Sorry for the length of this thread, but i'm more than a little angry.
Since posting my angst over the lack of support for my sons despite being formally statemented and subsequently supported by LDA’s, (Learning Disability Assessments.) it’s become increasingly apparent that my sons experience is not unique and that many are being short changed in education. Not only at lower levels of education like primary and secondary, but also in FE & HE.
For those of you who don’t know, I have two children in FE who have ASD and co-occurring specific learning difficulties and both have had very different experiences with FE education.
One College openly admitted they had little experience of Autism, yet has embraced change to address their poor Autism awareness. This College has even asked my son to become an ambassador in training staff to be more aware of Autism and the issues that affect access to learning for those on the spectrum.
My other sons College has completely ignored my sons needs to the point of preventing him access to learning commensurate with his intelligence by actually dropping him down a course level and failing to provide the aids he needs to access the course. A clear breach of the Equality Act 2010.
Years ago, when I started the educational journey with my sons, I was completely unaware of how poorly the educational system managed to support those on the spectrum. Eventually, I ended up home educating my children at Primary level whilst the LEA searched for an ‘appropriate placement.’ As the years have gone by, little appears to have changed in my view.
For the most part, we entrust our precious children to a veritable ‘Russian Roulette’ of provision. A frankly, ill equipped system that seems slow to adapt despite all the laws in place to ensure compliance. I used to think the lack of support was largely a primary school concern. Staff poorly trained in identifying and delivering the much need early intervention that is so crucial to any child with SEN. My boys were extremely well supported in Secondary, but they did have statements by that point, yet I felt sure things would be better as they moved up the academic ladder. How Wrong I was. Poor awareness, provision and actual acts of prejudice seem rife across the board.
· Denial by staff for students to use software in teaching environments that would enable the students the very access to education they are entitled to.
· Poor awareness of their needs.
· Poor awareness in SEN departments of Schools and Colleges in how to help students with various disabilities
· The knee jerk reaction of dropping students down levels or denying progression in education because it’s assumed they ‘cannot attain’ because they have a learning difficulty.
· Ignorance of what assistance is available to help those with SEN
· Isolating students from lessons or Schools totally, by exclusion or because of plain lack of understanding of given conditions and how to support them adequately
· Bullying and intimidation from staff toward students and parents
· Parents advised to send students to specialist Schools or other Colleges for disabilities as basic as Dyslexia, because an establishment fears their league table results will drop
The list goes on!
Why, so often, is the support of those on the spectrum or who suffer with co-occurring learning difficulties, left to the parents/carers etc to initiate, plan and even in some cases provide for in Schools and Colleges?
Despite the LDA in my sons provision specifying the programs necessary for him to access learning, it’s never been provided. What is the point of an LDA If it’s not truly legally binding or if Colleges can use its woolly and weak standing legally to get out of providing for a student with a disability? These provisions are considered common place and a reasonable adjustments to avoid the substantial disadvantage’ to a disabled person, yet they are not being provided.
I had to go out and personally purchase the program myself despite it being available to the staff at the college! In fact none of the provision on his LDA has ever been delivered for one of my sons!
Since my post I’ve heard frequently of parents having to source the very Auxiliary aids and services that SENCO’s surely should know all about. After all they are the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators, shouldn’t they be the experts in the field of SEN!? Does a two day training course on Dyslexia really make for a dyslexia expert? Seems some educational establishments are not taking the support as seriously as they should.
I’ve heard of students struggling to access education because of the prejudice or failure of teachers/lecturers to make reasonable adjustments within a learning environment. Eg. The use of a simple recorder to enable a student to make notes or process the lecture sufficiently.
As I understand it, LEA’s pay the money to the colleges for the provision, Where is it going???? How can a child arrive with an LDA or statement and not receive the support specified. Why aren’t the Colleges and Schools more accountable for the money that is provided to support those on the spectrum or frankly, anyone with SEN?
It makes you cynical when you see that 90% of students at a specific College have students with SEN, but none of them have the provision specified by the LEA. Yet suddenly a new equestrian unit or toilet block is built and financed by the cash-strapped, School or College. Sorry I digress here, but it does make you feel there is something unsavoury about it all in some quarters.
No, not all establishments have an issue, but when will we even get a level benchmark for those with disabilities and in education to attain their true potential? When will the government realize that the outdated concept of judging a School or College by its ability to perform in league tables destroys a schools ability to support its students to their true potential and in many cases fosters the very prejudice disabled students face daily? I know I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but am I missing something here?
You wouldn’t expect someone with a physical disability to be denied a wheelchair, why should those with a neurological deficit be denied appropriate support????
A repeated cry from the Colleges is that they can no longer afford the provision or support specified. This really isn’t good enough. I truly believe that serious money could be saved if students were properly supported and enabled. Ponder on this quotation.
“Give a man a fish and he feeds himself for a day. Give a man the means to fish and he can feed himself for a lifetime. “
I’ve heard a great deal from both parents and students with regard to the poor information flow about what’s ‘out there’ to help students become independent learners or to reach their true potential. Yes, 1:1 intervention is great and really helps many students for their learning needs, but is this the only way forward in all cases???
I’m not suggesting that assistive software is the answer to all SEN issues, but it can make a real impact for many. The cost effectiveness of which, not to mention the raising of moral for those who make positive strides towards independent learning, cannot be underestimated, so why is it being denied in our Schools and Colleges across the country?
In my opinion, the cost of 1:1 intervention from staff, verses, the means to access or demonstrate ones own knowledge independently, is not only massively outweighed financially, but goes well beyond things that can be measured in monetary terms. (Especially when you realize that multiple licences can be obtained by learning establishments to cover many learning programmes at a time, which far outstrips the cost of 1:1 support for a large number of students. It would also allow truly focused support of 1:1 intervention towards those who do need greater input and would stretch staff resources far less.
Why are we preventing learners accessing levels of courses that are commensurate with their IQ because they struggle to read and write? Surely, giving them the means to be able to read and write with ‘speech to text’ or ‘text to speech’ software, is a no brainer! Dyslexia, one of the most common disabilities, has been acknowledged for years, why are we still in the dark ages with regard to the support of such a disability?
Education is meant to be the foundation of our lives. The building blocks of ones personal journey in life. With such rocky foundations how are we meant to grow and become contributing members in the workforce?
Yet many individuals with Dyslexia, Dypraxia and ASD are denied positions in the workplace because of their disability. Some well supported individuals will go on to run their own businesses despite their disabilities, but an even great number will be relegated to unemployment believing they are failures because they don’t function as others do in an NT world and because they have been denied the very tools that would give them access.
Isn’t it time we opened our eyes and abolished such prejudice? Shouldn’t the foundation establishments in our lives be where a start is made?
Here endeth my rant!
(In case you were unaware, I’m just a parent. I’m also an uneducated, Dyslexic who has just started their own business to give my ASD children employment prospects for their future.)
