SEN & EHCP Advice: Support for Parents by Biscoes Law

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AuthorKellie-Jayne Cox

Biscoes are now offering advice and support around Special Educational Needs, including the EHCP process, mediation and tribunal applications. Here is a little more information about what that entails, from our specialist education lawyer, Kellie-Jayne Cox on kjcox@biscoes-law.co.uk.

About Kellie-Jayne

“I am a Solicitor with over 20 years of experience working with vulnerable clients. I have a particular passion for those clients where they maybe capacity issues or SEN which can often create greater vulnerabilities.

I am also a parent to two children, both of whom have SEN. My son is now 12 years old and has attended a special needs school since he was 4. My daughter is 15 and is at mainstream secondary school. Both of my children have EHCPs in place and it has been a very different journey for them both. I therefore do totally understand from a personal perspective the challenges that parents face when trying to get the right support and education setting for their children. Due to my personal experience I do have great passion and also a deeper understanding of what might be required in certain situations. Should you have any concerns or queries regarding your child and your SEN journey, please do not hesitate to get in contact”

What is an EHCP?

An EHCP is an Education Health Care Plan for children and young persons aged 0 – 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support.

EHCPs came into force in 2014 following the introduction of the Children and Families Act 2014. They replace what was formerly referred to as a ‘statement’ for any child/young person with special educational needs.

An EHCP can only be granted by the child’s Local Authority following a lengthy process of assessing the child’s needs. The assessment and application process often involves input from a multitude of professionals, including educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists to name but a few. The child’s current educational or early years setting will also be pivotal to providing the Local Authority with sufficient information.

The EHCP process can be overwhelming for parents/carers who are often already struggling with the day to day challenges that their child faces. It can be a long and emotional process but once granted, the EHCP should provide the child with the support they the need to flourish in the correct education setting that is right for them. Once in place the EHCP is reviewed annually to take account of any changes to the child’s needs.

How do I request an EHCP?

You can ask your local authority to carry out an assessment if you think your child needs an EHC plan.

A young person can request an assessment themselves if they’re aged 16 to 25.

A request can also be made by anyone else who thinks an assessment may be necessary, including doctors, health visitors, teachers, parents and family friends.

If they decide to carry out an assessment you may be asked for:

any reports from your child’s school, nursery or childminder
doctors’ assessments of your child
a letter from you about your child’s needs

The local authority will tell you within 16 weeks whether an EHC plan is going to be made for your child.

If an EHCP is required you will be notified accordingly:

Your local authority will create a draft EHC plan and send you a copy.
You have at least 15 days to comment, including if you want to ask that your child goes to a specialist needs school or specialist college.
Your local authority has 20 weeks from the date they receive the request for the assessment to give you the final EHC plan.

What if I do not agree with the final decision of the Local Authority?

It is possible to challenge your local authority about the following decisions:

their decision to not carry out an assessment in the first place
their decision to not create an EHC plan
the special educational support in the EHC plan
the school named in the EHC plan

If you cannot resolve the problem with your local authority, you can appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

What are Special Educational Needs?

Special Educational Needs (SEN) is defined as follows:

A child or young person is considered to have a learning difficulty if she or he:

has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or
has a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post 16 institutions.

There are four broad areas of SEN:

communication and interaction, which may include difficulties speaking, understanding or communicating as well as autism spectrum conditions
cognition and learning, which may include mild learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD) or profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) where children may require varying support to access their learning as well as specific learning difficulties (SpLD) such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia
social, emotional, and mental health, which may include a range of mental health difficulties such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders or physical symptoms which are medically unexplained - this could include behaviour you may find challenging, as well as conditions such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder
sensory and or physical needs, which may include a physical disability (PD) which hinders their ability to access standard provision - this may also include visual impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI)

It is important to remember that whilst these are some of the identified needs within the four broad areas of need, they are not the only needs or the only areas of support a child may require.

A child or young person may present with SEN in the following ways

Emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD);
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD);
Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder (ADD/ADHD);
Specific learning difficulties such as Dyslexia;
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder;
Communication difficulties;
Medical needs such as Epilepsy and Cerebral Palsy;
Mobility difficulties.

What is a disability?

Many children with SEN may also have other disability/ies.

A disability is defined in law as:

‘a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term (a year or more) and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’

This includes, for example, sensory impairments such as those that affect sight and hearing, and long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes or epilepsy

What to do if you think your child has SEN

Children and young people with SEN or disabilities will usually be able to get help from their early education setting, school, or college, sometimes with the help of outside specialists. This is often where SEN are first identified. If they do identify that a child has SEN, the school or other setting must contact the parent or carer and should discuss what support to offer the child. The setting must explain if they are making special educational provision for the child.

If, as a parent you think your child has SEN, you should talk to your child’s early education setting, school, college or other provider. They will discuss any concerns you have, tell you what they think and explain to you what will happen next.

There are other sources of information, advice and support you can access such as: your local authority’s Information, advice and support service, your doctor, or other local child health services, charities and other organisations that offer information, advice and support.

What support should you get in place if your child has SEN

It is important to liaise with the child’s education setting at the earliest opportunity. It may be necessary to engage other professionals for help, support and possibly diagnosis. Some examples of such support might be:

Speech and Language therapists – if there are communication delays or difficulties
Occupational therapists – if there are sensory issues or problems with motor skills
Educational psychologists – who can carry out specific cognitive assessments and look at a broad picture, including social interaction, environment, learning difficulties

Once an initial review of your child’s needs have been completed the education should be able to confirm what additional support can be put in place to meet your child’s needs. In the event they are not able to put all additional support to meet needs they may suggest that you need to apply for an Education Health Care Plan.