A diagnosis is not necessary to receive any SEN support in an educational placement.
A diagnosis is not necessary for an EHCP to be issued.
If a parent/carer or young person would like to pursue a diagnosis they will need to go to their GP and ask them to refer to the Neurodevelopmental Service Pathways (NDS) or ask the child or young person’s SENCo.
The GP/NDS team will need some documentation to support with making a decision about the referral, this might be:
· Reports from the SENCo
· Home to school diary
· Exclusion/Suspension letters
· Behaviour plans
· SEN Support Plans
· Other relevant professional reports such as Ed Psych,
· Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy
The parent/carer or young person has the right to choose who provides the diagnosis through the NHS, this is referred to as ‘right to choose’
If a GP needs to refer the child or young person for a physical or mental health condition, in most cases the parent/carer or young person has the legal right to choose the hospital or service they would like to go to.
Private diagnosis
If a parent/carer or young person decide to get a private diagnosis they must consider the important points below if they would like this to be recognised/ratified by the NHS and Local Authority:
- A multi-disciplinary quality assurance (QA) process will be needed.
- Any report must meet the clinical standards set out by both:
The National Institute for Health and Care Clinical Excellence (NICE)