We have just had the Annual Review meeting of my daughter's EHCP. The senior SEND case officer made an alarming comment when looking at Section B, Special Educational Needs. She said that "Asperger Syndrome, Social Anxiety and Sensory Processing Disorder" are "not SEN and shouldn't be in that section. We are making changes to Section B in line with DFE guidance." I was too shocked to question her.

My question is are they SEN? If not, where should these diagnoses appear on the EHCP? And what guidance could she be referring to?

IPSEA replies:

A special educational need (SEN) is a learning difficulty or disability which requires special educational provision to be made for the child or young person. Each and every SEN must be specified in Section B whether it is to be provided for by the school/FE college, the LA, the health service or any other provider.

Therefore, we’d expect Section B to specify conditions such as Asperger Syndrome, Social Anxiety and Sensory Processing Disorder.  In addition, we’d expect that they would be broken down into all the specific needs that each condition involves for your daughter so that each need can be answered by special educational provision specified and quantified in Section F.

We aren’t aware of any DfE guidance that might have prompted the SEND case officer to think otherwise (and guidance couldn’t change the statutory definition given in s.21 of the Children and Families Act 2014 anyway).

You might find our EHCP area https://www.ipsea.org.uk/pages/category/education-health-and-care-plans