The Scribble Log has the pleasure of introducing our first parent Guest Scribbler, Stephanie Walsh. Stephanie is a parent of a lovely little boy who we’ve had so much fun getting to know at The Children’s Place. Stephanie has written about her experiences applying for an Education, Health, and Care Plan for her son who is thriving at his new school as a result of his parents’ hard work during the application process.

As a parent beginning the process of an EHCP application can be quite overwhelming. I thought it would be helpful to share our experience. Be prepared to be anxious and experience low feelings of “doesn’t anyone want my child” with the rejections from schools you will get along the way. No one will fight for your child more than you as parents, so despite times of despair, carry on fighting for them.

Firstly, contact your local authority for a list of schools that have specialist provisions and local special schools. At the same time, do lots of research yourself for what might be available out of borough (yes you are allowed to apply for those schools). When you get your list be sure to contact and visit as many schools as possible. Go back for 2nd and 3rd visits so you get a better feel for the school. You will soon come up with a list of schools you like/dislike/could see your child at. Ask each one if they are full or have spaces available. Being full however, is not a valid reason to not offer a place. It’s all about parental choice so if that’s the school you want for your child persist with your local authority.

Section A of the EHCP is for you to fill in. Ask your current school or local authority for examples of the sort of information you should include. Put as much in as you can about your child as this will follow them wherever they go.

When you finally get to the draft stage of the process and you meet with the local authority try and take as many professionals that know your child well to the meeting with you. Don’t be afraid to re-word the draft and challenge any areas you are not happy with, even after the meeting. My child is non-verbal and the EHCP put a provision in for a weekly 45 minute session of speech therapy for 25 weeks of the year. We challenged this to make sure they were given it for the 39 weeks of the year they are at school. I can’t emphasise enough that it’s so important to keep pushing until you get what you want for your child.

Applying to schools: in hindsight I wish we had given a long list of schools we wanted the plan to be sent to. Instead we listed 3, all of which rejected our child. Not only do you have the heart ache of feeling that you’ll never get a school for your child where the school wants them, the process also slows down. You have to submit another list and the next set of schools are given another 2 weeks to respond. This goes on until you find one that says yes. List as many as possible right at the start. Remember it’s all about parental choice, even if you list a school and they say yes you don’t have to accept it. Keep questioning yourself about whether or not that would be the right setting for your child.

Don’t be afraid: I’ll be honest – a Special School sounded quite scary, especially for a child coming from a mainstream school. Like all schools, there will be good ones and bad ones but don’t dismiss them from your list, be open minded and go and visit them.

For us, after many months of anxiety and well beyond the 20 weeks the process is meant to take, we finally got a yes for our child (which came as a real surprise as the school had a long waiting list!) Don’t despair (I know I was as time kept ticking away) the most important thing is to have the EHCP as you want it and to find the right school for your child. After what was an eventful, stressful and tearful period of time we now couldn’t be happier with the school. Not even a whole term into the school year we could never have imagined our child would be so attentive and engaged in the classroom. We are so glad we did lots of our own research, visited numerous schools in and out of borough and fought every step of the way to find the perfect environment for our child. He is very happy at his Special School.