Are neurotypical kids being left behind?

[Hellobuttercup]

A contentious question but with a lot of information in the media just now about funding for SEND kids and a push in the next few years for more neurodivergent kids to be expected to manage with an unclear level of support in mainstream, what does this mean for neurotypical children who are often not mentioned?

I can only speak from my own experience and obviously this does not apply to all cases nor is it a generalisation of all SEND kids but my child’s class has a lot of disruption in their class from SEND children who currently do have support including violent outbursts, screaming, throwing things during lessons etc

They say up to 40% of kids within a class now have additional support needs and for the kids who do not, it feels like they are considered less and less.

It doesn’t seem like the education system is working for anyone and I’d argue the new white paper is just as worrying for neurotypical children as it is neurodivergent as inclusion in mainstream, in my view and experience, is not working for the most part.

I appreciate how hard it must be for parents of children with additional needs and the fight that it involved but are neurotypical children being left behind in a school system where most of a teachers energy has to go into managing behaviours which will
only get worse with potentially less support in the years to come?

Parents of SEN children in the 1990s are partly to blame for the situation we see now. They campaigned for SEN 'inclusion' in mainstream, meaning that many specialist schools closed. Few teachers want to be Sencos due to the workload, so schools employ dross who can't find employment as subject teachers. (The Senco at my sons mainstream didn't understand EHCPs).

Add to the mix crumbling adolescent mental health services, substandard LA support for disabled adults when they leave education (I have just worked with one council department for kids with SEN who are leaving education and it was basic to say the least) , tightening of benefits for people with ADHD and ASD, no jobs for school leavers, and parents who expected to give up careers to 'support' schools and fight LAs for the bare minimum. Unfortunately nothing will change. Politicians know full well that disabled people dependent on the state can't fight back so they can get away with giving them the bare minimum, and it will be worse under Reform.

It isn’t fair to blame parents in the 90s for advocating for inclusion. They were right to advocate for what was right for their DC. They weren’t advocating for inclusion in the way the state is pushing inclusion now. They weren’t advocating for shoving most DC in MS even when that wasn’t appropriate.

Mainstream school and the current system has worked out great for my profoundly autistic child. We have an EHCP which entitles to 1:1 support throughout the day and 2:1 support when outside or on school trips. The school have implemented this perfectly and used the funding appropriately. The class sizes are small and my child has a workspace outside of the classroom for 1:1 without distraction for times when the class is doing a subject they can’t engage with. The school have built a sensory space which is available to all students and serves as a safe space when my child is feeling overwhelmed. The school have also put things in place to make things more accessible such as clearer signage and visual cues. These will still be there when my child is no longer at school. The other children have shown huge amounts of empathy and care for my child, they have lots of friends and have been invited to many parties and play dates within their capability. My child isn’t naturally disruptive however can become overwhelmed and emotional and the teachers and support staff are very attuned to spotting this early and diverting them to another activity or taking them to the sensory room for some quiet time. We have never had any feedback from the school or other parents that my child is disruptive and interrupting the classroom. I think finding the right school is everything. You need people who will lean in and want to support the children not push back and make it harder. Not all teachers are saints and not all schools are doing their best. You also have to approach the issue proactively as a parent, we had all of this in place before my child started school. If we hadn’t of course there would have been horrendous issues with a disabled child being in school without support. We had to push the local authority extremely hard and get the supporting evidence ourselves, I literally didn’t take no for an answer. It shouldn’t be that difficult but it’s essential, and so far it’s working well.

You also have to approach the issue proactively as a parent, we had all of this in place before my child started school. If we hadn’t of course there would have been horrendous issues with a disabled child being in school without support.

I think it’s the less profoundly affected who can sometimes have issues in this regard.
Many parents of less-profoundly affected children don’t realise their child is autistic before they start school so it’s not possible to have things set up in advance. Diagnosis can sometimes take years then. Sometimes things don’t fall apart until second level.

This is exactly what happened with us. I had no idea that my son was autistic due to masking at home. It was Primary School who asked me to make a GP appointment when he was in Y5. He was in Y9 when we got a diagnosis, and Y10 when the EHCP was issued. I knew the Senco wouldn't understand the EHCP but the LA wouldn't listen. It came out last year in Y11 after the Senco demanded that my son attend counselling. The report came back that my son didn't need councilling, and that nothing would work if he was going back into the same environment and the EHCP wasn't being followed properly. Sendiass asked for years for the LA to step in. Ignored every time. LA then shoved him into a sixth form course he didn't like, then acted surprised when it failed. Thankfully I have applied for college courses myself this time to resit GCSEs so he can take A Levels. (He got 4s and 5s last year with zero revision!)

I have one neurodivergent child who I worry about coping at secondary school but so far so good and she doesn't disrupt the class. She actually copes well with those with greater support needs than her disrupting the class, gets in with her work or helps to calm them if they are younger than her when they are doing activities in mixed age groups.

My other child is neurotypical but quite small and shy and I really worry about her in class when there's disruption as she doesn't always speak up and can get easily pushed around so more children with additional needs in her class would be a issue.