Moderate learning difficulties, where are these children supposed to go?

[elliejjtiny]

DS4 is 8, nearly 9 in year 4 at school. He has his ehcp up for review soon (I need to chase that up). He has moderate learning difficulties, physical development delay, hearing loss (wears hearing aids), some health issues and some dyspraxia traits.

He gets a lot of help at school most of the time although sometimes he loses his support because the extra SN TA's (he shares one with a few different children) have to cover staff absence due to covid.

He learnt to write his name at the beginning of year 3 and he is about 2-3 years behind the average child in maths I think. His reading is quite good (level 9 on oxford reading tree) but his handwriting isn't really legible and he struggles a lot with spelling. He also struggles with speech and being understood. The gap between him and the other children in his class keeps getting bigger and some of the other children make fun of him because of that.

We have been doing activities with our local special needs groups over Easter and he has really thrived. It was so lovely for him to be around other children with additional needs.

I've been looking at the criteria for special needs schools in my area and they all say on their website that only 2% of children with SEN need to be in special needs school and it's just for children with very complex special needs or extreme behaviour who can't cope in mainstream school. That doesn't sound much like my ds to be honest.

I don't know where is the right place for him to be at school. I've talked to the staff at our local catchment secondary and he will probably be close to the limit of additional needs that they can cope with but they seem happy to take him when the time comes. The children at the groups we went to were mostly in mainstream school too but scattered all over the county. I'm confused about where he is meant to go as it doesn't sound like he would fit in at either special needs or mainstream school.

hi, do try posting in the sn topic. lots of help and support there.

Whereabouts in the country are you? Some areas have better provision for MLD than others.

Hi OP, if you were willing to share your rough location/county there's likely some posters who could suggest some possible schools?
Local to me there's a primary and different secondary specifically for MLD, then there's a 3-19 years old school for SLD and complex needs. If your local SS is SLD, is there anywhere a bit further away that caters for children with MLD?
Or are there any local resourced provisions attached to any mainstream schools?

There's a school near us that sounds like it would fit him very well. My dd has friends who went there. They often have learning difficulties plus other diagnoses, If you saw them interacting with each other you might think they "looked older than their age" but you wouldn't realise most of them had struggled in mainstream.

The school has been brilliant for those friends of hers. They do a bit of academics but it's set up for the children to learn how to deal with "real life" and get training in things that they might be able to work in. So they'll do things like learn how to get on a bus and pay, order from a cafe, go shopping etc. Most of them go onto college at 16 and get training which leads onto employment.

But. It often takes a fight from the parents to get them in because it's easier (and cheaper) to keep them in mainstream, plus there aren't enough spaces. I think there are far too few places like that available and places push mainstream even when it's clear it isn't going to work.

You need to contact the special needs schools in your area and speak to the headteachers and try and see if they would accommodate your son. If they feel they can you can ask your ehcp coordinator to apply for a place - this is how it works in Norfolk anyway.

They will always try to put you off applying to these schools because there are more children needing the places than there are spaces but that doesn’t mean if your son doesn’t fit the bill he won’t get a place.

I think every area is different but in Norfolk for example we have several very severe type complex needs schools and several more moderate type schools and some autism specialist schools where they follow a mainstream curriculum in a small class. All the schools are heavily oversubscribed but there is quite a choice in terms of ability / need etc.

I work in an MLD special school and he sounds like he’d fit right in to our 4/5 class although I don’t know them that well (I teach Year 11). Look at special schools in local boroughs not just the one you live in we have pupils from other councils as we’re their local special school and the one that can best meet need.

According to gov.uk statistics, 40.6% of children with an EHCP were in a state funded special school in 2021. Around 2% of children in state funded mainstream have an EHCP so perhaps they've got their figures confused.

Hopefully someone who knows more will come along soon, as it's something that worries me. DD1 (Y3) has ASC, she has a 1:1 as part of her EHCP with a number of strategies in place. She currently does a 1 day a week placement at the local special school because she's been struggling to cope following moving up to Y3, but they've expressed an opinion that she wouldn't need full time special school because she is fairly academically able (though needing a lot of support to break down and access work, strategies to manage behaviour, often has to be taken out of class etc and the gap between her and her peers socially and emotionally is quite wide). I hope she'll stay in her mainstream primary school but currently I can't see mainstream secondary being manageable for her.

Also wanted to add - look further than you think as well - my son aged 9 travels 23 miles to his specialist school in Norfolk. He has a taxi and an escort and actually quite enjoys the journey. He goes on his iPad etc. Sometimes you have to travel further to find the right school.

Can you tell us whereabouts you are in the UK? (I'm assuming you are in the UK).
Then people might be able to suggest an appropriate school.

In my LEA ,we have two special needs primary school,s and two special needs high school,s one for moderate to severe learning disabilities and one for severe to profound learning disabilities,so it really is area dependent.

How about a LAN school? Learning and additional needs. My two middle boys are in independent ( non maintained ) special schools paid for by my LA.

I have done 7 SEN appeals and to be honest I ignore most things my LA or Senco tells me now. Unfortunately mainstream Senco’s are over stretched with no budgets but their experience has no bearing on SEN placements as they have little or no experience of what goes in in SEN schools

Thankyou everyone. We're in Somerset. All the special schools near here seem to be for either severe/profound learning difficulties, autism or behaviour problems. A special needs unit within a mainstream school would be ideal but they all seem to be for children with autism too.

I would say he sounds like he should be in a MLD placement too. In Scotland we have MLD and SLD school and Speech and Language bases within mainstream schools (well within our LA). We don’t have EHCPs up here either.

I don't know Somerset, but unfortunately there are nowhere near enough special school places countrywide. In our LA, we had MLD schools 20 years ago, but they are now full of children with SLD, complex needs, those with complex and multiple needs. Even far too many of those children with really significant needs are being forced into inappropriate mainstream placements, so those with "just" moderate needs, and of course, all those dc who need some SEND support, but don't quite meet the criteria for an EHCP do not even hit the radar to be considered in terms of appropriate placements.

It is a shocking situation, which, sadly, most people seem unaware of. There should be uproar about it. A good education should be a right for every child, IMO.

Just remember that LA's try thier hardest to keep children out of special schools. That 2% nonsense is a way for them to keep parents from asking for a place.

Not all children with SEND need a special school place, but lots do, and dont let thier made up statistics stop you from applying if you think it would be right for your child.

Search "Somerset local offer" for all schools in your area. Don't be afraid look at private/independent special schools. The LA fund these but you'll have a fight on your hands. Have a look, and if there are any suitable settings go and see them. Then you need a frank discussion with the current schools sendco and call for an emergency ehcp review. Your local sendiass will be able to give advice too

Thankyou. I have managed to find a list of special needs schools who claim to cater for children with moderate learning difficulties although most of them require students to have other disabilities as well. I am slowly working my way through the list. To be honest I wouldn't want him to go to a school where everyone else had significantly higher needs than him. If all children with moderate learning difficulties are in mainstream then that's fine and where I would like him to go too but there don't seem to be many children with moderate learning difficulties in his mainstream school either. Maybe it will be different when he goes to secondary and there are more children.

It depends on whether you feel his needs are being met where he is. If you feel they could be better met elsewhere then push for that x

Good luck, my daughter has asd, adhd 1:1 all day in school (it’s a 1:1 just for her) ehcp and I still can’t get her into a special school! Been told mainstream is fine 🙄

You can search for schools here. Look at ones out of area and independent and nonmaintained too that are within travelling distance too. What about this school?

More than 2% of pupils with an EHCP are in SS - as posted up thread, last year the percentage in state funded SS was 40.6, and that doesn’t include independent and non-maintained special schools. The statistics are here.

Posted too soon. It also sounds like the EHCP needs to be amended to specify and quantify 1:1, more SALT, more OT, use of laptop and assistive tech etc.

The first step is to chase up his annual review and make sure the provision e.g. speech and language is clear and specific. Does he have designated 1:1 support - how many hours?.is this enough? His 1:1 should not be disappearing to cover other classes and I would address this with school. I would look at the SEND offer on your local council website - research and visit local specialist provision. The majority of the provision will be good but might not be right for your son. Do not assume that a special school will be the answer - some are really poor. (unfortunately for us - that was our local provision). My son went to a unit attached to mainstream and that worked well.

Thankyou. @AReallyUsefulEngine I looked at that school but thought MLD and ASD meant children who went there needed to have both, not just MLD like my ds. I'll contact them.

At the moment ds has 1-1 sometimes but not all the time. The school has a nurture room staffed by TA's and normally he goes in there every day for extra help, mainly with maths and english, either 1-1 or in a small group. He is not in there all day though. When he is in his year 4 classroom he is on the lowest ability table and the class TA mostly helps that table. When there is high staff absence (mainly covid) the school send the nurture room staff to help with the rest of the school to try and keep the school open.

PM

According to their SEN information report it is MLD and/or ASD. Link