Writing over in The Guardian, Liberal Democrat minister Sarah Teather says:
John Harris writes of the fight he had to simply get the basic support for his autistic child (Special needs kids deserve better than a rush to reform, 21 May). His experience is a story I have heard over and over again. It is precisely this problem that the coalition government is trying to fix…
I also know the system doesn’t work well enough for children with less severe needs either, such as those with unrecognised language difficulties whose frustration in trying to communicate shows up as angry, even criminal, behaviour. For each child with an issue not picked up, there is one mislabelled as “special educational needs” (SEN) who is actually falling behind for another reason, perhaps because they’re caring for a relative or being bullied at school.
But John’s claim that the purpose of our reforms was to deliver some arbitrary reduction in the numbers on the SEN register is just scaremongering. These reforms are about making sure every child, whatever their needs, gets the right type of help early.
You can read Sarah Teather’s piece in full here.
* Mark Pack is Party President and is the editor of Liberal Democrat Newswire.
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5 Comments
I was once off from school for three weeks with chicken pox… on my return they said I’d fallen behind and I was being made SEN.
Didn’t mind it too much though as I got to use a laptop in my exams.
My primary school of 130 children was allocated 4 hours of educational psychologist time for the entire term, and we had to choose which child needed it most. At the time we had children with extreme behavioural difficulties, ADHD and selective mutism. How do you choose?
I notice the coalition seem to be redefining SEN so as not to include people with special educational needs due to family or personal problems, poverty or non-diagnosed disabilities.
If you weren’t in government you’d be screaming from the rooftops over this attempt to withdraw help from those who need it.
……………………………But John’s claim that the purpose of our reforms was to deliver some arbitrary reduction in the numbers on the SEN register is just scaremongering. These reforms are about making sure every child, whatever their needs, gets the right type of help early……………….
And Father Christmas lives at the North Pole!
In my area the Local Authority has slashed the money allocated to statemented children (which was never enough anyway) requiring schools to make up the difference from their budgets.
For SEN children without a statement (which takes ages to obtain) there’s no extra money from the LA.