Does your son or daughter have a disability? National Star College wants to hear from you about the advice and guidance you need to make informed choices about further education options. £200 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

National Star College has asked us to find out what Mumsnetters who have children with special educational needs look out for when choosing a college.

Here’s what National Star say, “With campuses across the UK, National Star College works with young people with disabilities aged between 16 and 25 years. It offers a range of courses based around each young person’s interests, needs and aspirations while being supported by experienced therapists, medical and care teams.
“National Star has two main aims. The first is to enable the students to achieve their goals and work with them to gain skills for their future lives. National Star also wants to change the way society values people with disabilities so it works with individuals and other organisations to challenge stereotypes, build expertise and raise aspirations. To find out more about National Star College please visit www.natstar.org.uk email [email protected] or call on 01242 534928.”

So what information do you need when choosing a college? Do you know what your rights are? Do you know what colleges are available and what specialist support they can provide? Are you able to choose the college that is right for your son or daughter?

Everyone who comments below will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 Love2Shop voucher.

Please note that comments on this thread may be anonymised and used by National Star College to inform and support their campaign. So please only post if you’re happy with that.

Thanks,

MNHQ

Mine has gone from selective state secondary where he got absolutely no help to RG university where everything he needs is provided. Very dyspraxic, no sense of direction, so given disabled room, guide to collect him for lectures/fire drills, laptop an printer provided, software, extra support for organisation. Couldn't be bettered.

My son hasn't been diagnosed with anything yet (on waiting list for appointment with paediatrician, though as we suspect autism) and is currently undergoing Language and Speech Therapy. Our worker is currently working on her initial report and will be sending the information on to the nursery my son will be starting at in January. This was important to me, to know that everyone who will be involved with my son are aware of any issues and we can all work together to support him in his development.

So it's many years off for us, but I would want to know that my son was being supported in his college studies and being encouraged to always do his best. I would want to know he is being taught by experienced professionals, too and able to pursue his interests.

With its experienced therapists, medical and care teams, National Star College sounds great and I hope it's still going in 14 years! ;)

I would want to know how the college involves parents and students in the running of the college, what proportion of staff have disabilities, whether previous students have obtained paid jobs at the college, the number ( if any) safeguarding incidents the collge has dealt with in the last 3 years, how many care staff are on zero hours contracts, the use of agency staff as support workers.

Ashi, that's a bizarrely random question to post on a thread about educating 16-25 year olds. They probably don't eat Hipps cheesy baked anything.

DS2 went to a specialist BS from 10-15. He was well supported, with small class sizes and lots of extra mural 'life skills' type things.

I would be looking to find something similar, but I know that my LA won't fund it.

He goes to college now, where he is also supported in class and has a key person that he can speak to if he has any difficulties. He's doing a music course.

One thing I would want to know is what, other than life skills type stuff, would the college provide in an academic sense. I would wnat my socially disabled but talented son to be able to access a broad curriculum as well as the invaluable life skills.

I would also be interested to know what staff turnover was like. When he was at MS, he had 1-2-1s but they changed, without warning, every half term, sometimes more often.

Thanks for all the comments so far! National Star would like to say,
"Hello Mumsnetters,

Thanks for all your responses so far. National Star is also running a national survey as part of this campaign and would really appreciate you taking 5 minutes to complete it. They would like to understand how the new choices and rights to request a school/college placement are working in practice. The more responses they have, the more weight their findings will carry when they take them to local authorities and Government. Please visit www.surveymonkey.com/s/NationalStarSEN."

This is a long way off for me but in the future I would like clear guidelines as to what help is available. My son would need extra time, the use of a computer and perhaps the possibility of recording lectures.

I would like a college that's doesn't just 'talk the talk' like all the schools we've experienced so far have done. My son has suffered discrimination when reasonable adjustments were not made for behavioural difficulties caused by his disability so I would want to know how knowledgeable the staff are about his particular disability.

A wide range of both academic and vocational choices would be good. I would also like to know that learning mentors would be available when necessary and would want to know how they would help my child reduce his stress levels.

My DD will be 15 in May 2015. TO be honest I've battled for nearly 30 years now with 'Services' because my DS now 29 has ADHD but with out writing pages and pages, we received no understanding or support at all and his needs were never met although I tried my best to seek support and advice until I was worn out. Sadly my DS has mental health needs and this is very challenging but he is doing his best to attend a Chef's course as an adult learner. ( without support!)

Then when DD was born in 2002 my battles continued because DD has Down Syndrome, ASD, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder and SLD. And this really confused 'Services' because they could not offer person centered provision etc. DD is approaching transition but I'm preparing myself with ever more battles because our local community college ( in our LA ) have not offered ANY places to our school for the past two years!! Ours is a Special Senior School and many of our young people with disabilities have had to go to another Authority. This is an ongoing challenge for our School and they are doing their utmost to change this.

I'm guessing that many Parents in my position make many decisions for their child/young person with disabilities, with consultation of course with DD or DS but it is sometimes difficult to glean from my DD what her hopes and dreams are. Right now she wants to be a Firefighter, Builder, Win X Factor, Make Pizzas, ( Bis Sis works in Dominos, lol ) or be a photographer.
Some of these might not be realistic but if she shows a keen-ness to do anything, I always try to encourage her with out dampening her spirit!

My guess is that Money and resources together with appropriate training of Tutors and support staff, prevents many of our C & YP with disabilities from realizing their potential!

And by their potential I don't just mean academic, I mean contentment in life, with adequate skills to occupy their time and help them to lead happy lives. If they have the ability and skills to gain employment that pays a salary, this might give them more independence but other disabled children and YP should be able to pursue a lifestyle that fulfills them even if they can not do salaried work.

I believe that FE should meet the individual Child/YP's needs.
Social and Practical skills should as valued as academic skills.
Reasonable Adjustments to meet disability needs is more than providing ramps and disabled toilets.
A C or YP who has been to Special School ( and some mainstream school) may have had access to sensory rooms, quiet spaces, lower pupil numbers in class, visual prompts for timetables or school equipment or directions around the school, very understanding and well trained staff, flexible learning, totally differentiated curriculum with emphasis on individual learning styles etc. I'm sure other Parents can think of more examples of differentiated learning and suitably adjusted environment.

Many of our C & YP don't suddenly cease from requiring this provision because they are 16,17,18,19 in fact some of our C & YP's needs become greater with age! There are of course some C & YP who can become more independent and some may also be able to adjust to different environments and changes, but one size doesn't fit all and I just wish that our local community colleges ( and the Government )would understand this.

If you've got this far then thanks for reading this. I walk the talk !

My mistake...too much on my mind, as I'm going in for surgery on Saturday! MY DD was born in 2000 not 2002 ! silly me

Oh I forgot to say that DD says she will marry Harry Styles too

That really is something that I don't encourage...lol

ds is still quite young at the moment. he has autism and we have been told there are no learning issues. he does have issues with the environment though so behaviour deteriorates rapidly if too noisy or flashing fluorescent lights. I worry for the future as he may well be intellectually capable of studying but the environment and coping with others may be the barrier.

As a parent of a girl with autism, I'd need information on how the college thinks it could support her, both with resources and staff. What I'd need most would be to meet the staff, preferably all of them who would work with her, and know that they would listen to me upfront about what suits her, and know that they would understand they'd need to be flexible. Then I'd like to listen to them and their ideas of what would work.

Someone dedicated to my child, like a key worker. A person who can help both the child and the rest of the family with help and advice about the college, course and the child's rights.

I am coming from a parent with a child with a disability and I also work in a sn school that caters from 2-19. When young people leave us, they go onto college.

Facilities in some colleges are dire. Some of the colleges that I have seen in the past two years have no overhead hoist, only manual hoist. If you have ever tried using one of these, they are not suitable for everyone. We have a number of young people, who these are not suitable for because of various reasons.
These colleges tell us they have fantastic facilities.
Then there's the personal care areas. They are inadequate. One such had a step, albeit, only a small one, but a step non the less. This made getting a wheelchair in and out a nightmare.
Staff that have no experience of dealing with personal care, and are beyond unprofessional. People deserve dignity, and what I have witnessed was not in any way shape or form dignified. We put in complaints, told things would improve, went back and nothing had changed.
SO it's also the attitudes of staff working in education that needs changing.

Staff being brought uptodate in how to use Makaton/BSL. How to use PODD books. How to use Grid2 and mitobbi's, and other eye gaze equipment. How to use the accessible software, that is built in to iPads. How to use PECS. How to use TASSEL.

The importance of using the right equipment to eat and drink, and how staff can assist users, in a way that is dignified.

Having enough staff.

Staff that are medically trained to notice the first signs of a seizure. Not neccesarily to administer the meds, but to know what to do and not just stand around and flap.

To have HCP on site. Staff shouldn't be having to deal with meds, gastro feeds etc as standard. These should be optional, but not to the point that staff just sit idly by when the gastro feed is having an error.

Listen properly to the parents and previous educational place. Parents have lived with that person their entire life. Previous educational place, at least 5 years. They know the person, more that the new place that have had the person for a few weeks.

The info needed is what can you offer. What facilities do you have. Staff ratio in each room, not in the building. On site physio etc.

To help find out about colleges, something like that happens in mainstream. I want to know about an all girls place in another borough that specialise in Music, because it's mainstream, this is very easy to find out. Try find out about colleges for sn and it's lots of ringing around, being told someone will call you back. Ask in the current school, and they will give you what they know, which might not be that many. As for asking other parents, meeting other parents in sn schools doesn't happen as frequent as in mainstream because a lot of the students are taken in via transport.

THere's probably more, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

My son is coming up to transition (year10) so we are looking at the future. He has mod/sevLD with ASD, ADHD and behaviours that can challenge. He attends an MLD school that has no post 16 provision. He is sociable and needs to be busy with rests. He does not cope well with a classroom environment.
I would be looking for an environment that suits his specific needs (rather than expecting him to fit the provision which is so often the case and does not work well), that understand his motivations and behaviours, that can stretch his abilities one gentle step at a time, provide interesting learning situations and provide sufficient support to allow him to thrive. He does not thrive if given too much freedom too fast, equally he needs to feel in control. I would also be looking for somewhere that can support his whole development from emerging literacy to social and life skills, with a view to his adult future. If it was far away, it would need a supportive residential house system.

I want tutors who are experienced in dyslexia and dyspraxia - who don't try to make my DD do physical things that she just can't do, but to encourage her to push herself to her limit wherever that is, but not to have to do what all the others can do effortlessly.

I want a keyworker who is likely to stay because they are valued and remunerated well.

Support for the family including help with applying for benefits, housing etc. Although other agencies support the families they are so overstretched.

My son has a minor disability and although the therapist has been trying to help, there's only so much she can do. It's a bother really because the school doesn't help at all and the teachers seem to be making things worse by always talking over him and not following the instructions set by the therapist. On top of that, I fear he might start getting bullied soon. As you know, most kids single out others that seem different.

I wouldn't want my son to go to a school specifically for disabled people because it would make him feel different and that in turn could hinder any progress.

What I want is a proper support system at the schools around us.

This competition is now closed.Thank you everyone for leaving your comments!

Finally, congratulations to moondough for being pulled out of the hat and winning the £200 LoveToShop voucher!