Posts Tagged ‘Dyslexia’

The way forward for special needs pupils?

Posted in Events, Towards a Positive Future Conference, Tweets on 05/30/2012 07:37 pm by Janet
 
00270880%20 %20450x360 The way forward for special needs pupils?

The added pressure of managing a budget could be too much for some parents

A radical shake-up of the way children with special educational needs are supported has been proposed. Education correspondent GARETH McPHERSON asks parents what the changes might mean for them.

MANAGING a budget for a child’s special teaching needs could put more pressure on families already being stretched by parenting demands, an education expert has warned.

Janet O’Keefe, a special educational needs expert from Little Downham, near Ely, welcomed the Government’s attempts to give parents more control over the support their child receives.

But the speech and language therapist is worried the amount of money put into the personal budgets will not be enough and that trying to make sense of finances will eat into parenting time.

She said: “Living with a child with special educational needs (SEN) takes an awful lot of time.

“At the moment many parents have direct payments in order to pay for respite, but have to prepare accounts, which takes a lot of time, and local authorities get very upset if you don’t provide them with quarterly accounts.

“If you pay for someone else to do your accounts that money has to come out of your child’s respite.

“So it is really difficult for parents who haven’t got the time or these skills to take on board yet another job when all they want to do is be a parent to their child.”

A statement for SEN outlines a plan for action to help children who have learning difficulties or disabilities get a better education.

Yesterday, the Government announced the biggest shake-up of the system for 30 years, which ministers say will mark the end of a complex system that often left parents facing uphill battles to get the proper educational support for their children.

Chloe Wilson, a parent at Upwood Primary School in Huntingdon, has two children with dyslexia and says she has been involved in a six-year fight to get statements for them. Her battle is still ongoing.

She said the system for trying to get a statement was “ludicrous”.

Eight-year-old Kieran, who also has suspected attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has the reading and writing level of a child in reception and his sister Jessica, 10, is two years behind as she prepares to go into the last year of primary school next year.

Chloe said: “I was told that Kieran can count up to 100 with adult support. Well that means he cannot count to 100. I think teachers are too scared, they do not want to go to the headteacher and admit failure by saying they have problems with a child.

“Maybe they are worried about being belittled or that it will not look good on their record.”

 She said she had to resort to expensive private tuition and her children’s education was suffering because they were not getting the support they needed.

The Blenheim Road mum said she welcomed anything that would give power back to the parents and make the process easier.

A couple from Cambridge, who had to go up against the council’s top lawyers and expert witnesses in a tribunal to get a statement for their autistic son, said there were elements of the proposals that could do good – such as mediation and full care plans from birth to the age of 25.

But the mother said it would not alter the fact that parents had to “fight tooth and nail” for statements that are often not worth “the paper they are written on”.

Her 3-year-old son was diagnosed with autism and seven years later is being educated at great expense at an independent school – because despite having a statement she says he would not get proper support in the state system.

She said: “Our struggle against the local authority to enable our son to achieve his potential has eclipsed all other challenges in our lives put together.”

She said the “David versus Goliath” tribunal process was “a most intimidating and overwhelming experience”.

The couple were also angry that the Government was suggesting that the number of people with statements was too high.

In Cambridgeshire, there are 861 primary, 899 secondary and 808 special needs schoolchildren with statements. About £14 million was allocated to meet the needs of the county’s statemented pupils in 2011/12.

gareth.mcpherson@cambridge-news.co.uk first published on 17th May 2012

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Review of the Conference – Towards a Positive Future – 14th October 2011 by ‘Special Needs Mum’ Tania Tirraoro and orginally published on her site ‘Special Needs Jungle’

Posted in Events, Towards a Positive Future Conference on 10/20/2011 12:26 am by Janet

The event was held at the Mary Hare School for hearing impaired children near Newbury. The school does inspirational work in providing an education for its pupils, helping each through individually designed hearing equipment. As a non-maintained state school, the school’s head, Tony Shaw, said they are ‘not considered to be part of inclusion’ and have had their funding cut by central government. This, despite the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, himself having a sister with a hearing impairment.

The school has had to diversify to survive, establishing an ear mould lab that services the NHS. Despite this, Mr Shaw says they never forget what they’re there for. He said, “At the core are the children we have the passion of serving.”  It’s a sad fact that, in the politics and cost-cutting of government both local and national, this message is too often overlooked.

Another speaker was Kevin Geeson, CEO of Dyslexia Action, who talked about the opportunities and risks of the Green Paper. He highlighted concerns about the assessment of hidden disabilities such as dyslexia in that it may not be picked up early enough and the question of who will control the personal budgets given to children to provide for their SEN. Mr Geeson said the Green paper brought an opportunity to provide the proper skills and support for teachers to include all children in the curriculum. He said, “Good teaching for children with hidden disabilities is good teaching for all.”

Education solicitor, Inez Brown of Anthony Collins solicitors, set out the legal framework and funding of special needs and pointed out the problem with parents appealing against SEN decisions for children at the new Academies because the Academies do not fall within the Education Act. She also pointed out that the Green paper removes speech and language and occupational therapy out of educational provision – something every parent of a statemented child should be aware of. This means that the local authority cannot be challenged about these things at a Tribunal.  

The conference also heard from internationally acclaimed academic, Professor Heather Van Der Lely who has developed an early-identification test for dyslexia called GAPS.  The professor pointed out that seven per cent of children have a specific language impairment – seven times the incidence of autism. She is trying to bring about the widespread use of GAPS which, she says, is quick, efficient and highly accurate. The crucial issue is, of course, that there are not enough Speech and Language Therapists to help all those that the test could identify.

Former Head Teacher, Charlie Mead is a consultant Child and Educational Psychologist, advising schools, the NAS and health and prison services about working effectively with young people with complex needs. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of helping children with special needs and makes the analogy of how the system is like an egg timer – with all the resources at the top not being able to filter down to those who need them at the bottom – ie, children. He spoke of how he had introduced nurture groups to a school in Birmingham where children with special needs were taught, mainly in the same classroom without the need to move around the school and given the help they needed, and how this had greatly improved their outcomes and allowed them to participate and be included within the mainstream of education. This is a fascinating idea that, with a some effort and will, could be adopted by every school in the country. It deserves greater public attention than it so far seems to have had.

One form of ‘hidden disability’ is that of acquired brain injury – that is, an injury not present at birth that occurs by illness or accident during childhood. Often these injuries present in a similar manner to developmental disorders. Every year it is estimated that at least 50,000 children and young people acquire a brain injury. Often, it is not until some time after the injury that a connection is made between a behavioural or learning deficit in the young person and the injury or illness that previously occurred. Research shows that 50% of those in custody have some kind of ABI. Louise Wilkinson, Training Manager of the Child Brain Injury Trust spoke at the conference of the issues faces by people with ABI. Her charity has been working to educate teachers on how to deal with such children. The charity is holding a conference in 2012 on the issue.

Finally, conflict resolution & NLP coach, Ian Ross and Lynne Kerry of Vievolve held a session about how to approach and deal with conflict and negotiations. They explained how to negotiate on ‘interests’ rather than ‘positions’ and how to maintain your cool when involved in a difficult discussion. One of the pieces of advice was to put yourself in your ‘opponent’s’ shoes and think what they are thinking. The company offers NLP coaching to businesses and individuals and has a number of courses at its South Oxfordshire venue coming up.

The site for the conference, where a DVD of the presentations will soon be available to purchase can be found here: http://www.wordswell.co.uk/conference/. Another event is being scheduled for next April.

All in all there was great concern over what the future for special needs might bring. It is clear that the green paper is far from perfect and that changes will need to be made. But it is heartening that there are plenty of people who are concerned with SEN that do not forget that the child is at the heart of everything. It is impossible to ignore the fact that money is always an issue, especially in these times, but our priority must surely be with the most vulnerable and childrenwith special needs are undeniably that.

   

 
share save 120 16 Review of the Conference Towards a Positive Future 14th October 2011 by Special Needs Mum Tania Tirraoro and orginally published on her site Special Needs Jungle
 

Here is the final programme for the Towards a Positive Future Conference

Posted in Events, The Clarity Foundation, Towards a Positive Future Conference, Tweets on 10/06/2011 02:12 pm by Janet

Friday October 14th 2011 

9.30 am – Registration and Refreshments

 9.45 am – Welcome to Mary Hare and the Arlington Arts Centre – Tony Shaw

 9.50 am – Welcome Address – Robert Ashton

10.00am – Keynote Presentation – Kevin Geeson – CEO, Dyslexia Action ‘The impact the SEN Green Paper could have on literacy and the long term economic and social problems that getting it wrong could cause’

10.45am – Presentation – Inez Brown legal implications for children with special needs, current funding arrangements and future funding arrangements

11.30am – Presentation – Louise Wilkinson the issues that children, young people and their families face following the devastation of childhood acquired brain injury ‘The Hidden Disability’,

12.15 am – Exhibition, Networking, and Lunch

1.00pm – Charlie Mead – how Acadamies can find ways to meet the needs of students with complex needs

1.45 pm – Presentation – Prof Heather van der Lely “The grammar and phonology screening (GAPS) test: quick, simple, affordable and accurate: so why isn’t there national screening?”

2.30 pm Refreshments

2.45pm – Ian Ross – Negotiation, Mediation and Conflict Resolution

4.45pm Robert Ashton/Janet O’Keefe/Ian Ross – Clarity Foundation

5.45 pm – Closing remarks from Janet O’Keefe and end of Day at 6pm.

Please book your place at http://www.wordswell.co.uk/conference/

share save 120 16 Here is the final programme for the Towards a Positive Future Conference