hi sheffielders,do any parents out their feel let down by the lack of help towards children with special needs in schools:x

What do you want? By that I mean, do you want more special schools, more classroom support in mainstream schools or something else?

I work in the Special Needs field and I am disappointed that there are grants available to students in Higher Education, but virtually no help at primary and secondary level

Hi,
My name is Emma Wood and I am currently a 3 year student at the University of East London. I am currently undertaking my disseration on the 'experiences of children with SEN and disabilities, and their parents in two mainstream inclusive schools' and I was wondering if parents would be willing to answer some questions for me so that I can then formulate them into my questionnaire results? So far my questionnaire format is a bit rusty because my lecturer has been off sick so I have been unable to run it past her! However, any help would be greatly interested because I can then analyse my results.
if u would like to email you my comments then my email is emmawood2001@hotmail.com


1. Please tell me about your child. How old are they? Are they male or female?



2.If there is any other information about them which you think others should know, for example if they have a disability or a SEN, you might wish to explain about this.



3. Are you happy with your child's current school and how much choice do you feel you had in its selection? Y/ N - Why?

4. Have you always wanted your child to be included in a mainstream school? Or was there a turning point in your views on this? Why do you believe it is better for him / her to be educated in an inclusive setting?

5. Have you encountered opposition or lack of understanding in your wish for your child to be included? If so, can you tell me about these experiences and how they made you feel?

6. What type and level of support have you/your child received to enable your child to access mainstream school?

7. What is the outcome / current position of your struggle for inclusion?

8. What is your child's current educational status?
They currently attend a special needs school
They currently attend a mainstream school
They are starting a mainstream school shortly
They do not currently attend school because the LEA is refusing to allow them to attend a mainstream school
Other
Please highlight in red and bold


9. Can you list the kind of difficulties experienced by you as parent of a child with SEN/disabilities?
(Can you number them for example 1= very challenging, 4 is least challenging)


10. List the supports that are available to you as a parent?
(Number them in order of most successful, least successful)


11. What strategies have you as a parent used to help you, your family and your child (with SEN/disabilities).
eg support services/help lines? determination/dedication

12. Is there a message you would like to give to other parents who are struggling to have their child included?

13. Do you have any advice to offer teachers (or other professionals) about how to make inclusion work?

Thank you very much for your valuable time.

As you are unable to verify any responses recieved via the internet (they could come from anyone, with or without SEN children, from any country), what value do you think such responses will have?

They are likely to make any conclusions, that you may draw, meaningless.

Does that matter?

Is the process more important than the results?

Hi,
I wasnt sure if that message was for me? My dissertation is specifically focused on parents with SEN children's experiences of inclusion.

I would like as many completed questionnaires as possible because I will then be able to formulate the results into graphs etc.

Emma

And what about the appalling lack of resources or facilities for these kids when they leave the educational system and are then faced with the world of work but are then able to get any funding as is the case with one kid I know who falls within the top 1% of chronic dyslexics in the UK.

I have found that SEN is something that is sometimes used as an excuse for a pupil's poor performance/ behaviour at school. The fact is there are many people who doubt whether there is a condition such as dyslexia, and whether ADHD actually exists.

I have found that SEN is something that is sometimes used as an excuse for a pupil's poor performance/ behaviour at school. The fact is there are many people who doubt whether there is a condition such as dyslexia, and whether ADHD actually exists.

well you've clearly had no experience with kids with special needs ever have you? as if you had you'd no that people who think this are full of crap.

I teach a young boy, very bright in my Y7 top set, easily keeps up, great verbal communication, takes onboard concepts very well and can use his own ideas to investigate problems. however, if i were to ask him to copy some notes from the board he'd get himself in a right mess and right down a load of garbage. Clearly a very bright lad but simply can't comprahend text....thats dyslexia and nothing annoys me more than when people, without any experience whatsoever say it doesn't exists. discusting

i can go on with ADHD if you would like

Hi,
I wasnt sure if that message was for me? My dissertation is specifically focused on parents with SEN children's experiences of inclusion.

I would like as many completed questionnaires as possible because I will then be able to formulate the results into graphs etc.

Emma
Hi Emma ~ welcome to the forum.

I think cgksheff is trying to point out to you that some of the responses you receive via e-mail could be false because you have no way of verifying that the respondents have, or are involved with, children with special needs.

If you receive false responses, will that not make your final conclusions meaningless?

Also, each area provides different services for children with special needs.

I live in the London Borough of Bexley, and the provision here, I would say, is second to none, in that there are special needs' schools, as well as provision in nearly every mainstream school in the borough. LB Bexley also use out-of-borough schools, e.g. Dorton House in Seal, Kent and Valence School in Westerham, Kent. Also, every disabled child is entitled to free transport to and from school (mainly by specially adapted mini-buses).

However, in another south-east London borough, there is very little provision.

My eldest is on the S.E.N's register at school.. Needless to say we have ended up tutoring him at home as the school just seems to be set on letting him slip further and further back... I know funding is not as good as it could be and resources are limited, but the schools just dont give him the one to one help he needs and deserves. And underneath all his sydromes and disabillitys hes a very bright and intelligent boy who would just slip through the system. Insted of letting this happen when he gets home he gets his head into the maths work we set him at home..

I have found that SEN is something that is sometimes used as an excuse for a pupil's poor performance/ behaviour at school. The fact is there are many people who doubt whether there is a condition such as dyslexia, and whether ADHD actually exists.

Trust me, ADHD exists.

God! does it ever exist! I had ADHD forty-odd years ago, before it even had a name.

I was so hyperactive that I could not sleep at night, and would sit up all night reading as a kid, because my mind would nos switch off, and let me rest.

In primary school, I was the "naughty" and "disruptive" child who was made to sit outside the classroom to do her work.

As a one-year-old, my parents had to get a sleeping draught for me, from the doctor, to "knock me out" just so they could get some rest.

It must have been a nightmare for them.

PT

And what about the appalling lack of resources or facilities for these kids when they leave the educational system and are then faced with the world of work but are then able to get any funding as is the case with one kid I know who falls within the top 1% of chronic dyslexics in the UK.

I know just what you mean, my son struggled with school from the start, no matter how much time i spent with him daily reading and writing he improved little...at 11 i knew there was no way he would be able to go to an ordinary secondry school, so he was sent for assesment and statemented as having mild-moderate learning difficulties (what the hell does this mean??) and sent off to do or should i say waste his time in a special school.
Now at 23 he has been diagnosed as severly dyslexic affecting reading, writing, and even his understanding of things and expression, he finds social interaction very hard...there is more to his problem than dyslexia but what that might be i have no way of knowing.
He has had one job for a year which resulted in him almost having a breakdown because of the bullying he recieved no one wants to be bothered with some who is "a bit slow" i doubt he will ever work again now, there just isnt the sort of support he needs, the support out there is for the realy handicapped people which he is not he is actualy very bright, he learns things easily when interested and knows a lot about a lot of subjects...much much more than me.
For his problems there is no help for him or me (his depression is terrible to live with) there is no diagnosis, there is no funding for him other than sick pay , he then has to suffer the usual ritual ridicule and humiliation at the hands of the ss who want him back in the work that does not exist for him.
The system just is not working for people like my son and countless others i am sure, i would be interested to hear how parents of children such as mine have coped.

Hi

My son is almost 9 and has Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, OCD and is Autistic Spectrum/Aspergers. He also has associated learning difficulties. He attends mainstream school and I have to say we are very lucky in that his school are extremely supportive. They do the best they can with the limited rescources available to them. We are about to apply for statementing but I am not convinced we will get it because his behaviour is not terrible at school. This is a real shame becuase he still struggles and needs the extra support. For example: he is in the bottom sets for both maths and literacy but has worked hard and imporved no end (his reading age went from age 5 to 10 1/2 in a year) He really could do with moving up a set but can't as there is no classroom support in the next set up. He needs extra support as he has very bad short term memory and needs to be reminded what to do or he gets easily confused and frustrated. He can do the work but needs someone there with him so he can ask if he forgets or gets confused. If he doesn't get a statement, he won't get the extra support. The only way he will get the support he needs is to get a statement or to be kept in the lower classes. Not really fair is it?

It's a hard truth but most of the problems come down to funding or the lack of it. My son is 'muddling' on but I am sure he could do so much better with the right support. This is in no way a critisism of his school, more of the LEA and Government.

well you've clearly had no experience with kids with special needs ever have you? as if you had you'd no that people who think this are full of crap.

I teach a young boy, very bright in my Y7 top set, easily keeps up, great verbal communication, takes onboard concepts very well and can use his own ideas to investigate problems. however, if i were to ask him to copy some notes from the board he'd get himself in a right mess and right down a load of garbage. Clearly a very bright lad but simply can't comprahend text....thats dyslexia and nothing annoys me more than when people, without any experience whatsoever say it doesn't exists. discusting

i can go on with ADHD if you would like

please go on. I'm not saying that dyslexia or ADHD don't exist, but if you keep up to date with relevant research you should know that there is a big debate whether they do exist. Please don't accuse me of not knowing anything about SEN because I do and your comments to me sum up the whole 'SEN debate', people leap into it thinking that their views are gospel.

Hi

My son is almost 9 and has Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, OCD and is Autistic Spectrum/Aspergers.

Your son has ALL those conditions?

Your son has ALL those conditions?

They're all linked and having one indicates a predisposition to having the others.

I think thats how it works anyway.

Wilf

Just found this. I'm not saying that it does or doesn't exist:

Gregory K. Fritz, MD, Bradley Hospital medical director and Hasbro Children’s Hospital child and family psychiatry director.

Myth: ADHD does not exist as a real psychiatric disorder; rather, it is an unfortunate labeling of normal childhood behavior promulgated by ineffectual parents, incompetent teachers and the pharmaceutical industry.

Just found this. I'm not saying that it does or doesn't exist:

Gregory K. Fritz, MD, Bradley Hospital medical director and Hasbro Children’s Hospital child and family psychiatry director.

Myth: ADHD does not exist as a real psychiatric disorder; rather, it is an unfortunate labeling of normal childhood behavior promulgated by ineffectual parents, incompetent teachers and the pharmaceutical industry.

I'd sorely disagree with that, I've seen the effects of ADHD first hand, there is NO way that could be down to ineffectual parenting and teachers alone.

Wilf

OK, now lets put a different perspective on it. A comment from a level headed teacher:

Does ADHD exist - Yes

Is it an excuse for poor behaviour - Never (there's no excuse for poor behaviour)

Do certain ADHD students take advantage of the situation - Definitely

Do schools make too many excuses for these students - Yes

Do schools ignore the rights of the majority of the good kids to give disruptive kids impunity to act disgracefully - You bet

Can ADHD students behave perfectly -Yes

When? - when they are teated exactly like everyone else, and expected to behave to the letter of the school rules (like everyone else) - if they don't punish them immediately.

What happens if you give students excuses for misbehaving - catastrophic effect on the education of the good kids, some bald teachers because they pulling their hair out because are given no authority to deal with them.

Is it inclusion of disruptive troublemakers at the expense of the exclusion of decent majority - Unfortunately, Always.

Why do they behave when they are in the presence of the headteacher, but not with certain class teachers - take a wild guess, abusing the system.

Am i including all ADHD students in the above criteria

Boring news doesn't sell newspapers

The fact is there are many people who doubt whether there is a condition such as dyslexia, and whether ADHD actually exists.

This is where you're wrong, the fact is actualy not many people at all share this view - obviously you get the extremists, and what great news stories it makes. 5000 people agree with the boring, yeah it does exist, 12 people think the opposite - and then people go agaisnst, the figures and facts and think the new view is right because its interesting, must be some sort of human nature

I'm a teacher too, spend a lot of time with SEN - my impression is its all about a kids self esteem

I agree, skill of parents and then teachers has a huge impact on a child

I'm a teacher too, spend a lot of time with SEN - my impression is its all about a kids self esteem


Interesting, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

Low self esteem is a cause of low educational performance?

... and improving self esteem increases educational attainment?

If that is what you mean, doesn't SEN 'labelling' increase a child's feeling of "low esteem'?

Interesting, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

Low self esteem is a cause of low educational performance?

... and improving self esteem increases educational attainment?

If that is what you mean, doesn't SEN 'labelling' increase a child's feeling of "low esteem'?

Everyone knows that good parents, carers and teachers make children feel loved, important, wanted. I certainly take it for granted which means i'm lucky enough to have had this but I've come across children who, for whatever reason don't feel wanted.

In order to learn you need to be in the right state of mind, the very basics being fed, watered, safe ut the next level up I amd many others think (MASLOW, was a big speaker on this) is selfesteem. You can not learn if you don't feel comfortable. Good teachers can make kids feel safe and wanted so that they learn. TEaching ain't all that easy and thats why I love it.

Hi

My son is almost 9 and has Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, OCD and is Autistic Spectrum/Aspergers. He also has associated learning difficulties. He attends mainstream school and I have to say we are very lucky in that his school are extremely supportive. They do the best they can with the limited rescources available to them. We are about to apply for statementing but I am not convinced we will get it because his behaviour is not terrible at school. This is a real shame becuase he still struggles and needs the extra support. For example: he is in the bottom sets for both maths and literacy but has worked hard and imporved no end (his reading age went from age 5 to 10 1/2 in a year) He really could do with moving up a set but can't as there is no classroom support in the next set up. He needs extra support as he has very bad short term memory and needs to be reminded what to do or he gets easily confused and frustrated. He can do the work but needs someone there with him so he can ask if he forgets or gets confused. If he doesn't get a statement, he won't get the extra support. The only way he will get the support he needs is to get a statement or to be kept in the lower classes. Not really fair is it?

It's a hard truth but most of the problems come down to funding or the lack of it. My son is 'muddling' on but I am sure he could do so much better with the right support. This is in no way a critisism of his school, more of the LEA and Government.


If this lad doesn't get a statement, there is something very very wrong. Is his teacher pushing for statementing? what about the school's senco?

I have a son with downs syndrome who attends a mainstream school. I had concerns over sending him to a special school so opted for mainstream . One of the reasons was for him to make friends in the local community. The school have been very supportive ,after a few teething problems ,which were quickly sorted out. The problem I have at the present time is with the education department. Since my son was 3months old he has been having speech therapy every 6 weeks however now he is at school he is only being offered it 3 times a year even though his statement says he is to have it every six weeks. Over the years it has been one struggle after another to get what my son needs and is entitled to.

I have a son with downs syndrome who attends a mainstream school. I had concerns over sending him to a special school so opted for mainstream . One of the reasons was for him to make friends in the local community. The school have been very supportive ,after a few teething problems ,which were quickly sorted out. The problem I have at the present time is with the education department. Since my son was 3months old he has been having speech therapy every 6 weeks however now he is at school he is only being offered it 3 times a year even though his statement says he is to have it every six weeks. Over the years it has been one struggle after another to get what my son needs and is entitled to.

The system sucks... For genuine claimants to get stuff they're entitled to is like getting blood out of a stone, or pulling teeth at best of times.. And the jobsworths (Government) wonder why so many people are on the fiddle with benefits and stuff?! :loopy: :rant:

Honestly you should see the forms, you need degrees in psychology AND english to work out the terminology on some of 'em :rant:

Seriously though I hope you get the help and stuff you need for your son, I was a special needs kid in mainstream Schools, so I know from bitter experience how hard it is.

I have found that SEN is something that is sometimes used as an excuse for a pupil's poor performance/ behaviour at school. The fact is there are many people who doubt whether there is a condition such as dyslexia, and whether ADHD actually exists.

ADHD and Dyslexia are a small part of what SEN is about. I worked in the field briefly 20 years ago and it was under-resourced then. I'd hope that it was better resourced now.

I doubt that SEN was any sort of excuse for poor performance for the kids I worked with - several were brain-damaged due to illness and accident.

Joe

Interesting, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

Low self esteem is a cause of low educational performance?

... and improving self esteem increases educational attainment?

If that is what you mean, doesn't SEN 'labelling' increase a child's feeling of "low esteem'?

My $0.02 on this.

Yes, SEN does reduce self esteem, because there is a stigma attached to it, I feel this needs to fixed and just changing the name hasn't worked.

Self esteem is a huge part of education. Loads of kids coming for unpriviledged backgrouds are told they're scum from an early age, they're told that they'll never amount to anything in their lives. Why should they try? The authority figures and heroes of their life put them down, they feel worthless and so never try to be anything else.

I've seen this firsthand in deprived areas and it is something I feel really strongly about, it's a perputual cycle that harms so many gifted kids into never bettering themselves.

Wilf

Your son has ALL those conditions?

Yes he does. He spent several days at the Rygate Centre undergoing assesment, had months of observations and assesments at school from educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists and is under CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services) so I can assure you that I am not imagining all this! It is a well known fact that these condidtions often go hand in hand. Maybe a quick peek at http://www.tsa.org.uk will inform you a bit better on these conditions.

I wish my son didn't have any of these conditions but he does. Labelling him doesn't necessarily help but it does explain his 'peculiarities'. Unless you have a child with such difficulties then it is hard to comprehend exactly what life is like for them and their families. He isn't a naughty child, he is impulsive. The difference with naughtiness and impulsiveness caused by ADHD, TS etc is that the things the child does are not planned, they happen becasue of a lack of control an dthey are usually extremely remorseful afterwards. My son cries and says that he wishes he was 'normal' and didn;t do the things he does. Does this sound like a 'naughty' child who does things because of bad parenting or whatever other excuse people use for not believing in ADHD etc?

These conditions DO exist. Families like ours live with the reality of them every day.

Please don't be so quick to judge.

I do wholeheartedly believe these conditions exist, I've seen some extreme cases of some of them recently. However, I do believe that Dyslexia is currently grossly overdiagnosed, especially in Higher Education students. I also believe that many of these students then use the condition (when in many of them it doesn't actually exist) as a 'crutch', demanding special treatment when advice to academics from the universities disabilities advisory centres is that some consideration should be given, but particularly bad spelling and grammar can still be penalised. The reason I say this is because in a current group of final year university students, 14% are registered as dyslexic which I don't believe is representative of the general population.

I also wonder if being given a diagnosis at a younger age may impede a child's progress if wrongly diagnosed and they are constantly aware of it. (I say 'wonder' because I don't know, I don't have much experience with younger children).

Please don't be so quick to judge.

I'm not judging you and totally understand your situation. It's just that all of those conditions have very different characteristics. Did you see that programme with Helen Bonham Carter last year, the one based on the Jackson family? The ADHD child and Aspergers child have two very different personalities. Is there a middle point between aspergers and ADHD along the autistic spectrum? Like others on this board I disagree with this labelling and I'm sure that you don't enjoy having your son being given loads of labels of conditions he has. I'm sorry if I came across as judgemental but over the past year I have learnt to approach the subject of SEN from both sides.

Let us all know how your son gets on with his statementing and how much help he gets ultimately. The day to day support is so important for his education and is self esteem as you know, but its also important for the rest of the class too as it will help him integrate and also assist his teacher in delivering the curriculum to all the children.

From the little I have seen, being a parent of a child with Dyslexia, it seems far easier to get children statemented because of behavioural difficulties than it is for educational need.

I am feeling very unsupported at the moment, not by the agencies that genuinely want to help families with children with special needs but by the council and their special educational needs transport policy.
I have just been informed that my son will no longer be able to have transport from his special school to his childminder two afternoons per week as it is not where his child benefit is paid. He doesn't use transport at any other time because I take him and pick him up on my non working days, but he has been going to his childminder since he was three and has had transport there since 2007. The response by Karen Chester who is supposedly the person in charge of SEN transport was less than sympathetic - just telling me to make other arrangements. If only it were that easy! The driver and escort have no problems at all taking him and the minibuses are not full. I have no one else to collect my child and due to his needs a new childminder is not an option. My son truly benefits by being with mainstream children on those afternoons and I feel so angry that it doesn't make any difference financially to them if he goes to his childminder or to our home but they don't care.

my son is autism/aspergers (goes to rygate)and i chose to home school him as i felt he wouldnt thrive in mainstream secondary, it was alright at first i taught him the maths he should have grasped in yr 6 (god knows what he was doing in maths during yr 6!) anyhoo he started to get VERY isolated so, i decided to let him attend secondary,im not sure how it will be as hes only just started, but in the meantime, well, last june i applied for a statement, hes even been refused an assessment!...im appealing, long and drawn out it is, its a shambles, the senco team at his new school i find very uncaring, the admissions interviewer didnt even know he was autistic, left hand not talking to the right, im feeling very anxious at the moment about my son.....ill just have to wait and see

One of the problems is that to increase a school's funding, a massive amount of kids are now registered as SEN when there is absolutely no need to do so. Therefore, the children who genuinely do need help are lost in the background of a mass of kids who are perfectly able but getting the school an amount of money each year for being registered with a need. I am a teacher and I see this all the time. Even in the top sets at school with highly intelligent children a fair few of them will have some form of SEN. It's become an almost meaningless minefield. The only way they are guaranteed further help is if they arrive from Primary school with a Statement which means they have been officially promised extra support in their education by the local authority but these are very rare (for a reason)

I can relate to almost all the other posts on this thread in some way or another??..School as been the major let down for me, i have done all i can in providing them with advice,proffesional guidance,medical reports,prepared and sat in 15 meetings etc,trying to recognise my son and accepted within SEN??..i have then wrote complaints and went through the statement process...to be told it had been thrown out as they had not recieved documents which seem to have coincidentally got lost through mailing??..FURIOUS,i wrote explaining all what i have gone through and should i appeal AGAIN that with there times in which it takes through this process would be no benefit whatsoever as my child will have left??..got a quick response of 3 lines that they had recieved this..noted my comments and will put it on file, still remaining "struck off"????? Now in the process of "disability Discrimination" and STILL when/what if any education my child will get?? Been at this for almost 4yrs now and cannot tell you how angry and what huge impact this has had on me and my childs life. Education support and dealings with the authorities have been herendous to say the least.The damage has been done and none of them seem to give a damn!!!!

After reading most of the other posts after i posted my first reply...My child suffered TBI(traumatic brain injury)..now this disability is RARE not recognised often in our systems? there lists of "diagnosis" should i say??..complex and unpredictable needs too, however IF authorities and the education actually give a damn,they would see that it is not a HUGE amount of support thats actually needed.It's known as the "hidden Disability too" so as my child may look or express in a "NORM" way,only proves ignorance as they have not looked further than that!!!..also made it clear they are not willing to or have time to either? YET,my child by LAW should have an education at a mainstream school?,which schools by LAW should recognise and support? YET,they have not!!! It's so wrong.The process of complaints?..i did..provided advice/knowledge of medical proffessionals?...i did..the complaints/appeals procedures?...i did..requesting a statement...i did...All of which i was let down by!!!