EHCP guide v0

1 Education, Health and Care Plansto support a PDA profile of autismAcknowledgementsPage 1 IntroductionPage 2 Structure of an EHCPPage 3 The EHCP in detailSection APage 4 Sections B, C & DPage 4 Section EPage 5 Section FPage 5 Section E and Section F ideasCommunication and InteractionPage 6 Cognition and LearningPage 7 Social, Emotional and Mental HealthPage 11 Sensory and PhysicalPage 14We would like to thank Clare Truman for all her work in writing and collating this report and special thanks go to Steph Curtis, Jilly Davis, Ruth Fidler, Libby Hill, Aileen Hosty, Katie Mabberley, Natalie Menagh, Sally Russell, Vikki Threlfall, Ken Upton and our PDA adult panel for their many contributions. AcknowledgementsContents1An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a document used in England to outline a child or young person s special educational needs (SEN) and the provision that should be made to meet those needs.

2 It is written in collaboration with the child or young person, their family, all professionals involved with the child or young person and the Local Authority. It is a legally binding document that outlines the provision that must be put in place to support the child or young person and is reviewed annually. Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is widely understood to be a profile of autism which means that individuals share autistic persistent difficulties with social communication and social interaction and restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour, activities or interests present since early childhood to the extent that these limit and impair everyday functioning (according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Fifth Edition (DSM-5)), often including different sensory are also likely have a need for control which is often anxiety related be driven to avoid everyday demands and expectations (including things that they want to do or enjoy)

3 To an extreme extent tend to use approaches that are social in nature in order to avoid demandsFor more on the key features of the PDA profile, please visit the PDA Society website. It is notable that the drive to avoid demands means that children and young people tend not to respond to conventional parenting, teaching or support every PDA child or young person will have, or need, an EHCP but for those who do, these examples of good practice will hopefully provide a starting point for families and professionals. In addition, you would not expect an EHCP to cover all the areas identified here; just those which would be of most help for each individual child/young person. This resource intends to provide you with a database of resource has been compiled from suggestions from both families and education professionals supporting PDA children and young people and in consultation with our PDA adult panel.

4 Many of these suggestions are useful for anyone who would benefit from an EHCP and some relate more specifically to demand avoidance. We are very grateful to everyone for sharing their ideas and experiences with us. If you feel your child would benefit from an EHCP you should request an assessment from the Local Authority. As part of this process an assessment from one or more of the following may be beneficial: 1. an Educational Psychologist2. a Speech and Language Therapist3. an Occupational Therapist (trained in Sensory Integration)More information about how to request an EHCP assessment and about the EHCP process can be found on the IPSEA website: on the Local Offer page of your Local Authority s is a standard structure for Education, Health and Care Plans, although individual local authorities have their own forms to gather the information which can lead to some regional variations.

5 You would expect the structure to be as follows:Section Ais an overview of important information about the child/young person. In reality, this section is less important than section B, so make sure all the points are in B-D as B, C and Dare a description of the child/young person s needs. Section B outlines the child s/young person s educational needs, Section C outlines their health needs and Section D outlines their social care needs. It may be that the child/young person only has needs in one or two sections rather than all three. Section Eoutlines the aimed for outcomes for the child or young person. These may be in the form of overarching themes and more specific targets, or a number of simple statements.

6 These should include any needs relating to Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy as well (these needs do not sit in Section G which covers health related needs).Section Foutlines the educational provision required to meet the child or young person s needs. Section Goutlines the health provision required to meet the child or young person s Houtlines the social care provision required to meet the child or young person s needs. Section Inames the educational placement for the child/young person. Section Jdescribes Personal Budget arrangements where applicable. For more information about personal budgets visit your Local Authority s Local Offer page. Section Kcontains Appendices ( professional reports).

7 Structure of an EHCP3 The EHCP in detailSection A Section A generally contains an overview of important information about the child/young person. Much of this information is very basic (name, address, date of birth etc.) but the section may also include what is called a One Page Profilewhich allows the child/young person and/or those who care for them to express their likes, strengths and interests, what is important to them and how people can best support them. You can find an example on our website here: writing a One Page Profileand/or a How to Support Me section you may want to include examples similar to the following: X needs everyone in contact with them to understand and use Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) approaches.

8 X needs extra time to process requests demands/time pressure increase anxiety. Communication from school-home and vice versa needs to be regular and ongoing. X needs individual attention in the morning to help talk them through the day ahead and set the scene. They need help with forward planning. Changes should be talked through more than once and visual prompts should be used. Staff need to prepare X for changes in their routine. X requires a lot of support with making and maintaining friendships. X may require support with more abstract vocabulary in the curriculum and they benefit from pre-taught preparatory sessions for vocabulary. X needs gentle encouragement in a fun way - for example: Bet you can t , or I ll do xif you do y.

9 It can be very difficult to assess X s abilities as they usually refuse to use pencil and paper to record their work. A scribe or alternative ways of recording are necessary; they need help to record their ideas on screen. X requires support with their B, C and DSections B D are a description of the child/young person s needs. Section B outlines the child/young person s educational needs, Section C outlines their health needs and Section D outlines their social care needs. It may be that the child/young person only has needs in one or two sections rather than all three. When writing Section Byou may want to consider the following questions, and for every point identified there should be an outcome in Section E and a provision in Section F: What are the child/young person s main strengths in each of these four areas: Communication and Interaction; Cognition and Learning; Social, Emotional and Mental Health; Sensory and Physical?

10 This is not a legal requirement, but some local authorities include this here. Ensure it doesn t deflect from the focus on need for support. An alternative is to ensure balance by including strengths in Section A. What are the child/young person s main challenges in each of these four areas: Communication and Interaction; Cognition and Learning; Social, Emotional and Mental Health; Sensory and Physical? How does the child/young person s demand avoidance affect their education? How does the child/young person feel about themself? How do their needs impact their self-esteem? What were the outcomes of any professional assessments undertaken? It may be useful to include the scores of standardised assessments completed by psychologists, speech and language therapists or occupational therapists here.