properly.

But since the LEA has its head in the sand, essentially AIUI we will bring what we need (based on reports) to tribunal. So, if X Y or Z phonics, emotions or social skills support is recommended, where the reports say "needs a programme of social skills" but doesn't specify which, it would be helpful to have one up our sleeve.

@MollyButton in our area the older children with ASD or ADHD either limp along in mainstream, there are a couple of secondary schools that are recommended, or if very bright go to grammar, or if MLD or SLD go to the one LEA specialist school.

I'm just wondering if we could actually get a specialist teacher written in to the EHCP as his 1:1.

I cannot see the LA agreeing that!

OP- I'm an ex Head of a Special School (and SENDCO) and now work for SENDAR. Do you want to PM and I'll see if I can advise?

Thank you, I will in the morning (rough day).

@ItttsssssChrissttmassss I have now sent you a long, rambly PM.

www.tes.com/news/new-guidance-restraint-and-seclusion-schools

Shame we aren't in Scotland...

@drspouse I've got an email to say you've sent it to me but nothing in my inbox!!

Can you copy and paste and send again?

Sorry lovely!

@MNHQ can you help with this?

Just sent you a msg using a different username. Let me know if you get it

I did get it, I sent two PMs, usually I can see PMs under any nickname.

Just wading in here, Drspouse, but you said "Of course it doesn't help that DS has achieved everything in Section E on the academic side."

That's only relevant if you think the Section E accurately captured your DS's needs? For example, DD1 is in year 9 (Special school). I know she has started dividing and simple multiplication. If her maths target was to be able to count to 10 reliably, the fact that she achieved it would be irrelevant because it's an inappropriate target.

You need to make sure they're thinking not only of what is a reasonable target based on his current progress, but also what would be reasonable if he was having the provision he needs.

It may be that reading 'level x books' is appropriate, given his woeful education at present, but that if he had the right support, he should be aiming to read 'level y books' instead.

and and for you. You must be exhausted.

Section E is a waste of space. All the academic targets are for Y6 and almost all already achieved. The behaviour and social targets are either irrelevant or not measurable.

But we know we can't appeal Section E!

Ok, fair enough.

Right!
EHCP working document now looks good. Tribunal on the 21st.

School have two problems currently:
1 the space issue. I can suggest building alterations but this seems unlikely to happen.
2 the staffing issue. School say they cannot find anyone to do the TA job due to pay and distance (it is rural, and not near any very large cities so some applicants discover they can't afford the petrol).