Last chance to have your say in Counting the Costs 2012 research

Contact a Family is calling on parents and other family members caring for a disabled child to take part in important research about the financial situation for families with disabled children in 2012. The deadline is 11^th March, so it’s vital to make your views heard by the end of this week.

Counting the Costs 2012 is a repeat of a survey and report Contact a Family carried out in 2008 and 2010. Your collective responses will give a snapshot of families’ current financial situation and whether it has improved or worsened over the last four years.

Please help to build that picture by completing the survey which should not take more than 15 minutes. Thank you.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CountingtheCosts2012

If you would like a hard copy of the survey or need help to complete the survey please ring Contact a Family on 020 7608 8700.

Campaign success: Local authority funding for SEN safeguarded

The NAS has welcomed the Government’s announcement that local authorities will continue to receive funding for SEN services, no matter how many academies they have in their area.

This commitment follows successful campaigning on this issue by the NAS and our colleagues in the Special Educational Consortium (SEC) during the passage of the Academies Act 2010.

This decision has two important implications:

- A local authority should not now cut SEN support services on the basis that a number of academies have opened in that area. Where there are academies in a local authority area, that local authority will now retain the money to keep SEN support services available;

- As they are retaining the money for SEN support services that was previously being delegated to academies, local authorities should provide these services to children in academies.

We know that many local authorities are currently setting their budgets. We would urge these authorities to consider any decision about funding SEN specialist services in light of this new information.

NAS and SEC continue to work with the Department for Education to ensure the wider changes to school funding do not disadvantage disabled children and children with SEN.

In the meantime we welcome the Government’s continued protection of specialist provision for disabled children and children with SEN through these support services.

Take a look at the Department for Education’s new transition scheme

A new website has just been launched for Preparing for Adulthood, a Department for Education scheme launched as part of their SEND Green Paper. Over the next two years, Preparing for Adulthood will advise on transition for young people with SEN and disabilities – helping them move easily into independent living, employment and integration with the community.

Preparing for Adulthood will mainly work with the pathfinder areas trialling the Green Paper’s proposals, focusing in particular on the combined ‘Education, Health and Care Plan’ providing support from birth to 25. They plan to develop a programme of work with each participating pathfinder area, and will be posting updates of their progress with each one over the coming months.

Outside of the pathfinder areas, they’re also looking to share information around transition and promote good practice across the country. They are keen to share resources, and already have some case studies of well-managed transitions uploaded onto the site.

The site has just launched, but we’re looking forward to seeing more extensive content in the coming weeks. In the meantime you can have a look at www.preparingforadulthood.org.uk, or sign up for their e-bulletin here.

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.

Staffordshire Council apologises for educational support failures

Local Government Ombudsman, Dr Jane Martin, has found that Staffordshire County Council failed to meet the educational and care needs of a young man with autism (‘J’).

In a decision welcomed by the NAS, the Ombudsman has asked for the Council to apologise and make compensation.

The complaint was first made by J’s mother, on behalf of her son who has autism, selective mutism and complex learning difficulties. He needs support with his education and personal care, which was provided adequately at his original school. However, after turning 16 he transferred to a new placement in September 2009. At this point, the Council failed to amend his statement of special educational needs. This meant that there was much less support available for him at the new college, leaving him severely stressed and unhappy.

At the end of the school year, the council agreed in principle that J’s needs would be better served at a different school, 15 miles from the family’s home. However, they told J’s mother that they would not help with J’s transport costs until their assessment was complete. By this point, October 2010, the new academic year was beginning. J’s mother enrolled J at the new school and began transporting him there and back herself.

The Ombudsman has ruled that the Council’s failure to keep J’s statement up-to-date meant that his family lost the opportunity to challenge the view that J no longer needed speech and language therapy, to have the statement reviewed by professionals, and appeal against details in the statement.

As well as this, J’s social care arrangements were poorly handled – his transition social worker did not complete his assessment in time for him to make a smooth transition to adult respite care provision. Instead, the transfer after his 18^th birthday was rushed and stressful.

The Ombudsman found that the combined lack of educational and care support caused J and his family a lot of unnecessary distress. She said, ‘Transition to adulthood is exceptionally difficult for the parents of a child with complex educational and care needs. It is vital that the proper support is in place to ensure that this transition goes as smoothly as possible, but that was not the case here.’

Staffordshire County Council has acknowledged its failings and apologised. It has also agreed to pay the complainant (J’s mother) £5250 in compensation. Because J has little concept of money, they will be installing a swing-seat in the garden of his home in lieu of compensation.

In making this ruling, the Ombudsman has sent a clear message to all local authorities that they must ensure that they are meeting their statutory duties around transition.

'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.

Anti-bullying week: new research finds two-thirds of parents report bullying

It’s anti-bullying week this week, and new research has highlighted the extent to which bullying is a real and distressing part of the lives of young people with ASD.

The survey was carried out by author and campaigner Anna Kennedy. Anna has two sons, one with autism and one with Asperger syndrome, and after being turned away by a staggering 26 special schools she took matters into her own hands and founded her own school, Hillingdon Manor in Middlesex.

The survey was conducted online and generated over 900 responses from people affected by ASD including parents, carers and teachers. Disturbingly, 61% of parents reported that their child had been bullied at school because of their ASD, and of those 73% said the school had either ignored the problem or handled it poorly. The vast majority of parents – 93% – said that their child’s educational progress had been seriously affected by the bullying.

Commenting on the survey results, Anna said “I believe this is a national scandal … I urge the Government not to ignore this problem because it is not going away and is getting worse. We must increase the number of special needs schools or facilities within mainstream establishments if we are going to tackle it effectively.” She stressed that bullying can lead to further problems later on in life, adding “If we don’t do something now we will face much higher costs in the future when we have to care for those with ASC”.

Our own Great Expectations campaign has highlighted the need for better autism awareness in schools – staff need a good understanding of the issues young people with autism face, including their vulnerability to bullying. Our own survey also found that one in three young people would like their peers to have a better understanding of autism.

ChildLine has been working with Anna Kennedy to develop some new resources for its website. Children with autism, or those who have friends or family with the condition, can now access information and support online. Find the site at http://www.childline.org.uk/Explore/Life/Pages/Autism.aspx. Anna Kennedy’s own website, http://www.annakennedy.com/, also offers a range of advice for families affected by autism.