Support for children with Special Educational Needs

Published: November 19th, 2018

The Times on Sunday carried an article about the difficulties and delays in obtaining the right kind of support for children with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities (SEND). It is alarming to think that children with difficulties such as hearing impairments, autism or Down’s syndrome are being left without a place at a special school and/or inadequate support in mainstream schools. Recent changes to the support system for children with SEND have obviously not helped. The reason why it is so difficult for parents to obtain an Education, Health and Care Plan ( EHCP) for their child who needs it, may be because the additional support, available in school, that provides the prior evidence for an EHCP assessment, may not be effective in all cases. For most children with SEND, evidence must show that the child has made very little progress in spite of additional support at earlier levels of intervention. Clearly, this graduated system is not working for every child who needs it.

The headline ‘…special needs battle’ is alarming to say the least. Parents have enough problems coping with a child who has significant learning difficulties, without having to go into battle to obtain their child’s educational entitlement. It is for these reasons that I have written my series ‘Parents: Help your child succeed.’ Book 1: ‘Support for Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities: A parents’ guide’ offers parents all the information they need to work collaboratively with schools to ensure that education for their child does not become a battle. Available as an ebook or print book.

www.sylviaedwardsauthor.co.uk

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