How do I find out why I went to SEN school.

[Youagain2025]

When i was a child 8 or maybe nine. I'm quite sure it was year 3? I jointed a school for children with moderate learning difficulties. I was not told why and I never questioned it. I feel like there's a big chunk that i don't know about myself. I'm not sure if things were done differently on the mid 80s like what would have been done to decide i needed to ho to a special needs school. I guess there were not ehcps back then ? I have read GP would have had records. Why would a GP have records about my schooling ? I read that i can ask for a SARS? But it said something about knowing the dates and what it is im looking for . I'm not even 100% on the dates. And I'm not sure how to word what I'm looking for.

Yeah I saw when I had a look. I'm not sure if it was for chikdren with autism back then though. Could have been

That's from 2014 which the OP is not talking about at all since she's talking about the 1980s.

What you said in your post to the OP was this:

"Hi, OP, I'm a educational psychologist can't be sure but I imagine you had some kind of test that showed at that age that you scored in the moderate learning difficulties range at the time. I was trained in the 90s and at that age moderate LD was a score of 50-70 on a standard IQ test (not the lower score quoted a few pages back). Scores below 50 were severe LD (though to be honest, most people with that level of learning disability would not be accessing a test)"

So, I would expect an ed psych to know that moderate learning diifficulties were never about IQ whereas learning disabilites always have been. Where were you trained in the 90s where learning difficulties were diagnosed as learning disabilities?

Then in a later paragraph you say:

"I can tell you from your grasp of sentence construction, grammar, and spelling that you don't appear to be a person who has a general moderate learning disability. There is nothing wrong with having learning difficulties, but a person scoring in that range would be likely to struggle with long written communication pieces. So I imagine that a mistake was made, and someone didn't look past a score, or maybe you had a particular issue that led to a lower score that wasn't really an overall global learning disability. Or maybe you were very unhappy in a bigger school and someone thought you would be happier in small class sizes. That wouldn't be a reason now to go to SEN school but things were less rigorous and well monitored in the past. It's impossible to say for sure now unless maybe your parents kept copies of old reports somewhere?"

So in a couple of sentences you say the OP doesn't appear to have a learning disability, which she doesn't, than you say there's nothing wrong with having learning difficulties and possibly a mistake was made when OP only ever said she was told she had moderate learning difficulties but you waded in saying when you were trained in the 90s, moderate learning difficulties was an IQ less between 50 and 90 and the OP was likely assessed as such.

It wasn't.

I've lived in Bexley all my life, and my dentist was next to Woodside School. I remember a student moving from there to my mainstream school. It's still a special school, but is now a secondary phase and called Endevour Academy.

There is another special school in Bexley called Woodside which is now based in Erith. It's part of the same academy trust as Endevour and the needs and age range sounds familiar to the one you remember so I'm guessing they moved sites at some point.

You could ask Bexley council for (1) any information they might have on yourself and (2) any information they might have in their archives on what the admission criteria might have been in the 80s.

You could also join some of the local Bexley facebook groups and ask around. If I can remember a few vague things then I'm sure there will be former students/parents/staff who will know a lot more. Good luck.

Some chip on your shoulder you’ve got there. I believe she does based on her many responses to this thread. There’s a lot of waffle going on on this thread and the only practical advice is what I said earlier- go to your GP.

OP is struggling to analyse her situation logically, identify solutions and put a plan into action to answer her own questions. She’s getting bamboozled by a simple task and tying herself in knots rather than just contacting her GP as a first point of contact for advice. That is someone who struggles with executive function.

The Bexley Local Studies library website says they have articles about the history of schools in the area. You could email them to ask for any information they have about the history of Woodside. https://arena.yourlondonlibrary.net/web/bexley/local-history-articles

False that an individual had to have profound difficulties to be sent to a 'special school'

As many posters here who attended or knew someone who attended 'special schools' in the 80s and teachers who taught in them have said.

It could have been behaviour, dyslexia, dyscalculia or other difficulties.

Reading the full thread is really important before commenting.

The 80s is just a few years after the scandal of black/mixed heritage children being sent to special schools as judged to be 'educationally subnormal' meaning learning disabilities in coded terms, coming to light when most of the children did not have any SEN and many hadn't even had any kind of assessment.

That led to the 1981 education act which focused on not identifying SEN DC as just handicapped or slow, but having SEN which shifted focus from identifying DC with 'learning disabilities' who were previously only judged as handicapped or slow, to those with 'learning difficulties' and SEN provision being provided, usually in 'special' schools

Then you know nothing about schools for children with mild or moderate learning difficulties - the GP is not involved. See, I managed to make a comment on your post without a personal insult. Try that next time.

Any clues on why op might be coming across in that way? Have a little think… and a word with yourself

@OpalShaker
You know what, I can't be bothered to sit here arguing with you about this. Why are you so salty about it and wanting to derail the thread? Is it to say "aha! A fake person is advising OP?" I don't really get it. You are under no obligation to believe me but a person using terminology from the SEN law in the UK isn't really a gotcha.

That 2014 definition is the same as previous ones, or very similar , from the code of practice, which is the law on SEN, and learning difficulties are legally defined within it.
As I explained, the code of practice uses the terminology of learning difficulties - general and specific.

Clinicians and medics use learning disability to refer to those with an IQ score below 70 and sometimes the term learning difficulties in the more US way to refer to specific areas of need such as a specific working memory issue, not people with a global delay.

It's a background and training difference.

Incidentally I have never heard of moderate LD being an iq of 35-49, from my training that is severe LD (below 0.1 percentile) and moderate was 50-69 (below 2nd percentile).
We don't really use those strict criteria any more though.

https://www.ipsea.org.uk/faqs/learning-difficulty

Are you for real? Re-read your previous post to me and try some self-awareness.

Oh look, here we are.

We are both correct, just from different training backgrounds. As an educational psychologist, I am using education terminology. I assume your background or whatever is medical. Only I didn't think to cast doubt on your credentials. Odd 🤔

I found this. I would love to see all my medical history but it may need to much faffing. I'm not sure what time frame I should ask for. I started the SEN school age 8 or 9 . But im thinking any type of assessments could have been before that. So I'm not sure what time to ask for.

You have a legal right to everything. So if you want to see everything ask for it, and specify that you would like everything going back to birth.

I'm just a bit worried it would be alot of faffing for them and they may say it's not possible

If you are legally entitled to it don’t worry about that

If the schools still exist, then start by writing to them. Contact the relevant County Hall as well. And GP and aunts/relatives, parents friends?

Diagnoses are clearer now eg ASD/ADHD would’ve been mild/ moderate learning difficulties or in my day “ backwards” I’m 60
The school would’ve perhaps be in a different location/ have a different name but if it is in the same location you could email them for your “ archive records”
Or contact your local education authority.
If I remember correctly you have DC with ASD? Could you have a quiet word with their teacher to see if they can help.
From your description of your difficulties it does sound like you also have ASD, but the spectrum disorder part was unknown then

I do have an appointment with SENCO next week about ds . I may mention it after we have spoken about ds.

So I have contacted the school and also messaged gp reception. Hopefully i hear something back.

Well done for taking the first step!

The council (local authority) where you lived may still have the files somewhere. You could request it by getting in touch with the council’s SEN department. You should be able to find the phone number for them on the website for that council. I would think that there would have to have been some sort of involvement with someone like an educational psychologist or similar, and the council should still hold those records somewhere. Best of luck!

@Youagain2025 i just wanted to message to say hi 👋🏻 and to commend you for seeking out your past.

I have no credentials in this area, and other more experienced people have replied to you. But I just wanted to say I’m sorry that you have had to embark on this journey to uncover why you were removed from mainstream education. I have found some of the replies unempathetic, because you are sharing a very personal journey of discovery as to why you missed out on approx seven years of mainstream education, and you may have lost valuable opportunities because of that intervention.

You have been very open about what you do know, and what remains unexplained. I recall a boy who was in my class at school up to age 9, and one day we had a school party for him because he was going to a new school. I’ve no recollection of him having SEN; I do remember he was very tiny for his age, and the thinking in those days was that ‘different’ meant ‘special school.’ I am projecting perhaps, but I wonder are you wondering if your life would have turned out differently if patience and time were afforded you? Might you have had a different life if you’d had a chance to be with a different peer group?

I don’t get a sense of anger or resentment from your posts, but I notice you haven’t really referenced parents or siblings, so it sounds like you’re not surrounded by people who can answer, or perhaps you don’t feel you can ask.

I really just wanted to say you sound like a lovely and articulate person, and I hope you’ve had a good life. I am in Ireland and we have a shameful history of institutionalising people (children!) for such “misdemeanours” as ‘wandering’, ‘being an orphan’, and ‘slow’, and from here I have the uneasy feeling that your parents were encouraged to place you somewhere ‘more suitable’ when the reality may have been you were just a little girl who needed a little help, a little encouragement, and a little time 💖

Hope you find some answers soon op

💐

Thank you for understanding,

I know in mainstream primary i was extremely unhappy. Once I went to the first SEN school . I was much happier and confident. Had a good friendship group . When we moved to Norwich and I went to another SEN school I felt I didn't belong , the needs of other children seemed much heigher to me. Or maybe it was more of a mix. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure what preasure my parents were put under to put me in a SEN school. To be honest when I went to the first sen school I was happy. Mainstream primary was awful. I remember I had to go home for my lunch. I think possibly that was arranged to give me a little break from school and the dinner break. I'm not sure.

It could well turn out that I just went there because that's just how it was back then. There may be nothing else to know. If i can get anything it will still be intesting either way.

I got a small response this morning they just asked what my address was when I went to the school and my date of birth.