My 6 year old daughter was recently diagnosed ASD with PDA profile. She is currently fine in school and is masking a lot so doesnt seem severe. She has been referred for ADHD diagnosis. We want to apply for EHCP but the school and other authorities are telling us we wont get it. We are completely lost, how to go about this process?
You can apply to the local authority. They have to decide whether or not to do an assessment. There are appeals at each stage to the SEN and Disability Tribunal. Take advice from NAS or a local special needs advice service. Most local authorities are badly overspent on their SEN budget, so they set high thresholds for EHCPs, and try to provide the minimum services if an EHCP is approved. Some authorities try to say that if a child is not two years (or whatever) below their age-related expectations they don't qualify - this is not the case.
The lego therapy is a social communication type group, I think, where they have to talk about what they're making. And yes, support will be limited if there are staffing issues. If someone is ill another TA might have to cover certain duties and so on, but there's no way around that.
Keep talking to the school, ask for advice about how to handle things at home. If the way you're both handling things is consistent that will be a positive influence too. But I can't say much about her particular behaviour without knowing her, so do keep communicating with her teachers and the Sendco.
Ok that is great to know. So how do we go about it? Do we just continue if she is alright, probably masking, because at home she is terrible. We are unable to manager her behaviour and hyper activity. And we dont apply for an EHCP so what are the next steps. Do we wait if she show worst symptons? There are some 1-1 sessions that would help her, but the school doesnt have recources to do it. Like social communication groups etc. Some of the activities above are not consistent but spread out depending on if there are staff. Sorry for my many questions, but just clueless how it works
Thank you for your response, I really appreciate it. My daughter has had disruptive behavior a few times and the school said they have provided help according to the scenario and needs at that moment. She struggles with attention and social communication making friends and relationships a lot. The school has her provision map which were setup before she received her diagnosis. and now they are saying, they think the strategies in place are already matching the diagnosis so they don't think anything else should be done.
I work in a school with the SEND children so I can explain.
An Ehcp is a legal document that involves the local authority and sets out how the child needs extra support needs in school and how these will be funded. You can find details here: https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs/extra-SEN-help
The thing is, the SEND system is basically f***ed and there is always a huge backlog and not enough money in the pot. So to be blunt, they are right. If your daughter is currently coping in school, achieving the expected standard within the curriculum and is not exhibiting any disruptive behaviour, then there is not really anything that needs to be addressed by an ehcp.
What you can do is ask for a My Plan. This is something that is just between you and the school, and will be a lot quicker to achieve. Do you have a specific idea about what kind of support you are hoping to get? It could be something like stating the things that she finds difficult and how they are going to deal with this, such as doing group work focused on turn taking, or emotional coaching, or fidgets to help her focus, or time out options if she's feeling overwhelmed.
Do you have a specific idea about what kind of support you are hoping to get?
