You may be aware that your child struggles in school either in terms of their academic progress or their emotional wellbeing. It may be that additional support has been provided but they continue to find things difficult or make less than expected progress in some areas.
If your child finds it harder to learn than the majority of their peers and continues to struggle even with extra support, then it may be they have special educational needs.
The question needs to be addressed in two stages

1. Does my child have a learning difficulty or disability?

Your child would be considered to have a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

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

2. Does my child require special educational provision?

Special educational provision means educational or training provision that is additional to, or different from, that which is generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools, nurseries or post-16 institutions.

There is no published list of what this educational or training provision would include. Generally, if your child is receiving ‘SEN support’ within school, then he or she would be in receipt of special educational provision.

*There are some circumstances where the child’s needs present as such, it is not practical to offer the school based SEN support as it is felt the child’s difficulties require urgent assessment. I am happy to discuss your child’s needs, behavior and presentation should you feel school based support and the time this would take to action by the school is in appropriate in your case.

When your child’s school identifies that he or she may have special educational needs, the class teacher, with the help from the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo), should provide SEN support. Under the previous code, this was referred to as School Action or School Action Plus.  The school should involve you in any discussion about how much support your child needs and what that support consists of. It could be that your child requires some support from a teaching assistant or small group intervention for aspects of their learning. It may become necessary for the school to ask an educational psychologist (EP) to come in and assess or observe your child. The support that is put in place should be specific to your child and based upon his or her particular needs and presentation of difficulties.  It is important to note however that the amount of support a school can provide to your child will be limited by the amount of funding that it has available to support children with SEN. This funding will vary, depending on which local authority (LA) the school belongs to. If your child requires a specific intervention that the school is not able to provide or is unable to fund within their budget, then SEN support is unlikely to be sufficient to support your child’s needs effectively. It may also be that despite intervention and support, your child continues to fail to make academic progress or you may have other concerns about their emotional health that are unable to be met by school. In this case, you or the school may feel that it is necessary for the local authority to assess your child’s special educational needs by an Education, Health & Care (EHC) needs assessment. It is important that you discuss your concerns with the school, however parents have a right to apply for a needs assessment under the Children and Families Act 2014 and you do not need any permission from the school or the local authority in order to make an application.

Special educational provision should be matched to the child’s identified SEN. Children’s SEN are generally thought of in the following four broad areas of need and support

• communication and interaction.
• cognition and learning.
• social, emotional and mental health.
• sensory and/or physical needs.

This means that academic achievement is not always the best indicator of whether a child has SEN and there may be other difficulties which are considered a barrier to a child’s ability to learn. To discuss your particular circumstances and how your child’s needs are impacting on their education, please contact me.

If you decide that an assessment of your child’s needs will be necessary, a formal application must be made to the director of children’s services at your local authority. It is important to supply as much information as you can to demonstrate your child’s difficulties. This can be obtained from a range of sources, however as each case is as individual as each child, I am happy to discuss with you evidence for your particular circumstance.

If you feel that your child may have SEN and this may require more support being offered than to the majority of their peers, the local authority have 6 weeks from the date of application to notify you in writing of their decision. There are a small number exceptional circumstances in which the local authority may go beyond the 6-week timeframe, however I am happy to discuss your individual case if this would apply. The decision will be either: To make an assessment of need; or To refuse an assessment of need. (This decision is sent with a right of appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal – SENDIST)

If an assessment is to take place the local authority has a period of 10 weeks (up to 16 weeks from the initial application) in which to gather further information about your child from relevant healthcare professionals in relation to your child’s needs, educational professionals such as the educational psychology service, social care assessments and to obtain any other information that will be relevant to enable the authority to make a fully informed decision. As a parent of a child under 16, you will be asked for information about your child, their developmental history and their current needs. If your child is over 16, they are considered a young person and will be able to make an application and provide representations about their needs in their own right. If their needs mean they are unable to fully understand or take part in the process, you as a parent can make representations on their behalf. The authority must review all the evidence and notify you in writing of their decision by no later than the end of the 10 week period (16 weeks from initial application). At this point the decision will be to: Issue an EHCP for the child; or Refuse to issue an EHCP for the child (This decision will be issued with a right of appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal – SENDIST)

The Authority have to produce a draft copy of the EHCP within 2 weeks of the decision at which point the parents have 2 weeks to agree the content or make further representations if they do not agree with the content. By week 20 a final version of the EHCP will be produced and will offer a right of appeal if the parents disagree with the content of the plan or the provision named by the local authority.

If you do not agree with the authority’s decision, you are able to make an application for an appeal hearing within a particular timeframe as set out by the refusal letter or the letter received with the final version of the plan. You must consider mediation with the authority before making your appeal, however you do not have to take part in mediation if you do not feel this would be beneficial. You must obtain a certificate of mediation whether you choose to take part or not. Currently refusal to assess cases are held as paper based only unless there are particular requests. I am happy to discuss your particular circumstances based on your needs. Tribunal dates are within 12 weeks from receipt of the application. *If you choose not to make an appeal at any stage, and your right of appeal expires, please be aware you are not able to make a further application for a new assessment of need for 6 months.

An Education, Health & Care Plan or EHCP is a legal document which sets out the education, health and social care needs your child has and the support that is necessary to meet those needs. The local authority has a legal obligation to arrange for the special educational provision that is outlined in the EHCP to be delivered and overall responsibility for ensuring the provision is in place rests with the authority. The health service has a legal obligation to arrange the health care provision outlined in the EHC Plan. Some children sill have Statements of Special Educational Needs, which will be gradually phased out by 2018. If your child still has a Statement of Special Educational Needs, please contact me to discuss requests for transfer to EHCP.

The current SEND Code of Practice gives guidance, but does not state exactly how the EHCP should look. This means that every local authority’s documents will be set out differently, as long as they are set out with the following sections:

• A – Views, interests and aspirations of the child or young person
• B – The special educational needs
• C – The health needs
• D – Social care needs
• E – Outcomes sought for the child
• F – Special educational provision • G – Health care provision
• H1 – Social care provision
• H2 – Social care provision H1: Social Care provision (under 18: Section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Person’s Act 1970 H.2: Other social care provision (including adult social care under the Care Act 2014)
• I – School placement
• J – Personal Budget (if one has been agreed)
• K – List of advices sought in the consideration and preparation of the plan The plan will give information on the review and monitoring *If you do not agree with the EHCP and want to appeal to the tribunal, appeals will be heard against parts B, F and I only.

Every year (or sooner if there is a reason to request) the Education, Health and Care Plan must be reviewed by the local authority to ensure it remains relevant and the child’s needs are adequately identified and supported. This is called an Annual Review. A meeting will be held, usually at the child’s school and it should involve the relevant professionals who have been working with the child or young person.  Prior to the meeting information will be gathered from professionals and parents in relation to the child’s needs, support and progress. Two weeks before the meeting, all information will be copied to those who are to attend the meeting to ensure that all parties are able to fully contribute to any discussion about the child or young person. Whether the EHCP is amended or not depends on what is discussed at the meeting about the child or young person’s needs, progress and response to the support that is in place. Following the meeting the school have 2 weeks to produce an outline of the discussions and advices and to include any agreed actions to the authority. The authority then has a further two weeks to make the Annual Review of the EHCP. It is essential the review takes place within 12 months of the issue of the previously agreed plan. The meeting must take place no later than 11 months after the issue of the previously agreed plan to ensure the local authority meet their timeframes. Following the Annual Review, the local authority write to the parents or young person to indicate their decision. This could be to:

• Continue to maintain the EHCP in its current form; or
• A decision to make changes to the EHCP. (Changes could be made to any section of the plan, including the educational setting the child or young person attends.); or
• To cease to maintain the plan in any capacity

(If the local authority refuse to amend or maintain the EHCP during Annual Review and you do not agree with the changes that have been made then an appeal can be lodged with the Special Educational Needs & Disability Tribunal – SENDIST. While there is an outstanding appeal, the current provision must remain in place with the relevant support that had been identified for the child or young person before any proposed amendments.)

When you receive a decision from the authority or a final plan, the letter will contain a right of appeal. The appeal must be made within 2 months of the date of the letter or one month from the date of the mediation certificate (whichever is later). Further details on making an appeal and relevant forms can be found here.

The tribunal consists of a Judge and one or two panel members. All those on the panel will have experience and specialism in SEN and the laws relating to EHCP. Refusal to make an assessment tribunals are ‘paper-based’ where the decision will usually be made on the paperwork submitted by the parents or young person and the local authority. In some circumstances, you can request for a full hearing setting out your reasons. In such cases, this may be via electronic attendance such as Skype. Refusal to issue an EHCP and disagreements over the content of the EHCP will be a tribunal hearing where parents and local authority representatives will be invited to attend and set out their reasons for their requests and decisions. You are permitted to name up to 3 witnesses to demonstrate your child’s needs. You can decide if you want to invite witnesses. If you request a witness who does not want to attend, you can make an application to the tribunal for a summons. The local authority may also bring their own witnesses. You are able to ask any questions or ask the panel members to direct any questions to the local authority and their witnesses.

You can choose to attend the tribunal without a representative if you prefer. Panel members and Judges are aware that parents are not used to the tribunal process and make accommodations in light of this in explaining the process and any aspects of relevant law to parents. Whether you feel you need representation is a question for you to decide. If you choose to have representation and use my service, my costs remain low for attendance to enable all families access to this support.

This is a question for you. The tribunal panel and Judge will be as accommodating as possible in putting your child at ease and asking their views. Your child will be able to give evidence about their needs but will not be able to remain during the whole tribunal process. If you decide that you do want to bring your child to the tribunal, please bring along a trusted adult who your child will be willing to wait with before and after their evidence is given. The courts service cannot look after your child while you are in the tribunal.