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.

I think a lot of these anxious/autistic children you describe don't actually have EHCPs and are in mainstream.

Particularly in secondary, we need to take a proper look at how we structure schools, the very rigid uniform requirements, behaviour management, the exam system are extremely challenging for neurodiverse children, far more challenging than they used to be and not the same as other European countries, who for example might not even have uniform.

I think the government are only focused on autism and adhd

Just listened to speech. A disgrace. Just waffle. Passing the problem down the road no changes and new cases will be screwed over. Outrageous

The better hubs are useless as is and now adding SEND to that? And no real information on how they’re going to support those that now won’t be allowed EHCPS. Awful.

I actually massively disagree. I'm welcoming it. The provisions available in DSs primary school are practically universal, easy to access and so supportive and because of it he has minimal support needs at primary school as the whole school is just geared really well to him. Secondary school is going to be a completely different ball game and his support needs will be massively increased, something his current plan doesn't account for. So an automatic reassessment is welcomed for us.

They are focused on EHCP's and attempting to reduce them including whispers of removing EHCP's from children in mainstream which is the case for my son.

If it comes to reassessing them for high school as the OP states, I doubt my son's EHCP will be left alone simply because he doesn't have autism or adhd. They would basically have to decide if he's disabled enough and who knows what 'disabled enough' will be to them.

Does this mean when my child with an ehcp will potentionally lose her echp when she transitions to post 16? She's currently in a specialist school. Her needs haven't changed a great deal since her ehcp was granted over 8 years ago. I'm not sure I'm understanding well enough

The starting point when looking at SEN provision should surely be to look at an education system that fails a third. There will always be people that need a specialist provision, but for my son his EHCP helps him cope in a system thats not designed for him. The starting point should be why educational and national curriculum excludes so many.

@Ohyeahitsmebut by the definition they’ve given today, your son won’t be entitled to an EHCP at all as he’s not in a specialised school. And there’s no automatic reassessment for those without an EHCP

Actually you are incorrect. Evidence at the moment suggests that for all the money currently being spent on SEN, outcomes are not actually any better.
All the money and resources currently going on this isn't resulting in these young people getting more GCSE's, or more of these young people leaving education and able to work/support themselves/ be independent.

So we need to try something different now as its not a good use of the money and resources

Exactly. If such high percentage of children need something ‘additional to and different from’ everyone else, making them SEN, then what’s being offered isn’t right. The narrower the road, the more people fall off!

This sounds like nothing is being changed with the curriculum though, they will just send teachers on a few courses (which the school will probably have to pay for and then allowed to claim some back, making someone like Capita or OUP a nice chunk of money in the process) and the they will all be ‘SEN trained’ (in their own time) and that will be that.

I am so glad my children are nearly out of education-if is broken and the government are just putting the final few nails in the coffin.

In fact, I’ve just read that the majority of children with EHCP’s in mainstream will be having them removed.

I just have to hope that my son will be in the minority and worry constantly until I know either way. Fucking wonderful.

Some people on this thread seem to imagine theres a magic money pot in the sky and the government might make changes that will result in even more money being spent on SEN and disability... Stuff like smaller class sizes etc isn't free, it has an absolutely huge staffing cost not to mention the cost to reconfigure a load of school buildings to split the space into more classrooms if you are going tk have fewer kids in each one. You'd also have to spend a vast sum training loads more teachers when we already gave shortages training them.

People don't seem to understand that the state is in debt and literally cannot afford to continue spending the money they are currently spending, so whatever change they make it has to SAVE MONEY.

There is no money left. What part of that do people not understand

We get it.

but why take from the most vulnerable children in society?

Imagine even attempting to drop class sizes to 27 instead of 30. That is not going to make a meaningful difference to a child struggling with the number of kids in the room. But it's going to mean you suddenly need 10% more teachers. That is an absolutely huge huge cost.
Where is the money coming from?
Please don't say 'tax the rich'. A disproportionate few are already paying a huge tax burden.

My ds is autistic and is a sen school because he could not cope with mainstream, so I find your comment quite offensive actually. You didn’t witness the meltdowns he had, the anxiety, the tears, physically having the drag the kid out the door in fear I was going to be fined and taken to court for absence and then the guilt I felt leaving him there.

Yes us autistic people may be able to lead “normal”lives, but I have been lucky meeting my husband who supports me massively and we’re lucky to be comfortable so I don’t HAVE to work. When I was at school there was fuck all support, I was in all the bottom sets, not because I’m stupid, far from it actually I retain certain information very well, but its processing it that’s my issue, I was in the bottom sets because I couldn’t access the learning without being told what to do and something walking me through it. I have only 1 gcse because I wasn’t at school enough to sit anymore.
My son now has what I didn’t get, he has the extra staff there to explain things step by step to him, smaller class sizes to help him concentrate and prevent becoming overwhelmed and distracted, other kids on his level who don’t look at him like he’s weird, being put on a table and chair outside the classroom door and left basically on his own while the run ragged TA went between him and the rest of the class. He is still working at key stage 1 for maths but he isn’t petrified of school anymore, and without that EHCP he wouldn’t be in that special school to access all this support.

Taking away my disabled child's EHCP isn't going to magically make him any less disabled or in need of support to access education either.

Who are you going to take from instead? The healthy children who we need to grow up able to work and take on the tax burden of paying for everything? The elderly? Stuff like the NHS that's keeping us all healthy? Maybe you could take a bit more from poor working families who have children to feed and clothe?

Please do explain what services or resources you'd like to cut, to continue SEN funding at the level it is now, despite the fact it's not delivering better outcomes than it did when we spent less?

Plus nobody said anything about 'taking' from these children. They are talking about changing what these children are offered, because actually all the support at the moment isn't helping them to grow up and become independent and able to work.

I think you’re quite ignorant as regards autism and parental expectations of those who have ND children. My DD’s autism caused her to be in hospital for a lot of her secondary education. Her EHCP has helped her get well and enabled her to get qualifications that will mean she can access a uni education. We didn’t want anything extra, just an education. Not knowing she was autistic and getting her EHCP late caused the huge issues in secondary and has ended up causing the state an awful lot more.

I think the education system in the U.K. is completely broken and needs a major overhaul to better accommodate all children's needs. The structure we have right now evidently doesn’t work, hence why we have so many anxious kids refusing to go all together and why we have 3x as many EHCPs as we did a decade ago.

A major issue is the fact we still teach kids like it’s the fucking 19th century. Not all schools are like this but my DC’s school is. Between reception and year 1 they just completely change from play based learning to sit behind a desk most of the day and listen to a teacher. That approach does not work for many 5/6 year olds but definitely not those with SEN. Play based learning should exist throughout primary imo, obviously tapering off as they reach KS2. I often get bored and fidgety sitting down on my arse listening to someone rambling on so I can totally see why this isn’t appeal even to NT children.

My DS is 5 and has SEN. Nothing diagnosed, he’s going through the EHCP process now but obviously no idea how these alterations will affect the outcome… He has 2:1 provision with a TA. He’s ’non verbal’ but his language has improved tenfold over the past year. He can read fluently and loves books, he’s also brilliant at maths. He doesn’t learn in the same way others do so needs a tailored approach. He doesn’t understand ridiculous Goveisms like ‘alien words’ in phonics for example, he tries his best to turn it into a real word. The school has been great at accommodating him but he isn’t willing to sit down for long periods of time and so has to have regular outdoor breaks.

I don’t know how I feel about EHCPs because the SENCO lead has lied about my DS in the report to give him the best possible shot at getting funding. That didn’t sit easy with me personally but I created a thread on here about it at the time and was shot down and told he clearly needs one so why not lie? I don’t know, lying isn’t something I’m comfortable with personally and it sort of feels like fraud. They’re making out he’s more severe than he is to get the money basically- claiming he can’t socialise (he does) and doesn’t engage in imaginative play (he always has).

The system to me is clearly very broken if schools like my DC’s are willing to basically commit fraud (or what seems like it) in order to access funding.

Also can we dispel the myth that EHCPs and SEND interventions are just being given to those with autism and adhd. They’re not, far from it. They’re allocated for need. Many with autism and ADHD have nothing( my other dc). Many with EHCPs and send interventions are not ND.

It's probably the worst year to do it. The transition to secondary school is really tough and can often lead to an increase in needs. Reassessment towards the end of year 7 would make more sense.

Which neatly dispels the myth that schools used to be ‘so much better’ for autistic SEMH kids.

I feel like nothing we do, and no amount of money we spend, will resolve this issue. SEN has had its fair share of spending and frankly no able bodied child with a normal IQ needs to take an expensive place in a special school. It’s nonsensical.

If a child is masking their neurodiversity disabilities in the early stages of schooling and keeps that mask in place as the pressure begins to rise but eventually becomes unable to do so and then starts being noticed (often after a suicide attempt) that doesn't mean their additional needs aren't there, and it's clearly not appropriate to exclude them from SEND provision as if "mental health" needs are different from SEND if their crisis came about due to SEND being unmet.

Nb Childrens mental health services are in a massive underfunding crisis too and generally won't offer much in the way of treatment to a child with identified neurodiversity issues if their mental health issues are due to the education system not meeting their SEND needs - because it is obvious that step one is to start meeting their education needs properly at which point it is likely that their mental health will improve.

It wasn't unheard of 20 years ago, it happened to 2 of my classmates in y11 in 1991 (35 years ago). The difference isn't in there being more children with these needs but with more parents being more aware and alert to the extent to which their children are suffering. We have agreed that in a civilised country all children have a right to education, not just those children who can be educated cheaply in a universal 30-kids-and-one-adult-per-classroom school format. There isn't a heirarchy for which of the children who can't cope in that format are more deserving than others. All children means ALL children. If you don't want EHCPs to be used for so many children you would need to give all mainstream schools sufficient funding to be able to teach any child that seems to benefit from it in smaller quieter 6-8 child classrooms, without any barriers or budgetary restrictions to using such provision. I think that would cost rather more than the staus quo.

I have no idea where my child stands. Diagnosed with autism and adhd but well behaved and coping in primary school with an IEP and supportive staff. We were advised at the point of diagnosis to get an EHCP in place before secondary school. I don't know what he'll be entitled to now. It's literally a spectrum, you can't take conditions that are classed as spectrums and try to make children fit into two categories.