EHCP Appendix 1 aniridia guidance

An Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. It can be requested by:

  • Parents/young person
  • Nursery/school, Special Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO)
  • Health care professionals
  • Social care professionals

If you think your child needs an EHCP you can ask your local education authority (LA) for an assessment to decide what kind of support would help them. You should talk to your child’s educational setting first and if a setting is considering making a request they should let you know too.

After receiving a request for an assessment the LA has 6 weeks to respond to the request in writing, letting you know whether they will assess or not.

If the LA agrees they will ask you to complete an Appendix 1. All LAs have to ask the same questions but they may be worded differently.

The LA should also tell you which professionals will be providing reports. This allows you to make sure that everyone involved with your child is included.

The professionals’ reports should be an accurate reflection of your child. If there is something you think is inaccurate, contact the professional concerned and ask them about it.

Our resource

Aniridia Network has created an EHCP Resource to help you complete Appendix 1

Three families who each have a child with aniridia generously shared their Appendix 1 forms with us and all of them resulted in their children being issued with an EHCP.

We changed names and personal details and made appropriate additions to provide you with example responses as follows:

  • Column 1: Questions
  • Column 2: Child 6-18 months
  • Column 3: Child 2-5 years
  • Column 4: Child 6+ years.

If you are a part of Aniridia Network and would like a copy of the resource, or have any other education questions contact our Education Adviser at education@aniridia.org.uk.

How to use this resource

Before completing your Appendix 1. read all the columns in this resource as some comments are not age dependent and each of the three children’s aniridia present differently. We suggest that you print out the document and highlight the statements that best describe your child. Then write your answers in your own words. This resource should be used as a prompt only.