Janet O'Keefe, Speech and Language Therapist

Families whose children have special educational needs and seek the best provision for them at schools are often treated like second-class citizens by local authorities and tribunal appeal panels.

 Sheridan Humphreys, the mother of a 12-year-old son, Max, who has hemiplegia, a form of cerebral palsy and epilepsy, has experienced three traumatic SEN tribunal appeals which cost her her marriage and twice her career as a PR Consultant in the entertainment industry.

Sheridan is sharing her devastating experiences to promote an SEN conference, Towards a Positive Future, for families and professionals, which is being held on Saturday, 16 June at the Mary Hare School, Newbury.  Speakers include Jane Asher, President of the National Autistic Society.

Max is now settled in a specialist residential school in Surrey for boys with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties 50 miles away from her home in Godalming, Surrey.

 “It’s the right school for him and I am now concentrating on rebuilding my career, my emotional health and my family,” says Sheridan, who is a parent representative on Family Voice in Surrey which ensures the voice of parents is heard with regards to the design and delivery of services for children with disabilities and SEN in the county  and nationally as part of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums. She is also a parent representative on Surrey’s Local Change Board, which governs the progress of the  government’s pathfinder trials which are taking place there, part of the government’s reforms for SEN provision.

However, Sheridan admits she has paid a heavy price in seeking recognition of Max’s condition, which has been made much worse by the unhelpful approach of LEAs and the present intimidating tribunal appeal system.

“Not a week goes by without my being asked to prove to various statutory authorities that Max is a) disabled, or b) still has the ‘incurable’ conditions. By the time he was nine-years-old we had been through three SEN tribunal appeals,” says Sheridan.

 “The first appeal was when he was coming to the end of his nursery school. The nursery school led the process to apply for a Statement of SEN. This was declined, and so we appealed. And the day before it went to court, we were advised that our appeal was successful. I did this appeal myself, but it cost my marriage and my job.

 “The second appeal was more dramatic and came towards the end of year one. On starting primary school, he was only allowed to attend for half a day for most of his reception class, and by the time he was six, he had been excluded frequently. He had even had his hands tied up by an LSA who could not cope with him – which led to a child protection investigation. I found another mainstream school that I liked, and it had a place, but the head teacher of my chosen school denied there was a place at the school and did not want my son.

 “Fortunately, I won the other part of the tribunal – my son’s hours of one-to-one support increased from 20 to 32 hours, specifically so he could not be excluded for events taking place in lunch breaks!

 “I was most shocked at the tribunal when one of the panelists thanked a head teacher for coming, saying we realise your time is valuable etc. I had to take a day’s holiday to be there, the panel are paid to be there, even my pro bono barrister wanted to be there… yet was I thanked? No. I was treated as the agitator.

 “However, the exclusions continued until a new head teacher came along who did not believe in exclusions. I was relieved, but it turned out that my son was now spending most of his days sitting outside her office.

 “I came to the decision that if he was going to continue to go to school, then he needed to attend a special school, and I found one, in Surrey. Surrey LEA eventually started to look for a school for my son – after the new school year had started. The special school that I chose let my son attend, and while waiting for the LEA to name a school, I was asked to contribute what I could afford towards its £10,000 a year costs.

 “But, after three months, the school said they couldn’t meet my son’s needs without proper funding for his placement. Max was excluded after four months. Excluded from a special school! I thought my heart would break. I couldn’t believe that I was again facing another SEN appeal! We didn’t have to go to court. But it did cost me £1200 in legal fees. I suppose I was lucky. But once again, it cost me my job.

 “Most of my friends are parents of children with special educational needs. Most of them have children who are home educated and/or excluded from school. And they tell me that the SEN tribunal system is still the same.

 “This is what is the worst thing about it – no matter how much we could be learning from the system or from traumatic experiences like mine, nothing changes and nothing improves, and so much money is just wasted. Parents are treated like second-class citizens or trouble makers for wanting their child to have the best education to meet their special needs.

 “In my experience, we only ended up in the appeals system due to the errors and incompetence of two LEAs (in particular, their breaching the SEN code of practice). Yet only once have I heard of an SEN tribunal chairman telling an LEA that they have behaved inappropriately. It’s also hard, virtually impossible,  for parents to work out where to go or who to sue to reclaim any costs. I would like to see professionals and LEAs held accountable by SEN tribunals, either through financial penalties…or some other measure.  At the tribunals, there are no penalties for LEAs who break the law – so no incentives for them to change their pattern – and therefore parents are put through the same processes again and again.

 “Also, parents are the least respected ‘professional’ in the room at an actual SEN tribunal. I certainly felt that head teachers and LEA officials were regarded with greater respect than I was, while I was regarded as the trouble-maker who had brought the appeal.”

 Janet O’Keefe, a speech and language therapist who is organising the conference and is an expert witness for families at tribunal appeal hearings, said Sheridan’s experiences highlighted why urgent reforms were needed to make the appeal process more conciliatory and family friendly. While parents naturally seek the best education to meet their child’s special needs, this can lead to conflict as present laws state it only has to provide “adequate” provision. The government reforms says that each child should “reach their potential”, which I very much welcome.

“The present appeal system is very traumatic and expensive for families. Since all tribunals came under the Ministry of Justice, hearings have had to be held in government buildings instead of hotels or dedicated tribunal buildings to save money.  This means that instead of a formal business meeting, special education appeal hearings are now held in magistrates’ courts, asylum and immigration buildings, or social security offices.  Often there is security on the door like an airport to scan and search all bags and people entering the building. The whole process is increasingly stressful – and all because parents dared to disagree with the provision the local authorities are offering to support their child who through no fault of their own has special educational needs.”

 Please see www.wordswell.co.uk for further information about the conference.

Ends

Notes to editors:

1. For photos or interview requests, please contact media officer Ellee Seymour on 01353 648564, 07939 811961, or email ellee.seymour@btopenworld.com
2. Full details of the green paper for special educational needs, please see the Department for Education, http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/sen/a0075339/sengreenpaper

Educational psychologist warns that young vulnerable people miss out under present system

A new foundation which will enable practitioners to join together to provide multi-disciplinary specialist services for children with special educational needs is being launched next month – and could transform the present fragmented and bureaucratic system.

 The Clarity Foundation hopes to attract health and social care providers, as well as education specialists, to join as members who can be referred to families and local authorities as approved providers meeting statutory guidelines. 

 The foundation is the brainchild of speech and language therapist Janet O’Keefe and Robert Ashton, best selling business author, social entrepreneur and campaigner, who are passionate about providing a new joined-up efficient system which supports children and their families with educational support, while at the same time eliminating unnecessary duplication and bureaucracy.

 It will be launched at a conference entitled, Towards a Positive Future, aimed at parents and professionals, to inspire, share experiences and discover how they can achieve more for children with special needs. The conference is being held on October 14-15 at Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury, which is based at the Mary Hare School for deaf children.

 There are currently 1.7 million children with special educational needs in England who require support for wide ranging conditions, from dyslexia, dyspraxia and Down’s syndrome, to autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

 Janet says: “We believe that having a one-stop shop is the best way to enable parents and local authorities find all the support services desperately needed by children with special needs, and that our foundation is the most practical and efficient way of ensuring that those services are integrated and coordinated.  We need to bring practitioners from health, education and social care together and plan for the future while the present guidelines for new contract arrangements is under review.  Our foundation will be a valuable database of all heath and social care providers, as well as education specialists.

 “Additionally, we can streamline time consuming and expensive administrative processes. For example, we can help with criminal bureau checks and professional indemnity insurance.  At the moment, if a practitioner is not directly employed by a school or local authority, every school they visit should conduct its own CRB check.  Many practitioners regularly visit 20 schools a week sometimes in several different counties and are therefore checked 20 times.”

 Robert says it makes good sense to become more efficient during the present changes:

 He says: “However you feel about the Government’s “Big Society” agenda, the fact is that the worlds of education, health and social care are undergoing massive change. The Clarity Foundation is being formed to help parents make sense of those changes, and in parallel to help practitioners create their own enterprises. That way both groups can connect, create opportunities and meet the needs of young people striving to overcome disadvantage.”

 Specialist speakers include educational psychologist and former head teacher Charlie Mead, who has worked with children with severe emotional and behavioural problems and special needs for 20 years. He has grave concerns about the present system and highlights failures he has observed, leading to neglect in some cases for vulnerable young people.

 He says: “Charities are afraid to stand up for their clients in case their funding is withdrawn. Academies are afraid of further failure by taking on exactly those students who would benefit most from their resources. Children and Family Services have neglected the vulnerable due to bureaucratic inertia and a lack of consistency. All these situations can be changed if the interests of the child are put first.

 “When working with highly vulnerable children in care, many of whom have been sectioned, it is clear that the recession is having a considerable impact on the young people and their families – especially those who cannot cope emotionally, are addicts, are sexualized early and have been abused.  They need expert consistent provision – not piecemeal services from organisations who are threatened by lack of funding.”

 Other key speakers are Kevin Geeson, CEO of Dyslexia Action, who will highlight the impact of the SEN Green Paper; speech and language specialist Prof Heather van der Lely, who will highlight her simple test for an early diagnosis of specific language impairment; and both Sandy Burbach and Alex Kelly, who will describe the importance of developing social skills and self esteem in children.

 Janet is also launching a book she has edited at the conference also called Towards a Positive Future which includes stories, ideas and inspiration from children with special educational needs, their families and professionals.

 Full details about the conference can be found at their website, Towards a Positive Future: http://www.wordswell.co.uk/conference/

 There is a range of ticket prices: parent £90 (one day) £155 (both days); second parent £60 (one day) £120 (both days); professionals £200 (one day) £385 (both days).

 Media requests can be made to press consultant Ellee Seymour on 07939 811961, email ellee.seymour@btopenworld.com