To ask for people's experience of SEN provision

I hear you very unfair.

And I suppose this time it's me saying "but for my child thats ok"

I do have guilt when I send the money book the appointment but hope that at least it's one less NHS space being taken

Two tier ism is rampant in health and education.

The other thing to note that even if the LA didn't accept private diagnosis, the parent still going this private route are still well ahead with their own education about their child. They can advocate better, change parenting style, do research, therapy etc and generally not be so lost

This is why many years ago LAs didn’t take private diagnoses because of the unfairness of it for those many families who can’t afford that route 😢. Demand is too much now so we have to accept them.

I'm not year in... only months but the system is stacked against those who can't afford private diagnostic pathways and indeed it's also difficult to navigate what speacialist you need - I found it overwhelming and confusing. So it's stacked against those who can't navigate it for whatever reason

So far we have:

£850 - peadritician (local specialist in this area and practices in the NHS) to basically give us a pathway and reccomend professionals and services. Almost like a project mamagement / a gatwwaty and path for what's needed eg:.

£850 - Occ Therapist at home assessment
£650 - Occ Therapist school assessment
£600 - Speech and Language therapist school assessment

Then the peadatrician will read these reports and suggest what type of diagnostic assessment she will perform. I'm not going to be surprised if that is at least £3k

Then we also might be paying for ongoing in school therapy 1:1

All the above doesn't take into account the time parents and teachers need to fill in forms with examples to detail the child's traits / struggles/ history

The Sendco at school couldn't tell us what professionals we should engage and how and what type of assessment needed. The Internet was equally as confusing so the initial £850 was well worth it.

My point is... well before you enter into battling for ECHP or tribunals and finding funding for schools its an uphill struggle to just to kick it off and project manage it all. Nothing seems to be set up in a way to manage and direct the intake quickly and with ease (assume the waitlist issue then follows)

For many autistic children, their primary need is in the area of SEMH (social, emotional and mental health) rather than learning difficulties, although subtle difficulties with processing language might be present (DD2 qualifies for 25% extra time but is reluctant to spend any more time in a test situation than is necessary). Rigidity of thinking, struggling to navigate social situations, the stress of ‘masking’ your condition and dealing with sensory issues (smelly canteens; classmate rocking their chair) can all be a recipe for anxiety that is often overlooked by teachers not because they don’t care (unless you count DD2’s Y6 teacher in Twickenham 😒) but because they are overstretched and have to focus any SEN capacity on those with more obviously presenting needs. Class TAs are fewer and farther between these days and are often supporting children with more obvious needs or covering for teachers. I can see why smaller class sizes (and a smaller school overall) as found in the private system, where teachers have more capacity to be alert to these more hidden but genuine needs (autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that can legally be regarded as a disability), would work better for many such children. Families shouldn’t have to resort to this but resources to support learning needs are inadequate and those to support SEMH needs are right at the bottom of the priority list in mainstream state schools.

There are different sorts of Sen needs. What was previously known as Asperger’s (highly academic, socially awkward) and dyslexia needs are often met excellently in private. Dealing with these in mainstream is hard as the Asperger’s children need calm, and calm and mainstream don’t go together. School is just a distressing experience for these kids.

Dyslexia is often just ignored really, for all the extra time in exams given, and the use of a computer in class etc a dyslexic child will still not achieve what the could unless they have one to one personalised help. Private dyslexic tutors are excellent in this regard.

if your child is non verbal or having frequent violent outbursts you need to access a permanent space in a specialist school. This is an exhausting process of fighting for an education for your child. It’s exhausting.

its so true what was said above. The outcome depends on the resources of and effort made the parents. It shouldn’t be like this but it is.

Mainstream private schools are not an option for a huge swathe of SEN pupils - conflating the two massively simplifies an incredibly complex situation which has been utterly devastated by funding cuts. Most of the SEN kids I work with could absolutely not have their needs met in a mainstream private provider.

From my understanding, on the whole, private schools do not take "disruptive" SEN kids because other parents don't want their paid for education of their children to be disrupted like that. If you're one of those "useful" autistic people with an affinity for maths and an eidetic memory, then you might be welcomed.

Do you mean just experiences of SEN in private schools?

Private schools don't have to give any child SEN support so it's very rarely a solution.

What I've seen happening in the schools is that parents who have greater means seem to get better help for their children than those who have social barriers. Sometimes they take away from a child whose parents aren't sure what they should be getting to give to a child whose parents do know.

There was a situation at the kid's school that really made me think about what's right. Of course we are in a situation where everything the things kid's are allocated on their EHCP cannot be funded. Most children are allocated some 121 hours with a TA and these are really meant to be 121. However, in most schools, this looks more like a TA providing support to more than one child, anywhere from 2 to 5 depending on their level of need.

Some parents are fine with the small group support because their child's needs can be met that way and they see other advantages to them being in a small group vs alone. Other parents insist that all support is 121 as allocated. If you're a robust enough parent, you can insist on this and the school will be left no choice but to give it to you at the expense of another child. They can't afford more staff.