EHCPs and Conductive Education: Ivy’s Story and The Rainbow Centre
What is an Education, Health and Care Plan?
An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a legally binding document which sets out all of the:
- Education, health and social care needs of a child or young person,
- The outcomes sought, and
- The special educational provision (i.e. specialised support) required to meet assessed needs and achieve the desired outcomes.
The drafting of an EHCP provides a real opportunity for parents and young people to engage with all the professionals involved, to consider what the needs of the child or young person are and identify personalised ways in which specialist support can be provided to meet assessed needs. An EHCP extends beyond simply naming a school. In situations where a specialist or mainstream school setting may not be appropriate to meet all the special educational needs of a child or young person, it is imperative to consider what other forms of provision may be more suited to meeting needs.
In Ivy’s case, her special educational needs mean that the specialist settings available in her area simply cannot provide Ivy with a suitable environment which is tailored to meeting her needs.
Ivy’s Story
Ivy is a very loveable little girl, diagnosed with Lissencephaly within a few months of birth. Lissencephaly is a rare and complex condition which can be life-limiting. As a result of her diagnosis, Ivy has epilepsy and suffers from daily seizures. Ivy is wholly dependent upon others to monitor and manage the symptoms associated with her epilepsy, to protect her from the risks arising from the frequency and severity of her seizures. Ivy has global delay, generalised low muscle tone, hypermobile joints, delayed speech and language skills, and reduced visual acuity, right esotropia and hypermetropia. Her reduced visual acuity is linked to her diagnosis of optic nerve hypoplasia which means that very limited visual information is transmitted from her eyes to her brain. Ivy suffers from profound visual loss and fatigue. Due to her medical conditions, Ivy has been unable to access education in a mainstream or specialist setting.
What is Conductive Education?
Conductive Education (CE) is a holistic integrated pedagogical/educational system, which enables people with damage to the central nervous system to learn to overcome the challenges they face.
CE is a process of experiences which leads the person to work with their motor disabilities, moving towards increased independence. It is a system which is primarily suitable for people with neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, stroke, acquired head injury and dyspraxia.
Conductive Education is delivered by a conductor. This is the name given to people who have qualified in Conductive Education. A conductor is a professional who is a graduate of a certified Conductor training programme. There are centres in the UK that work in conductor-only teams and there are also centres where conductors work with other professionals in a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary way.
The approach for children is usually delivered within a full-time school setting. As children progress from this type of setting, they may access Conductive Education on a part time basis or through episodic sessions. Some centres also provide intensive programmes for children (often delivered during school holidays) and these may run for one, two or four weeks.
Ivy and The Rainbow Centre
Ivy has been attending The Rainbow Centre for Conductive Education in Fareham since the age of 14 months.
With regular attendance and great coordination between The Rainbow Centre and her family, Ivy has shown huge improvement in all areas of her development, especially in her physical and/or sensory, social, emotional and mental health needs, cognition and communication skills.
When Ivy first joined what Eniko Kocsis, the Service Manager, warmly describes as the “Rainbow family”, she was not able to crawl or sit unaided, and Ivy was really reluctant to keep her feet on the floor even with adult encouragement. The Conductors quickly identified, however, that Ivy was particularly responsive to the conductive approach and this type of early intervention is well-matched to her special educational needs.
As a result of the conductive approach The Rainbow Centre has implemented with Ivy, she has learnt a number of fundamental skills. Ivy can maintain a safe and secure sitting position on the floor, play with toys around her, maintain a safe standing position behind a low table, therapeutic bench, or the sofa at home.
Ivy is continuing to improve despite the fluctuations in her health condition. The benefits of the environment that The Rainbow Centre provides means that Ivy’s provision is flexible, provided in a small group environment, and can be easily altered to fit around the occurrence of seizures or days when Ivy’s fatigue means she cannot manage to engage in conductive education sessions. Ivy’s mother has been able to use conductive education as the basis for supporting home-schooling Ivy in a way which means Ivy can continue to receive a highly personalised education in an environment which is suitable to meet her medical and special educational needs.
Ivy’s EHCP
Ivy has epilepsy and the frequency of her fits are influenced by her fatigue, therefore her parents recognised at an early stage that traditional, full time education won’t benefit Ivy. If she is overloaded with her day, it has an impact on her seizures. The only way her seizures can be controlled is by giving her enough rest and sleep.
Ivy should have started her primary education in September 2019. Her parents decided to decelerate her to give her more time to achieve her potential in all areas of her learning. To ensure that an EHCP was in place in time, The Rainbow Centre and Ivy’s family started the EHC assessment process in September 2018, with the view that she would carry on with her nursery education in the academic year 2019/2020. Ivy’s parents decided that the best provision for Ivy would be The Rainbow Centre alongside home-schooling.
Despite the fact that the EHC process was started in time for it to be in place to ensure that Ivy’s needs were met; sadly, the final EHCP was only issued in September 2020, 23 months after it was started. Ivy’s mum had to resort to raising several complaints, as Hampshire County Council did not meet the statutory 20-week timeline.
Without legal support it would have been very challenging for the family and the Centre to achieve a positive outcome.
Ivy received her final EHCP, 29 months after the request for assessment was submitted.
Happily, The Rainbow Centre is named in Section F as part of Ivy’s Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) package:
“Ivy is not well enough to attend school currently and will receive education other than at school (EOTAS) via attendance at the Rainbow Centre, Fareham. Provision there, will include all elements of section F. Ivy will initially attend the Rainbow Centre 2 days per week as this is the maximum she is able to cope with currently. This can be increased when she is ready through negotiation with the LA. The EOTAS package is subject to the standard annual review process.”
Conductive Education, as a provision for children with special needs, is often misunderstood. This often makes it difficult to secure agreement to have Conductive Education included within Section F of a child’s EHCP.
In this case, having legal support meant that the case managers at The Rainbow Centre were guided by specialist SEND lawyers. This expertise helped Ivy’s family to achieve the right outcome for her. She now has the benefit of fully funded Conductive Education, meaning she can receive highly specialised provision tailored to her individual special educational needs. In addition, this support has enabled the Children’s Service Manager, Eniko Kocsis, to develop her knowledge of EHCPs and SEND legislation so that she can provide invaluable mentoring to families through the process.
Specialist legal support has since enabled The Rainbow Centre to secure fully funded placements for multiple children, in addition to Ivy.
Ivy’s mum, says:
“Conductive Education has taught us how to best engage our daughter in all aspects of her life, from self-care skills to sitting, walking, communication, interaction with others…everything! CE has shown us how important it is to have repetition, associated songs and routine for Ivy to feel safe and build on her skills.
This year The Rainbow Centre has meant the world to us. During lockdown, the virtual sessions have been absolutely wonderful. They have enabled us to engage the whole family in learning together in a fun way. Ivy has been able to continue to work on her learning targets and we have discovered lots of techniques to help her improve. We have learnt story massage to help the bedtime routine, fine manipulation activities, lots of songs and stories. Ivy has had no contact with other professionals at this time and so The Rainbow Centre being there to support us throughout has been invaluable. The Rainbow Centre family group on social media has provided great support in difficult times. We really cannot thank you enough!
In addition, we have also received legal advice and services arranged through The Rainbow Centre to support us with Ivy’s EHCP, again we are so grateful for this. “
Eniko Kocsis
Children's Service Manager and Senior Conductor Teacher