SEND - children’s needs to be reassessed from year 6 2029?

[missbish]

Are they taking the piss? After the struggles parents have trying to secure support for their child, they’re then going to threaten to take it away once they’re due to go to secondary? Ds goes to secondary this year so I don’t think it will effect him but I am so angry for those it does effect.

The government decide. They’ve decided to reduce EHCPs and therefore specialist provision, and have hinted it will only be for physical disabilities and severe learning difficulties. Because they know the current model is wildly expensive and unsustainable and it can’t carry on as is.

Liebor and all govt tbh can look forward to building more prisons and ploughing more
money into mental
health support in ten years then.

it drives me insane that they cant see that by providing solid evidenced based support early will save so
much later on both
in monetary terms and in the outcomes of these poor kids.

homeschooling will also continue to go up.

absolutely disgusting.

Yep.

Just because my son is a wheelchair user, it doesn't automatically make him more disabled than a child who might be able to walk but is unable to cope in mainstream. It also doesn't automatically mean that wheelchair user = special school either.

@playingvideogames maybe you want to read about the parents that have children who feel a burden to society like you do infact.
How some of them feel so bloody unworthy and worn out they committed suicide.
The children that have tried to commit suicide and there parents are 24/7 on suicide watch!
How bad does it have to get for these children to want to end there life!

Look up Michael Charles on Facebook, this is the reality for a lot of parents with needs that you deem not worthy!

Unless they are going to repeal the Autism Act, they're going to have a hard time justifying any discrimination on the grounds of the type of disability they meet the needs of.

But they have to provide for all SENs regardless of labels put on provision and are going to be paying£4 billion more. They know they can’t ignore SEN because it causes a bigger cost on MH services, police, prisons, benefits etc. Also other parents lucky enough not to have kids with SEN don’t want their dc’s education disrupted and already over stretched teachers stretched even further.

I asked ds1 yesterday (now 23 but who had an EHCP and attended special school from age 10 to 16) what made the difference between being totally overwhelmed in primary and being able to cope now and currently employed and in receipt of no benefits. He said in primary he was not able to predict what other children and teachers would do and was confused a lot of the time. He said it was probably not till he was in year 9 / year 10 that he thought he could start to read people. What helped were small class sizes - I guess the fewer people there are the more predictable things were and things like Forest School and Equine Therapy where they did a lot of discussion about body language and meaning etc. Of course it may also be that he simply got older and matured and he simply needed the safe space to allow him to do so without causing harm to himself ot others.

Even when he went through the diagnosis and assessment process CAMHS were nigh on useless probably because of cost saving measures. Before he got his EHCP a heck of a lot of other services were involved all costing money - not least the Police who were called to search for him when he absconded or help school deal with meltdowns on more than one occasion. Once he got his EHCP none of these other services were needed for him because what he needed was provided by school. Could his school fees have been cheaper - most probably if the LA run its own school that was suitable to meet his needs. It certainly would have saved on taxi fares. But to be honest like most parents I do not know what his education cost because I was not asking for the most expensive education I was asking for a school that could keep him safe and provide him with an education that would not close off options for him latter in life.

I think all restricting EHCP's will do is pass the problem onto a different agency be it PIP, income support, mental health services, prison services etc etc.

That £4 billion is actually -£2 billion when you account for the fact it doesn't happen until 2029, by which time there is a predicted £6 billion shortfall. This is all about saving money by reducing the number of kids eligible for serious support.

They havent said it will only be for physical disabilities and severe learning difficulties.

The 7 profiles they suggest literally reference asd and adhd in two of the profiles which are externalised and internalised behaviour profiles and look to be replacing the old single semh.

(plus autism would meet the criteria for the executive function one in many cases of autism)

Um my daughter would have ended up with zero education or qualifications without her EHCP. Her EHCP has enabled her to get the qualifications she’s capable of and to be on line to become a taxpayer as opposed to a life on benefits.

Honestly the short term and long term ignorance from some as regards this subject is huge.

Of course it is.

I think maybe the fact it is going to be more centrally funded and independent specialist will be regulated are potentially good things? And the fact that s lot more minor learning issues will get more support?
And poorer kids in poorer areas may lose out less if it’s more automatic than a legal fight? And if it is centralised and streamlined it will be harder to hoodwink Ofsted?

a child with a feeding tube in my experience wouldn’t even qualify for a ehcp based on that alone.

I think in many cases, it’s the pupils with SEMH who find it most difficult to be in a mainstream classroom and cause the most disruption to the teaching and learning for the rest of the class.

I think they’re going to effectively force independent provision to provide X at Y cost, to fit the streams they’re creating.

Basically it sounds like things will be far less personalised - there will be streams and everyone will be ‘streamed’, without lots of personalised add ons.

@Playingvideogames

Reasonable SENd parents don’t organise our children by some hierarchy of disability, we recognise that we all have children with different challenges, that are relevant to our families and the way they impact us.

I’ve encountered @Kirbert2 for example many times on these threads, and I don’t want to speak out of turn against her, but I know the information she’s shared on her son, as much as she knows the same of mine.

Whilst her son doesn’t have the cognitive difficulties mine does, we share sleepless nights. Nobody’s ever told me my son’s health might affect his future, or worse. He was born disabled, and our adjustment to that has had time to be gradual. There is no single event that turned our life upside down - it’s always been that way.

Her son is able to cope in mainstream, with support - mine isn’t. But that doesn’t mean he’s any less worthy of support, or that their lives don’t face challenges that might be different to ours, but still count.

I think the idea that people like you would categorise our kids by more or less worthy, when as SENd parents we’re actually able to respect each other’s differences and challenges, is frankly disgusting.

I agree.

My son has no difficulties with a mainstream class. It's a reason why I hope it isn't decided that he's stuck in a hub that I can't imagine will be suitable for him. He isn't disruptive, he doesn't have any behavioural issues etc his support needs are purely physical. He can't get around by himself.

Nothing wrong with that really? Fixed cost for fixed services like the private contracts on the NHS with clearly defined parameters. And if kids are identified earlier and invested in earlier, then the outcomes will be better and less stress for the parents.
I can see how people who fought tooth and nail are worried but not all change is bad. As we have further medical advances and more understanding that has to be a good thing.
Clearly defined parameters and processes and a pathway that works aren’t a bad thing. Point is we are largely talking about an interface between health and education and as both is state in theory, data is there. People are having fewer kids and we need to invest in each child from conception and services need to talk to each other. Maybe potentially it’s a bit more nanny state but kids are precious and need protecting especially vulnerable ones.

I couldn't agree with this more.

My son isn't more disabled or more worthy of specialist support just because he isn't 'able bodied' and is clearly physically disabled because he has a wheelchair.

Your son and other children with needs similar to your son are absolutely disabled, without a doubt. Of course they are.

Children with wheelchairs will struggle to get into school if it has steps. Shall we dump them on an inadequate online package too?

All children have different challenges but the majority are expected to follow a set path nonetheless. My daughter has strengths and weaknesses but is a typical child so school will not play to these. She has to fit in. All parents love their children. But it’s unfair for some children to receive many many many many times more resources than others.

I think @Playingvideogamest have an issue with physically disabled people, it’s the hidden disabilities she doesn’t like. One of her comments proved this when she mentioned her workplace and colleagues using their challenges as excuses. Frankly we should ignore people like this, why do we have to justify how disabled our children are ?!

You don’t have to, but this is an area of public spending and taxpayers will have an opinion whether you want to hear it or not. You don’t have to engage with me, and I haven’t said anything ‘disgusting’.

Does it ever occur to you the reason they feel that way is because they had such a shit experience in education and never had the right support?

The equality act defines who is disabled. There's no reform of that going on.