Welcome to the Education Zone

Education: An interview with Natspec

Natspec is the membership association for organisations who offer specialist further education and training for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities aged 16 to 25.

My Family Our Needs caught up with Natspec’s Policy Manager, Ruth Perry, to find out more about some of the key differences between school and college and how parents/carers can support their child with their college education.

In this interview, we also discuss how young people can get involved with work experience and apprenticeships, how to navigate requesting extra time for assessments and tests, and Ruth reassures parents on how they can raise a safeguarding concern they may have for their child.

For more information about Natspec’s services and for more resources, visit the Natspec website. Natspec has also put together this incredibly useful leaflet for parents/carers to find out more about specialist colleges, which includes descriptions of the different types of specialist colleges and types of courses on offer for young people. To view the SEND Further Education resource, please visit the Natspec website.

If, after watching this interview, you have a question do please get in touch with My Family Our Needs and we will send your question onto Natspec and we will try and help you. Email: hello@myfamilyourneeds.co.uk

From home to college: A message to parents/carers

All children have the right to be educated at home regardless of any special educational need or disability.

For some young people with SEND, homeschooling is the right approach and has been essential to a young person’s happiness and positive experience of education.

MFON columnist, Carly Jones MBE, has supported her child through the homeschooling process and has explored the further education options available. Despite the wealth of benefits that comes with homeschooling, attending college in person offers a new and exciting opportunity and offers flexibility to young people. For those parents/carers who are having conversations about college and are wondering how they can best navigate this transition from home school to college, Carly has shared her top tips on what’s helped her to be organised and prepared for this educational transition.

As ever, we would really like to hear from you on your college experiences. Leave your feedback and comments below, so other parents/carers can learn even more useful tips! Don’t forget to the hashtag when tweeting about the Transition Event 2022. #TransitionEvent2022

Supporting your child with university or college applications

UCAS Senior Fair Access Advisor, Nicola Turner, shares advice for parents/carers on supporting young disabled people who are thinking of applying to university or college.

Every year, more than 65,000 disabled students start an undergraduate degree at university or college. Making decisions and completing the UCAS application can be a really exciting time. However, it can also raise questions and pose challenges for students who have additional support needs. Our recent report, Next Steps: What is the experience of disabled students in education?offers new insights into students’ decisions and experiences – helping us to work even more closely with university and colleges to make sure disabled students achieve their ambitions. If you are supporting a young person who is applying to university, or currently considering their next steps, UCAS is a great starting point to get the information you need.

Accessible applications

Let’s begin with the UCAS application, because this is the best way to tell the university about any impairment or condition. In the ‘More about me’ section of the profile (which will appear when you complete the residency section), applicants can select whichever category they feel best describes their impairment – and a free text box allows them to give more information they think might be useful. Students can also tell us about other circumstances here, such as care experience, caring responsibilities, and refugee status – again, there is support available to students from all sorts of backgrounds. If students need any guidance, they can contact UCAS by phone (there is a Text Relay service for hearing-impaired people) or via our social media channels and/or nominate someone on their form to speak on their behalf – all the information about contacting us is here.

Students sometimes tell us they are anxious about sharing a disability in their application because they are worried it will affect their chances of receiving an offer. I want to be very clear here: this information is not used to make a decision on the application. This information is only used by the university to make sure the student gets the right support for their needs. That support isn’t just about when they start their course; for example, some universities offer campus visits and activities (such as orientation events for students with autistic spectrum conditions), one-to-one chats with the disability adviser or students during open days, adjustments to make sure interviews or auditions are accessible, or even help applying for DSAs (see below).

Student support teams

Be aware that the type and level of support offered in higher education will vary between universities, and it may look very different to the support given at school, so it is really important to do your research before making an application. Most universities give some information about their disability support on their website, but I strongly recommend that young people contact the universities they are interested in to talk to their student support team. This is especially important if they require significant adjustments or have complex requirements. They are used to having these conversations and will be happy to talk to prospective students through their support offering. UCAS has a guide for students on speaking to support services  which gives examples of questions they might find useful to ask.

It’s a great idea to attend open days in person wherever you can because this can give you a good understanding of what the campus feels like and how the facilities are set out. You can often meet current students and make an appointment to talk to student services or the disability adviser to talk through any questions or find out what support they offer. We have a guide to preparing for open days for disabled students  – and getting the most out of them when you are there. Many universities also offer virtual tours, and the disability adviser or student services team will be able to talk to you online if you are unable to attend in person. Read more about open days here and find listings of open days and UCAS exhibitions here.

Money matters

I’ve mentioned DSAs already – but what are they? Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs)  help students meet any additional costs of study related to their disability, mental health condition, learning difference or long-term illness. Students apply for these alongside student finance and they are available to full-time and part-time students. DSAs are non-repayable and the amount each student receives will depend solely on their individual needs, not their parents’ or carers’ income. Applicants will need to provide evidence of their impairment or condition and will be asked to attend an assessment once the application has been reviewed. We’ve teamed up with Diversity and Ability to give you all you need to know about DSAs. Remember, even if a student is not eligible for DSAs, they may still be able to get support from the university.

Universities want students to be happy and successful in their studies, so support is provided to give them a fair chance of doing well. Sometimes young people are worried about being treated differently but this is not the case – the student is in control. Even if they decide never to use the support once it has been arranged, it is there if they change their mind and/or their circumstances change – which can give parents and carers peace of mind as well.

Useful links

There are several pages on the UCAS website that might help parents and carers get more information about applying to university – or to other pathways, such as apprenticeships. We recommend students start by setting up a UCAS Hub account as they will be able to explore all sorts of career options and courses, and shortlist the opportunities they are interested in. All you need to get started with a UCAS application can be found here and there is also a section just for parents where you can get tips and support – and sign up for monthly newsletters.

Other information and advice specifically related to disabled students:

• Information and advice for disabled students
• Information and advice for students with mental health conditions
• Our adviser toolkit may also be useful for parents.
• A blog article from Diversity and Ability about sharing an impairment or condition in the UCAS application.
• A blog article from UCAS that explores what disabled students look for when researching their options.
• A blog article from Student Minds and UMHAN about sharing a mental health condition on the UCAS application.
• A blog article from the National Association of Disability Practitioners about supporting students from school into higher education.
• Accessibility details for UCAS

About the author

Nicola Turner has been working to support widening access and participation since joining the UCAS Policy Team in 2016. Now concentrating solely on the Fair Access Programme, Nicola is responsible for writing insight reports on under-represented and disadvantaged cohorts – including student mental health, disability and care experience – and, in collaboration with a range of expert organisations, coordinates the production of resources to support these students, their advisers and good practice. Nicola is a former secondary English teacher, and Head of PSHE and careers education. Before joining UCAS, she completed an MSc in Information Management from UWE Bristol where her dissertation researched the information and digital literacy skills of sixth formers progressing to HE and was subsequently awarded the 2017 CILIP Harry Galloway Prize.

About UCAS

UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, is an independent charity, and the UK’s shared admissions service for higher education.

Our services support young people making post-18 choices, as well as mature learners, by providing information, advice, and guidance to inspire and facilitate educational progression to university, college, or a degree apprenticeship.

We manage almost three million applications, from around 700,000 people each year, for full-time undergraduate courses at over 380 universities and colleges across the UK.

We also provide a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies, and employers, including apprenticeships.

We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We’re committed to delivering a first-class service to all our customers — they’re at the heart of everything we do.

https://www.ucas.com/

Challenges from the SEND Review: What more needs to be done?

Kate Chate, a Family Consultant at Dimensions UK, shares her thoughts on the Government’s SEND review and highlights the report’s gaps surrounding transition.

Earlier this year, the Department for Education published a green paper on the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system. Titled “Right support, right place, right time”, the paper outlined increased commitment to identifying children’s needs more quickly and effectively. Backed by £70m in funding, the proposed policies looked to establish a single national system that sets clear standards for the provision of care for children and young people with SEND.

While the review made some practical suggestions on how to improve resource allocation, there are some fundamental challenges that it failed to recognise. Crucially, it failed to address a real opportunity to help young people and their families prepare for adulthood, avoiding what can at present be a sharp cliff edge. Partnerships with educators and local authorities, can help create the foundation needed for a good transition into further education, work and adulthood.

The review also lacked top-down effort to include children and young adults with SEND into mainstream schools. Not being a part of your immediate community from the start creates limits and further challenges down the line. Without a network within the community (being known, understood and supported by your friends and neighbours) it might bring higher care costs in the future, such as the current adult social care focus on supporting people to become part of their community.

Support for Families

At present, children and their families are not prepared adequately for a transition into adulthood.

Families often face a paradoxical information gap and flood when it comes to planning for their children. Adult social care options are not always obvious given the multitude of social care arrangements, causing the information gap families experience. Paradoxically, to plug that gap, there also exists an overkill of information that is often incohesive, making families unaware of the resources available.

Transition planning remains an under designed and underbudgeted area of need despite being crucial to families and adult social care services. Families are often unsupported when they become aware that transition planning should ideally begin at age 13 and are uninformed on how to expertly navigate the system when their child leaves education.

More local authority support to families must be provided especially in the areas of housing and further education, with these services extending beyond the age limit of 18 so that the transition to adulthood is a progression, not a cliff’s edge.

Further Education

Further education for young people with SEND remains a woefully underdeveloped sector. Education for must be viewed beyond the lens of paper qualifications but instead an opportunity to learn skills.

Beyond primary and secondary education, educators, employers and the Government should come together to ensure that people can access and participate in furthering their education through apprenticeships, vocational courses or trainee schemes. This will deliver excellent provisions from early years to adulthood.

Given their immediate family members are usually untrained in helping young adults develop their vocational or social skills, being able to participate in further education – without needing maths and English GCSE’s –  will be beneficial to all involved.

Allowing young adults with SEND the opportunity to further their education through gaining real world experiences will support their work-readiness – a vital part to a smooth transition into adulthood.

Mainstream and SEND Education

The SEND review addresses many concerns families face when it comes to education. Special education streams have been created to accommodate SEND needs, seemingly alleviating many initial worries families had when it came education. A strategy to segregate education on the surface presents two benefits: firstly, it has provided cost savings to local governments as schools can be operated more efficiently. SEND individuals are also provided with a space to learn in a suitably adapted environment.

However, while not including children with differing needs in mainstream schools might solve immediate funding and manpower issues, it is creating a bigger problem down the line.

Segregating students has inadvertently created a culture of exclusion where children graduating from institutionalised education may find barriers to engaging with their community.

While there is a monetary disincentive for inclusion, this exclusion presents increased social care costs in the long run as people would not have the natural networks they would have forged in a mainstream school.

Looking Forward

The SEND review has addressed many concerns. However big challenges still exist for the long term. Fundamental flaws reveal that more needs to be done to support the individual and their families in the transition to adulthood.

Some of the £70m in funding must be allocated to creating an education system where all children can be successfully educated in their local schools. Teachers need training on how to support the needs of every student. Parents also need to be involved, as partners, to ensure all stakeholders are involved.

Children with SEND should have person centred, inclusive options to further their education. This will not only help with their chances of employment, but will ensure they become as independent as they can possibly be – with the natural supports of their communities – ensuring quality of life and good health outcomes.

Ignoring these challenges now, will only create further costs and pressures down the line.

Dimensions have designed free resources to help provide you with more information about the learning disability, autism and social care sectors. They cover a range of topics including transition services, personalisation and understanding the sector.

Visit https://dimensions-uk.org/families/information-advice/  https://dimensions-uk.org/families/

About Kate Chate

Kate Chate is a Family Consultant at Dimensions, a leading not-for-profit providing support to people with learning disabilities, autism and complex needs. Kate’s son is autistic, has learning disabilities, learning difficulties and significant sensory integration issues. He is living at home while he finishes his education. Kate is particularly interested in communication and coproduction (working together to design more effective resolutions) and is happy to support when there are difficult relationships, with a listening ear and a solution focus, because working together brings the best outcomes for all.

Kate is a Makaton tutor, a Mental Capacity Act trainer and can give training and guidance in person centred planning and its various tools.

https://dimensions-uk.org/

Find your SEN school – new interactive map launches

Finding the school that best suits your child’s needs is far from easy and it’s difficult to find out all the information you need quickly. Education Advocacy, an organisation providing families with experienced legal advice, has launched a new interactive map listing of SEN schools to help parents. 

According to The Department of Education, there were over 32,700 children and young people with EHCPs in January 2022, who were either being educated outside a nursery, school, or college, who were waiting on the placement named in their EHCP to materialise, or who weren’t getting any form of education, employment or training at all.   

Today, many children are facing persistent barriers that compromise their access to education, which is why many countries around the world are actively developing systems aimed to improve this. All with the same goal – to provide every child with the opportunities and education that they are rightly entitled to.  

One initiative that has recently sparked the attention of parents with children who require specialist education is the brainchild of Education Advocacy. It has just launched a new interactive map on its website, to help parents find the right school for their children. 

Mapping the options 

The map collates the Department for Education s41, non-maintained and independent special schools lists on one searchable map. So, just like you would search for any establishment on Google Maps and read the reviews contact them and visit the website, you can now easily read up on each school in and around your area to decide whether it is the ideal placement for your child.  

The free interactive map currently has over 600 institutions listed, which are all searchable by postcode. The map also shows valuable information, including the type of school, and the type of specialist educational support it offers.  

Nigel Pugh, Managing Director at Education Advocacy recently commented on the map and said, ‘From experience, we know that finding the correct school for a child with special educational needs can be a very challenging and time-consuming process for parents.  

‘There are many things to consider when going through the special educational needs process. We think that crawling the internet for hours shouldn’t be one of them. That is why we have been working hard to gather this information from all corners of the web to give parents one clear starting point, a base. Think of it as the ultimate directory, a digital Yellow Pages for Special schools!’ 

As a parent with a child who requires specialist education, it can be difficult trying to find the right school. From specialisation to location, to teachers and resources, there are a myriad of crucial factors that need to be considered compared to non-specialist schools. With every child deserving to be happy and experience a positive and fulfilling school life, the checklist can be long, and the expectations high. 

Previously, countless visits to several websites, Google searches, and hours of frustration would be the typical process of specialist school searching. We hope this will change because this interactive map clearly pinpoints schools in all parts of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. It is more efficient and rewarding for parents, and it looks like finding the right educational centre is becoming easier and more accessible to every child. 

What Types of SEN Schools are Available in the UK? 

In the UK, there are a range of SEN schools. Each institution covers a wide spectrum of needs, which means they can be clear on what they can and can’t offer your child. As you’ll know, every child and parent’s situation is different, with the emergence of this map and the type of special educational needs directly displayed within their bio box, it can make it easier to filter through schools to find the perfect fit.  

Some schools within the UK are maintained by the local authority (LA) and some are independent SEN schools. There are day schools as well as residential SEN schools, and there are also schools that cater to different age ranges. For example, some offer post-16 options, and some only cater up until high school. Some are primary school age, and some combine the entire school life from young child to young adult.  

Some of the types of SEN educational centres available provide for an array of specific needs, including: 

• Autism. 
• Sensory and physical needs. 
• Social, emotional and mental health. 
• Cognition and learning, e.g. schools for students with dyslexia. 
• Communication and interaction. 
• Visual impairment. 
• Deaf and hearing impaired. 
• Speech, language and communication needs 

Find The Perfect School For Your Child 

With the introduction of Education Advocacy’s map, everything is in one place. Everything is streamlined and everything is accessible, which makes it a lot easier to handle.  

So, parents, if you’re currently sitting with your heads in your hands, worrying about finding the perfect school for your child, you can take a deep breath and know that the process has been adapted for the better.  

Click here for the map!

Education Advocacy: Specialist SEN Advocates advising families whose children have SEN and/or a disability in England and Wales to gain the correct support for their child. With over 57 years experience of the SEN System, our team understands the frustration of trying to work through the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) / Statement of Special Educational Needs (SSEN) Process. 

Contents of an EHC plan

An in-depth look at what you can expect to find within an educational, health and care (EHC) plan.

In this video, Education Solicitor, Rukhsana Koser, details what a EHC plan should contain, highlights special educational provision, what it might look like, plus other important things to note.

SEN support in schools

In this bitesize video, Rukhsana Koser, Education Solicitor at Langley Wellington Solicitors LLP, talks about SEN support in schools.

The purpose of SEN support is to help children achieve the outcomes or learning objectives set for them by the school. Here, Rukhsana outlines who can get SEN support, what SEN support can be provided in schools, and what do to if your child isn’t making progress.

Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) Assessments: What is the role of an Educational Psychologist?

In this detailed and insightful post, Dr Halit Hulusi, Principal Educational Psychologist at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, outlines what you should expect from working with an Educational Psychologist and how they can support your child.

I guess that if you’re reading this, you and your child may be about to meet an Educational Psychologist (EP or Ed Psych as we are often called). In this article I’ll do my best to give you a sense of what to expect when working with an EP and our role in the Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment process.  

What is an EP?

EPs are a profession of applied psychologists (around 2,236 in the UK: HCPC data 2018). The route to qualify as an EP takes about eight years from initial undergraduate degree, relevant experience/employment and the three-year doctorate. The training route is tough and extremely competitive. Once qualified, most EPs work in local authorities, however, there are a minority of EPs working in private practice. In order to offer services to the public, all EPs are required by law to be registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC). Being registered with the HCPC means that that the EP has undergone appropriate training and achieved qualifications that mean they are deemed ‘fit to practice’.

What do EPs do?

Essentially, EPs work with children, young people and adults aged 0-25 years and the educational settings, families and communities around them. Broadly speaking, EPs will conduct psychological assessments, training of others, research and work with children, young people and adults. Some EPs may also provide a range of therapeutic interventions. Much of how EPs work with people is through what we call ‘consultation’. This can be a very empowering conversation that we use to enable those we work with to find solutions to challenges they might be experiencing. If you meet an EP, you’ll probably notice that we do a lot of listening. As psychologists we try to be compassionate, curious and caring. It’s a fantastic privilege to be an EP and work with children, families and schools. 

When might an EP get involved in supporting your child?

Most local authority EP services are now traded. This means that schools may need to buy in EPs to support their work with children and families. In my experience, most schools do access EPs, either through the local authority or privately. Schools may ask their EP to support their work with your child if, despite their best efforts, they feel they are a bit stuck or where they want a psychological view for what might be a barrier for your child’s progress. The school should always ask for your consent before an EP becomes involved in direct work with them, your family or your child. Informed consent is a golden rule for EPs and makes up part of our ethical code of conduct.

EPs might also work with children, families and teachers when things are going well. Many schools I’ve worked with have asked me to run parent/teacher drop-in sessions or training sessions about behaviour, child development, teaching approaches. Our team recently ran evening sessions for parents in schools to help them understand their child’s mental wellbeing. Being a parent is a tough job. There is no training or instruction manual and it’s exhausting! The parents we’ve worked with consistently tell us that they value the sessions we run. Thankfully, many schools also see the value of these sessions and prioritise their precious EP time for this work.

EPs and EHC assessments

For some children, their complex needs mean that they require additional support that is beyond that which a typical mainstream school can provide. In some of these cases, the school or the parent might make a request to the local authority to request that they conduct an EHC assessment (Children and Families Act, 2014). If the local authority agrees that your child requires an EHC assessment, an EP will be formally asked to conduct a psychological assessment.

Hopefully, if you’ve got to the point of an EHC assessment, an EP will have been already involved in supporting school, your family and your child. Sadly, in many cases, the EHC assessment might be the first time you might meet an EP. In my experience, the best psychological assessments for an EHC assessment are where the EP has known the child, the family and the teachers over a longer period of time. In these cases, the EP has probably been part of the team that put together the school’s request to the local authority to ask for an EHC assessment. 

What does a psychological assessment for the EHC assessment look like?

There really isn’t an exact answer to this question. In my experience, every child is unique and that means that every assessment is unique. This means that the EP will decide what assessment tools they are going to use based on what they feel is going to help them to best understand your child, their needs and their strengths. Having said that, I’d expect a good psychological assessment to have the following elements:

• The EP should arrange a meeting with you before seeing your child. This might be arranged directly with you or through the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). This meeting might be at the school or your home. Your first contact with the EP is important. They should explain who they are and what they are proposing to do. They should also let you know what will happen after their assessment and what to expect once their report is complete. Sometimes they may arrange another visit or phone call to discuss their report if required.
• The EP should be interested to explore your family’s journey to this point. What has happened in the past can be a helpful way of understanding what is happening now and how things might be improved in the future. Making sure the views of the child and parents are listened to is a key part of the Child and Family Act (2014).
• The EP should also find a way to get a clear sense of your child’s views. For me, this is probably the most important part of the assessment and is again enshrined in the Child and Family Act (2014). Regardless of how young or how challenging this might be for your child, EPs are trained to get a clear picture of your child’s views.

The psychological assessment should explore the key areas of your child’s development. This is usually through observation in school and/or the family home. The EP might also work directly with your child. In their assessment, the EP will focus on the following areas with a greater focus on areas where your child might experience the most need:

• Cognition and learning (maths, literacy, problem solving, concentration and attention skills).
• Social communication and social interaction (how your child communicates with others and how they understand the complex rules of interacting with others).
• Social emotional and behaviour (your child’s emotional wellbeing and how they regulate their emotions).
• Physical development (their ability to move around and manage their environment).
• Additional medical needs that might impact on their development.
• Independence and self-help skills (are these in line with what other children of a similar age are usually able to do)?
• Social needs (activities your child requires outside of school that help them to be part of the wider community, e.g., sports, clubs and interests).

The EP report for the EHC assessment

The EP is required to produce a report for the local authority detailing their psychological assessment findings. Again, the format of these reports will vary slightly across different local authorities. However, the final report should give you the feeling that the EP understands who your child is, what they are good at, what they find difficult and most importantly, what they need in order to achieve even more. A good EP report should also have a section that psychologists call a ‘formulation’. This is a section where the psychologist tries to explain what they think might be leading to the challenges your child might be experiencing.

Sometimes, the EP will write a formulation that might make for difficult reading for parents, teachers, the child or the local authority. It is important to remember, that although the local authority employs most EPs, our assessments are objective and we write with the child in mind. 

EP recommendations

The EP report should also have a fairly detailed section with clear outcomes that they feel your child should be working on now and in the future. Outcomes should be written as things your child will be able to do rather than things others should be doing, e.g., ‘Fred will be able to read ten words, rather than Fred will have a literacy intervention’. This section should also set out the provision the EP feels your child will need to achieve these outcomes. The provision should be based on what EPs call ‘best evidence’. This means that any recommendations should be based on what the research in that particular field suggests is most effective. In many areas there isn’t any research, or the research does not indicate a clear finding. Where this is the case, I’d expect the EP to recommend provision that has worked for your child in the past, or provision that looks like it might work based on the findings of the assessment. 

What happens next?

Technically, EP involvement in terms of the assessment ends once their report for the EHC assessment has been submitted. Whether an EP continues their involvement at this point is dependent on how the EP service is commissioned in your local authority or whether the school prioritise your child for continued EP involvement. If the local authority decides to issue an EHCP at the end of the EHC assessment, the EP might remain actively involved until the EHCP is finalised and the provision is in place. If an EHCP is issued, the local authority or the school might ask an EP to become involved again when the EHCP is reviewed. 

Some final words

In my experience, most schools have excellent working relationships with their EP and will ask us to become involved if they feel this is necessary. The EP advice for the EHC assessment is one part of what EPs do. In the best-case scenario, the EP will have been involved before, during and at some level after the assessment. I would recommend that parents maintain a close and positive working relationship with the EP. We are good listeners and are able to provide you with a space to think and develop a plan for your child.