\n<\/p>\n
Parents of children with special needs say they are relieved that the government\u2019s long-awaited overhaul will avoid significant disruption for their families \u2013 but told the Guardian they fear getting help will remain a struggle.<\/p>\n
Becky, whose son Kyllian has a number of disabilities including cerebral palsy and is registered blind, said she was \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about the changes in England announced by Bridget Phillipson, and immediate relief that her son wouldn\u2019t have to move from his special school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was worried they would shift the criteria and we\u2019d be back at square one fighting for everything again \u2026 I have a little bit more hope this time, I suppose, than with previous governments because they\u2019ve actually done parent consultations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But Becky said the emphasis of the changes appeared to be for children who could go to mainstream schools. \u201cIt\u2019s great that they\u2019re moving towards inclusivity but there wasn\u2019t a lot said to address children with more complex needs and physical disabilities, like my son,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The plans include improving inclusion for children with special needs within mainstream schools, and new restrictions to qualify for the highest tier of support, an education, health and care plan (EHCP), from 2030, although children in special schools such as Kyllian will retain their EHCPs.<\/p>\n
The government forecasts that about one in eight children with EHCPs will be shifted to new individual support plans or ISPs between 2030 and 2035, while those granted EHCPs after 2030 will have less say over school choices and fewer avenues for appeal.<\/p>\n
Jolanta Lasota, chief executive of Ambitious about Autism, said: \u201cLimiting EHCPs to only those with the most complex needs relies heavily on mainstream schools becoming genuinely inclusive, yet much of the detail on how to achieve this remains undefined and none of it has been proven to work at scale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to see tangible evidence of improvement before any attempt is made to change or remove existing rights and protections.\u201d<\/p>\n
May Race has a 12-year-old son, Joseph, with autism, ADHD and dyslexia diagnoses, who has been off school for more than a year. Despite obtaining an EHCP, he has been unable to access the support he needs.<\/p>\n
May said she didn\u2019t believe that he or many other neurodivergent children would benefit from the changes because \u201che has really struggled in the mainstream\u201d. She added: \u201cThere\u2019s been no acknowledgment that some children are unable to be in school, which is often due to the trauma caused by the failing system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane Harris, chief executive of Speech and Language UK, which represents children with conditions such as developmental language disorder, said the overhaul was \u201ca bold vision\u201d that could transform education for many children.<\/p>\n
But Harris warned: \u201cFamilies and young people with the most significant speech and language challenges urgently need clarity on what this means in practice \u2013 who will qualify for an EHCP, and how the government will guarantee access to places in specialist bases and special schools for those who need them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pepe Di\u2019Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: \u201cSchool and college leaders will have two questions in mind \u2013 will there be enough money to deliver what the government is setting out, and how on earth are we going to meet all these new expectations?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe planned Send reforms are certainly necessary and seem sensible but they constitute a huge ask on mainstream schools to expand existing provision and implement training on a massive scale.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parents of children with special needs say they are relieved that the government\u2019s long-awaited overhaul will avoid significant disruption for their families \u2013 but told the Guardian they fear getting help will remain a struggle. Becky, whose son Kyllian has a number of disabilities including cerebral palsy and is registered blind, said she was \u201ccautiously<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[166,1018,311,254,6028,630,2485,1014,1017],"class_list":{"0":"post-45087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-children","9":"tag-educational","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-give","12":"tag-mixed","13":"tag-parents","14":"tag-response","15":"tag-send","16":"tag-special"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}