This article explains what happens during an EHC Needs Assessment and how you can ensure the best identification of needs and provision possible.
An EHCP is only ever as good as the professional advice obtained during the EHC needs assessment process. The identification of outcomes, needs and provision in professional reports will be used to write your child’s EHCP, so it is extremely important that professional advice is as accurate and thorough as possible.
What happens now the LA have agreed to an EHC Needs Assessment?
Your Local Authority must now carry out the assessment. This means that they must seek advice from a range of different people on:
· your child or young person’s needs
· the provision required to meet those needs, and
· the outcomes expected to be achieved by your child or young person.
Who must be asked for advice?
Regulation 6(1) of The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 (The SEND Regulations 2014) states that the following advice during an EHC Needs Assessment:
· The child’s parent
· educational advice (usually from the head teacher or principal)
· medical advice and information from a health care professional
· psychological advice and information from an educational psychologist
· advice and information in relation to social care
· advice and information from any other person the local authority thinks appropriate
· where your child (or you as a young person) is in or beyond year 9, advice and information in relation to provision to assist your child/you in preparation for adulthood and independent living, and
· advice and information from any person you reasonably request that the local authority seek advice from.
The LA is legally required to gather all of this information as a minimum.
If your child (or you, as a young person) is hearing impaired and/or visually impaired the educational advice must be given after consultation with a suitably qualified person. This is set out in SEND Regulation 6(2).
Your LA should consider whether a full social care assessment or health assessment is also needed. The law is not clear about whether health and social care assessments are automatically triggered when a request for an EHC needs assessment is made and in practice LA’s will not carry out a health and social care assessment, so it is best to ask for social care and health assessments separately to ensure the request is received.
Can I ask for advice from a specific person?
You can ask your LA to seek advice from anyone within education, health or social care, as long as it is a reasonable request, as set out in SEND Regulation 6(1)(h). This could include a speech and language therapist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist or someone from CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services).
A request would be considered reasonable if a child has been identified as needing an assessment already, if they have already been identified as needing an assessment and are on a waiting list, or where the school, college or other professional has said this advice may be needed.
You can ask your LA to get advice from a particular type of professional (such as an occupational therapist with training in sensory processing difficulties), but it would not normally be considered to be a reasonable request to ask for advice from a particular named professional.
It is also not likely to be considered reasonable for you to request that information under SEND Regulations 6(1)(a)-(g) is sought from a named individual (such as an independent educational psychologist) rather than from the one proposed by the LA.
Request by email that advice from a particular professional requested, so that you have a record of your request.
Your LA must consider the individual circumstances of your request and decide whether it is reasonable. It must not apply blanket rules, for example that it will not seek advice from a particular service unless the child or young person is already known to them.
Can existing reports be used as part of an EHC Needs Assessment?
Your LA does not have to seek new advice where the same type of advice has already been provided for any purpose – for example, if there is already a recent educational psychologist’s report. However, this applies only if you, the person providing that advice and the LA are all satisfied that the existing advice is sufficient. Previous advice can only be sufficient for an EHC needs assessment if it is relatively up to date (as a rough guide, within the last 18 months) and accurately reflects your child’s current needs, the provision required to meet those needs, and the outcomes which this provision will aim to achieve.
Can I submit my own reports?
Yes. If you already have advice and reports that you have commissioned or that have been provided by school, NHS or LA services previously, these can be submitted as part of your own advice to ensure that they form part of the assessment process. This evidence must then be considered when the LA makes its decision.
LAs often say they cannot consider private reports. This is not true. SEND Regulation 7(b) says that the LA must consider all information provided by or at the request of a child, parent or young person.
Your LA must send copies of your advice and information to all the other people from whom advice and information is being sought. This is set out in SEND
Regulation 6(3).
What should their professional advice contain?
Paragraph 9.51 of the SEND Code of Practice 2015 (the Code) says the advice should be clear, accessible and specific. In particular, it should address your child’s needs, the special educational provision required to meet those needs, and the outcomes which this provision will aim to achieve. LAs should not have policies stopping professionals from giving advice on the amount of provision required.
There is specific guidance for educational psychologists involved in EHC needs assessments here. This guidance makes it clear that:
· their input must focus on the needs of the child or young person, be independent, and not be driven by financial or other constraints (paragraph 3.19)
· their advice should not be influenced by consideration of specific educational settings (paragraph 3.22)
· provision recommendations should be clear and specific enough so there can be agreement about whether or not they are being followed (paragraph 3.24)
· best practice would be to give robust advice leading to clear, specific and quantifiable provision (paragraph 3.27) and guidance should be provided in terms of ‘no less than’, ‘at least’ or ‘always’ (paragraph 3.28), and
· the expert should be given enough time and resources to provide advice.
There is specific guidance for speech and language therapists involved in EHC needs assessments here. This guidance makes it clear that advice should be based on an up-to-date comprehensive assessment of all areas of communication functioning, and that provision should be clearly specified and quantified, and should relate directly to the needs of the child or young person, not to the level of services available (see paragraph 9.4).
How can I make sure that professional advice is as accurate, detailed and thorough as possible?
Preparation is key!
Preparing for an Educational Psychology assessment:
If you have a SALT, OT or EP visit or assessment due, do request that you have the opportunity to speak with the professional first.
Ask:
· How long will you be spending with my child?
· Will you be undertaking any formal assessments? If so which ones?
· Will you be observing my child with their peer group?
· Will you be observing my child with adults?
· Will you be observing my child in both structured and unstructured activities?
· Will you be undertaking any 1:1 conversations with my child?
Share all your child’s difficulties with the professional and ask them to address all of your areas of concern in their report including identifying provision. E.g.
· Handwriting/mark making
· Handwriting speed
· Reading/reading readiness
· Working memory
· Processing speed
· Attention
· Concentration
· Engagement
· Sensory needs
Ask them to:
· make recommendations for the need for further assessments from other professionals, such as OT.
· ensure that their report identifies all their needs and specifies and quantifies provision to meet all their needs, to support a successful EHCP.
· send you a copy of the report at the same time that you submit this to the LA, and state that you request this under ‘my GDPR rights’.
Share all your requests and a list of the difficulties that you child has that you would like them to advise on in writing, even if you have discussed this with them face to face or in a phone call. This will then be evidence of the request, should the report not be as anticipated.
Where do I go from here, and how can Empowering Families of Children with SEND Ltd help me?
IPSEA provide a range of resources to help parents navigate the EHC Needs Assessment process.
Empowering Families of Children with SEND Ltd also provide fully bespoke 1:1 EHC Needs Assessment support with Anna & Sarah as part of their professional service, for details click here: Bespoke 1:1 support from Anna & Sarah They provide a professional report checking service which you can use to check that a report is fit for purpose.
You can find testimonials to our bespoke services on our website and Facebook business page - here
We are, and always will, be Stronger Together.
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