SEND - children’s needs to be reassessed from year 6 2029?

What do you think? You shouldn’t rely on the LA or anyone connected to them to give you accurate information. That includes the autism specialist teacher.

Having been part of the SEND community and worked in SEND for several years (including reading EHCPs), it is vanishingly rare that I come across a family where I doubt their child truly has SEND and that ALL the difficulties are down to social factors or parenting. Not impossible, but very rare.

You think it's a myth? It's literally still happening.

https://www.mencap.org.uk/press-release/over-half-billion-pounds-year-spent-locking-people-learning-disability-and-or

https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/news/1-435-autistic-people-remain-locked-away-in-mental

We struggled to even get an ehcp for him. The LA refused to assess to begin with and the head teacher at his primary school was furious with them.

It's a combination of a change in curriculum and an acceleration of the curriculum.

When I was at school, I remember spending time doing PE lessons, music lessons that involved lots of movement, an art project that was making and painting a giant Noah's ark in the corner of the classroom - movement breaks were part of the lesson plan, even if not called that.

But now, we need 5 year olds to know about split digraphs. We have 7 year olds having to identify and use different parts of speech in their writing (we just had to try to spell correctly). We have 9 year olds doing stuff that was reserved for secondary school. We have GCSE students doing maths that was A-level.

Schools have had real term spending cuts through funding freezes, so they have less staff. Class sizes have got bigger. School sizes have got bigger. The school DD1's attended was 1300 pupils when they attended. It was about 1000 when I attended.

Schools are trying to cope with more children, many of whom do not have the same regard for authority as when we were young. Schools respond by bringing in harsher and harsher behaviour policies (such as no toilets in class time, 30 minute lunches for 1300 pupils to eat and use the loo). Pupils get crushed by demands.

*If all children need to learn to swim, for safety... but some cannot learn in group classes... how do you propose we provide swimming for the others.
My DS couldn't learn in a group, *

Much like maths gcse, imho we should provide the opportunity to everyone to learn & do the best we can on a state funded budget (which is finite) but some people won't be successful. We can't afford to state fund one to one lessons for this many kids.

The diagnoses are always pending while the EHCP process happens.

I actually don’t think the parents think they’re doing all this. They’re too emotional and too close to the situation to be able to see it in the cold light of day, and they’re urged on by others online to view their child as disabled rather than a child that needs a different parenting approach or simply firmer boundaries. They’re then catapulted into the role of ‘protector’ fighting for their child’s rights and once they start, as a parent they keep going and going. I do get it, I would do anything for my children. But sometimes that parental love can cloud what is best for them
in the long run.

Have you read the ‘birthday cake’ thread on here at the moment? Mum complaining she’s being treated like shit by young adult daughter after running herself ragged to give her the perfect birthday, 2 cakes etc - only for DD to tantrum over the lot. Magically her DD can deal with her ‘triggers’ when doing something she wants to, but is ‘triggered’ by her servants aka parents not doing what she wants. OP explained it all away as ‘her autism’ because over the years she’s totally lost sight of the fact she’s being played like a fiddle and current groupthink is to have no boundaries or demands ‘so as not to put them in meltdown’.

Have a read, it’s very interesting.

No. I asked the autism specialist teacher if I should but she said there was no way he would qualify for a place at sen school, she laughed at me actually.

Yes, I have OCD, depression, type 1 diabetes and am likely ADHD (won’t be assessed as no point, but have been encouraged to by others), my colleagues have an array of diagnoses themselves, we all just cobble along supporting each other and doing our best. Most people have something that isn’t trivial.

If their child already has an EHCP and special school and essentially got what you deem they wanted, why would they continue to be 'mithering' for a diagnosis?

Also from what I can tell, if a child is in special school they will be less likely to lose their EHCP? My son is in mainstream and it says that the vast majority of children with EHCP's in mainstream will lose them.

EHCPs are not based on diagnosis.

Agreed. There’s people in all kinds of jobs with neurodiversity, anxiety or depression, from the very highest echelons to the lowest. It isn’t something that should be monetised.

It might not be able to afford but if more children are being born with autism and other disabilities then they need help.

Because ‘normal life’ is increasingly hard, relentless and unrewarding. And the playing field isn’t level and never has been, and never will be.

Sorry but that’s rubbish. The last ‘asylums’ closed in the early 80s, all this ‘they were locked away’ stuff is just a myth.

Of COURSE there are a core of truly disabled children who need and deserve support (including yours, if I can add that; I’ve seen your other posts).

But part of my job used to involve reading EHCPs and truly, there are a number of parents frankly mithering for diagnoses while neglecting the most basic parenting functions. I’ve seen parents let their child lie in bed all day eating crisps and watching TV because ‘they’ll have a meltdown if I make them get up, so they must be autistic’. They’ve had social workers to the house to engage with the child and it’s blatantly obvious these parents don’t want to put up the slightest bit of resistance to their child, have created a monster and now want it to be rebranded ‘SEN’. By this point you have an 8 year old who has been pandered to their entire life and yes will throw a huge tantrum if told what to do. It’s all then branded ‘SEMH’ and ‘sensory needs’ and after a protracted ‘battle’ involving cherry picked ‘expert reports’, they then land their taxi and special school place.

I’m sorry that sounds so Daily Mail, I didn’t actually believe it myself until I encountered it at which point it was undeniable. All my colleagues felt similarly.

Meanwhile, yes, children actually in need of these places miss out because they’re filled to the rafters with children like the aforementioned one.

I’m not surprised it’s those types they’re looking to remove legal obligations from, what else is there?

Yep.

It's so fun staying up all night worried sick about your child's education. Who wouldn't want that? Living the good life!

Why wouldn’t they, it’s a walk in the park.

I don’t know about you, but we are positively dancing (crawling) through life!

Did you appeal?

Yep. That's it.

People are just desperate for their child to be disabled. 🙄

Happy to talk about it. I wanted him to go to sen school but the LA wouldn't budge. The mainstream secondary school said he should be in a sen school and that they couldn't meet his needs but the LA named the mainstream school on his ehcp anyway and didn't even tell the mainstream school they had been named on the ehcp. To be fair to the school, the staff have been amazing with him but he needs constant supervision. My older son is struggling too because other people in his year make fun of him for being my youngest child's older brother. My older son is very protective of his little brother but it's not easy for him.

If DLA is used to pay for therapies, then can I claim back the £30k I spent on independent pediatrics, Ed Psych, OT and SALT that should have been provided by the NHS and/or LA? I receive about £290 a month for DS (middle rate DLA) so it will take another 9 years to break even (assuming DS doesn't need any other therapy or equipment before then - unlikely given his needs). Or does the subsidising only work one way?

FWIW I am the parent of an autistic/ADHD child who goes to an independent specialist at a cost of about £100k pa and has the additional flipping cheek to get LA-funded transport there and back. All I need is a bit of equine therapy and that's a full bingo card, I think?

the country simply cannot afford this many SEN children and instead of the govt being honest its doing exactly what it tried to do over PIP and say that they are going to toughen up the requirements. why did you honestly think it was going to be otherwise? I cannot for the life of me understand how in the space of a couple of generations we have gone from the numbers of special needs when I was younger to the explosion of it that we have today. what is the real issue here and why is no one getting to grips with that? every forum I am on, people suggesting that they have this that or the other disorder. why are people so desperate to label themselves and their children when there is no real hope of a resolution to it other than making life a lot harder and more miserable down the line.