Should I apply for an EHCP

Hi

Hope your well. 

I just wanted to know how you got on after all this time?

i have been very lucky with so many replys and i can say that i did begin the process and requested for an EHC assesement in DEC 2016 they turned it down and we have appealed against it. sadly the LA are still refusing and it is due before the judge (paper) to make the biggest decision that will impact on our daughters furture.

we have even contact the LA via a third person to advise she is now a school refusal and the LA have stated its to go to the judge to decide. i just know one thing thats for sure is that any time delay is effecting our childrens lives. The LA are meant to be helping children and in fact doing the opposite.

can anyone kindly assist in advice to show/ explain that your child needs a 1:1 because at home this is what she needs. i keep trying but my brain has melted through all the paperwork.

kind regards

Uh-oh, don't get me started on EHC Plans...  We have one for our Asperger's child.  It was fairly easy to get the LA to agree to give her an EHC Plan, because she was in a psychiatric ward in a hospital with mental health problems and had not attended school for months.  We just sent all the CAMHS reports in and the the ASD diagnosis letter, and they agreed to give her the plan.

But that was just the start!!  The whole process is supposed to take 6 months maximum, but it took us 9 months to get a final plan that we agreed to.  I rang and e-mailed the Council SEN team every week, at least, chasing up this and that, but they hardly ever responded.  They are completely overloaded.

The key thing if you are pursuing an EHC Plan is to get your school on board. if you want to name that school on the plan.  Make use of all the help you can - there is free help.  The first thing to do is to contact your Local Council SENDIASS - they can actually help you to fill in the application form and can guide you through the process.  

You can also contact IPSEA, who can give you great legal advice, but they are very difficult to contact - you have to book a phone call and it's not easy.  So also try Contact A Family, as they seem to be easier to phone.

Also, I'm afraid that it's ALL about money.  Seriously.  Forget the nice words and sincere promises about how the EHC is there to support children, etc.  The SEN team has one primary objective, and that is to spend as little as they can.  Supporting children with SEN is expensive, and their budgets are fixed.  As soon as you suggest anything that will cost extra, they will steel themselves and protest reaons why it's impossible. 

It was a long battle to get what we wanted in our EHC Plan, but I'm grateful every day that we did, and I just wish I'd got it sooner.

Yes I would agree with that, the personal account quoting verbal comments and your own observations are every bit as important as the 'reports'. If however you are not good at putting your thoughts into writing, in a logical sequence then I would imagine the 'journey' towards securing an EHCP would be so much more difficult. You have to be very persistent and even then, there are no shortcuts sadly. I'm now at the stage where I'm very weary, my enthusiasm has been worn away by the wheels of the local authority grinding painfully slow, which is ironic as they are also my employer too and I've been off ill with depression since November as they can't hurry the process up. It's diabolical, it really is.

A perfect example of public sector incompetence, if they were paid by result like the private sector the ehcp's would be issued more hastily.

"Evidence of Un Met Needs" - This is a list of behaviour that your child is using to communicate that something is wrong. I gathered info from comments made by school staff and things I had observed myself.

Hello

thank you for your reply,

when you cited lots of distress behavior currently being shown as signs of unmet needs, did you report what you saw and thought or did you use information from a website to support this? If you did would you kindly let me know which one as I just got my appeal date through and want to be ready to show them how much our daughter struggles and the impact this has If the right support isn't  in place

Thank you again for your help and advice 

The thing which helped was someone telling me "evidence evidence evidence". For Agree to Assess you need evidence that your child has SEN (an ASD diagnosis usually covers that) and evidence that they may gut benefit from a Plan. I asked all the professionals we saw to write in support of this - in particular to allow choice of school based on provision not just on distance. I supported the need for an ASD friendly school to avoid future mental health problems likely in this high risk group. I cited lots of distress behaviour currently being shown as signs of un met needs. The threshold in law is quite low so hopefully your appeal will succeed. I wish you success! 

That's great news, its a good feeling when you don't have to battle for help/support for your kiddiwink. We applied in December and got turned down so have just appealed it so I'm now hoping the LA will change their minds and asses. Just waiting for our tribunal date, the thing that is tricky is that all agencies state she is so complex but don't know what support she needs. I know because I live with her and know how best to support her but sadly no one seems to want to listen to that information. 

Congratulations on your news and I wish you all the best

Hi I wanted to pop back with an update. I applied (as outlined above) for my son in December 2016 and our LA Agreed to Assess!!! I am 80-80% sure he will get an EHCP and additional funding for the school to provide support. I will post more when it is all finalised but don't listen to the man who say that able Aspies don't get help. The tide seems to have turned and those in the know realise that help now should avoid mental health problems- well they seem to in our LA anyway! 

Thanks for those links, Ive got a meeting with the teacher and SENCO tomorrow, so will see what can be agreed

Hi Bonsai,

You may find the information on our website about EHCs useful - http://www.autism.org.uk/about/in-education/extra-help-in-school/england/ehc-plans.aspx

You can also contact the NAS Education Rights Service for help and advice - the contact details are here: http://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/education-rights.aspx.

I hope that helps with working out what the process is and taking the next steps.

Regards,

Kerri-Mod

I'm in a similar position, 10 year old daughter diagnosed this week with ADHD and AS. I've not had a chance to speak to school yet but sent letter in to give them the verdict.  I was quite surprised not to get a phone call or contact back to acknowledge, I wonder if there is going to be resistance there....despite waiting 3 years for this I'm not fully up to speed on what I need to do next, I've been so focuses on making the diagnosis happen.

So, from what is said above, do I have to formally request an assessment for the EHC? 

PS I've always been told he is doing "fine" at school but when you add up all the behaviour like not cooperating, damaging equipmen, damaging clothes, verbally perseve it doesn't add up to "fine" so I think this is the "evidence" that's needed. The school can't claim on that crit but parents can

My son is 7 and when he agrees to cooperate in class he is working above national average. His need isn't academic - it's social & emotional. So without an EHCP we get little or no help and he gets disciplined in class rather than getting support for his Specific Learning Difficulty (written expression / dysgraphia). Social skills support is non existent. As a result I can see that he will be left to cope - and that's why eventually he'll develop the mental health difficulties and anxieties that other HFA kids get. The lack of joined up thinking is enraging! 

Hi Brooke1, I can't really offer advice but am going through something similar.  My adopted son, recently diagnosed with ASD is 13 and would have just started year 9 but I withdrew him from school in July due to his emotional fragility about being bullied at school (he was even upset about the teacher/TA shouting at him); he came home saying he had nothing to live for which was the final straw.

Unlike your dd my ds has a lot of problems stemming back to neglect with bp's and other traumatic events in the past that have left him mentally scarred. He was only this year finally diagnosed as ASD and I'm trying to get him in to a special school that has many ASD pupils but the class sizes are all about 8 pupils and they are fully understanding of ASD (and other condition) problems.

Our educational psychologise told me that in his opinion my ds wouldn't get an EHCP but July made me determined to at least try and so I painstakingly completed the lengthy document asking for an assessment to be carried out.  I chased it up last week and was told that his case would be discussed at the 'panel' which will take place this week, some time. So, I will hear something (I live in hope) very soon, one way or another.

Our children are all different but if I can give you just a tiny bit of encouragement to at least try then it will have been worth posting a reply to you.

I don't know whether the outcome will be positive or negative but if you want, I will keep you posted.

Yonyon.