Q&A with Sharon Hodgson, Shadow Minister for Children and Families -ANSWERS BACK

[RachelMumsnet]

This week we're inviting you to send in questions to Sharon Hodgson. Sharon is the Labour Member of Parliament for Washington and Sunderland West, and Shadow Minister for Children and Families.

As Shadow Education Minister and parent of a child with severe dyslexia, Sharon has been asked to review the Labour Party's policies on Special Educational Needs this year.

Sharon is keen to hear stories of people with experience of the special needs system, whether that's young people, their parents or carers, or the professionals who work with them. Full details of the review are available at j.mp/SENreview

Please post your story or suggestion to improve SEN provision and policy and Sharon will then respond. Using ideas to help inform new SEN policies.

Send in your questions to Sharon before the end of Friday 23rd March and we'll be linking to her answers w/c 2nd April.

That's another fundamental issue, that so much of what the layman would consider healthcare for school aged children with SN is accessed via the LEA. So if a child is out of school things can get v complex.

In terms of namechange, deletion. If in any doubt, get it deleted. There are other, more private channels for contacting MPs.

I have asked a favour of MN, your right Light, I just thought at the time it was a good idea going a bit more public. Having a challenging, demanding kid that needs supervised 24/7, who has issues the system fails to support, sometimes plays on your mind.

Quite disjointed but so many points...

1. More credit needs to be given to parents thoughts and opinions.

2. The sight test performed during the reception year is next to useless! My son needs glasses for being long sighted. This test does not check for that.

3. I found his eye problem by paying £250 for a private physiotherapist to do an assessment on him for various reasons (ironically eyesight hadn't entered my head). This report led me to go to my local health centre and book him in for an eye test. I gave a copy of this report to the School and at no point did they read it and offer any advice except to say that I shouldn't have paid for it and they cannot use it as it didn't come from the NHS!

4. I now have to travel 20 miles to Warrington as Manchester does not have an Opthalmic SPLD clinic My son has Visual Stress which means that he would benefit from tinted glasses. These are not available on the NHS. He also has visual tracking difficulties. incidentally, one thing I get from his class teacher is that she didn't think there were any issues with his eyes. The physiotherapist, optician x 2 and Advanced Opthalmologist do. I sometimes think teachers should pay respect to other professionals not just the teaching profession.

5. I have been told that my child will have to be in year 4 working at the most of year 2 standards before he will be seen by an EP. Why are we waiting for children to fail before we help them fully?

6. My child is at a School with few free School dinners so the budget is much less than other local Schools with fewer pupils. Resources (staff) are limited.

7. If an Occupational Therapis (NHS), Psychologist (CAMHS) and Speech and Language Therapist (NHS) can all ask for and read the private report I commissioned then why does the Education system insist on dismissing it as worthless. I'm not saying it needs to be the decision maker on something like a statement but to just disregard a suggestion of say, a cushion seems ridiculous.

HI Jerbil, you can get tinted lens on the NHS, google Ian Jordan and ask him how you see him. We travel over to Scotland to see him, still on the NHS, it's quicker to see him this way, however he does do clinics nationally but there are waiting lists. HTH x

Hello Sharon,

Can you please tell me why Local Authorities are allowed to and increasingly are spending uncapped levels of tax-payers money on legal teams and legal representation at SEN tribunals against unrepresented parents who are NOT entitled to tax payers money for legal support and representation (I.e legal aid)?

Many thanks.

Is it true that developmental disorders are diagnosed by the NHS but sent to Education for 'treatment' because LA's and Education don't have the same levels of accountability and responsibility to adhere to Evidence-based-practice that Health does?

'To examine the current landscape of provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, including highlighting examples of current best practice.'

What does this mean? Enough navel gazing please and let's have some action.
What on earth is the point in highlighting examples of best practice? There is no onus on LA's to adhere to it even if it is properly evaluated with measurable outcomes, which is rare. There is a huge void between best practice and established practice although LA's like to hold up these documents as if their very existence is evidence that they are doing right by our children.

There are enough good practice research-based strategies in existence already and the Lamb report highlighted how to move to more outcomes-focused provision. Can't we just use the advice and recommendations that have already been made and make them statutory requirements.

Sharon, do you read the SN children's board?

What about the children that do not have PMLD/Severe ASD but simply do not 'fit' in mainstream?

I am very lucky to have been able to get my son into a local special needs school but only because he has a mild medical condition that made him eligible. His medical condition doesnt affect him but his LDs, Auditory Processing Disorder and ASD do.

He is like many of the children I work with. He is not disabled enough to fit into a traditional special needs setting but is unable to cope with mainstream. Unless a family is lucky enough to have a very supportive mainstream setting these children have nowhere to go.

They often end up a. being left in the back of the classroom quietly zoning out or b. being disruptive and developing challenging behaviour through frustration and boredom.

Either way they are not learning. They are being warehoused.

It is time inclusion became more than a buzz word. Our children are capable of learning and deserve an education.

Sorry, should add that my son spent two years in a mainstream setting with a very good reputation for SEN provision.

He left unable to read or write. He didnt know the days of the week or the most basic maths. He had no individual support.

Within months of moving him he had learnt to read and write and is now doing very well.

following the last post.....................what about the kids who are PMLD/SLD and don't 'fit' into special school......................where do they go? what is available? what options?

Many teachers have little or no accredited SN/SEN training, unless they arrange it for themselves and are willing to undertake it in their own time - often at their own expense. How will this be addressed?

In our experience schools LOVE SEN

• no, sorry, that should be - schools LOVE THE MONEY THAT COMES WITH THE STATEMENT

The unfortunate thing is the statement comes with a child attached to it - but that's OK, they get the cheapest 'help' they can find - [an unqualified 17 year old in our case who 'enjoyed' OT because she played with the Thera-Putty!], and they leave the 'special child' in the corridoor playing on the computer - but expect them to be taught - come on, that's a step too far.

But look at all the lovely interactive white boards we have since we started taking on more SEN children..................

My SEN child is in his 5th education placement. Not o e of them has ever managed to produce an IEP that is SMART.

Given my extensive research into schools in the South East and their Ofsted reports it seems that the majority of them, despite their often outstanding rating, are told that their data systems are poor both in collection and in informing lesson planning.

Whilst it is great that Ofsted are highlighting this, how much time is given to it in teacher training? Why can a school not be downgraded for failure at this?

With good data systems, schools and teachers would not need extensive training in individual SENs as regardless the education coukd be matched to the child.

Why are behavioural techniques (I.e positive reinforcement) standard and acceptable when trying to shape the child's negative behaviour when it is disruptive to the teacher/class but considered cruel or robotic when it only disrupts that particular child's education I.e being unfocussed, on own agenda, zoned out etc.?

Can you tell me bout the trend of tribunal wins for/against parents since SENDIST stopped publishing the outcomes?

I agree with Mycar. In our case the school loved having lots of children on the SEN register. This gave them a large pot of money.
What they didnt like was gettting statements for children that did not attract additional funding (in our borough = above an D) because this meant diverting some of that pot to an individual child.
They therefore stongly resisted statementing children and resorted to telling parents 'you cant get a statement before a child is 9' and 'he wouldnt qualify for a statement'.

They dragged out the School Action and School Action + for as long as possible. They also denied that it was possible to give a child additional support without a statement.

This was a school with an very good Ofsted and an 'excellent' SEN department.

What can be done to ensure that schools are putting the money where it is needed?
What can be done to make sure children are being INCLUDED and not taken out of the classroom to numerous groups?

Numerous groups faciltated by underqualified staff presumably being a lot cheaper than providing quality 1:1 support.

We had the opposite: our school loathed any child being labeled as SEN as it showed on their info and put off the posh parents who amde up the PTA etc. I think when DS1 had a statement at first he was the only child in the school with one, a school of 250 kids. Because the catchment is teeny, they rely on attracting parents from the villages, and it's the sort of parents who think SEN = run for the hills.

DS1 and ds3 are now in excellent Base provision, but ds2 has some issues and the School Nurse has been in three times to ask SENCO to complete some forms and it simply has not been done. Headteacher thinks ds2 has ADD, dyspraxia has been mentioned a few times, but without the forms the best we are likely to be able toa ccess is an OT handwriting group, although we are going for that in case OT spots anything whilst he is there IYSWIM. An dpushing with the forms (he goes to comp in a few months, suspect they hope it can be ignored until then).

Just as an example of the battle to stop ds1 getting his statement years ago, ths tory of when we applied for the statement at Infants. SENCO said posted so we were hopeful, then a week later I was caught up in the playground and told it had been refused. I am a little slow on the uptake but by time I got home I though hey a minute- bit quick and we have heard nothing. So we went to the support group, who called the LEA and was told that ds1 wasn't even on the SEN register and no application had been put in, theyw ere not aware ds1 had an AS diagnosis. Support group head called the Headmistress, who didn;t know we were listening to the call, said SHE would choose which children got help and that autism was just bad parenting.

With support group help we applied ourselves and got 10 hours (later 15) TA funding striaght off. He now attends said ASD Comp Base.

I pity parents now, as support group bloke now works for the LEA next to us, and he has a rep as using every trick he learned to stop anyone getting any help.

Delegated/devolved funding for SEN that is not ring-fenced pitches schools against parents of children with SEN, particularly at entry level to school.

The school gets the money regardless of whether they spend it on SEN. If a child gets a statement, school have to use money for child rather than middle-class-parent-attracting vegetable patch.

So schools in these LAs only ever agree/encourage statements if the child is causing problems to the school, not simply for their disabilities causing problems to themselves.

Statements appear to be for the purpose of helping schools cope, not helping children learn. So many SEN recommendations are about 'containing' the child and keeping them in the least resource intensive environment for as long as possible in order to push their needs out of the education budget and into the adult social care budget.

There needs to be more joined up planning and thinking particularly with regards to quality specialist educational early intervention.

The school I mentioned has the most amazing playground equipment including

Large play house
Gazebo with planters
Large waterfall feature
Outside classroom
Large jungle gym
Veg patch
Landscaped grounds with sculptures.

In a school in the most deprived ward in one of the poorest boroughs in London.

Yet they cannot 'afford to provide support for a child without a high banded statement'

WHERE IS THE SEN MONEY GOING?

Where I live the SEN team at the LEA only answer their phones between 10am and 12 noon, it's ridiculous, this is a London borough with a large SEN department yet they make themselves as unavailable as possible. That's not just to parents, that's also other professionals and schools that cannot get through to them. That just about sums up their whole attitude to SEN. The head of SEN went against all the advice from the LEA specialist teachers and the Ed Psych in our case, how can that be right, why did it have to turn into such a battle?

my daughter spent two years in mainstream school and learnt nothing, her statement gave her full time 1:1 support, nice young man but no experience of special needs and no training what so ever. Her statement was effectively paying for her to be babysat in a school environment, she was often disruptive in class because of her sensory needs and not having a clue about what was going on so would be walked round the school a lot, some education that is. I learnt my lesson and she now has a statement that specifies the training her 1:1 must have. She's now in a special school finally getting an education and has a peer group, something the so called inclusion at a mainstream school was never able to give her. I got rather sick of hearing how much the other children were getting from having a child with special needs in their class whilst my child got nothing from anyone.

my daughter may have special needs and need a lot more care and input than a NT child but that doesn't put that much extra stress on us, what piles the stress on is the constant battling and waiting for services that she needs. My life would be so much easier if the LEA just did what they were supposed to do when they were supposed to do it and not argue over every little thing. The PCT is no better, we've been waiting since the beginning of October for a pair of piedro boots that fit, but that's a whole other rant.