Parent Power

Families of children with learning difficulties are increasingly home educating, but for many it’s not an easy option, says Dina Shoukry

The modern home-schooling movement emerged in the 1970s when it was considered to be a fringe pursuit. Today, it is the fastest growing form of education with between 50,000 and 80,000 children in the UK being home educated.

Home education is not an option most parents take lightly, but thousands feel their children are being failed at school because of a lack of funding. For some children with special needs, school can be so difficult that they suffer stress, anxiety and even bullying.

According to Department of Education figures, there were over 1.3 million pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in 2019 in England. Only 271,000 had an education, health and care (EHC) plan meaning that their care is paid for by the local council, but EHC plans are notoriously difficult to obtain with many parents feeling abandoned by the council. One parent of a child with ASD, ADHD and a Sensory Processing Disorder said, “It feels like councils are trained to put roadblocks in place, so people give up the fight.” For children without an EHC plan, the funding they need is met from mainstream school budgets which have largely been cut.

The government has pledged an additional £790 million to those with complex needs but this only partially addresses the gap, which could potentially rise to £1.6 billion by 2021/22 according to The Local Government Association (LGA). Advances in life expectancy, more awareness and better diagnoses means there are now more children and young people with needs that are difficult to meet within mainstream schools and this is likely to increase, further exacerbating the funding shortfall.

Across all pupils with SEND, Speech, Language and Communication is the most common primary type of need. Fortunately, most mainstream schools will support children with mild dyslexia and dyspraxia, but the level of support is dependent on the school.

Many state schools have very strong SEND departments such as Belleville Primary School, Christ Church C of E Primary School Chelsea, and St George’s C of E Primary School Battersea, which runs a training centre for Talk4Writing and Sounds-Write programmes attracting school leaders and teachers from all over the UK to learn from them, but others are overstretched

In the private sector, the child’s educational development depends on how results-driven the school is. There is a clutch of independent schools that support children with mild difficulties including The Roche School, Cameron Vale School, Wetherby Pre-Prep and Thomas’s, with the aim of transitioning them into mainstream secondary schools.

Some schools accommodate external special needs specialists during the school day either on or off the premises and some will even allow students to attend school part-time while attending intensive additional support sessions. Hema Desai, Specialist Dyslexia Teacher & Speech and Language Therapist at Connect Literacy explains, “We offer intensive specialist teaching sessions where children can either come to our centre for 1-2 hours during the day for additional support within a hybrid model of specialist support and mainstream education, as well as after school sessions. The best-case scenario is when the schools and parents work collaboratively with the specialist tutors to help the child.”

Melina Brook, specialist Dyslexia Tutor with Exceptional Academics emphasises, “Dyslexia is supported through focus on learning style and much breaking-down, scaffolding and repetition to gain automaticity. But difficulties with literacy, numeracy, processing or executive functions won’t all magically disappear in adulthood.

“As a tutor I help close gaps, reinforce concepts in multi-sensory ways and give tools and techniques towards independent learning. But the earlier the intervention the better, so that these children are best equipped for the increasing demands of secondary school – with continued support. Specialist dyslexia workshops and tutors are also available to give schools – and parents – a more in-depth understanding of specific learning difficulties and strategies needed.

“For parents who fear that a label will hold their child back, assessment provides not only reasons why and access to support, but brings with it knowledge vital for a child’s self-esteem: that their frustration with learning isn’t to do with intelligence or potential; we all have different strengths, weaknesses and talents and we don’t learn everything at the same pace or in identical ways.”

At secondary and senior schools, students with special needs may be granted extra time in exams, a scribe and a laptop, but it has to be determined by an educational psychologist’s assessment.

But parents need to be realistic. The short-and long-term memory difficulties experienced by dyslexic children mean that considerable reinforcement and repetition is necessary. Hema explains, “Many parents want their children to attend competitive secondary schools. In some cases, the child can overcome their difficulties but for some it is just too big a stretch. If the school is very results-driven, then the pressure might be too high for them.”

Amanda McLeod, founder of The McLeod Centre and author of the Scholastic handwriting series of books, helps children with dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. Alongside those needs, Amanda specialises in handwriting and touch-typing. Many SEND writers find it difficult to keep handwriting legible under pressure. Touch-typing allows them to acquire the speeds that they need to keep up with their peers.

On home-schooling, she says, “Parents in lockdown may have noticed that their special needs children and especially those with autism, coped better in a quiet and calmer environment away from the distractions of school. For these children, home education might be more suitable. There are many local home education groups who come together to socialise and there are a multitude of resources, specialists and tutors who can support the child.”

Children with special educational needs sometimes need to learn in creative, hands-on and visual ways, unlike in the classroom where they must sit still, listen, write and focus. There are many educational online companies such as Outschool which runs small group classes and camps for children aged 3-18 in a range of topics; others who do mail order arts and science home kits such as KiwiCo and MEL Science.

For children for whom school is simply not the right setting, there are online schools such as Interhigh and My Online Schooling for primary (from age eight), secondary and sixth form students covering the national curriculum, staffed by subject specialists, with smaller ‘classrooms’ and a virtual common room for children to socialise as well as opportunities to meet in real life. This type of flexible learning allows students to follow classes live or catch up later.

For some, a specialist environment might be more suitable, and London has some fantastic specialist state schools such as Paddock School, Garratt Park School and Oak Lodge School; and private specialist schools such as The Dominie, Fairley House and the The Moat School, each with their own SEND specialisms. The advantage of these schools is that the classes are smaller, often with one-to-one help; work is tailored to the child’s individual needs and linked carefully to their own targets; and the children don’t feel different, finding it easier to make friends.

However, demand generally outstrips supply and the fees in the private sector can be prohibitive, far exceeding mainstream fees at approximately £30,000 a year.

The good news is that the government has announced 3,500 extra SEND school places which will include 39 special free schools. However, until the Treasury releases more money to councils and schools, the shortfall remains large and parents of special needs children have no choice but to continue their fight.