School Not Meeting Your Child’s Special Educational Needs?

In the UK, it’s a basic right for every child to have access to education. However, a child's right to receive an education often doesn’t consider the individual needs of each child.

Every child is different and so finding a ‘one size fits all’ approach can already be difficult. However, when you have a child who has additional support needs and requires additional help and assistance through accessing Special Educational Needs resources, the right of your child to be able to access a basic education starts to become a lot more complex.

What Exactly Are Special Educational Needs?

According to the NHS, a child or young person with Special Educational Needs is a child or young person who has a learning difficulty and/or disability that means that they need special  health and education support. Special educational needs is often shortened to SEND.

A learning disability affects the way that a person learns new things throughout their life. No two people are the same or experience learning disabilities in the same way. A person with a learning disability might have some difficulty with: 

• Understanding complicated information
• Learning some skills
• Looking after themselves
• Living alone

As a learning disability is different for everyone, everyone’s experience is different. Lots of people who have a learning disability can work, have relationships, live alone and get qualifications if they wish to do so. However, others may need more support throughout their life.

Unfortunately, we don’t always know why a person has a learning disability. Sometimes it can be because a person’s brain development is affected before they’re born, during their birth or in early childhood. This can be caused by things such as:

• The mother becoming ill during their pregnancy
• Problems during the birth that stops oxygen reaching the brain
• Genetics
• Illness, such as meningitis

When a child has additional support needs and requires additional support, the main focus should always be on that child and their own individual needs. Those who work within the relevant services concerning Special Educational Needs should always ask themselves the question of “what can be put in place to help level the playing field when this child is learning and being educated?”. Because ultimately, that should be the end goal.

A child may not fit into a traditional teaching method or a traditional learning environment however that doesn’t reduce their basic right to access an education. Sadly, whilst many children with additional educational and support needs attend at school and technically have “access” to an education, many may be let down by a school system that fails to adapt to their needs in order to make sure that they not only have access to an education, but understand what they are being taught too.

As a result of this, Education Departments in various different local authorities have individuals who specialise in adapting teaching and education in an attempt to engage and teach children who have additional educational and support needs effectively. It may even be that the school that your child goes to has or has access to a Special Educational Needs Coordinator, sometimes referred to as a SENCO. This individual is a fully qualified teacher who is responsible for overseeing the support that children with special educational needs get in mainstream schools.

Unfortunately, not all needs of a child may be identified or addressed at the earliest opportunity. Your child’s needs may have changed or grown over time. If you feel that your child’s special educational needs are not being met, there are steps that you can take to address this and hopefully change this in order for your child to have a more positive learning environment at school.

Firstly, it’s often best to arrange a meeting with the Special Educational Needs Coordinator for the school or the local area to discuss matters further. Alternatively, if you are unsure about how to do this or how to get in touch with the relevant people, you can instead approach the school’s head teacher.

This will give you the opportunity to raise any concerns you have and discuss what assistance your child should receive going forward, such as introducing them to new activities or using different techniques to engage them.

Our Education Solicitors know how frustrating it can be if you don’t get the outcome you were hoping for or the changes that have been made aren’t working for your child. If you’d like to take further action, we can provide you with legal advice and guidance on how to make a formal complaint to the governing body. For legal advice get in touch with our Education Solicitors and SEN Lawyers today on 0808 239 9764. Alternatively, you can request a call back.