When you apply for an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHC NA), there is a strict statutory process that applies.

If you have a child that is approaching a phase transfer, you will hopefully be aware of the importance of this Wednesday – 15th February.

This week I’m taking what feels like a self-indulgent break. I’m in France, skiing with a fabulous group of people from all walks of life. And I’ve left the family at home.

School advice in relation to Educational Health and Care Needs Assessments (EHCNA) can be a bit like a SatNav. Very often it is OK. It might not be the best route, however, you will generally end up where you need to be eventually.

However, when the SatNav is playing up, the well-meaning bad advice from a school can cost months of inadequate education for a learner.

As 2022 draws to a close and I write my last blog of the year, I thought I’d reflect on the year.

40 years of educational reform is causing more harm than good

cutely aware that working with me requires a certain level of investment, I decided I wanted to capture my knowledge and make it available to a wide audience so more families can get the right support for their children.

If I get a headache, going for the paracetamol is not my instinctive response. I’d always prefer to resolve things without resorting to tablets if at all possible.

I'm delighted to announce that the first episode is live today and you can listen to it on your favourite podcast platform, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Google Podcasts etc. Take a listen to the trailer and episode 1 in which Esther shares her story of support and acceptance.

So here we are again, at the start of a new academic year. For many a source of much excitement, and, for others, a source of much anxiety.

I often think the experience of being a parent of a child with differences is like being on an emotional roller coaster.

Education and Health Care Plans have been with us since 2015. That’s six years, and yet there is still so much misinformation about them. I still, regularly come across schools that don’t fully understand the law.

It is estimated that 10-15% of children suffer from poor working memory to the extent that it affects their ability to learn within a school.

During an appeal to the SEND tribunal, there is a period of going backwards and forwards between yourselves and the LA. This is usually facilitated through a working document (WD). This is a copy of the EHCP in which your change requests are annotated in bold and the LA indicates by underlining what it will accept.

I really enjoyed my conversation with Kirstie Law on Wednesday 15th January. If you didn't manage to catch hit you can listen to it on the BBC Sounds App until 14th February.

Reasonable adjustments are accommodations that schools, whether state-funded or independent, have a duty to make. These adjustments apply to disabled pupils, where the disability creates a long-term and substantial adverse effect on the pupil’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

The work of a SEND parent is rarely over. No sooner than you’ve managed to get a fit for purpose EHC Plan finalised, you are on to the next thing. Make sure it gets implemented.

If you have a child that struggles with spelling, and your school has weekly spelling tests, it can result in stressful homework.

There’s a feeling of excitement and frisson when you hear the LA will write an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) for your child. It might be they call you to let you know (that was my experience), or you might receive an email. Alternatively, the first you hear about it might even be when the draft plan drops through your letterbox.

When life is a challenge, we can often forget to celebrate the little “yay” along the way.