Sound Therapy

Sarah Teather, the current Children’s Minister (who spent much of her time in secondary school in a wheelchair following a viral infection) was recently interviewed by the Guardian, answering questions suggested by the readers on topics dealing with provisions for special needs children.

The central theme of the interview seems best summed up by the following extract: a lot of money is spent on special needs, “but it is not always spent well”, the example given being the tribunals that are all too often suggested in the event of local authorities and parents being unable to reach an agreement. If both sides were more flexible Teather believes this money could be better spent on the front-line. There is I feel, some truth in this statement, but at the same time you can never expect parents to stop pushing for what is best for their children!

When asked whether the government would step in to intervene in situations where local authorities make deep cuts to their service she points out that local authorities have a statutory duty to cater for children with special?? needs. (she does rather ominously however go on to say “These are issues for local authorities to take locally” and the lack of a firm definition of what these statutory duties are does little to help the feeling of apprehension).

When asked why she feels that some children with special needs are not diagnosed as early as they should be she provides a very informative answer with evidence that even in a time when budgets are being cut new provisions can be provided, and in doing so money can be freed up within the system! “There has been an unhelpful tendency in the past to discourage local authorities from giving children aged younger than 5 a statement of special needs … We are rolling out 4,200 extra health visitors so children should get an extra check aged two-and-a-half” By identifying the areas where help is required two and a half years earlier then speech and language therapy, physiotherapy & occupational therapy can all be provided at an earlier age. Areas where the individual will need the most help can be identified and parents have additional time to prepare before they have to “battle the system” to receive it! As she says in the interview “A six month wait for speech and language therapy can be critical; an 18 month wait can be really critical”.

Another question deals with Ofsted’s claim that a growing number of children are being misdiagnosed with special needs (something we covered in a previous post), I felt somewhat validated that her view of this situation was actually very close to my own! Teather explains that the problem in her view is the “… contextual value added didn’t help”, as the school league tables by which performance (and therefore funding) are determined currently awards points for ethnicity, number of children on free meals, the number with special needs, income deprivation and the like. It’s not any cynical ploy by the teachers, or Ofsted’s attempts to manipulate the figures to their own ends, but a genuine desire to see pupils given the help they require, sadly under the current system the most expedient method of doing this is to label the child as having special needs… “If a child is falling behind, that is a cause for concern and that child will need some extra support to help them progress. That is not to say they have a special need or not”. The answer she says is to “concentrate on why a pupil is falling behind”. Luckily there are extra resources available for certain conditions such as autism, but I somewhat imagine that over time these resources (such as personal assistants) will double up as general aids to teaching where possible, if the experience of those I know in the field is any indication.

When asked about the issue of Free Schools for special needs students she is quite realistic, pointing out that although the centrally funded model takes away some of the risk involved in setting up such a facility they are “… going to take longer than the other free school applications because it is more complicated to work through”, an excellent example of the difficulties of submitting such an application comes from Lincolnshire Councils recent refusal to support an application within their own jurisdiction.

One element of the green paper which I would have liked to see examined in greater depth was the way that personal budgets are to be handled. The plan is to provide parents a personal budget to spend on services and equipment which their children require. Anyone who has dealt with the NHS or local authorities will tell you that they do not always get the best value for money, simply because they can only purchase from approved suppliers. We’ve all heard tales of £5 biscuits and overpriced pencils, imagine what they pay for wheelchairs! Suppliers tend to justify the endemic overpricing by saying that it ensures they’ll be around for years to come, but in many cases the mark-up goes far beyond what you would ever expect. By placing the purse strings in the hands of the parents there is at least the chance that these essentials are bought for something approaching their actual price!

The final issue which was examined was the Achievement for All programme. The scheme works by giving pupils regular targets, set three times a year by teachers and parents and those involved are strongly encouraged to take part in school clubs and activities outside of lessons (potentially an excellent move toward inclusion). So far Achievement for All has been piloted in 454 schools in 10 local authorities since 2009, and the results seem very promising. Special needs students between the ages of nine and ten have been observed to learn essential reading, writing and maths skills up to three times faster than expected, and the progress of fourteen to fifteen year olds has been equated to them receiving an extra terms worth of lessons throughout the year! According to Sonia Blandford, director of the programme, it could reduce by as much as 10% the proportion of children registered as having special needs.

If you would like to read the interview in full you can find full details at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/23/sarah-teather-readers-qanda
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/23/nhs-failing-vulnerable-young-people

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