Justice for Children with Special Educational Needs

I’ve spoke to some parents about what could make their child’s school experience better and this is something that has regularly came up.

A parent has a lot of pressure to ge their child to school on time, each day is different and trying to achieve this is difficult as often the child will turn up dysregulated and unprepared for the day ahead. Many children will be sent home within the first hour of school due to “bad behaviour” and in my opinion this is one of the reason as to why.

Schools should work to reduce the stress and pressure on both parents and children during the school day. By allowing a child to be a little late if they need to regulate can change their whole day into a positive. Many people don’t understand and can’t see it from their view, many people have different home dynamics and have different commitments to stick to.

I love this.
We should work on children’s strengths rather than trying to make them conform to a set curriculum that many SEN children struggle to keep up with.
They see their peers excelling and put themselves down and become triggered for not reaching the same targets.
Well we should set their own individual targets, things they want to work toward because that is what they will excel in.

Some people are not aware of the things that can trigger children with autism. Here are some triggers - being aware can stop a child from being pushed into a situation where they can’t handle their emotions.

Triggers of Behaviour for Children with Autism Children with autism disorder are very sensitive, and it's common for them to behave in certain challenging ways. However, not every autistic child is the same. If one factor is triggering an autistic child's behaviour, it might not affect the other child. Once a trigger has affected an autistic'

https://www.supportincornwall.org.uk/kb5/cornwall/directory/site.page?id=aq6QKb5BEPE

What is the SEND Local Offer? | Care and Support in Cornwall Cornwall’s SEND Local Offer describes the provision that is available for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families. Cornwall’s SEND Local Offer helps families by gathering in one place, the information that they need to know in order to....

Beautiful - Mums need more praise

To The Moms Who Love Someone On The Autism Spectrum To the moms who raise a loved one on the spectrum, This weekend is Mother’s Day and I wanted you to know how important you are to your child. You may not know it, but simply by being there for them you are making a huge

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Someone’s personal experience.

“Having a brother who is diagnosed autistic, both sensory and bad additional needs and experiencing first hand in school for 3 years the struggles he faced, i can clearly see there is more support both educational and emotional needed for young people who have additional needs and require additional support.
From not understanding my brothers emotional meltdowns because his sport clothes felt too itchy on his skin, to being unable to sit and focus on what the question is asking him in his gcse’s in and specific time, this all led to him ultimately failing all his exams due to misunderstand and not having the recourses and equipment to support him.
Funding needs to be implicated in all schools and SEN needs are a broad and endless spectrum with every child requiring different things.
Schools needs to improve on their understanding of a child’s needs and not just allow children to go to a learning recourse centre and play with fidget toys, and begin to start finding a route of moving forward to give that child a better chance to their ability to succeed. Once my brother went to college he was allocated with a school counseller who we could go too if he felt over stimulated, frustrated or upset, which helped him a lot social wise and built up his courage to engage in class.
They further looked into his intellectual work, and he was funded a pen that he can scan across a paige and the pen will audio relay what it is asking.
Since both of the strategies were implicated, he has no passed his maths and english GCSE, scored a distinction in catering and mechanics and socially has excelled, he has strong friendships who is sees outside of college and overall is happier and alot more developed. instead of labelling children with SEN disorders as naughty, understanding their own personal needs and creating a safe and open atmosphere allows that child to succeed not just in school but other factors of life.”

Information On Mental Health In SEN Children
- Educate Yourselves !!!!!

Mental Health Difficulties in Education - SEND IASS - Cornwall This information is about how schools, colleges and local authorities can and should support children and young people with mental health needs in school.

Cornwall Council operates Short Breaks and Residential Services across the County.

These are for children and young people with learning disabilities and associated complex needs.

They help parents have a break from their caring responsibilities and also encourage children to be more independent.

Short Breaks and Residential Services - Cornwall Council The Short Break Service provides county wide planned residential short breaks for children and young people with learning disabilities and associated complex needs.

Cornwall council reduced its spending on early support for children by around £8.6 million over the last decade 😤

Cornwall council reduces early child support spending following Government cuts Cornwall council reduced its spending on early support for children by around £8.6 million over the last decade, according to a new report.

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Here I’m sharing more views and experiences from someone with lived experience.

The main area for massive improvement is actually engaging with the child to find out what they actually need, rather than what they think they need . Then not letting the golden children keep their crowns forever, regardless of behaviour and allowing the children with more negative labels prove to be able to change into different children too.

-school aren't on parents side, automatically they take a us vs you approach.

-act like we wouldn't know our own children better than them.

-when they do realise what parents have said is correct they pretend like you've never said anything and it's all there idea.

-Have had to tell the school on multiple occasions its too negative for him and is taking its toll on his mental health bc hes in trouble for small things like fidgeting.

-main teachers ignore what SEN lead has implemented/said.

-anytime as a parent you have an issue and goto them they stop acting like a single teacher and suddenly they're acting as part of the school as a whole. This means nobody is ever held accountable for shoddy decisions bc they get to hide behind the school.

The negativity took a huge impact on his mental health. They escalated his behavior by being so negative (punishment based learning instead of rewards based) being in constant trouble for minor things effected his confidence and mental health massively.

At the end of most days for a while they would pull me aside for a chat and tell me all the 'naughty' things he was doing... always basically a list of ADHD traits.. the fat they weren't realising that as a trained professional was worrying and made me loose all faith in their abilities.

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I have been in contact with parents/professionals who have lived experience of our injustice in Cornwall.
Some have been kind enough to share their stories and views which I will be posting anonymously.
If you have any experience please feel free to send me a message 🙂

- “I have had mixed experiences with the SEN system as a parent.
My eldest recieved every possible support, but my youngest a nightmare.
There is an institutional problem with umbrella terming when regarded as problem children.
The terms ASD and ADHD are the first response, not looking at the bigger picture.
A lot more listening is required on the part of the professionals involved in the initial process as this is key to getting the correct support for all involved and making it accessible within a realistic tome frame, not 4 years later.
There is a huge gap in mental health support for children that, as a parent, I feel is particularly bad in cornwall. This is something that needs address by local authority and government alike”

The Cornwall SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Service) provides information and support to families of children with SEND

Home - SEND IASS - Cornwall If you are a young person between the age of 16 and 25 with a special education need or disability looking for information this section may be for you

In Cornwall there are :

256 Primary schools
55 Secondary schools
AND ONLY 21 SEND settings.

SEND children should have the opportunities to learn within a setting that benefits their individual ways of learning.
Teachers need to take a person centred approach and focus on building a relationship, and earning trust.
By doing this you will gradually recognise triggers and this will better the process of learning.

There are legal protections that make it unlawful for schools to treat pupils with disabilities less favourably than other pupils in all aspects of school life, without lawful justification.

For anyone who isn’t aware here are some SEND strategies and policies in force to protect and support SEND children.

SEND strategies and policies - Cornwall Council Find out and read the various SEND strategies and policies.

Sean Harford, Ofsted’s National Director for Education, said:
This research shows that high-quality education for these children is underpinned by a good understanding of their individual needs, and strong relationships between families and schools. Effective joint work between schools and other services, especially including health, is also critical to children’s learning and development.

SEND children require a strong milieu around them. If this is not provided then it can cause negative impacts on their experiences and learning development.

There are often interventions put in place for SEND children to have some time out of class; parents are now worrying that their children are at risk of isolation.

Some pupils with SEND missing out on specialist support A new research report shows that some pupils with SEND in mainstream schools are not getting enough help to support their learning and development.

The highest rate of suspensions 2021/22 was among those pupils with special education needs (SEN) without an education, health and care plan (EHCP), with 65,148 suspended.

This was followed by those with an EHCP plan, of which 19,312 were suspended.

The suspension rate for free school meal-eligible pupils was more than three times that for non-disadvantaged pupils !

Permanent exclusions and suspensions in England, Autumn term 2021/22 This publication presents statistics on suspensions and permanent exclusions across state-funded schools.The publication includes data on:reasons schools report for suspending and excluding pupilssuspensions and permanent exclusions by pupil characteristicsper...

It’s important that everyone tests their own ideologies and educates themselves on issues that you don’t understand before making any judgement on another individual.

70% of parents feel included in the SEND process - 30% Do not.

Many parents experience a huge amount of stress during the diagnosis process, this can lead to the feeling of isolation.
Many relationships can begin to break down due to family not accepting that a child has additional needs.
Some parents even have anxiety about taking their child to social events due to the perception the community would have on their child’s behaviour.

Many people seem to have ideologies that it is the parents fault, that their parenting skills and responsibilities need to be developed.

Children with SEND and the emotional impact on parents - Special Needs Jungle Some new research has loked into the emotional impact of having a child with special educational needs and disabilities

It is not only the children being impacted by this injustice but also parents and families.

Single parents who do not have a support system close by are being forced out of employment to ensure their kids are getting to and from school.

In Cornwall there are currently no specialist pre-school provision for SEND children !

Parents' fears over lack of specialist places for children Many are concerned about what will happen if their children are not sent to their chosen schools

The fact that there is such a deficit in funding for SEN schools in Cornwall disgusts me.

Children with additional needs are being pushed out of the county because there is ‘no place’ for them.

Moving a child at a young age can effect their socio-emotional development and with that on top of their additional needs could leave detrimental impact on them - families have no choice if they want the support for their child.

Parents are backed into a corner and no family should have to experience this.

'Broken' system sending our kids to schools as far as Scotland There are claims that there is a lack of funding from the Government for special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision and that there is growing demand for services which are under pressure

This page is to raise awareness about the struggles that children with Special Education Needs face within the school system.

I will share my research about the effects that children, parents and families face from the lack of support within the school system.

I will be focusing on the rural county Cornwall.

If you have any personal experience that you would like to share please feel free to drop me a message.

⚠️ This is all my own research, I am just a student trying to spread awareness.
⚠️Any personal experiences disclosed will be made anonymous