AIBU that the system is leaving a whole group of children behind.

[Sendhelp20]

I know this will be down to location to but wow my mind is blown. We are in the middle of being allocated a secondary school for DD11 and there doesn’t seem to be a school that exists for her 🤣( I should not laugh but If I don’t I will cry )

she is academic although not advance and has gaps in her learning which does mean she is mildly behind this is due to missing 3 and half years of primary school.

all the schools consulted in a radius of 1 hour of our home which including

Sen schools - with different specialities
mainstream schools with units
and mainstreams have all come back
they can’t meet her needs

some she is “too academic “
others she is too complex

so now they are suggesting a mixture of home tutoring / online education but she wants to go to school 😭

where are the children who are inbetween going 😭😭

Yep. You can tell by how they test and what they recommend.

Also a private would have been much more proactive obtaining your views and, if possible, trying to write the report in such a way as to not preclude your preferred option. Not that they won't tell you your wrong when they belief you are wrong, but they will sit you down and break it to you gently before they put it in the report. LEA NHS professionals don't have time for fluffy.

Realistically lea challenging it is surely less likely with solid consultant, testable condition and evidenced hospital stays?

Tbh when we were going through continuing care appllications (turned down twice)we were heavily involved with social care but thinking back it was the service nurse that completed the forms first time. But we were in a very very different position by that time 😣

As I said, less risky, not no risk. LAs disregard evidence all the time and force parents to appeal. Hence my post cautioning OP.

Tbf I tend to forget who funds what these day, but yes DS' funds tutoring, twice weekly OT what passes for SLT and gym membership. It has funded other bits and pieces over the last year or so, that have dropped off as they proved unuseful

When I said just text books i was thinking about transition to secondary, when i was costing it out and I was considering running the education big myself. But even then you're right it actually wasn't. I was costing up laptop, touch type training physio OT and SLT then also explored Interhigh/academy 21for the schooling because i wasnt sure whether i should be the one doing it. Eotas was bearly known then and I knew noone doing it. Lea had given us carte blanche to explore all options.

If this is all the package covers, you should aim to improve the EHCP because the LA is cutting corners.

For example, there’s no mention of professional time for things like leading/co-ordinating/overseeing the package, planning, report writing, summaries post sessions, MDTs, prep for AR, AR attendance, training, EP input, careers advisor input, providing a second adult if necessary… Neither do you mention tech beyond a laptop/equipment/subscriptions/memberships or budgets for resources/PfA/accessing the community/enrichment. There’s also no mention of mentoring/PfA, limited sport/exercise and limited therapeutic input.

This is why we home educate, lots of high masking ND, academically clever kids in the home ed community.

It’s not right though is it, not everyone has the option to home educate. I’m a single parent and need to (and want to) work.

I’m very worried about my ND dd and secondary school.

Totally agree, I need to work for my own sanity and need to earn as a single parent. Not everyone has the luxury to home educate and why should we have to.

We have no EHCP, we've always home educated, always intended to; but wanted the option of school if we felt we needed it as a family. Our LA would put her in mainstream first, let her fall apart, and then see what other options are available (and even then, push to remain in mainstream because they have one special needs school around here and it's massively oversubscribed).

In theory yes, in reality, virtually impossible to get. She's never been to school, the LA have stated that they'd want to see her in mainstream first and would assess when sorting an EHCP. Which takes years. So my child would have to literally fall apart before they would decide she's ready for a SEN school, and then wouldn't be able to access one because they have no spaces.

The alternative would be self funding for an alternative provision that suits her until we manage to secure an EHCP and receive funding that way.

Luckily I do want to home educate, we always planned to, but I want the school option to be available for her should that work better for our family.

@Sturnidae if you want to EHE that is, of course, perfectly valid. You could still request an EHCNA yourself if you wish.

DC don’t have to fail in school first before getting an EHCP. Nor do they have to fail in mainstream before getting EOTAS/EOTIS or SS. Unless the school is wholly independent, on its own ‘no spaces’ is not a lawful reason to refuse to name your preference. And while you may have to appeal, EOTAS/EOTIS is not virtually impossible to get. These are all myths LAs like to perpetuate. Ultimately, it isn’t the LA making the final decision.

I suggest you get advice from ipsea or SOS!SEN. Btw the LA can often put pressure on a school to take a child otherwise schools would be forever saying no without good reason where a child is complex.

perhaps some schools are saying no partly out of lack of confidence about their ability to meet your child’s needs , perhaps partly thinking that there will be somewhere more suitable when
maybe they are in fact the closest fit.

When she's 16 she can go to college and catch up at her own pace. There's loads of special kids at my college they're so delightful. One of em runs around playing 007 like he's a secret agent spying on everyone I love that guy.

I've pmed you OP, hope that's ok

The local authority have a legal obligation to provide a full time education to all children. Appeal at the schools you feel are the best fit and copy your mp into all emails and also email the mp seperately. I was told recently that the LA also aren't allowed to suggest to parents that they home school. Stand your ground. Even look at flexi schooling if that feels like something that may work but don't let them push you to homeschool because it makes it easier for them

Yes, we're in a similar situation. I've seen about "senbetweeners" - too complex for mainstream, not severe enough for a specialist unit. My DS fits into this, the middle seems to be ignored

My child's needs are very different so no specific advice but I do recognize the situation of a child's needs/condition seeming more complex on paper than they actually are day to day. Especially for rare conditions the school may well not have encountered before or even heard of. I hope you find a solution that works for your DD who sounds very capable.

I tried teaching my DS when he was out of school last year. I also have ADHD and ASC, I found it took a great toll on my mental health in a lot of ways. Between DH and I we only earned around £20k last year as we run a business but had to take a lot of time off, either for DS or with our own mental health issues, and we can't sustain that level of income

Since most of them will have about 20 years of earnings after the DC leaves home in which they'd also pay taxes... probably, yes.

It would be nice to think all these children will leave home wouldn't it?

True! But if you take into account that many of them will be in sheltered accommodation, or have carers paid for by the taxpayer, it would be better if mothers were a) working at all and b) increasing their earning power over the child's childhood and young adult life, rather than getting benefits for all that time.

Op i may be misreading your posts but it sounds like physically disabilities have underpinned a lot of the access issues/delay?

Eg unable to write physically & dictation limited due to speech impediments. Is some of the issue with things taking longer also due to physical hindrance? Does your DD have access to the full range of assistive technology - I'm thinking for example eye gaze or switches/joystick controlled keyboards, that would give her a broader range of inputs and reduce reliance on scribing, increase her speed?