Inclusion smells of Wee! (Special Needs Education)

Member Name: MandyMinx

Product:	Special Needs Education
Date:	14/02/04 (1021 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Intigration, inclusion, knowledge

Disadvantages: Exclusion, Bullying, Disruption

The government says that children with special needs should be educated within mainstream schools. Many of these kids are disruptive in the classroom and have very specific behaviour problems. This has an effect on the other children in the class. Does inclusion work? Is this fair?


My eldest is in year 11 and about to take her GCSE's. She is an extremely bright girl and all her mock exams indicate that she will be looking at A's and A *'s in all her subjects. We are of course very proud. I totally understand therefore that having a disruptive child in the classroom would be devastating to her and if that were the case I would of course be concerned.

My second child is on the autistic spectrum. He goes to a school for children with severe disabilities and we are very happy that he is there, although saying that, the road to get him there required hiking books and ropes, if you know what I mean.

My youngest son has Aspirgers Syndrome and ADHD, he goes to mainstream school and presents as severely disruptive. Apart for the guilt that I feel over the disruption he causes, there is also real anger that many of his behaviours are being misunderstood and mismanaged. My son has been labelled disruptive, disobedient and a liar. My son's perceptions are very different to other children's. He sees situations in a very different way to the way you or I would. This doesn't make him a liar, but that is the label he very often carries around with him. He finds many situations very difficult. Imagine not being able to tell by looking at someone if they are joking with you, or cross or sad. Children like James cannot do this so they very often perceive a situation to be very different from what it actually is and this makes them anxious and stressed. What do you do when you a
re stressed? These kids tend to either withdraw, many of them attempt to do this by putting something over their heads to reduce the amount of space they have to deal with, or they show symptoms of real excitement, running around the room, shouting, interrupting.
Children like James have great difficulty knowing what is appropriate. For example, James doesn't know when he is talking too loud, we have to remind him. He will talk constantly when someone else is talking and we have to constantly remind him of social boundaries because he is unable to read the signals for himself.
What I am trying to show is that this behaviour is often mis understood and often we perceive his behaviour wrong too. This doesn't stop the disruption and it doesn't help the other kids in the class but it might help you to see some of the problems that these kids are having. Of course often the situation is made worse by the other children who don't understand and view this behaviour as funny.

So what is the answer?
The government believes and says that these children should be in mainstream schools. I am sure that many parents feel that we have a choice and are digging our heels in to keep them in these schools. The truth of the matter is that we should have a choice, but we don't. Getting an educational statement for a child is very hard. I live in Nottingham and here it is nigh on impossible. This authority is closing two of its few special schools as they predict that in five years time the number of children with special needs will fall by 25%. Anyone who has experience in this field will tell you this is not true and what they mean is that they are effectively going to make it that much harder for these children to get a statement of their needs, often the only way to access special school provision.
So do they support these kids properly? No, effectivel
y many of these children have to fail before they can access much of the support on offer to help them. Some schools are better than others, but from experience many of them struggle to find the cash to help these kids in the way they need. Who takes the brunt of all this?Everyone. The teachers, the other kids, my son and me, because I end up sorting the mess out when it comes home at the end of the day.

Now I fought hard to get my eldest son in a special school, we strongly believed that it was the right place for him. I stand by that decision. I will, however, fight just as hard to keep my youngest son out of one, as I believe, with the right support, he can succeed in mainstream school. Whether he will be able to stay at the school he is at at the moment is debatable. There are teachers at the school that are working heroically to help him succeed, there are others who believe that my son should be in special education.

There are certain structures that need to be put in place to help my child succeed, many of them cost money. This money is hard to access and without, a statement, which is a legal document, I have to rely on the school to provide the support he needs and they have to keep trying to find the money to fund it, while the money is being found my son exists, rather than succeeds in the education system and the rest of the kids in his class and the staff that teach him, pay the price.

As it is, my son is constantly having to be removed from lessons, is being bullied constantly and I should think sending many a staff member home at the end of the day with a bloody big headache. Then he comes home and makes life hell for the rest of us. What can I do? I keep in touch with the school on a daily basis, I suggest ways to support him, I sit at home and worry and then when James comes home I try to help him make sense of the things
that he is so confused about and also reassure him that we are on his side.


So does inclusion work?

I know it does for many children and I desperately hope it can for mine. I think though that there should be a choice. Read the paperwork, read the code of practise. It will tell you that choice is there. Maybe in some authorities it is, but not in mine.
Getting the education that my child has a right to is a constant struggle and one that has had me crying with both frustration and fear.
Watching my son doggy paddle within the system, collecting labels that are dragging him under the water, labels like 'Idiot' 'disruptive' 'naughty' and 'ignorant' I do wonder just how close to drowning they are going to let him go before someone somewhere throws him a lifeline.

What works for one child will not necessarily work for another, mainstream school is right for some, not for others. Not supporting these kids, not giving them statements to protect their rights to an education, effectively is setting them up to fail. Without support many of these kids become unwanted statistics, on league tables that already have unrealistic targets, targets that schools find difficult enough to meet, without children like mine pulling them down. Is it any wonder that many schools seek to get exclude these kids? Is it any wonder that so many of these kids slip through, what is already a very tattered net.



It's half term. A time when I can relax. It's hard work having two children with special needs at home all day but while they are with me I know they are safe and understood. One day I hope I will be able to feel the same when my youngest is at school. You know, sometimes I look at my son and I feel it would be easier for him if he had 'I have a disability' tattooed to
his head, at least that way people wouldn't be so quick to label him, maybe that way he'd get more of a chance.


I welcome your comments on this subject. I am working with a group of parents to try and raise awareness of this with others and I would love to hear what you think.

Thanks for reading.

Mandxx

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