Undiagnosed learning disabilities

[MelN1708]

Help with school and getting diagnosed

[MelN1708]

Hi I’m Mel and have a son 5 years old. He has a undiagnosed learning disability and possible autism. We have recently been told.off his teacher that she no longer knows how to work with him and he has a EHCP with min 20hours per week.

[MelN1708]

We.dobt seem to be getting anywhere with the school or consultants from hospital. We have been waiting 8 month for a new session of speech and language therapy to start. We feel let down and annoyed. Has anyone else had these problems?

[SarahL]

Hello @MelN1708

Welcome to FamilyHub and thanks for posting.

I am sorry you and your son are not getting the help you need. A few other people have posted recently about this subject: GDD/learning difficulties

All the best

Sarah

[Rachel_Mummery]

Dear Mel, I am sorry to hear you are struggling to get the support your son needs. If the school are not managing to fulfil what is written in his EHCP and think that he needs more specialist support then you can request an interim annual review of the EHCP at any time to address this. I had to do this for my son when his mainstream school could no longer meet his needs and I asked for him to receive specialist educational provision. He is now at a special school where the children regularly receive speech and language therapy amongst other things. It must be especially hard for you not to have a diagnosis for your son as yet. If autism has been suggested as a possibility then I hope your son has been placed on a waiting list for an ASD assessment. If not, then you could ask your GP to do that for you. I hope things improve for you soon. With best wishes, Rachel

[margaret.gould]

Hi Mel,

I’m one of the information and advice officers at Mencap. We do hear from families about issues at school and getting the right support for children. I have some general information which might be useful:

There have been some changes in education called the SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) reforms which are part of the Children and Families Act which became law in 2014. All local authorities must follow the SEND code of practice.

As part of the SEND reforms education, health and care (EHC) plans have now replaced statements of special educational needs. The advantage of EHC plans is that they offer a more holistic approach covering health and social care needs for someone in an educational setting. They now extend from 0 to 25 years for anyone who is in education. EHC plans are necessary when the school or college cannot support the pupil through the usual special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) channels.

If your son is going to have an EHC assessment, or a review of one already in place, it‘s really important to work with the school to achieve the best possible outcome. They are in a position to fully assess your son in the classroom and evidence any additional support needs. They will use an ‘assess, plan, do, review’ cycle for your child. If you aren’t happy with the response from your son’s teacher talk to the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) at the school.

Another part of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms is to provide an information, advice and support service to families, children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SENDIASS). They offer an independent, flexible and supportive service to give parents/carers, children/young people 0-25, schools and professionals the opportunity of working together to meet the special educational needs and disability of the individual pupil.

You can look up your local SENDIASS on this link: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/information-advice-and-support-services-network/network-section?page=17&return_type=page&return_section=32

I hope that helps and I hope your son gets the support he needs in school. You can call the learning disability helpline on 0808 808 1111 if you need more.

Best wishes,

Margaret