(UK) Hull parents protest failure of SPED program; AUTISM is main issue

June 1, 2019, Hull Live: Expulsions, isolations and heartbreaking struggles: Hull parents' fight for help for their children with special needs—They revealed all during a SEND Crisis rally in Hull city centre this week https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/education/expulsions-isolations-heartbreaking-struggles-hull-2925016 Passionate Hull parents of children with special needs and disabilities have revealed their fights for justice and the impact “shameful” governments cuts have had…. She criticised the “shameful” government for “ignoring” children with special needs and disabilities and vowed to take parents’ voices and represent them in parliament. At the rally on the afternoon of May 30, many parents of SEN children attended to show their support and hit out at the funding crisis. Karen Draper was there with her seven-year-old son, Ben Griffiths, who is classed as nonverbal and is due to start an assessment for autism. It took 22 months for her to get that assessment for Ben and an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) to assess his needs. Prior to that, she fought for months to get her 17-year-old son, James, diagnosed with Asperger’s and Karen says she got no help from his school which failed to support him in the classroom. … Caroline Medforth’s son, Logan Richards, is 10 and has just been given an EHCP after a two-and-a-half year fight. During this time he was expelled from school twice and needed therapy before the school accepted him back on a part-time basis. … “In 2012, he was diagnosed with a rare metabolic disease which affects his neurological abilities and he also has ADHD and is on the autistic spectrum…. Other parents who attended the rally included Heather Jackson, who was there in support of her seven-year-old son, Oliver, who has autism, and Ankur Mehrotra, whose 11-year-old son Shaurya is on the autistic spectrum. Another was Marta Salmeron, whose eight-year-old daughter, Adiza Mouhamadou, is on the autistic spectrum…. She said her daughter was left to feel isolated in mainstream education and was taught by teaching assistants for most of 2018. “She has a lot of behavioural issues but I believe being segregated made them worse because the first three years she was in a classroom with other children and was fine….