EHCP secured for future?

3Mamabear

Hi, sorry if this isn't in the right section. My son is 6 years old (year 1) and was diagnosed with mild spastic cerebral palsy at 3. His neurologist said from the very first appointment we should get a EHCP. However in all his nursery settings and now at primary school they have said that it would be unlikely that an EHCP would be accepted as his needs can be met without. But I know that these applications take an extraordinary length of time to put in place and he will almost certainly need one in place to enable him to attend mainstream high school. So I don't really want to leave it until he reaches year 6 in case we have a battle on our hands. 
I have no experience and would like any advice anyone has to offer  

L_Volunteer

Hi @3Mamabear. Thanks for your post. I can hear your concerns.

Unfortunately, they are right. An EHCP is usually provided when the support or resourcing needed to meet your child's/young person's needs are outside of the school's availability or more specialist than usually provided. You can find more information about this at Education Advocacy. 

Would you feel comfortable sharing more with us about your reasonings for believing your son will need an EHCP? - particularly when your son goes to mainstream high school?

If it is reassuring to hear, you can apply for an EHCP any time up to your son's 25th birthday. This means that even if it is not appropriate right now, you can apply later if it becomes appropriate. You can find more information on the Government's website.

I hope this at least semi-helps. Please feel free to keep us in the loop. We are all here for you 

3Mamabear

Hi,
I think he'll need more one to one support when he goes to high school to enable him to get from lesson to lesson. He struggles to carry his backpack now for any length of time and it's not that heavy now.  He tires quite easily from walking short distances (we use his wheelchair for the 15 minute walk to and from school) and be is much slower than his peers. I know the classes in the high school he would go to is quite a big site, spread out so children have quite a lot of walking to do throughout the school day. And like most big schools it also on 2 levels. None of these things he'll have ever had to do before, a big contrast to sitting in one classroom for most of the day only having to go a very short distance to the dinner hall and then to the playground. 
I don't know much about the SEND provision, I could be wrong, but I don't know that it would extend to having that one to one support in place without additional allocated funding?
Obviously,these are just my projected concerns. I don't know for sure but would hate for his physical disability to prevent him from accessing the same educational experience as his twin brother, who doesn't have CP. 
I guess my thinking was if he had an EHCP in place sooner the goals could be adapted to allow for these things to be put in place as he needed them.

L_Volunteer

Hello @3Mamabear. Thanks for your response.

From what I am hearing, you could apply for an EHCP for your son to have someone to help him get from lesson to lesson under the following circumstances:

• If your son struggles more than other children of the same age with getting from lesson to lesson and needs specialist support to do this.
• If the school is unable to meet his need within their usual resourcing and funding.

Where this would not apply is if either of these points is not applicable or the school is able to accommodate your son with reasonable adjustments (under the Equality Act 2010).

One-to-one support could be a factor contributing to your eligibility for an EHCP. For this to be applicable though, your son must need one-to-one support which is assigned to your son and not the class/school in general. The frequency of one-to-one support might also be taken into account here.

I completely hear how you don’t want your son to be disadvantaged compared to his twin brother who doesn’t have CP. Is there anything at the moment that you think gives your son a disadvantage and might require an EHCP?

Unfortunately, the EHCP system is more reactive than proactive. However, you could talk to your son's school if you have concerns - particularly his teacher, one-to-one support and SEN(D)CO. 

I hope this at least semi-helps! We are all here for you. You don’t have to go through this, or anything else, alone if you don’t want to