The National Autistic Society campaigns to ensure that every child and young person with autism has access to the right support to enable them to learn and realise their ambitions, in the same way as their peers, through our Great Expectations campaign, through the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Autism, and as a member of the Special Educational Consortium.

Too many children with autism are being let down by special educational needs (SEN) provision in England and are struggling to access the support they need.

The Government has committed to reforming the current system for children and young people with the aim of providing a more coherent, joined up approach to meeting children’s needs and ending the battle parents so often face.

The draft legislation, published at the beginning of September, marks the biggest change to the SEN system in over thirty years, so the NAS wants to ensure that these proposals work for all children and young people with autism in education.

Positive aspects of the reforms include: 

• Assurances that the new Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will offer the same protections as statements of special educational needs 
• Extend SEN law to cover academies and free schools  
• Extend the system to cover young people in further education up to the age of 25

However, we believe these reforms must lead to significant improvements on the current situation for all children with autism, so that they get the support they need and parents no longer have to fight to get it.

The Education Select Committee is now examining the draft legislation in detail.  At this point in time, the legislation is only in draft and it will take over a year for the changes to become law. You can read what it says here: www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm84/8438/8438.pdf

You can write to the Education Select Committee to tell them your views on the draft legislation.  They have various questions they want views on, including:

• Does the draft Bill meet the Government’s policy objective to improve provision for children with SEN and/or disabilities?   
•  Will the Bill succeed in cutting red tape and delays in giving early specialist support for children and young people with SEN and/or disabilities?   
•  Do the provisions achieve the aim of integrated planning and assessment across agencies? 
• Do the provisions set out for 19 to 25 year olds provide a suitable balance between rights, protection, and flexibility? 
•  Is there anything missing from the draft Bill?

The Education Committee has asked for evidence to be submitted by noon on 11 October 2012 at the latest and earlier if possible.

The NAS believes that the legislation can be strengthened in a number of ways to ensure that the new system will work better.  Some things you might like to mention in your response include:

• Changes to the SEN system must ensure that all children with autism have access to the specialist support that they need at school, even without an EHCP. In a survey carried out for this year’s Great Expectations campaign, the NAS found that only 65% of parents surveyed said their child with autism had a statement
•  There need to continue to be clear rights for parents set out in the legislation so they can get the support their child needs  
• Before the final SEN Code of Practice is published, the Government must consult on it and Parliament must have the opportunity to examine it. 
•  The draft legislation creates a “local offer” where Local Authorities will set out what support they expect to be available for children with SEN. This must be clear enough that parents know they can get the support and services their child needs.  This should include being able to use it in tribunals 
• The draft provisions suggest that EHCPs could cease where educational outcomes are achieved. This could create the incentive to set low targets, which could limit children and young people’s ability to realise their aspirations 
• Parents of children with EHCPs can express a preference for any state-funded school, however it needs to be made clear that this extends to independent special schools, which often provide the most specialist support
•  The Bill should also ensure that a young person with autism who leaves education to enter employment, or some other reason, can once again access support if they decide to return to education.

Submissions should be sent by email to educom@parliament.uk with the subject “Pre-legislative scrutiny: SEN.”

You can find more guidance about how to respond to the Committee on their website:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news/new-inquiry-sen/

Many thanks for your help!

“The Right Start”: The All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism launches recommendations for reform of Special Educational Needs

On the 11th July, members of the policy and campaigns team at the NAS met with MPs, Peers and experts in autism at The House of Commons to celebrate the publication of "The Right Start", the APPGA report into autism in schools. The report recommends better special educational needs training for teachers, designating a lead teacher for autism in every school and involving young people with autism and their parents more in the development of their educational support. It also states that children with or without statements should be assured of access to the new Education, Health and Care Plan, and that SEN provision should extend up to the age of 25 in order to facilitate the transition from school into training, further education and employment. The APPGA’s full findings and recommendations are available here.

Children and Families Minister Sarah Teather spoke about plans to train teachers in SEN through online materials and scholarship programmes. She highlighted the role of the Pathfinder pilot scheme in testing personalised support for students, and the Achievement for All programme in helping teachers to better engage with parents when planning a child’s educational needs. Ms Teather said that involving young people and their parents was “the whole spirit” of the reforms to SEN, and emphasised that the replacement of statements with the ECHP was “intended to involve families much better right from the beginning to ensure that support is in place right from the earliest point”. Speaking of the educational reforms as a whole, she said “we are very serious about getting the detail right.”

The Minister’s address was followed by speeches from Ambitious about Autism’s youth patron Josie Ryan, and The National Autistic Society’s young campaigner Jacob Denness. Speaking from her own experiences, Josie strongly endorsed more input by parents and young people into their educational support: “I know what it feels like to be the invisible one in a mainstream school surrounded by teachers who have no idea. I also know what it’s like to have a teacher who points out everything I can do and am good at, not what I can’t do.” Jacob called on MPs “to be pushy for people with autism in your constituency. We have taken the first steps to helping every autistic child or autistic person and it is up to you to push for those steps to continue.” Robert Buckland MP, Chair of the APPGA, made closing remarks in which he thanked the Minister and the speakers for their contributions, and expressed a hope that the reforms would “empower and enable young people with autism and related conditions to thrive in the school and college environment.”

We hope that the Government will continue to commit to getting the detail of SEN reform right, and will adopt the report’s recommendations in the forthcoming Children and Families Bill to help create a more efficient, more effective and more supportive educational experience for children and young people with autism.

Sarah Teather gives evidence to SEN select committee

On 20th June, the Education Committee held a one-off special evidence session about the government’s upcoming legislation on Special Educational Needs. The government’s current proposals could lead to the biggest reforms in education and health support for children with SEN and disabilities for over 30 years. The government had initially intended to publish the draft clauses forfor its reforms in July, but they will now aim to publish them in September.

Regarding the government’s proposal of personal budgets for families with children with SEN, Ian Mearns, MP for Gateshead asked if personal budgets are suitable for all families, as many may find managing the budget stressful. However, Sarah Teather MP, the Minister of State for Children and Families, affirmed that the government had no intention of making personal budgets compulsory, commenting that this is “partly because families will want to do different things at different stages.”

The minister also recognised the different provisions for children with SEN in mainstream and specialist schools, and stated that there is a range of practices that are extremely useful and that government intended to encourage the two sectors to share their different types of expertise between them.

On the topic of exclusions, the minister accepted that while exclusion is a signal for a reassessment of a child’s needs, it may still be necessary for schools to exclude even after they have gone through a local multi-agency assessment that included social care.

One of the main topics of conversation was the consultation surrounding the Green Paper that the government published in March 2011. Craig Whittaker, MP for Calder Valley, pointed out that out of the 2,378 replies to the government’s consultation, only six came from children, and that the voice of children and young people in future reforms needs to be sharpened up significantly. Sarah Teather replied that it is not necessarily realistic for children to respond to a Green Paper but that her department have been doing some great work with young ambassadors from the Council for Disabled Children.

The minister also noted that from this autumn supported internships are being trialed at 14 colleges around England for young people aged between 16 and 25 who have complex learning difficulties or disabilities. The trials will test a study programme for supported internships that could be adopted by all further education colleges from September 2013. The trial is intended to enable young people to get some experience of work, to begin with independent living, and to support them during that process.

On the subject of the “patchwork quilt” of different services available in different areas of the country, Sarah Teather claimed that it is inevitable, and in some ways desirable, that different Local Authorities offer different services. However, the minister stated that the government will not impose minimum standards in order to allow local authorities to be better in different areas, claiming that “minimum standards just drive everything to the bottom rather than driving things upward.”

In concluding, the minister stated that “Money is not being well spent in the current system.” She added that for some children, their needs are so extraordinarily complex that inevitably they are going to be at a high level of need, and that too much money is being spent on fighting families and on bureaucracy rather than actually providing services right from the beginning.

Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather MP gives evidence to APPGA

On the 6^th and 13^th of March, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA) held oral evidence sessions as part of its Commission into Special Educational Needs reform.

The panel, chaired by Robert Buckland MP, heard evidence from the Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather MP, the Shadow Children’s Minister Sharon Hodgson MP, as well as young people with autism (including one of our young campaigners), parents (including one of our ambassadors), teachers, academics and other professionals.

Sarah Teather MP told the cross-party panel of MPs and Peers that the Government would publish a Next Steps document ‘imminently’, in response to the Green Paper consultation last year. She also said the relationship between parents and local authorities was “not working” at present, promising that her planned reforms would ensure greater transparency and closer joint-working between education, health and social care services. 

The sessions were extremely well attended by MPs, Peers and the public, and provided an excellent opportunity for discussion on a range of issues including autism awareness training for teachers in mainstream schools, transition arrangements, and the need to ensure that children with autism access further education, training and employment after finishing at school. 

The APPGA will use the evidence gathered in these oral evidence sessions to inform a forthcoming report on SEN Reform, which will be published and presented directly to the Government later this year.  Its recommendations will also include findings from a public survey of around 1000 people with autism, parents and teachers. 

Take part in SEN research to inform Government reforms

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Autism (APPGA), a cross-party group of MPs and Peers focusing on autism issues, has launched a commission to advise the Government on access to the right education for children with autism. The group wants to hear the views of students, parents, teachers and other professionals which they will use to form recommendations for Government Ministers and civil servants.

The Government is proposing major changes to the special educational needs (SEN) system in England, making this a timely opportunity for parents, teachers and young people with autism to tell ministers about the challenges involved in getting the right support at school and what they think most needs to improve. 

The NAS's recent Great Expectations campaign found that 48% of children with autism have had to wait over a year to get appropriate educational support, and more than half of teachers have previously said that they do not feel they have had enough training in the disability.

Sarah Teather MP, Minister for Children and Families, said: “We want to improve services for all children with special educational needs (SEN), including those with autism. We have proposed a number of reforms in our SEN Green Paper and we’re listening to children, parents and professionals. I look forward to hearing further views in the commission's report which will help us as we develop the reforms and create a system which works for children and their families.”

Let’s make sure the Government gets SEN reform right.

Respond to the survey now.

This consultation closes on Friday 10 February.

'Achievement for All' achieves great results

A Government-funded pilot of a new scheme to improve outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has produced excellent results, according to an independent evaluation carried out by the University of Manchester. Because of this, the Government now aims to fund its implementation in schools across the country.

The Achievement for All scheme has been running in 450 schools for the last two years, and has resulted in children with SEND make greater progress in attainment, behaviour and attendance than other SEND children outside of the pilot. The report also finds that the scheme successfully narrowed the attainment gap between SEND and non-SEND children, with some children in the pilot even exceeding the progress of children without SEND.

Key findings of the report include:

• 37% of children achieved or exceeded expected levels of progress for all pupils nationally in English. The figure was 42% in Maths.
• There was an average reduction in persistent absence of 10%
• Teachers reported fewer incidents of bullying and behavioural problems
• A big rise in schools reporting excellent relationships with parents – from 12% to 48%

The report found that the most successful schools shared several key factors. Good results were built on strong leadership from the head teacher, regular conversations with parents about educational outcomes and targets, and the sharing of results between schools. The report also found that children with free school meals, English as a second language, or complex needs made progress that was good but slower than their peers. It recommends focusing resources on additional support for these groups.

The Government is now providing £14 million for the programme to be rolled out across the country, and estimates that 1,000 schools will have signed up for the programme by next April. Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said:

"It's fantastic to see that Achievement for All has had such impressive results. This shows just what can be achieved for children with SEND with strong school leadership, innovative thinking and close working with families.”

The programme is being delivered by a new charity, Achievement for All 3 As, supported by PwC. Brian Lamb, who headed the enquiry into SEN and now chairs the new charity, commented:

"The evaluation totally endorses Achievement for All's approach. For the first time we now have a proven intervention that can improve outcomes and change the lives of children and families. By adopting this approach schools can ensure that children with SEN have the chance to reach their full potential."

If you’re interested in finding out more about these brilliant results, you can visit Achievement for All’s website at www.afa3as.org.uk. The full report into the scheme’s progress is also available here.

Keeping busy at the Conservative Party Conference

Last week, the NAS rounded off the conference season at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

On Sunday night, we hosted an exciting education fringe event alongside Ambitious About Autism.  The event was chaired by Cllr Colin Barrow CBE who talked about his experience of finding educational support for his own child, who has autism. Colin has just stood down as chair of trustees for the NAS and we are very pleased that he is continuing to be involved in the charity's work

Parent Debbie Waters also spoke at the event and highlighted her difficulties in finding the right support for her children. She said in choosing a school she had felt forced to choose between a happy child and an educated child, which she said, was "not a real choice to make".

Also at the event Karen Lumley MP stressed the importance of making funding fairer for children with special educational needs (SEN), while Leader of Solihull council Cllr Ken Meeson agreed that funding was a key issue. He also highlighted the need for earlier intervention for children with SEN. We also heard from other parents, people with autism, councillors, and Neil Parish MP.

Tuesday night was our Researchers’ Refuge event, which gave MPs’ researchers and caseworkers a chance to drop in for beer and snacks and have an informal chat about autism. We had fantastic discussions with them about how they can better support constituents who have autism and their families.

During the week we also went along to the Learning Disability Coalition’s table tennis event. Politicians including David Burrowes MP played table tennis with people with learning disabilities. It was a really useful event to get politicians talking to people with learning disabilities and autism.

All in all, the week was a great opportunity to influence the current Government into making the best choices for people with autism.

Major victory on Education Bill!

Following pressure from the National Autistic Society and other charities, the Government has backed down on removing the requirement for schools to co-operate with other services to make sure children’s needs are prioritised.

As the Bill goes through Parliament, The National Autistic Society has been working hard with colleagues in the Special Educational Consortium.  As a result of our efforts, the Government has tabled an amendment to the Bill which will remove the clause we were particularly concerned about.

This means schools will have to work with other services in their area and co-operate to improve children’s wellbeing locally.

This latest victory builds on a history of successes for the Special Education Consortium, of which the NAS is a leading member.  These include making sure legal aid continues to be available for SEN cases, ensuring the legal SEN rights apply to academies and free schools, and extending funding for specialist SEN support services.