Educational health care plan | What is it and why we need one


One of the things I'd advise is to get an Educational health care plan ( EHCP) early. We had been in the process of starting it all when we moved out of the area so it's ended up being more delayed than we would've liked, with the application only getting sent off at the end of July.


What is an EHCP?

It's a legal document that sets out the educational, health and care of a young person. It is a document for children with special educational needs who's needs cannot be met by support that is usually available in schools. An EHCP should include the views, wishes and feelings of both the child and parent/s. It's important that the child and parents participate fully with the decisions made. This is because the plan is intend to support the child's educational  health and care outcomes. 

Educational settings should be monitoring childrens progress and so SEN Support is available for children who need extra help. This could be with needing 1 to 1 support for example as children with additional needs do tend to find it harder to learn. The SENCO ( Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) should put a plan in place  which we currently have for Blake to a point. Unfortunately because of Blake's needs aren't as easy to provide an EHCP is essential.



Why do we need an EHCP for Blake?

Blake's currently in a mainstream school and they feel that they don't have the right provisions in place for him and that the environment isn't inclusive for him. With that said getting an EHCP is important for him to have as specialist schools wont take children on without them. 

How do I get an EHCP?

The first thing to do is to request an assessment this is usual done via a form to the local authority (LA) . We were lucky that Blake's previous setting passed on all the information required for school to apply for an EHCP.  The LA then decides if they are going to do an assessment. Evidence of special needs is required and it's usually a 6 week process to be considered. 

Our request has been accepted and the assessment process which is usual about 8 weeks begins and this is the current stage we are at. We are currently awaiting for professionals to observe Blake at school. Once that has been done a report will be written which includes advice on outcomes and support needed. Any current reports from professionals working with Blake will be used. We've been told that we should have the report by mid november. In the meantime its reccomend that we visit the local SEN school to look around as it's important that we offer our views on what feel is beneficial for Blake.

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