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(UK) 5,600 kids on wait list for special ed; 30,000 more added each year

April 2, 2022, Metro: ‘My son lost years of school – people need to know how bad it is’: The autistic children being failed by the education system https://metro.co.uk/2022/04/02/in-focus-the-autistic-children-being-failed-by-the-education-system-16383782/

Businesswoman Jay Brewerton was travelling on the train from her home in East Sussex to London in January 2017 when she received a phone call that made her blood run cold. Her seven-year-old autistic son, Isaias, was missing after running away from his primary school. ‘I felt fear and sickness,’ she recalls. ‘Anyone could have grabbed him, someone could have pulled him inside their house. Anything could have happened to him.’… But this wasn’t the first time Isaias had run from school. Or the second or even the third time. According to Jay, this was the 82nd time in 15 months that he had bolted, prompted by his anxiety spiralling out of control…. Following this latest police search, Isaias’ school agreed that they weren’t the best place for him and asked the family to remove the child. Shockingly, it would then take another three years – out of any sort of formal education – before the family would find a school that was right for Isaias. Jay says that a combination of money, red tape and lack of understanding were the root cause of the hold up – and it was a delay that ultimately cost the boy seven years of learning. In England, local authorities give primary schools in the region of £4,000 [$5,200] per pupil. The Department for Education says that for children who need additional help with Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools can have £6,000 [$8,000]. But if a child with SEN requires extra support costing £10,000 [$13,000] or more, an EHCP is required, so it can help identify and support a child’s educational, health and social needs. For the academic year 2020/21, 325,600 pupils in England had an EHCP – up more than 30,000 from the previous year. But obtaining an EHCP is often easier said than done. In January 2021, according to support group Special Needs Jungle, 5,600 children and young people with EHCPs were listed as ‘awaiting provision’, with some waiting months, even years, to get the education that they are entitled to. As a result, many autistic children like Isaias are falling through the cracks and missing out on vital schooling, potentially storing up more problems for the future. ‘Children with autism can present differently because it affects children and young people in a range of ways,’ explains Dr Michele C McDowell, an Educational and Child Psychologist…. ‘The system is designed to fail your child because for each year no support is provided it is a whole year of financial costs saved in multiple county council budgets, and that’s all that matters.’… ‘The whole system is rotten,’ says Jay, a single parent, who manages her own business. During his three years out of education, she and Isaias’ father did their best to educate their son. However, with behavioural issues making it difficult for him to engage, the pair found it incredibly difficult. ‘We both struggled to teach him to read, or write, as he could not remember the same word from one page to the next, he struggled with font recognition,’ she recalls. THE TRUE COST OF THE SEND PROCESS Earlier this year the Let Us Learn Too campaign released the results of its SEND Money Survey. Nearly half of those who responded said they spent between £1,000 and £5,000 on private professional reports and advice to help get an EHCP assessment. 6% said they had spent more than £10,000. 61.24% said the experience had left them with lasting money worries, with over 40% saying it had wiped out their savings completely. 36% had been forced to borrow money from family or friends. 79% of respondents said they had to seek mental health support for themselves, their child or another member of their family from the NHS. Hayley Harding’s son, Matthew, is also autistic. She says she was forced to delay his entry to primary school after he was turned down for an EHCP assessment by Sutton Council, despite a number of schools explicitly stating that they could not meet his needs. ‘It was very clear from his preschool that he could not cope in mainstream,’ she explains. ‘He couldn’t concentrate for long, his body was weak from the hypermobility, he couldn’t pick up a pencil for longer than 10 seconds, and his language was severely behind.’ Fearing that her son would not manage if his needs weren’t met, Hayley arranged for him to stay at preschool for longer, while she challenged the LEA’s decision not to carry out an assessment…. Following her experience, in September last year Hayley co-founded the Let Us Learn Too campaign, which sent a heartfelt letter to the Prime Minister urging the government to invest in inclusion and early support, and, crucially, not to weaken the rights of disabled children and young people. The campaign had the backing of various organisations including the National Autistic Society, Down’s Syndrome Association, National Deaf Children’s Society and Tourettes Action…. And following a government launched SEND Review in 2019, it was finally announced this week that there would be ‘ambitious reform’ for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. This includes simplifying the EHCP process, cutting through the red tape and ending the ‘postcode lottery’ of provision. A 13-week public consultation has been launched. Speaking about the new Green Paper, Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said: ‘Every child has the right to excellent education – particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities, who often need the most support. ‘We are launching this consultation because too often this isn’t the case. We want to end the postcode lottery of uncertainty and poor accountability that exists for too many families, boost confidence in the system across the board and increase local mainstream and specialist education to give parents better choice.’… Mandy’s son was diagnosed with autism and sensory processing difficulties in 2017. Although she asked for an EHCP assessment in 2018 when he was seven, her request was turned down and an 18-month battle followed. ‘We applied for mediation with the local council. The meeting was one of the most stressful experiences that I have ever had,’ she recalls.’ As parents we had to put our case forward to the council and argue why we felt our child needed an EHC assessment. We are parents, not professionals, so it was really nerve-wracking and upsetting at the thought of letting my child down…. In the end, the family ended up paying £2,000 for reports from a private educational psychologist and speech therapist before a tribunal ruled in the family’s favour…. Mandy’s son now receives one-to-one support at his mainstream school, with a teaching assistant helping him with extra work, as well as supporting him with his language and helping him to understand and communicate with his classmates….

Jay’s son Isaias fled school 82 times in 15 months

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