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News- Page 5
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Education : No place at school for expelled 5 year old boy
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Posted by sylvia on Friday, September 30, 2005 (11:42:55)
DoncasterToday August 2005
A little boy has missed his first year in education because the authorities cannot find him a suitable place to go to school.
Five-year-old Jack Baker has severe behavioural problems and has been expelled from Rosedale Infant School in Scawsby for the safety of other pupils and staff.
But because Jack - a bright and happy child for much of the time - does not have learning difficulties there is no place for him in any of the borough's special schools either.
His mum, Angela Baker, 26, told the Free Press: "I think it's disgusting - I bet if you added up all the hours that he has done in school it could not be more than a month and he's nearly six years old. Because he can't be managed in school there's nowhere for him to go."
In the last few weeks of this summer term Jack was given one-to-one lessons at Anchorage Special School, but Angela has been told that this service will no longer be available when term begins again in September.
She said: "I don't know what to do any more. There seem to be so many people working on his case but nothing ever actually gets done. It's a constant battle to get information.
"I think he needs to be in a special school with a small group of children, but I appreciate that you have to look out for the other kids."
Problems with Jack's behaviour include throwing tantrums, biting and attacking people, running off and being generally disruptive.
But other factors - such as his obsession with routine and his love of talking - have made Angela and her mum Elaine Robinson think there might be something more to it.
Angela said: "I think it could be some kind of autism, perhaps Asperger syndrome, because he's clever with it. He's a talker, he likes to follow routine.
"He's really hyperactive, always on the go. Everything is completely literal and he's got an excellent memory."
But sadly Jack can still only have his stories read to him and has only just learn how to write his name. His grandma added: "It's not just the education that he's missed out on. He hasn't got any friends, he does not get invited to parties. He's not been in school plays, met Santa, or celebrated Easter at school."
Angela said she first noticed a change in Jack when he was about 18 months old and has visited various doctors and specialists since he turned two to try and find out what is wrong.
Some have concluded that he does have autism, but others said that he had behaviour difficulties and should be taught in a school.
Since Jack began nursery at Rosedale School aged three, he has been suspended from school five times. When he has been able to attend it has been for a couple of hours at a time at most.
Between December 2004 and June, when he began the sessions at Anchorage School, he had received a total of nine hours of schooling.
Angela is currently waiting for the results from another doctor that she visited with Jack to get a second opinion about his condition, and another meeting with the education authority is planned for September.
Tom Common, Doncaster Council's Community Director for Neighbourhoods, Communities and Children's services, said: "We are aware of this case and we are working very hard to provide all young people in the borough with education. We are in close contact with the parents and we are doing everything we can to resolve the situation."
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Education : Dad condemns move to shut centre hailed ‘lifeline’ for Asperger’s son
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Posted by sylvia on Friday, September 30, 2005 (11:38:46)
EalingTimes August 2005
By Rachel Sixsmith
Dad Peter Nicholsen whose son has Asperger's is among parents left reeling following the bombshell that the Interact Centre in Hanwell will close its doors for good this week.
The ten-year-old centre in Westcott Crescent specialises in preparing teenagers with Asperger's syndrome for college by helping to improve their life skills.
However, it will close its doors tomorrow, Friday, after an Ofsted inspection in October deemed its literacy and numeracy teaching skills "inadequate" a judgement that has been disputed by parents.
Dad Peter Nicholson, of Highgate, whose 21-year-old son Jeremy has just graduated from the centre, said: "I was surprised when I first saw how laid back the curriculum was but it works.
"They need literacy and numeracy like a hole in the head."
He is just one of many parents who have praised the centre.
He added: "My son is very pleased because he has been accepted at Westminster Kingsway College to study hotel and catering.
"If he had not gone to the Interact Centre he would not have had a snowball's chance. The improvement in his confidence and demeanour has been unbelievable.
"Three years ago as he laid down on the floor of a supermarket and began to roll just like he was three-years-old.
"He was also completely incapable of using public transport unless he had been on a trial run. But when the failed bombings hit London the other week my son travelled and managed to get home on his own from Tottenham Court Road in the centre of London."
James Graham, owner of the centre, said: "Ofsted judged the Interact Centre as inadequate for things such as literacy and numeracy that it is not contracted to provide and that students do not need to learn."
Mr Graham has said that the students at the centre of which there as many as 20 a year must already have GCSE-level literacy and numeracy in order to be accepted.
But Peter Pledger, of the West London Learning and Skills Council, said: "Literacy and numeracy are life skills.
"And if the parents are saying that their children have benefited then that's a good thing as we've been paying for it for many years."
He is now working on providing a new centre in Ealing for people with Asperger's syndrome, which is characterised by symptoms including social naivety and poor communication.
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Education : Fall in special needs statements
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 (09:30:32)
BBC Online
The number of children with statements of special needs in England's schools has fallen to a five-year low.
But there has been an increase in the number and proportion of children who have learning difficulties but no statement of special needs.
Campaigners say many councils are unwilling to "statement" pupils because of the legal entitlement and possible extra costs that brings.
Despite recent complaints about closures of special schools, there has been a slight increase in the proportion of children with statements attending them.
'Funding implications'
Government figures show that the number of children with statements of special education needs (SEN) hit a five-year low in January.
A total of 242,600 such children were listed in all schools, that is 2.9% of the total number of pupils.
In January 2003, the total was 250,000 and the proportion 3.0%.
Statistics on the number of children identified as having SEN but with no statement show there has been an increase across all schools.
In 2003, 14.0% of the school roll were in this position (1,169,780) compared to 14.9% (1,230,800) in January this year.
The proportion of children with SEN placed in mainstream schools has remained at around 60%, although there has been an increase of one percentage point in the proportion of children with SEN statements placed in special schools.
However, analysis of provision for children with new statements of special needs shows a higher proportion (66%) going into mainstream schools.
The government statistics provide other details about children withSEN. In primary and secondary schools, boys are nearly twice as likely as girls to have SEN with no statement. One in five boys is affected compared with one in nine girls.
Children with SEN are more likely than others to receive free school meals.
In January, 30% of children with SEN in primary schools received free school meals, compared with 14% of other pupils.
Quality
The National Association for Special Educational Needs said it was not surprised that the number of children with statements was falling while the number with SEN but no statement was rising.
Chief executive officer Lorraine Petersen told the BBC News website: "Some of our members have rung us to say how hard they are finding it to get statements for their children.
"Thinking cynically, that may be because of funding implications but it is also about meeting the needs of youngsters in different ways. It is not all about statementing.
"I found it interesting that the number of children in special schools has not fallen. People talk about special schools closing and some are, but others must be developing."
A separate study by the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education - based on government data - has found huge variations in levels of inclusion of children with special needs in schools across England.
Researchers said children with SEN were 24 times more likely to be segregated at school if they lived in parts of the north east of England than if they were in London's East End.
Mark Vaughan, co-director of the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education said: "It is simply unfair and unjust for families that moves towards inclusion have been so slow, and that these variations still exist 22 years after the law to include disabled pupils in mainstream education first came into force".
The Department for Education and Skills said inclusion was about more than the type of placement. It was about the quality of the educational achievement and how far children are able to learn, achieve and participate in the life of the school.
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Education : Cameron: What my son has taught me about caring
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Posted by sylvia on Saturday, August 06, 2005 (10:22:14)
Conservatives.com 12/06/05
"A remarkable battle was won last week. The enemy didn't simply lay down their arms and leave the field.
Instead they issued a retraction of almost everything they'd been fighting for and joined the winning side.
The 'battle' was part of the war to save special schools and the 'enemy' was Mary Warnock, author of the policy of inclusion for all, who published a hard hitting critique of her former stance.
I feel no shame in using military metaphors. Anyone who is involved in a personal struggle to secure a special school place for their child and anyone who has waged political campaigns to save these schools knows that this sort of language is spot on.
Parents feel they are up against an uncaring bureaucracy that opposes special schools on grounds of political dogma and cost. Politicians arguing for special schools risk being branded outdated and in favour of segregation.
I've fought both types of battle and was delighted by the victory last week.
As parents of a severely disabled son Ivan my wife and I were desperately concerned that we would never find a school where he could get the care, attention, therapy and education he needs.
All children are precious and all parents worry, but when your boy can't walk or talk and when his health is so fragile, worry can turn to panic. So when we found the Cheyne Centre in London, which specialises in helping children such as Ivan, it was like a revelation.
Here was somewhere with devoted staff, the right equipment and therapies, such as music and swimming, that help give Ivan a real quality of life. Yet back to the war analogy getting into this school was like trying to get out of Colditz.
The local education authority wouldn't recognise it as a school and the health authority was trying to close it. I will never forget the parents' meeting when an official told us the 'model wasn't appropriate' and didn't fit the Government policy of inclusion.
Parents' anger bordered on rage. We know our children and their needs better than anyone and they simply wouldn't survive in a mainstream school.
As an MP taking up the cudgels for other parents, the stories I've heard are chilling.
One mother told me how a local specialist unit was closed, her son was forced into a mainstream school, developed clinical depression and now attends a special school 75 miles away.
One parent had to go through two tribunals just to get one of four children with autism into a special school.
Then there were special school teachers who knew they could help children who were sinking in mainstream schools but whose parents hadn't been told about what special schools could do, or even that a local one existed.
Special schools are not right for all children, but for many they provide the best chance to make real progress. One-to-one attention, patience with those struggling to learn, and special therapies give children who would otherwise be left behind the chance to thrive. As Shadow Secretary of State for Education, I am determined to go on waging this war. That is why I so welcome Baroness Warnock's recantation. She admits the concept of inclusion was the 'most disastrous legacy' of her 1978 report, accepts that some needs are 'more effectively met in separate institutions' and calls for a new generation of special schools.
But while 'the battle of Baroness Warnock' is well and truly won, the war to restore common sense is far from over.
And the Government is on the wrong side.
The Government, as Lady Warnock makes clear, has a 'patronising' approach to special schools, with Ministers apparently set on 'immovable tracks' and using every method by 'hook or by crook' to keep all children except those with the most severe and complex disabilities out of special schools.
The Labour manifesto weakly mentioned an 'audit' of special schools and when I set out last week the terms that it should follow, Ministers claimed incredibly that it was already under way. Yet no an nouncement has been made in the House of Commons and no details have been given. We haven't been told who will conduct the audit or what it will consist of.
Prominence must be given to the views of parents, bias in the law must be addressed and while it is conducted there should be a moratorium on the closure of special schools, 93 of which have been shut down since Labour came to power.
This issue has a wider significance. Helping the most vulnerable in our society is one of our most profound obligations, and how we carry this out is vital.
In education in general and with special schools in particular it means recognising that throwing every child into the same class in the same school does not represent equal rights or equal treatment, as Labour suggests. It is thoughtless, uncaring, and as we have seen from the results often cruel.
Conservative compassion is based on an understanding that we are all individuals with different needs. It is time for this aspect of Conservatism to come to the fore again. Our approach should be based on real understanding, common sense and practicality not blind dogma, fake idealism, and political correctness.
Our society is becoming increasingly fractured. Whether it is growing rates of teenage pregnancy and family breakdown, sink estates plagued with crime and drugs, alienation among the young or loneliness in old age, our politics needs to focus on building a stronger society.
In education this means that instead of the top-down Labour approach that ignores parents and implements damaging theories from out-of-touch experts, we need a Government that looks at society from the bottom up. That recognises that as parents, teachers and politicians we are all in it together, with a mutual responsibility to care for those who would otherwise get left behind.
The war to save special schools is just part of the wider conflict in which we must engage. But winning this war would be a pretty good start."
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Education : Group plans autism satellite classes
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Posted by sylvia on Saturday, August 06, 2005 (09:29:53)
ABC.net.au 09/06/05
Proposed satellite classes for children with autism could cater for up to 20 children in Wagga Wagga and Albury.
The autism association has been developing the classes in response to a demand from local parents for more support.
Dr Trevor Clark from Autism Spectrum Australia says the classes should be running by the start of school next year at the latest.
Dr Clark says the program has been proven elsewhere.
"I've actually discovered we have integrated since 1992, 392 students with autism back into their local mainstream schools. So we believe that it's a highly successful program," he said.
The autism association is also planning a community education centre to service the region from Albury.
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