(UK) Derbyshire parents battle to get their children into SPED services in school

Jan 9, 2019, Ripley and Heanor News: Derbyshire families share struggle to gain special education support for their children https://www.ripleyandheanornews.co.uk/news/education/derbyshire-families-share-struggle-to-gain-special-education-support-for-their-children-1-9528394 The number of Derbyshire families coming forward to share startling stories about their battles to gain special educational support for their children continues to grow. … Derbyshire County Council is in control of drawing up these documents – called Education, Health and Care Plans, or EHCPs. It currently has more than 3,000 on its books…. An increasing amount of parents have come forward so far to speak publicly about how they have battled to obtain or even be assessed to get an EHCP for their child. Daniel Bowler is five years old and is on roll at Ironville and Codnor Park Primary School. He is autistic and has a range of sensory, speech and sound disorders. One of is conditions, Pathological Demand Avoidance, leads Daniel to avoid or refuse any requests that are made too assertively. He also has separation anxiety, which leads him to act as his mother’s “shadow”. Daniel typically communicates using Makaton, a form of sign language paired with speech. In May, his GP signed him off school due to be medically unfit to attend due to anxiety and illness. This was due to a compulsion to eat and chew “anything he could get his hands on”, says his mother, Teresa. She says that since he hasn’t been in school, Daniel has not been ill or required antibiotics. Teresa has requested permission for her son to have an EOTAS – education other than at home. Before this, in October 2017, Daniel had been due to have his EHCP reviewed. However, it was August before the family received a draft. This draft only came through after Teresa proposed legal action. However, the plan “did not even begin to resemble anything that could support him within a school,” says Teresa, who lives in Codnor Park. A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said each child’s case was different. …