Got five minutes to tell Mencap about your experience of SEN support?

[KateMumsnet]

Hello

You might already know that the government has launched a consultation on 'Support and aspirations: A new approach for special educational needs and disability?'. If you're a parent or carer of a child or young person with a learning disability, Mencap would love to hear about your experiences of SEN support, and how the proposed changes may affect your lives. If you can spare five minutes, their online survey is here - your answers will help Mencap tell the government how to improve support for children and young people with a learning disability, as well as shaping their future work.

I can see that it can be helpful moosemama and I am glad that it was in your case. I wish there was another way though.

Thing is - DS's IQ is likely to be pretty low. I can not get over my feelings about the history of testing, why it came about in the first place and what it was used for. I also feel they are deeply flawed, next to useless infact.

I have also tried to access help for parents with LD from the LD team. They refused unless the parents consented to IQ testing to determine if they were eligible for support. In some cases the parents were at risk of losing their children and needed all the support they could get yet they were being asked to take a bloody IQ test.

That's awful TFMDV, ds wasn't tested until he had been receiving support from the inclusion team and EPs for at least four or five months. His IQ was never relevant to whether or not he was entitled to support or to how much support he would get.

I agree that they are flawed as well actually, if we hadn't had such a good team of EPs working with ds they wouldn't have picked up that his visual motor problems brought down his score in a significant area. Add to that that they are basically just a tool that, like all tools, is only as good as the person operating it and its open to such a lot of error and even misuse. I would have to agree that they are definitely something to be wary of. Our EP even said that the test should never be used in isolation, but as part of a much wider assessment, as a means of gaining further insight and even then its really only a snapshot of how the child was on the day. I do know we were very lucky to have such great professionals working with us.

I am horrified that anyone would use it as a criteria for support - that's just plain wrong.

Dunnit.