Wrongly classed as having special needs?

[DinahRod]

The article here

"In all, 1.7 million children in England are identified as having special educational needs. The vast majority come from disadvantaged homes. In three per cent of cases (250,550), the need is obvious and acute, such as blindness or deafness, and they receive the help they need speedily.

"Christine Gilbert, chief executive of Ofsted and chief schools inspector, said: "We found that schools are identifying pupils as having special educational needs when they just need better teaching and pastoral support.

"If they had been identified better in the first place, their needs wouldn't be so acute later on. More attention needs to be given to identification."

She added that there was a "poor evaluation at all sorts of levels of pupils' needs".

"With over one in five children of school age in England identified as having special educational needs, it is vitally important that both the way they are identified and the support they receive work in the best interests of the children involved.

"Higher expectations of all chilren, and better teaching and learning, would lead to fewer children being identified as having special educational needs."

The review urges schools to analyse the effectiveness of its teaching ? rather than put in for extra support ? when a child falls behind in class."

[Claw3]

Mama, thanks will have a read now.

[cory]

I have been told that our prisons are full of the undiagnosed SENs of yesteryears. Now there's a good use of national resources.

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

This is just a thought and absolutely not an opinion, but...

Is it that some teachers rely too heavily on the methods that work for a small majority? And if they employed more varied techniques, that fewer DCs would be left behind (and labelled as SEN)?

I believe that in a less switched on school ds (has mild dyspraxia) would end up with EBD. Perhaps there's at least a kernal of truth in this report.

[Claw3]

Mama, having a read now and the first thing that jumped out at me was

"However, inspectors found that this additional provision was often not of good quality and did not lead to significantly better outcomes for the child or young person. For pupils identified for support at School Action level, the additional provision was often making up for poor whole-class teaching or pastoral support. Even for pupils at School Action Plus level and with statements, the provision was often not meeting their needs effectively, either because it was not appropriate or not of good quality or both"

The Governement are trying to pass this off as being a teaching problem. Its not, the government issue the statement, not teachers. The provision in a statement is vague, which means that the provision is not secure.

So yes i agree, "the provision was often not meeting their needs effectively, either because it was not appropriate or not of good quality or both" But this is the Governments fault, not teachers.

[wonderstuff]

I'm an SEN teacher and I really don't get this story. Seems to be a bit of teacher bashing to justify the continued underfunding of sen, there is no incentive in our lea to put children on the sen register, or even to statment children (unless they would be better educated in special school) most of the children on the SEN register get very little additional help, mostly it is helpful to flag up to teachers who has issues so they can differentiate appropriately. I agree cory lack of investment in SEN at school is a false economy, most people in prison failed at school. I do feel some SEN is caused by poor parenting early on..

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

wrt us being groomed ahead of cuts - if the report is saying what I think it's saying, it would require more money going into support/training/development of teaching staff and not less - or at least redirecting resouces away from the whole Statement rigmarole.

[ShadeofViolet]

But statements are needed!

What will happen is that TA jobs will be cut and the money will got to teacher training.

[Litchick]

If one in five children need special help to function within the system, then the system is patently not fit for purpose.

Ought we not look at different models of education that might prove more effective?

[cory]

But diversified models of education means spending money, doesn't it, Litchick? Which is hardly what this report is all about.

The way I see it, it boils down to this:

Teachers and parents recognise that many children cannot cope with the limited level of support available in a classroom of 30 with one teacher and one TA.

Any other solution costs more money.

The only way currently to access money is through statementing/SEN register.

This includes labelling children who need extra help/anything more costly than the minimum standard as having Special Educational Needs.

We think that Special Educational Needs is a misnomer for some of these children.

We therefore propose to make it more difficult for them to get onto this list.

Problem solved

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

I agree that statements are needed. But wonder how many are needed. (must emphasise again that I'm wondering, not opining iykwim).

I don't think ds needs one - his needs aren't that complex really. But then he goes to a good school who are supportive of him and he comes from a good home, who again are supportive.

This support should be the norm, rather than the exception. I wonder if the Statementing system is jammed up with dcs who need a bit of extra help of a kind that is broadly similar. Children who need help along the lines of that ds needs for his dyspraxia must be two-a-penny - they don't all need individually tailored Statements or Plans imo, perhaps Statements should be reserved for those with more complex, severe and/or unusual requirements.

OTOH from what I can gather getting a Statemn is like trying to get blood out of a stone - so I am possibly talking bollocks.

[shimmerysilverglitter]

wonderstuff, out of interest how would you differentiate? What are the markers for you, with your experience to tell the difference between a child who has been poorly parented and one with say ASD? Really am interested in this. I do worry that some of ds's behaviours are viewed as him being badly brought up by his teachers. He has a full diagnosis of ASD btw.

At school he has been known to spit, swear and be extremely aggressive with teachers and I do sometimes feel that I must be being judged. At the same time he is way advanced in his reading (is a free reader at age 7) and has the vocabulary of a much older child. So clearly if he was poorly parented then perhaps it would be an all round deficit in his skills iyswim? I really am interested to know this, how you decide I mean.

[DinahRod]

Jenai, ime EBD is easier to put on the register as what does it require the school to do? It's the bit our SENCo likes, having friendly little chats, putting them on report and sending them for counselling, which is much cheaper that SPLD input. If those with a SpLd exhibit EBD they get help...with the EBD, not the root cause.

[silverfrog]

BUt then, you have to address the fact that most LA Education Officers don't know much abbout what proviosn is available/suitable for children with additional needsd.

I lost count of the number of times i was told, by LA Ed Psych, LA Ed Officer, LA Case officer, that dd1 didn't need an ABA (specialist provision teaching) school, and I couldn't prove she did, as the programme we were following at home was "not what I would call ABA"

It's all such bollocks.

We had the LA trying to wriggle out of providing a specific intervention, by claiming it was called something else (totally unfounded - boiled down to them not actually knowing what ABA is, but that bit doesn't make it into the reports, of course)

So yes, LA issue (when you can pin them down) vague statements. Most of the time this is to keep costs down, as already highlighted - eg regular SALT can be once a year, opportunities to learn just means access to a classroom, etc.

But some of the time waffley, ridiculous statements with little provision outlined, let alone pinned down, are the result of a lot of people who simply do not know what they are talking about.

[vesela]

"If one in five children need special help to function within the system, then the system is patently not fit for purpose. Ought we not look at different models of education that might prove more effective?"

I agree with Litchick on this.

[Claw3]

I believe there is room for improvement in teaching standards. Give the teachers smaller classes, more training etc, etc. But that isnt what the report is suggesting.

The message being sent to the public is "lets target the children who really need help". But the government will decide which children really need help. The Government is already failing those most in need, by making the process so complex and difficult, few end up with a statement. Statements that are issued are so vague and non specific, then try to blame teachers for the provision being ineffective.

Its commonly known as passing the buck.

[wonderstuff]

ASD not down to poor parenting, but sometimes more difficult for child to manage if home is less than ideal. I have several children with poor literacy due to poor school attendence. I teach a number of children who are/have been neglected in some way. I also teach children with fantastic parents. With behavioural issues good communication between home and school is very helpful, children with asd need to know parents and teachers are on the same page. Some children with general learning difficulties have fab parents, some specific learning problems are made worse by poor parents. Remember one v. bright boy who was completely unable to read and write at 11, his behaviour was completely unmanagable - he'd been in and out of care and to god knows how many primary schools - was so sad because if he'd been to one school and attended well he may well have been able to read and may have enjoyed school and done well. You could see this glimmer of a lovely boy who had just been beaten by it all. I had him for a term before he was permanently excluded - he'll be 18 or 19 now - I still feel so sad I couldn't help him more.

[grumpypants]

If you go to the Dfes website and follow the links (via News) you can mane comments on SEN processes as part of the Green Paper information gathering.

[Claw3]

Wonder, do the several children with poor attendance have ASD or SN's?

[shimmerysilverglitter]

Thanks wonderstuff. I know this is very sensitive and difficult to express without perhaps being jumped on so thanks for trying.

Ds's school could not have been more supportive, although after two years of the stratagies in place to deal with ds and his issues none of them are working and I sometimes feel angry that it is such a struggle to change them. He is not functioning well in MS but they do not feel that Special School is appropriate, so where is then? What is out there for kids where none of the systems in place is appropriate. I feel he is constantly being forced to fit and reacting against that. It has been two years now, two years, we won't get that time back and who knows when appropriate provision will be accessible. I am very glad he is only 7, in some countries kids don't even start till that age so at least his education can be salvaged. Now we just have to work out how??!!

I am quite scared by this article actually, I agree with all that Starlight has posted.

[shimmerysilverglitter]

How about kids with fab literacy that just don't want to go to school (got one of those) and so end up with poor attendance? What is poor attendance anyway, ds averages 92%, which I don't think is that bad, all things considered.

[cory]

Thinking back on the local children I know who have needed/received additional support, I am not so sure that blaming the teacher is actually going to achieve much:

A fair few of them did have very definite SN: they were disabled or had very obvious learning difficulties. Obvious autism/Aspergers, Downs syndrome, physical disabilities (the latter admittedly do not get statemented in our LEA, but do at least end up on IEP register with a bit of luck), severe dyslexia.

Of the rest, a sizeable proportion had temporary or permanent difficulties in accessing their education because of factors which were completely out of the school's control (and often out of the parents' control too): chronic or temporary health problems, childhood traumas, bereavement, neglect, serious parental illness etc. It would clearly take more than just a new pedagogical technique to support the little boy who had seen his father murder his mother- he was a seriously disturbed child. Again, while some immigrants only have linguistic and cultural difficulties to contend with, some have come through absolutely traumatising experiences. The report mentioned children whose fathers were fighting in Afghanistan: again, it's hard to see how a new improved system of teaching would solve all their problems. What they need is someone to help them deal with the stress- that means an extra person who is free to deal with this and doesn't have to teach a class at the same time. To be able to leave the classroom and access pastoral care or have a trusted adult sit with them while they are learning because they can't handle stress, they would normally need to be on some kind of register.

Of the rest, there were probably a few who were just late developers. But then they got taken off the register the moment they managed to do without it, so I really don't see a problem: the support they had may have saved years of grief (and expense).

[wonderstuff]

Some with poor attendence have ASD, some have genuine emotional or medical problems, some have a home life that is too chaotic for them to get to school every day.