Gathering evidence & completing EHC Needs Request form

Complete the child and parent/carer section with all relevant information.

Parents may live at different address and you can provide these details if both parents wish to be involved in the process.  The paperwork will then be sent to both parents addresses.  

SEN covers a wide range of needs, and a child can be progressing academically and still have difficulties in other areas. The SEND Code of Practice talks about the  four “broad areas of need” (paras 6.28-35):

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

You will need to circle YES or NO if your child fits under any of these categories

The four broad areas of need will help you to describe your child's needs.  Lets give you some further information on these areas of needs and how your child's needs may fit under these categories.  You will need to provide further information of your child's needs in the summary section of the form:-

Communication and Interaction

6.28 Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs  (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication. The profile for every child with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different aspects of speech, language or social communication at different times of their lives. 

 

6.29 Children and young people with ASD, including Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism, are likely to have particular difficulties with social interaction. They may also experience difficulties with language, communication and imagination, which can impact on how they relate to others.

Children with communication and interaction difficulties may also experience difficulties with language, communication and imagination, which can impact on how they relate to others. Communication and interaction needs could include:

• difficulties with producing or responding to expressive or receptive language
• difficulties uttering speech sounds
• difficulties understanding spoken and other communications from others
• difficulties with understanding age-related social conventions of interaction, such as turn-taking during conversations or appropriate level of physical contact during play

Expressive language means ability to communicate thoughts and feelings through words, gestures, signs, and/or symbols 

Receptive Language means the ability to understand and decipher non-verbal language and words

Cognition and learning

6.30 Support for learning difficulties may be required when children and young people learn at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation. Learning difficulties cover a wide range of needs, including moderate learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD), where children are likely to need support in all areas of the curriculum and associated difficulties with mobility and communication, through to profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), where children are likely to have severe and complex learning difficulties as well as a physical disability or sensory impairment.
 

6.31 Specific learning difficulties (SpLD), affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.

Cognition and learning needs may only impact on specific areas such as reading, writing, spelling and mental calculations. Cognition and learning needs generally account for difficulties in curriculum-related areas such as:

• reading, writing and spelling
• numerosity 
• comprehension
• processing difficulties such as sequencing, inference, coherence and elaboration
• working memory
• short term verbal memory 
• other types of executive function difficulties

Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

6.32 Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.

6.33 Schools and colleges should have clear processes to support children and young people, including how they will manage the effect of any disruptive behaviour so it does not adversely affect other pupils. The Department for Education publishes guidance on managing pupils’ mental health and behaviour difficulties in schools – see the References section under Chapter 6 for a link.

The SEN Code of Practice (2015) no longer includes ‘behaviour’ as part of this category of need. The reasoning is that a child’s behaviour is perceived as a communication about the child’s state of mind and may be caused by a variety of factors such as:

• anxiety
• sensory overload
• anger, including anger about pervasive life situations or undisclosed difficulties
• response to trauma or attachment difficulties
• frustration due to speech and communication difficulties
• response to the wrong level of challenge in lessons
• grief
• overwhelm
• physical pain or discomfort, such as hunger
• underlying mental health problems
• undisclosed physical, mental or sexual abuse

This list is illustrative, not exhaustive.

Sensory and/or physical needs

6.34 Some children and young people require special educational provision because they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time. Many children and young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning, or habilitation support. Children and young people with an MSI have a combination of vision and hearing difficulties. Information on how to provide services for deafblind children and young people is  available through the Social Care for Deafblind Children and Adults guidance published by the Department of Health (see the References section under Chapter 6 for a link).

 

6.35 Some children and young people with a physical disability (PD) require additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.

Physical and sensory needs cover a wide range of medical conditions in addition to those mentioned above. Some children with physical disabilities may be very cognitively able so the levels of support must be tailored to a person-centred needs analysis of each child’s needs and preferences, taking into account the views of children and their families.

You can use the four broads areas of need as your main headings to describe your child or young persons area of need

communication and interaction, cognition and learning, social, emotional and mental health difficulties, sensory and/or physical needs)

SEN Needs

 You have an opportunity to not only describe your child's SEN needs but more importantly what they are struggling with in particular at school and at home. 

• Do they struggle with large groups, noisy classrooms, working with peers, being separated from particular people.
• Do they have any obsessions, such as, colours, food, routines, cleanliness, etc.
• What is it that helps them to function from day to day?
• What would they need support with on a daily basis? For example, dressing, washing, eating, timings, organisation.
• What are your child’s needs in school? Do they need adult support? A differentiated timetable? Would they benefit from reminders either on their desk or set on their phone?
• Time-out cards or break areas to allow them to cool off and relax?
• Do they have any health or social care needs?
• What is their self-confidence like? 
• How does your child find building relationships? 
• What issues do you feel your child is facing in their current educational setting? 
• What is your child like at home? For example, do they enjoy interacting with siblings, yourself and other family members? Or, do they prefer to spend their time alone?
• What are their interests or hobbies and how do any interests impact on their life?
• Relationships with family, peers, other adults and children
• What are the views of the educational setting towards an Education and Health Care Needs Assessment application? Are they supportive? Was it suggested by them?

Next we will give information on how you can describe your child's educational outcomes and what this means. 

Include what are you are hoping will change for your child/young person following an Education Health & Care Needs Assessment.

You can consider what will be gained from an EHC needs assessment and what difference and Education, Health & Care Plan will make for your child/young person:-

• Do you feel the setting needs help from the local authority to support your child?
• Are there gaps in knowledge about how your child can be supported?
• Are you concerned about the rate of progress despite support being in place?
• Does your child require the use of additional aids such as PECS or that you feel the school need more guidance and support with?
• Do you think that further assessment might help make your child’s needs clearer and will help in planning the right support/ identifying the right setting or post 16 course?
• Are you hoping that there will be a better understanding of how others can support your child?
• Are there any provisions in particular you would like to see in an EHC Plan?

Next we will give information on how you can describe the support you believe is required

Support Required

The local authority will want to find out what strategies are needed to be put in place, to engage and encourage your child to participate in activities recommended by the provision.

Some things to consider include:

• Does your child require a safe place or a quiet space to work?
• Can he/she only retain or process small amounts of information at a time? Does it help to break instructions down?
• Is visual representation more effective?
• Will he/she only listen to one particular person?
• Are they easily distracted?
• Does he/she understand time and timings, or would they need help with this?
• Do he/she understand the consequences of their actions?

Consider what support strategies work well for your child at the moment and include any support strategies which have worked well in the past, for example:

• Flexible timetable, one to one support, small group work, visual prompts
• What particular routines do they have at school and at home?
• Has the school put in place anything which has made a positive difference?
• Do you do anything at home which you have found to work well?

And on the flip side, are there any methods or strategies that yourself or the school have tried which have found to be of no effect or caused distress.

This helps the local authority to consider if the recommended provision is going to be effective or if it would need ‘tweaking’ to fit the best interests of the child.

Provide the details of any services or professionals involved such as:

•  The Educational Psychology Service
• The Sensory Specialist Teacher Team
• Health Professionals
• Social Care

Attach all reports and documents and refer to them throughout the summary.