AIBU to think it is possible to close the attainment gap for SEN children?

[Mendthegap]

My DD is 13 and has SEN including dyslexia and ASD.
In primary school DD had three years of amazing support which really helped her progress and was narrowing the gap between her and her peers. DD had various people involved to support her but one person in particular worked with DD on a daily basis and coordinated the support and was great at adapting support to meet DDs needs. This was at a state primary school.

DD is just about to enter year 9.
A few weeks ago I had a discussion with her SENCO where I stated that the gap between DD and her peers was bigger than ever - partly due to DD not receiving the correct type of support since starting secondary school a d also due to DD not being access online learning dual ring lockdown. The SENCO told me that being able to close the gap for SEN kids was a myth and just not possible, state schools don’t have the resources to be able to do that and the government can’t afford bespoke packages for each individual child to be taught at specialist independents to enable this. I was really taken back by this comment as I do think with the right support SEN children can catch up once the difficulties have been recognised and appropriate help put into place. DD has the underlying skills but needs help to achieve her potential.

I know that it’s so hard to get help for SEN children and we parents have to fight many battles but I would love to hear from anyone who’s child has closed the gap or reached their potential.

Well, closing the gap between most SEN children and their neurotypical peers is generally a myth. For several reasons. Lack of state funding, lack of tools/support not yet developed, and culture of low expectations. That said, there are also many SEN children that even if the list I mentioned were available, simply don’t have the potential to close the gap because SEN is an umbrella term that covers children from very high intelligence to very low.

But in the case for your DD, you know her best and I think you are right that she can close the gap with the right support. My DD19 who has ASD and severe dyslexia is reaching her potential. However, we had to get her one on one private cognitive training for her for several years to have the tools to work around her disabilities. We did this from age 10 when she was formally diagnosed to age 13. It was three days a week before and after school for €100 per session. A lot of work, and a lot of money but I used university savings thinking, if she doesn’t get this help, she will never get to university so better to spend some of it now making sure she gets all the help we can get her.
In addition, it was a constant fight with the schools to continue her accommodations especially when she began outperforming her peers and realising her potential, but the schools also gave her ok support. The hardest was the culture of low expectations, the constant drip drip of you’re not good enough. Even one of her teachers on hearing she was accepted at St Andrews commenting “oh, you only got in on charity” These comments erode confidence and self worth, so you as parent have to constantly counter it.

Her university, St Andrews, is currently giving her fantastic support. She is on a honours Masters four year degree in Ancient history, which is her ASD “passion”. She is starting her second year now and is very settled and happy.

Part of the problem is there is a massive gap of children who fall between mainstream and specialist.

Where I am there is only one specialist which possibly offers a full range of GCSEs, this is an independent school which takes a battle to get a place in and personally when I visited it wasn’t right for him.

Socially and emotionally ds isn’t ready for mainstream but if he isn’t pushed academically he will completly disengage from school. For him school is where he goes to learn.

Thankfully we have found what seems to be so far a very supportive mainstream which has a good learning support in place but if that fails our only option will be home Ed.

Socially and emotionally ds isn’t ready for mainstream but if he isn’t pushed academically he will completly disengage from school. For him school is where he goes to learn.

^^This is DS3, also in a supportive MS with 1:1. He is academically able but will never close the gap socially and emotionally.

I think a lot of parents with children of SEN are choosing home ed. (obviously if they can make it work with their job/employment).

HE has become a lot more popular, especially over the last 18 months, as people have tried it - and some find it works for them/their DC. Some realised they could do without the monumental fights with school and LA, or that their child was just happier (or even less MH issues) out of the school environment.

Will be really, really interesting in the next 5-10 years to see how this cohort of children does. It would be a great opportunity for a long term research project to follow what happens. Given that outcomes are often poor for SEN children in mainstream education and in employment later on, will HE address these issues? It's not for everyone, I do get that. It's not a universal panacea. But it will be jolly interesting to see what happens to those who choose to opt out of a largely broken SEN education system.