Just how common is it for a child to have "special needs" ?

that should have been "all the special schools around here".

I thought the report was odd. The writer seemed to have very limited ideas of what kind of child ends up on the SEN register. He seemed to think they could basically all be divided into two categories: those with real needs=statements and those without statements which are basically only pretend SEN.

"It is important to distinguish those with real special needs – the 2 to 3% with
Statements – from those who may be classified as having special needs – the
20% or so without Statements."

So only children with statements have real special needs. He seems completely unaware that some LEAs, like ours, refuse to statement children with physical disabilities. So that means that dd's needs aren't real? Idiot!

"This paper will put forward the hypothesis that
the main problem with the 20% may be that they have not been properly
taught, (and in particular not been properly taught how to read) in their early
years at school."

Oh right, if only you could teach ds to read properly the fact that his wrists hurt too much to hold a pen will just evaporate? This also ignores the fact that some children on the SEN register may be perfectly capable of reading but e.g. unable to write.

"The system of SEN contains two perverse incentives. First, the system has a
vested interest in failure: the more children with Special Educational Needs
that can be identified, the greater are the resources that can be claimed."

So? If the money is used for SEN, the school is hardly making a profit is it? Or does he think they can spend the SEN money on the headteacher's pension or taking the staff to the pantomime?

"The case for looking for pedagogic causes for the great expansion is particularly
strong since there is no comparable growth in Special Educational Needs in
other countries except in the USA."

The evidence from my nephew's Swedish school would suggest that SEN pupils are either taught out of view in a special block where they have no contact with other children or left unsupported to disrupt the class- his last year's learning experience was totally ruined by the presence of three completely unsupported autistic pupils- teacher had a nervous breakdown halfway through and they have since been taught by supply teachers. Oh we do so need a continental system!

"All special needs pupils should be required to take externally-administered
standardised tests of reading and spelling each year in order to focus attention
on the needs of the pupil and on the school’s effectiveness in meeting them.57
The results of these tests should determine whether or not the particular
policies – and associated funding – should continue. "

Ah right, so if ds can spell, it doesn't matter if holding the pen hurts so much that it makes him cry? It doesn't matter if his health is ruined by lack of suitable aids? Oh, silly me.

"The disruption to many schools caused by much current special needs provision
could probably be considerably reduced by:
! teaching reading earlier and more effectively"

Ah, if you only teach children to read when they're 3 instead of 4, they won't grow up to have special needs...

"! more academic selection both within and between schools;"

and what do we do with the ones that have been de-selected? bin them? or will they automatically learn to read when they've been deselected? or how will this solve any SEN-related problems at all???

If this right-wing think tank person can come up with a teaching method that means my dcs won't need aids, won't be disabled, won't suffer pain from ordinary school activities- then why doesn't he say so? If he can't, how about just accepting that you can have very real needs indeed without a statement.

Often it's a case of spending the money now to avoid paying out much larger sums later.

My ds1 is similar in some ways to Sameagain's ds1. He is very bright (years ahead in some subjects) but has problems with fine and gross motor skills. Writing has always been very difficult for him and it was predicted that in KS2 he would need a laptop or something similar for written work and would also need to be statemented.

Since then he has been doing various exercises and programmes at school to help with his motor skills. The difference this has made has been huge. He is now 8yrs old. His writing is still slower than a lot of children his age but he is able to keep up without using expensive equipment. He hasn't yet needed to be statemented either.

Without those exercises he would still be unable to write more than a few scrawled words withot stopping to rest.

The report linked to is odd. The author talks about the expense of having so many children on the SEN register but suggests sending more children to special school instead - which is actually far more expensive. The reason inclusion is liked by governments so much is because essentially it's cheaper to have a child in mainstream than in a special school.

That paper seems to suggest that everything will be fine as long as you can keep children off the Special Needs register and just provide good teaching. But what about children like mine who need disability aids, input from an OT, special support from SENCO. Where is the money to come from if they are not to be put on a special register?

Dd, who is the more disabled of my two, was not put on the SEN register. The result was that she had to pretend she was not disabled, suffer pain and miss out lessons because of a classroom situation aimed at non-disabled pupils. If she could not cope, she was punished, or at the very least missed out on learning.

And in case you think a special school would be the answer, all the special schools are geared towards children with severe learning disabilities- dd is gifted.

Ds is on the SEN register. What it means is that he does not get into trouble for things he cannot help, his teacher has a clearer idea of how much to ask of him, the SENCO is on the case, the day his wrists will no longer allow him to write there will be a laptop available. The difference between his school experience and hers is just enormous. And it's the SEN register that's made a big part of that difference.

sameagain asked 'Just how common is it for a child to have "special needs"?'

A good question and answered in this academic paper, if you're interested:

www.cps.org.uk/cpsfile.asp?id=155 What are Special Educational Needs?

Depends where you are in the country and what the school's SEN budget are like. It sounds like your school are intelligently proactive, putting in intervention early so that minor problems are addressed and not allowed to become bigger ones, if at all possible.

My dad's budget is over £1million for SEN, but where I work, I am incredibly at having to fight (probably unsuccessfully) to get a yr 8 child the help they should have had long ago, but I would be failing in my professional duty if I didn't got into battle for him.

My two sons are classed as SN. One i don't really think has real SN tho and its just a social/educational excuse for him being a bit slow

Eldest son is on school action and gets additional help with reading (aged 9)

Youngest son has severe autism (aged 5 with mental age of 2 yo)